Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for their use by the United States government. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It is a unique and valuable national treasure because of its ecological, recreational, economic and cultural benefits. The problems facing the Bay are well known and extensively documented, ...

This paper presents the results of a field experiment conducted in Kerala, South India, to test the effectiveness of coir geotextiles for embankment protection. The results reveal that treatment with geotextile in combination with grass is an effective eco-hydrological measure to protect steep slopes from erosion. In the context of sustainable watershed management, coir is a cheap and locally a...

Protected areas are a key tool for conservation policy but their economic impacts are not well understood. This paper presents new evidence about the local effects of strictly protected areas in Thailand, combining data on socioeconomic outcomes from a poverty mapping study with satellite-based estimates of forest cover. The selective placement of protected areas is addressed by controlling for...

Federal and state legislation, such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act, require that responsible agency staff consider the cumulative impacts of proposed activities before permits are issued for certain kinds of public or private projects. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ 1997) defined a cumulative impact as “...the impact on the envir...

Arsenic contamination in water supplies continues to increase in many countries, especially in developing nations, thereby creating both environmental and health hazard. Its sources and effects are multiple and diffused in nature and it requires detailed assessment and policy. This paper discusses the global extent of the problem, its sources and effects and explores different policy options. S...

In 003 the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) created a Water Quality Trading Policy consistent with the Clean Water Act of 97 . Building on the successes of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program to address point-source discharges and the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, which established watershed pollution loads, water-quality trading was c...

The international urban environmental partnerships focus on brownfields redevelopment, smart growth, sustainable transportation and land use, urban watershed management, green buildings, and solid waste recycling (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency = EPA http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/accomp2.htm). The emphasis of this project is a kick-off to detect this specific land use, i.e. brownfields, ...