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Nowadays, the issues related with environment preservation assume an increasing importance. Progressively, more sustainable solutions/techniques are being developed to combat environmental destruction. The decision to include themes related to the environment in the curriculum of technological courses in higher education aims to promote more sustainable behaviors and in an indirect way, increase the environmental literacy of the population. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the environmental literacy focusing on four topics, i.e., air pollution, water pollution, global warming, and energy resources. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed and applied to a convenience sample, formed by individuals of both genders, aged between 20 and 81 years old. The questionnaire intended to collect data to characterize the sample and assess the literacy regarding environmental issues. In order to carry out the environmental literacy assessment, the respondents were asked to express their degree of agreement with some statements related with the environmental themes mentioned above. The data collected was analyzed using data mining tools. The results suggest that the population’s literacy is satisfactory in relation to some issues, but insufficient in relation to others, equally important, but less disseminated.

Much of New South Wales and southern Queensland suffered from extreme drought from 2017 to 2019. This study models drought and bushfires impacts using VU‐TERM, a multi‐regional, dynamic CGE model. Prolonged drought pushed national real GDP to 0.7 per cent or more below base in 2018–2019 and 2019–2020. NSW’s real GDP fell relative to forecast by 1.1 per cent or $6.9 billion in 2018–2019 and 1.6 per cent or $10.2 billion in 2019–2020. These impacts reflect a severe diminution of farm output, given that agriculture accounts for around 1.6 per cent of NSW’s income. Bushfires exacerbated 2019–2020 losses. We assume that there is a full recovery in seasonal conditions in 2020. However, prolonged drought and bushfire destruction deplete farm capital through depressed investment and diminished herd numbers. Consequently, the income earning capacity of farms in recovery remains below that of a no drought base. The net present value of the national welfare loss is $63 billion, split between $53 billion in losses from drought and $10 billion from bushfires. The latter excludes any valuation of human lives lost, flora, fauna or forestry destruction. In the longer term, adaptation and policy responses will need to reflect the expectation of increased frequency of adverse climatic events.

The global structural change, together with "the green revolution", caused the economic growth to be based on the service sector today, instead on the traditional economic sectors. The main focus of this paper is on the factors that affect the decisions of households in Serbia to participate in the tourism industry in the context of the sustainable development. In particular, a significant portion of the analysis is devoted to the constraints that can be induced by inadequate drinking water supply and its quality in households. These factors can be considered the main limitations to those households that decide to provide accommodation and food services to the tourists in their local touristreceiver communities. The empirical analysis is based on survey data that describe conditions in the households, whereas the econometric framework is employed in order to determine structural relationships. The null hypothesis that drinking water supply and quality do not affect the likelihood of the household participating in the tourism industry is tested and accepted based on the probit model estimates. The difference between the public urban and local water supply systems that provide drinking water to the households is statistically confirmed, but it does not affect the likelihood of the household participating in the tourism industry.

Sustaining agricultural demands is a typical problem, particularly in locations afflicted by the scarcity of fresh water, poor farming soil, and hot weather. The main goal of this study is to perform a thermodynamic analysis of an integrated multigeneration system containing a direct contact membrane distillation crystallization system that recovers beneficial hydroponic farming nutrients from seawater using renewable energy resources. A parametric study is carried out to determine the impacts of various factors on the system, such as changing the rate of mass flow rate, recovery ratio, and salinity. This study proposes a novel sustainable multigeneration system for seawater desalination and ions recovery using the direct contact membrane distillation crystallization system to provide the hydroponic solution and greenhouse ventilation using the dual evaporator vapor compression refrigeration system. With overall exergy efficiency and energy efficiency of 41.40%, and 39.80%, respectively, the system requires about 1182.69 kW and 5314.6 kW of electrical and thermal power in total, respectively, to desalinate 5 kg/s of seawater and recover 170 mg/s of Sulfate (SO4), 81.28 mg/s of Magnesium (Mg), 25.48 mg/s of Calcium (Ca), and 24.16 mg/s of Potassium (K), yielding about 4.4 kg/s of a hydroponic solution, and ventilating 25 greenhouses with a volume of 600 m3 of single greenhouse.

Abstractwhatever the adoptod treatment system, the wastewater treatment is accompanied by production of large amounts of sludge which must be disposed. Several pathways exist lor the disposal of sewage sludge, but the choice must depend on the cost of installation, the result as an added value of the product and the possible impact of the chain retained on the environment To justify the choice of sludge recycling in agriculture, we will have to estimate the fertilizer value of sludge through the analysis of physico-chemica1 and microbiological parameters complying with regulations. Considering these parameters will detennine the worth of sludge,the environmental impact and precautions for use. For this purpose, we have to compare the sludge characteristics from three wastewater treatment plants (WIV) in the wilaya of Mascara, (west of Algeria), Mascara, Tizi and Ghriss. The results show that our overall sludge is rich in nutrients (N, P, K) but contains a hight concentrations in Nickel (Ni) of lIbout 8.6mg I kg prohably due to industrial waste. To enhance ille fertilizing power of the sludge in an agricultural field we recommend an additional treatment

Despite strong interest and conflict research spanning multiple disciplines, connections between water flows and conflicts remain unclear, due to incomplete datasets on water-related conflict-cooperation events and poor understanding of socioeconomic and biophysical causes of such conflicts. The dataset on water-related conflict-cooperation events compiled in this study extends to 2019, updating previous datasets that covered only up to 2008, yielding important new insights on cooperation-conflict trends. Global and regional trends were analyzed using the new events dataset, together with changes in hydroclimatic variables and population density. The analysis revealed that water-related cooperation was far more common than conflicts across all regions, in both drier and wetter climates, indicating that abundance and lack of water can both promote cooperation. However, conflict events were more common in drier climates where water is scarcer. This cooperation-conflict balance shifted in the 2000s, with conflict events increasing, to outnumber cooperation events in 2017. The main shift occurred in Africa and Asia, where increased conflicts in Africa coincided with a prolonged period of below-average precipitation and severe drought, while the shift in Asia coincided with increased evapotranspiration caused by human activities and increased population density. Differences between regions were confirmed by event descriptions, with events in Africa relating to water access and farmer-herder conflicts, and events in Asia relating to irrigation and dam construction. These differences highlight the need for regional-scale analysis of water-related conflict-cooperation trends and pathways. With climate change and human activities expected to increase, the increasing trend in conflict events could persist, with water resources becoming a more frequent cause of future conflict. Identifying these complex cooperation-conflict changes is vital in determining future actions required to reduce conflict events and promote cooperation on water.

An original methodology for the Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) of a Product for the wine-making industry sector is presented, with a particular focus on the evaluation procedure of the grey water. Results obtained with the proposed methodology are also presented for an Italian case study. The product was analyzed using a life-cycle approach, with the aim of studying the water volumes of each phase according to the newly-released ISO 14046 international standard. The functional unit chosen in this study is the common 0.75 liter wine bottle. An in-house software (V.I.V.A.) was implemented with the goal of accounting for all the contributions in a cradle-to-grave approach. At this stage, however, minor water volumes associated with some foreground and background processes are not assessed. The evaluation procedure was applied to a case study and green, blue, and grey water volumes were computed. Primary data were collected for a red wine produced by an Umbrian wine-making company. Results are in accordance with global average water footprint values from literature, showing a total WF of 632.2 L/bottle, with the major contribution (98.3%) given by green water, and minor contributions (1.2% and 0.5%) given by grey and blue water, respectively. A particular effort was dedicated to the definition of an improved methodology for the assessment of the virtual water volume required to dilute the load of pollutants on the environment below some reference level (Grey WF). The improved methodology was elaborated to assure the completeness of the water footprint assessment and to overcome some limitations of the reference approach. As a result, the overall WF can increase up to 3% in the most conservative hypotheses.

The winter tourism industry is facing considerable challenges with climate change; it is increasingly responding with investments in snowmaking facilities. We present a study on 3 tourism destinations in the Swiss Alps that addressed resource consumption of snowmaking, snow reliability, and future snowmaking potential in a warmer climate. The energy consumption of snowmaking in the ski resorts was in the lower range of what could be expected from literature values. It comprised ∼0.5% of the respective municipality's energy consumption and was moderate compared with other tourism-related activities. Water consumption, however, was in the higher range with regard to what was expected from literature values and was also high compared with other water uses (eg 36% compared with drinking water consumption in one community). Natural snow cover was partly critical for winter sports at low elevations at ∼1200 masl, but uncritical at higher elevations above 2000 masl. Snow cover will become even more critical in a warmer climate but will probably still be sufficient above 2000 masl until 2050. Snowmaking may become critical at lower elevations in the early months of the season (November and December) due to warmer temperatures that can be expected in the coming decades. But, at higher elevations, the potential for snowmaking will probably remain sufficient. Our study provides straightforward and feasible approaches to assess resource consumption and snow cover. Careful consideration of resource consumption and snow cover can foster technical and economical advances as well as more sustainable development in mountains regions. Snow production can represent a valuable adaptation strategy at high-altitude destinations. However, given the increasing economic competition and the changing climate, it will be crucial to use specific regional strengths to provide high-quality winter and summer tourism activities. Mountain Research and Development, 31 (3) ISSN:0276-4741 ISSN:1994-7151