Analysis Tool for Environmental Impact of Seafloor Resources Development

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joji Yamamoto ◽  
Hideyuki Oka ◽  
Yasuharu Nakajima ◽  
Shotaro Uto ◽  
Shunji Inoue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Resource Development ◽  
Benthic Organism ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Support Tool

The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Japan has a very wide area due to a lot of islands in Japanese Archipelago. As the worldwide supply and demand of natural resources and foods are being tight, the technology for the effective use of the EEZ will become the key for the sustainable development of Japan. From this background, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) started an R&D project of floating offshore platform technologies in 2007[1]. In this project an integrated design support tool is developed for evaluating the economical and safety aspects of the offshore platforms. This tool contains the function to estimate an environmental impact of seafloor resource development. We postulated the process of seafloor resource development as follows. The ores mined on seabed are sent up to the platforms as a mixture of the ore particles and water, then the waste water containing inorganic suspended particles is discharged into sea. The particles exhausted in the sea are transported by the advection and diffusion, and sink gradually on seafloor. We developed an analytical code simulating the distribution of discharged particle in both sea and sediments by a simple technique. Mass Consistent Flow Model is used to save the time in the calculation of ocean flow. In addition, the ecosystem model in sediment is developed to estimate the ecological impact of seafloor resource development. It includes benthic organism, zooplankton, bacteria, and particulate organic matter as the components. The ecological impact was assessed based on the recovery period of the biomass. In this paper, the outline of this environmental impact analysis tool and results of the trial calculation for seafloor resource mining are shown.

Research and Development of Offshore Platforms for SMS Mining: Part 1—An Integrated Design Tool of Offshore Platforms

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiki Chujo ◽  
Shigesuke Ishida ◽  
Kazuhiro Yukawa ◽  
Yasuhiro Namba ◽  
Yasuharu Nakajima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Safety Assessment ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Offshore Platforms ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Design Support Tool ◽  
Seafloor Massive Sulphides

The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Japan has a very large area because Japan consists of many islands. As the worldwide supply and demand of natural resources and food are being tight, the technology for the effective use of the EEZ will become the key for the future development of Japan. From this background, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) started an R&D project of floating offshore platform technologies in 2007. In this project an integrated design support tool, called “Harmonic Design Tool”, has been developed for evaluating economical and safety aspects of the offshore platforms. At the first stage, the tool makes the basic planning based on many kinds of relating datasets. In the second and third stages, safety assessment and economic evaluation are carried out by datasets and numerical simulation programs. In this paper the outlines of the total tool, each stage, some technical components and a trial estimate for seafloor massive sulphides (SMS) mining platform are presented.

scholarly journals Linkage of Sustainability to Environmental Impact Assessment Using Ecosystem Services Concept; Lessons from Thailand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanokporn Swangjang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
Mitigation Hierarchy ◽  
Health Impact Assessments

Abstract Ecosystem Services (ES) could support Environmental Assessments (EAs) purpose towards sustainable approaches. This study systematically analyzed the ES contents of Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) to ascertain whether they addressed appropriate data that could be used as a tool for sustainable project implementation. Three levels of EISs including Environmental Health Impact Assessments (EHIA), Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), and Initial Environmental Examinations (IEE) were analyzed. The results indicated that the quality of EISs which reflect the ES depended primarily on the project type. Relationships among ecological, social and economic components, based on land use consideration were crucial to consider the supply of resources and the demands made by the project. However, indirect effects, especially residual and cumulative impacts and alternative evaluations were lacking. Mitigation and monitoring specifications were satisfied, but could not guarantee the efficiency of project control due to lacking of mitigation hierarchy. The weakness of ecological impact analysis directly concerned biodiversity compensation, which links to net loss and net gain in ecosystem.The possibility of ES integration in EAs was reflected by the limitations and opportunities detailed in the content which was finally developed.

scholarly journals Linkage of sustainability to environmental impact assessment using ecosystem services concept; lessons from Thailand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanokporn Swangjang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
Mitigation Hierarchy ◽  
Health Impact Assessments

Abstract Ecosystem Services (ES) could support Environmental Assessments (EAs) purpose towards sustainable approaches. This study systematically analyzed the ES contents of Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) to ascertain whether they addressed appropriate data that could be used as a tool for sustainable project implementation. Three levels of EISs including Environmental Health Impact Assessments (EHIA), Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), and Initial Environmental Examinations (IEE) were analyzed. The results indicated that the quality of EISs which reflect the ES depended primarily on the project type. Relationships among ecological, social and economic components, based on land use consideration were crucial to consider the supply of resources and the demands made by the project. However, indirect effects, especially residual and cumulative impacts and alternative evaluations were lacking. Mitigation and monitoring specifications were satisfied, but could not guarantee the efficiency of project control due to lacking of mitigation hierarchy. The weakness of ecological impact analysis directly concerned biodiversity compensation, which links to net loss and net gain in ecosystem.The possibility of ES integration in EAs was reflected by the limitations and opportunities detailed in the content which was finally developed.

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