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Urban environments provide opportunities for greater resource efficiency and the fostering of urban ecosystems. Brownfield areas are a typical example of underused land resources. Brownfield redevelopment projects that include green infrastructure allow for further ecosystems to be accommodated in urban environments. Green infrastructure also deliver important urban ecosystem services (UES) to local residents, which can greatly contribute to improving quality of life in cities. In this case study, we quantify and assess the economic value of five UES for a brownfield redevelopment project in Antwerp, Belgium. The assessment is carried out using the “Nature Value Explorer” modelling tool. The case includes three types of green infrastructure (green corridor,infiltration gullies and green roofs) primarily intended to connect nature reserves on the urban periphery and to avoid surface runoff. The green infrastructure also provides air filtration, climate regulation, carbon sequestration and recreation ecosystem services. The value of recreation far exceeds other values, including the value of avoided runoff. The case study raises crucial questions as to whether existing UES valuation approaches adequately account for the range of UES provided and whether such approaches can be improved to achieve more accurate and reliable value estimates in future analyses.

Life Cycle Assessment is a tool to assess the environmental impacts and resources used throughout a product's life cycle, i.e., from raw material acquisition, via production and use phases, to waste management. The methodological development in LCA has been strong, and LCA is broadly applied in practice. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of recent developments of LCA methods. The focus is on some areas where there has been an intense methodological development during the last years. We also highlight some of the emerging issues. In relation to the Goal and Scope definition we especially discuss the distinction between attributional and consequential LCA. For the Inventory Analysis, this distinction is relevant when discussing system boundaries, data collection, and allocation. Also highlighted are developments concerning databases and Input-Output and hybrid LCA. In the sections on Life Cycle Impact Assessment we discuss the characteristics of the modelling as well as some recent developments for specific impact categories and weighting. In relation to the Interpretation the focus is on uncertainty analysis. Finally, we discuss recent developments in relation to some of the strengths and weaknesses of LCA.

Sustainable agriculture leads today to important questions about the diversification of agricultural production and sources of income for farmers, the use of rural and arable land for food and non-food crops, the contribution of agriculture to climate change fighting and the supply of renewable energy. Bioenergy from agriculture is at the heart of these concerns, integrating sustainable development key components: environment and climate change, energy economics and energy supply, agriculture, rural and social development. The lack of primary and reliable data on bioenergy externalities from agriculture and the lack of decision-making tools are important non-technological barriers to the development of bioenergy from agriculture on a large scale, and, consequently, to the achievement of the national and regional objectives of sustainable development with respect to greenhouse gas mitigation, secure and diversified energy supply, rural development and employment and the future of agriculture. Furthermore, the recent worldwide controversies about transport biofuels, food shortages and increasing prices have demonstrated the urgent need for sustainability criteria applied to biofuels and bioenergy. Within this current sustainable development framework, a project entitled TEXBIAG integrating experts from 4 research institutions is financed by the Belgian Science Policy. The final objective of this project is to lead to an actual and significant contribution of bioenergy from agriculture to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, to a secure and diversified energy supply and to farmers' incomes and rural development. To reach this final objective, the project develops three specific tools: (1) a database of primary quantitative data related to environmental and socio-economic impacts of bioenergy from agriculture integrating biomass logistics; (2) a mathematical model monetizing bioenergy externalities from agriculture; and (3) a prediction tool assessing the impacts of political decisions made in the framework ofthe development of bioenergy from agriculture on different economic sectors (energy, agriculture, industry, and environment). An integrated interface tool will be programmed where access to and update of the three tools will be prepared. The project methodology will be conducted for a given number of scenarios with sensitivity analysis wherever possible. The three main target groups that will benefit from the project are: the government officials and policy makers in the field of agriculture, energy and environment in Belgium and its two main regions, the small, medium and large energy companies and the agricultural sector

Weather and climate extremes such its droughts and floods have far reaching impacts in Kenya. They have had implications on a variety of sectors including, agriculture, water resources, health, energy and disaster management among others. Lake Victoria and its catchment support millions of people and any impact onl its ability to support the livelihood of the communities in this region is of major concern. Thus, the main objective of this study was to assess the potential future climatic changes in the Nzoia catchment in the Lake Victoria basin and how they might affect streamflow The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to investigate the impact of climatic change on streamflow of the study area. The model was set up using readily available spatial and temporal data and calibrated against measured daily streamflow. Climate change. scenarios were obtained from general circulation models Results obtained showed increased amounts of annual rainfall for all the scenarios but with variations on a monthly basis. All - but 1 - global circulation models (GCMS) showed consistency in the monthly rainfall amounts. The analysis revealed important rainfall-runoff linear relationships for certain months that could be extrapolated to estimate amounts of streamflow under various scenarios of change in rainfall. Streamflow response was not sensitive to changes in temperature. If all other variables e.g. land cover, population growth etc, were held constant. a significant increase in streamflow may be expected in the coming decades as a consequence of increased rainfall amounts.

Due to climate change, the frequency and intensity of droughts are expected to increase. To improve resilience to droughts, proactive drought management is essential. Economic assessments are typically included to decide on the drought risk-reducing investments to make. The choice of both methods and scope of economic assessments influences the outcome, and thus the investment choice. This paper aims to identify how comprehensively economic assessments are applied in practice. Through a systematic literature review, 14 actual economic assessments are identified and their methods are evaluated based on seven criteria for economic assessments as derived from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The results show that in practice, economic assessments rarely address all criteria. Applying a limited number of criteria reduces the scope and narrows the approach, possibly leading to the underestimation of drought risk reduction approaches' related benefits. Applying the seven criteria in practice will improve the results of economic assessments of drought risk reduction measures, allowing for optimal investment selection. Based on the different criteria, a Framework for Economic Assessments of Drought Risk-Reducing Applications (FEADRRA) is proposed. Applying the criteria of the framework can support decision-makers in drought risk management and in carrying out the most fitting drought interventions.

A. Context Biofuels are today one of the only direct substitutes for oil in road transport, available on a significant scale. They can be used today, in existing vehicle engines, unmodified for low blends, or with cheap modifications to accept high blends. Biofuels are expected to represent a substantial part of the 10% target for renewable energy in transport by 2020, set by the European Commission in its Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC. With biofuels reaching a visible scale at the European level, discussions have emerged about the sustainability of biofuels compared to fossil fuels. It is clear that policy should make sure that the use of biofuels in the transport sector should happen in a sustainable way that balances the main transport related challenges of greenhouse gas reduction, reducing oil dependency and improving air quality. Specifically for the Belgian situation, BIOSES is a research project assisting the Belgian government in setting a roadmap for biofuels and analysing the potential impact that biofuel introduction may have on greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and air quality. B. Objectives The project develops different scenarios for the introduction of biofuels, based on the technological evolution in vehicle models, the likely biofuel blends on the European markets, and the possible interest of certain end user groups. Based on up-to-date data (complemented with own measurements) of energy use, emissions and cost projections, the practical feasibility and the ecological and economic impact (on micro and macro level) of the introduction of biofuels in Belgium are analysed. Results are used to create a roadmap for the introduction of biofuels in Belgium. C. Conclusions The main biofuel options for Belgium on the short term are biodiesel (methyl ester) from vegetable oil, to be blended with diesel fuel (up to B7), potentially supplemented with hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) in the future, and bio-ethanol from sugar or starch crops, to be blended with gasoline fuel (up to E10). Next to general blending, also options of high blends or pure biofuels could be envisaged (such as E85, ED95, B30, B100, PPO, bio-methane).

Adoption of the electric car to mitigate air pollution and climate change: myth or reality? This study aims to bring out the energy and climate mitigation impacts of mass introduction of electric cars in city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. A working scenario of 10 percent penetration of electric cars replacing gasoline-powered vehicles by 2020 and 20 percent by 2030 was set. The impact on the energy mix and CO2 emissions was based on indicators available for the city of Sao Paulo. Preliminary results indicate significant energy and environmental benefits to the city. We identified a potential reduction of up to 2030 will be about 11 MtCO2 representing more than 10 percent compared with the total emissions from the fleet of gasoline-powered cars.

Abstract In April 2010, a large-scale Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) plantation was established with mainly poplar ( Populus spp.) on a former agricultural site (cropland and pasture) in Flanders. The 12 selected genotypes planted were assessed on establishment and production characteristics during the first two years of growth and were found highly productive, with a volume index ranging between 1.00 (±0.68) and 1.93 (±0.97) dm³ in growing season 1 (GS1) and between 2.75 (±1.70) and 11.91 (±6.33) dm³ in growing season 2 (GS2). Despite high survival rates of the cuttings after planting, competitive weeds and management operations increased tree mortality during the growing season from 3.4 % up to 18.2 % averaged over the entire plantation. Weed control therefore turned out to be the key factor in the establishment success. Only a minor influence of former land use was observed during GS1, which is explained by the non-limiting nutrient conditions on both former cropland and pasture, and which disappeared during GS2. These productive soils also explained the high growth rates, with an average tree height of 247 cm and 445 cm and stem diameter (at 22 cm height) of 25.21 mm and 40.73 mm after GS1 and GS2, respectively. Genotypic and parentage variations were found to be less pronounced during GS1, and increased during GS2 as expected. The maximum leaf area index and total leaf area duration were shown to be good indicators of production and growth performance. The results of this paper confirm the high potential of SRC with poplar on agricultural land for bio-energy purposes.