• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close
• 14. Life underwater close
• Sustainability close

The land transformation process in the last decades produced the urbanization growth in flat and coastal areas all over the world. The combination of natural phenomena and human pressure is likely one of the main factors that enhance coastal dynamics. These factors lead to an increase in coastal risk (considered as the product of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability) also in view of future climate change scenarios. Although each of these factors has been intensively studied separately, a comprehensive analysis of the mutual relationship of these elements is an open task. Therefore, this work aims to assess the possible mutual interaction of land transformation and coastal management zones, studying the possible impact on local coastal communities. The idea is to merge the techniques coming from urban planning with data and methodology coming from the coastal engineering within the frame of a holistic approach. The main idea is to relate urban and land changes to coastal management. Then, the study aims to identify if stakeholders’ pressure motivated the deployment of rigid structures instead of shoreline variations related to energetic and sedimentary balances. The influence of coastal protection (described by an indicator taking into account the linear density of the rigid protection extension alongshore) measures have been considered. Finally, the economical performances in the period just after the land transformation have been studied by means of a dimensionless index based on the concept of the local unit. The method has been applied to the case study of the Abruzzo Region. Results reveal a large urbanization growth and a generalized over-protection of the coast with a resulting spatial alternation of shoreline retreat and advance. On the other hand, the analysis of the local economy reveals that the presence of tourism activities does not necessarily lead to an increase in the local economy. Indeed, the most important improvement in local economies in the region can be associated with coastal stretches characterized by a high environmental value.

Marine sediments are a sink for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant microbes (ARMs). Wastewater discharge into the aquatic environment is the dominant pathway for pharmaceuticals reaching aquatic organisms. Hence, the characterization of ARGs is a priority research area. This baseline study reports the presence of ARGs in 12 coastal sediment samples covering the urban coastline of Kuwait through whole-genome metagenomic sequencing. The presence of 402 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were recorded in these samples; the most prevalent were patA, adeF, ErmE, ErmF, TaeA, tetX, mphD, bcrC, srmB, mtrD, baeS, Erm30, vanTE, VIM-7, AcrF, ANT4-1a, tet33, adeB, efmA, and rpsL, which showed resistance against 34 drug classes. Maximum resistance was detected against the beta-lactams (cephalosporins and penam), and 46% of genes originated from the phylum Proteobacteria. Low abundances of ESKAPEE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter sps., and Escherichia coli) were also recorded. Approximately 42% of ARGs exhibited multiple drug resistance. All the ARGs exhibited spatial variations. The major mode of action was antibiotic efflux, followed by antibiotic inactivation, antibiotic target alteration, antibiotic target protection, and antibiotic target replacement. Our findings supported the occurrence of ARGs in coastal marine sediments and the possibility of their dissemination to surrounding ecosystems.

The accelerated socioeconomic development has placed the coastal ecosystems under stress, which influences the sustainable development of coastal areas. Marine eco-environmental carrying capacity assessment (MECCA) can provide a scientific basis for coordinating coastal socioeconomic development and eco-environmental protection, ensuring a more effective marine ecosystem-based management approach toward sustainability. However, accurate assessment methods are still in the exploratory stage, as there has been a lack of systematic research and applications combining integrated MECCA with a unified method to underpin coastal management processes. In light of this issue, this study applied the marine eco-environmental carrying capacity in coastal waters (MECCCW) conceptual framework to support the establishment of an assessment indicator system for MECCA and used the regularization method and entropy method to determine weights. This study also applied the simplified state space model to comprehensively evaluate and analyze the marine eco-environmental carrying capacity (MECC) of coastal areas. Focusing on the coastal area of Sanya Bay, southern China, as the study area, we assessed the MECC for the period from 2015 to 2020. The state of the MECC was divided into three grades: load capacity, full-load capacity, and overload capacity. The results showed that (1) the MECCA indicator system in Sanya Bay included a total of three criteria and eight assessment indicators and (2) the weights of the environmental carrying capacity (ECC) and human activities (HA) were both relatively higher than that of ecological resilience (ER). The latter result indicates that either ECC or HA could play a more predominant role in the changes of the MECC state in Sanya Bay. The results also indicated that (3) for each criterion, ECC, ER, and HA were at load capacity from 2015 to 2020. In this instance, ECC and HA presented similar change trends in relation to the MECC state of Sanya Bay. Finally, (4) the overall Sanya Bay’s MECC was also at load capacity and weakened, fluctuating between 2015 and 2020. These findings indicate that the coastal area of Sanya Bay is capable of sustainable development, but that there is a need for further eco-environmental improvement. The results of this study can serve as a reference when decisions have to be made about coastal management from an environmental and ecological perspective. Furthermore, this method may provide a feasible approach for integrated MECCA in other coastal areas.

This paper aims to identify the causes and sources of erosion and deposition at small estuaries in southern central Vietnam under human intervention. The jetty built at the Tam Quan river mouth (Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam) serves as the base for the study. After its completion at the end of 2009, the hydrodynamic and erosion-deposition processes in the region have been significantly altered. Inside the estuary, the waves are not influenced, but the currents are increased during the ebb tide period and decreased during the flood tide timeframe. During the southwest monsoon, the jetty could cause an increase in the deposition process in both frequency and area, whereas the erosion process tends to narrow the area and increase the frequency on the north coast. In contrast, both deposition and erosion processes are increased on the southern coast. About 5859 m3 of sediments are deposited in the channel gate mainly by local sources. During the northeast monsoon, both deposition and erosion processes are located over a narrow area with frequency increased on the north coast, whereas the deposition process is narrowed with higher frequency on the southern coast. The total amount of sediment deposited at the estuary is 56,446 m3, of which 74.2% is from the onsite erosion material, 15.8% from the river and 10% from the longshore transportation. Generally, due to mainly erosion-deposition processes, sediment volume is accumulated during the northeast monsoon with amount 9.6 times more than that the southwest monsoon. The erosion-deposition processes are contributed to by poor practical management and local human activities inland and in the coastal regions, as well as the natural situation, resulting in serious impacts on society, the economy and the environment. Hence, the governance of the erosion-deposition processes and sediment load in small estuaries appear to contribute to the master plan for the local sustainable development of society and the economy.

Nowadays, following the increased interest and need for the issue of sustainability, tourist destinations are called upon to promote sustainable tourism development through the implementation of investments and initiatives. Despite the investments by the destinations, how are these perceived by tourists and residents? Based on this, this paper aims to assess the perception of sustainable investments in a coastal area located in Tuscany, through the administration of a questionnaire among 750 people, including both tourists and house owners. The study adopted statistical logit and probit models to detect the perception of sustainable initiatives in relation to beach satisfaction. Moreover, this research developed a model for understanding if there are substantial differences in perception between Italian and foreign beach users and at the same time between residents/house owners and tourists. The findings reveal that those who perceive investments in sustainability are more than satisfied with beach and facilities. The model shows that foreigners and residents/house owners perceive sustainable investments implemented in the destination more than tourists and Italian respondents. This research can provide support to local operators and policymakers in defining the destination image in relation to sustainability.

Issues of oil spills in various locations worldwide have been widely published in several studies. However, studies on policy management and strategies for handling cases related to oil spills are still limited. As one of the largest oil-producing countries with international shipping traffic, Indonesia is vulnerable to oil spills. Therefore, by drawing upon evidence from Bintan Island, this study aims to provide recommendations for stakeholders concerning governance and policy to address the oil spill case, which has had adverse social, economic, and environmental impacts. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion, observation, actual online news, and official government reports using a case study approach. The result indicates that the local government is slow in responding to Bintan Island’s reoccurring yearly oil spillage. Policy responses are still focused on repressive and conventional methods. Hence, preventive and multi-stakeholder governance is required to handle oil spills. Furthermore, this study provides an overview of the oil spill problem and its management strategy in developing countries, especially Indonesia.

Sex identification is linked to sexual dimorphism and is an important study issue in fish biology and aquaculture. However, owing to the unmarked sexual heteromorphism between adult Hemibarbus labeo, it is often difficult to distinguish their sex by visual observation. This study aimed to find a simple and reliable morphometric criterion for the sex identification of H. labeo using discriminant models. Forty-two morphometric traits of sixty-eight H. labeo individuals collected from the Jinhe River were measured, and 41 standardized features were calculated and analyzed. Eight trait variables from 41 standardized attributes were screened using stepwise discriminant analysis. The total classification accuracy of the model was 95.59%. Twelve standardized features significantly differed between male and female H. labeo individuals (p < 0.05). The condition factor, body height, dorsal fin coxal length, the distance between the pelvic and anal fins, and body length were significantly greater in females than in males (p < 0.05), suggesting that females of H. labeo in the Jinhe River were plumper than males, with a larger body size, but a smaller caudal peduncle. These results implied that the sex identification of H. labeo can be performed using the discriminant equation established in this study. This study provides a theoretical basis for endangered fish species protection and their artificial propagation.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a widely applied policy tool that aims to aid decision-makers in making informed, higher-quality decisions that minimize negative environmental impacts. However, different types of uncertainties complicate the ex ante assessment of environmental impacts. Literature suggests uncertainties are often not well addressed, resulting in inaccurate and even unreliable SEAs. At the same time, SEA literature offers limited guidance in how to systematically identify and deal with uncertainties. Therefore, in this paper, we present an analytical framework for characterizing and classifying different forms of uncertainty in SEA, and for identifying strategies for dealing with these uncertainties. The framework is based on literature on uncertainties in other subdomains of the environmental sciences. The framework is applied to five case studies of SEAs for spatial planning in The Netherlands in order to illustrate and critically reflect on our framework, and to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Based on these case studies we concluded the following: (1) The framework is useful for identifying uncertainties in SEA in a systematic way; (2) There is a discrepancy between how uncertainties are dealt with in theory and in practice; (3) In practice, uncertainties seem to be dealt with in a rather implicit way. The framework may help dealing with uncertainties more systematically and more proactively; (4) The most successful way of coping with uncertainties seems to be the application of multiple strategies.