Theme 4. human dimensions of environmental change

YOUR NORDIC PARTNER

LT-CONSULTANTS' INTERESTS IN THE SECOND PHASE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE PROGRAMME (1997 - 1998)
See also: LT-Consultants' EU project reference list

THEME 4. HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Area 4.1. The research base for sustainable development: strategies, policy integration, societal views and the measurement of progress

Especially tasks:

4.1.1. Identify and evaluate key policy actions and strategies which are required for the transition towards environmental sustainability. These should be assessed, for example using cost-benefit analysis or other assessment techniques explicitly addressing risk, uncertainty, and the institutional context as well as distributional (inter- and intra-genera-tional) and other ethical aspects.

- Target setting

- Policy integration

- Urban environmental policy

Area 4.2. Sustainable development and technological change

Especially tasks:

4.2.1. Investigate the key interactions and feedbacks between on the one hand, sectoral and environmental policies, institutional arrangements, consumer behaviour, and on the other, technological development, focussing on economic sectors which are sensitive to and/or which strongly affect environmental change

- Development of industrial ecology systems

Area 4.3. Integrated assessment and environmental policy making

Especially tasks:

4.3.1. Methodological issues. Develop and evaluate integrated assessment methodologies, taking into account their treatment of uncertainty, ability to cope with surprises and non-incremental environmental changes, temporal and spatial resolution and matching of physical and socio-economic variables, incorporation of feedbacks between human behaviour and natural environmental processes, relevance to policies and policy making styles within the EU. The application and evaluation of these methodologies and models should be based on case-studies of complex, multimedia environmental issues at various spatial and temporal scale (e.g. climate change impacts, environmental issues in coastal zones - particularly the Mediterranean basin - Alpine regions, the arctic, urban environment, contaminated sites). Comparative analysis of available IEA and/or other assessment methods could be of particular importance.

4.3.3. Criticality and vulnerability. Develop methodologies to identify and measure vulnerability to environmental change, taking into account the need to couple ecological and socio-economic vulnerability and criticality. Research should be focused either on long-term, cumulative environmental change (eg. consequences of cumulative pollution for the quality and quantity of water) and/or the sudden occurrance of extreme events (eg. floods and droughts) and should take into account possible conflicts over resources use in ecologically and socio-economically vulnerable regions.

LT-Consultants Ltd.

Mr N.N., Managing Director