关键词： mining projects   environmental sustainability   EIA reports   best practice  

摘要： The aim of the audit was to determine whether the mining project environmental impact assessments (EIAs) in Kenya are undertaken according to international best practice. A sample of 50 EIA reports for the 2007-2016 period was evaluated using 18 criteria in the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) guidelines. The findings showed that only two criteria were considered 'excellent' according to the ELAW guidelines, namely baseline environmental assessment and prediction of physical impacts. Six criteria were found to be 'satisfactory', including prediction of social impacts, analysis of alternative options, and impact mitigation. The reports were quite weak in terms of: consideration of all phases in the mining cycle, environmental regulatory framework, prediction of biological impacts, stakeholder consultation and engagement, integration of human right issues, and integration of climate change and cost-benefit analysis. It is therefore recommended that the Kenyan National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) should consider tightening the EIA terms and conditions in the approval of statutory terms of reference (ToR) for full-scale mining EIAs to ensure improved performance of EIA as a tool for environmental protection.

关键词： Open straw burning   Biomass energy   Policy decision-making   Energy saving   Greenhouse gas   Air pollutants  

摘要： The utilization of straw plays an important role in China's sustainable development. Returning straw to fields as organic fertilizer (straw return) and processing straw into straw briquette fuel (SBF) are two of the most promising methods for employing straw;however, there is a lack of information with respect to comparing these two methods. Therefore, a case study was conducted in Heilongjiang Province to estimate the energy and environmental impacts of straw return and the substitution of SBF for rural heating coal. This study aims to provide policymakers with useful information and to encourage rational decision-making regarding the efficient utilization of straw resources. Results showed that both straw return and substituting SBF for rural heating coal could have significant impacts on energy and the environment, while substituting SBF for rural heating coal had advantages over straw return in all aspects. Moreover, substituting SBF for rural heating coal was more acceptable to famers, and thus was easier to promote and could resolve the problem of open straw burning more effectively than straw return. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to SBF utilization, especially in rural areas. Results of this study can also benefit other regions to improve the utilization of straw resources.

关键词： Naturally occurring radionuclides   Toxic elements   Human health risk   Neutron activation analysis   Carcinogenic risks  

摘要： The radiological and elemental hazards indices of phosphate fertilizers and phosphogypsum waste were investigated by determination of their components concentration using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) then comparing the resultant concentrations with the acceptable limit. The radioactivity of K-40, Th-232 and U-238 within the samples were determined using passive gamma ray spectroscopy. The environmental impact risk resulting from the utilization of these materials was evaluated by the computation of some parameters including;absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent, radium equivalent activity, hazard index for gamma-rays, excess lifetime cancer risk, alpha index and annual gonadal dose equivalent. The results illustrated that these materials pose a radiological threat to the creature health. For non-carcinogenic risks, the data was fed into human health risk models to evaluate the potential health risk of heavy metals by computing the average daily intake of each pollutant via variant exposure pathways and subsequent determination of the hazard quotient, hazard index and total exposure hazard index. For carcinogenic risks, the incremental lifetime cancer risk was calculated. The outcomes give rise to that some parameters values are above the acceptable limit, this increases the probability of adverse health effects.