Query: socio-economics and environmental implications of sand mining

title: Natural resource and environmental economics
abstract: Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, provides comprehensive and contemporary analysis of the major areas of natural resource and environmental economics.

title: Biochar for Environmental Management: Science and Technology
abstract: Preface Foreword by Tim Flannery 1. Biochar for Environmental Management: An Introduction 2. Physical Properties of Biochar 3. Characteristics of Biochar: Microchemical Properties 4. Characteristics of Biochar: Organo chemical Properties 5. Biochar: Nutrient Properties and Their Enhancement 6. Characteristics of Biochar: Biological Properties 7. Developing a Biochar Classification and Test Methods 8. Biochar Production Technology 9. Biochar Systems 10. Changes of Biochar in Soil 11. Stability of Biochar in Soil 12. Biochar Application to Soil 13. Biochar and Emissions of Non CO2 Greenhouse Gases from Soil 14. Biochar Effects on Soil Nutrient Transformations 15. Biochar Effects on Nutrient Leaching 16. Biochar and Sorption of Organic Compounds 17. Test Procedures for Determining the Quantity of Biochar within Soils 18. Biochar, Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Emissions Trading 19. Economics of Biochar Production, Utilization and Greenhouse Gas Offsets 20. Socio economic Assessment and Implementation of Small scale Biochar Projects 21. Taking Biochar to Market: Some Essential Concepts for Commercial Success 22. Policy to Address the Threat of Dangerous Climate Change: A Leading Role for Biochar Index

title: The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications
abstract: ?The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the management literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumental power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory which includes the modern theory of property rights is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the managers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are trustees for an institution [with multiple constituents] rather than attorneys for the stockholders.

title: The Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourses
abstract: PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Making Sense of Earth's Politics: A Discourse Approach PART II: GLOBAL LIMITS AND THEIR DENIAL 2. Looming Tragedy: Survivalism 3.  The Promethean Response PART III: SOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS 4. Leave it to the Experts: Administrative Rationalism 5. Leave it to the People: Democratic Pragmatism 6. Leave it to the Market: Economic Rationalism PART IV: THE QUEST FOR SUSTAINABILITY 7.  Sustainable Development 8. Industrial Society and Beyond: Ecological Modernization PART V: GREEN RADICALISM 9. Save the World through New Consciousness: Green Romanticism 10. Save the World through New Politics: Green Rationalism PART VI: CONCLUSION 11. Ecological Democracy Bibliography, Index

title: Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits
abstract: Soil erosion is a major environmental threat to the sustainability and productive capacity of agriculture. During the last 40 years, nearly one third of the world's arable land has been lost by erosion and continues to be lost at a rate of more than 10 million hectares per year. With the addition of a quarter of a million people each day, the world population's food demand is increasing at a time when per capita food productivity is beginning to decline.

title: MITIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF COAL MINING IN INDIA
abstract: Coal is the only natural resource and fossil fuel available in abundance in India. The major environmental challenges encountering the coal industry are impacts of mine fires, dust suppression and control particularly haul road dust consolidation, treatment of mine waters containing heavy metals/acid mine drainage, restoration of water table and quality of ground and surface water, augmentation of pumped out mine water for drinking purpose, reclamation of mined out areas with pre determined land use patterns conducive to the local populations etc. The biggest environmental challenge facing the coal industry is the issue of greenhouse gases and acid rain. Overall environmental management improvement has been taking place with the implementation of state of art environmental management schemes particularly under Environmental and Social Mitigation Project (ESMP) of CIL. A great ongoing social challenge for the coal industry is sustainable development and community acceptance of its role in society. The problem of mining induced displacement and resettlement (MIDR) poses major risks to societal sustainability. MIDR is accompanied by the resettlement effect, defined as the loss of physical and non physical assets, including homes, communities, productive land, income earning assets and sources, subsistence, resources, cultural sites, social structures, networks and ties, cultural identity and mutual help mechanisms. Even with its major hurdles, coal will remain a future mainstay, a foundation and a fundament of our economy. Coal has a crucial role in meeting current needs and is a resource bridge to meet future goals through the enhancement of knowledge and technology The challenge is to apply the right technology in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way.

title: The transportation and marketing implications of sand and gravel and its environmental impact in Lome Togo
abstract: Proper infrastructure is a crucial factor for the socio economic development of a country. Suburbs of Agouenyive, Adidogome, and Banguida in Lome once sparsely populated, are now experiencing large influx of people causing environmental problems. Throughout Togo, sand and gravel is widely exploited as aggregate for construction. If river mining of sand is not carefully controlled it can cause significant damage to the ecosystem and the environment as a whole. The socio economic and environmental impact of sand and gravel mining in Togo is not well known and there is little research work on selected river systems. Here a method is proposed for an effective regulation of in stream sand and gravel mining operations so as to balance and reduce the conflict between the gains of sand and gravel extraction and the environmental management. The activities of miners, transporters, and laborers who are involved in quarrying of sand and gravel in the cantons of Adetikope, Mission Tove of Zanguera and Kegue that supply sand and gravel to Lome and its surroundings are critical evaluated. However, this research reveals the vast inequalities and social injustices that lie behind this lucrative activity of sand gravel quarrying.  Sand and gravel, transporters, miners, environment, socio economics.

title: Frac Sand Mining and Community Economic Development
abstract: As the national economy struggles to recover from the "Great Recession" of 2008 2009 the high price of oil, and to a lesser extent natural gas, has created economic opportunities for many rural communities. The process of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" to remove oil and gas from rock formations has created "mining booms" in large parts of the western Appalachian Mountains (the Marcellus fields in the Appalachian Basin) and western North Dakota and eastern Montana (the Bakken fields in the Williston Basin) to name a few. While there is limited possibility for the extraction of shale deposited oil and gas for Wisconsin, the engineering of the extraction process requires sand with specific characteristics that is in abundant supply in many parts of Wisconsin. The surge in demand for this "frac sand" has created what appear to be significant economic opportunities for the western and central parts of Wisconsin.

title: EVALUATING ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS IN MINING: A PERCEPTUAL STUDY AT THE VATUKOULA GOLD MINE IN FIJI
abstract: Gold mining is often associated with positive economic benefits; however, it may also have negative impacts on the environment and human health. It is essential that communities understand the risks and benefits associated with mining, particularly in developing countries where there is often a lack of legislation governing the environmental performance of mining corporations. The perceptions of local people regarding the risks and benefits of mining may differ significantly from those of company representatives, policy makers, and the scientific community. Indeed, public concerns have sometimes been ignored or downplayed by those responsible for the implementation of environmental policies and practices. Examination of the complex social, economic, psychological, political, and cultural factors influencing risk perception in mining communities is thus important for successful risk communication and management. Issues arising from the interplay between socio economic benefits and risks are particularly acute in small island states which have isola ted and highly limited economic development trajectories. The lessons learned in such cases are therefore instructive for crisis planning across the developing world. This study conducted firsthand empirical research into the perception of environmental and health risks in the communities surrounding the Vatukoula gold mine in Fiji. Primary data was obtained through a survey questionnaire designed to quantify and evaluate perceived risks (n= 340, representing approximately 24% of the target population) Concurrently, environmental samples were collected to assess the extent of environmental impacts at the study site. Study results revealed that gender is an important variable in risk perception at Vatukoula. Major findings include: (1) women feel they have less knowledge about the risks of mining compared to men; (2) women feel they have less control to avoid the risks of mining compared to men; and (3) women and men tend to receive risk messages from different sources. The information obtained during this study was made directly available to local stakeholders, to aid in risk management and decision making.

title: Sustainable Development and Mining in Sierra Leone
abstract: The conflicts between pursuing mining activities to foster economic development and protecting the environment in which such activities take place is a recurring dilemma for mineral reliant countries like Sierra Leone. The concept of sustainable development was designed on the international platform to ameliorate such dilemmas. The concept functions as an arbiter to reconcile biases between developmental goals and environmental objectives, by advocating an integration of one in the other. This study presents sustainable development as valuable recipe, by which mining ventures could be pursued as an economic imperative (to meet the needs of present and future generations) while protecting the environment and its components in the pursuit of such developments. The thesis begins with an introduction into mining in Sierra Leone. It illustrates the international breeding of sustainable development in environmental protection (as oppose to economic development) and emphasise the importance of sustainability principles for sound legal and policy guidance at the national level. It also establishes the applicability of the concept to mineral resource developments generally. Mineral specific laws and other legal controls in Sierra Leone are then examined as a case study; their sustainability content is ascertained and their capacity as a legal regime to direct or achieve sustainable mining in that country is explored. Finally, aspects of implementation of sustainable development in Sierra Leone's mining and its domestic implications are examined. This study shows that despite the definitional questions, sustainable development has direct and primary relevance for environmental protection in the economic exploitation of natural resources. It identifies a legal character in the concept beyond legislative processes, and a flexibility in its principles that allows for their interpretation within legal rules to enhance environmental protection at the national level. It also illustrates the link between effective implementation and ensuring sustainable mining.