The public and economic aspects of the functioning of protected areas within a commune

Between 2009 and 2013, research was conducted in the commune offices for the Podlaskie voivodeship which have large areas of protected Natura 2000 sites. The research is repeated every few years and widened to include new communes. The aim of the research was to determine the influence of the protected areas on the economic conditions of the communes. It is widely assumed that protected areas generate income for communes, however the communes claim that they incur large additional costs. The surveyed communes were critical of obligatory legal requirements in relation to the protected areas. It was argued that there are problems with obtaining natural resources and with the establishment of new summer resorts, residential and farm buildings and infrastructure; as well as the use and management of the site. The communes’ benefits incidental to the ownership of the protected area are not clear. As part of the benefits, the protected areas offer an opportunity for tourism development. According to the communes, protected areas generate losses in which the estimated losses are several times higher than the potential income. Studies indicate that the conservation cost factor should be considered in terms of financing the communes from the state budget.

Benefits of Xin’an River Water Resources and Ecological Compensation

Ecological compensation is being applied to deal with transboundary external effects caused by water resources conservation or exploitation in China. A concept of water resources co-conservation and sharing was applied to burden the upstream conservation cost and to share the benefit in the whole river basin. Xin’an River Basin, related to two provinces in East China, was taken as the study area. The current territorial scales of the co-conservation area and the benefit sharing area were determined. The total actual water conservation cost for Xin’an River Basin was estimated to be about 488 million CNY in 2006. By analyzing the transformation of protection costs and benefits between different districts and sections, benefits brought by water to different beneficiaries were also estimated. The conservation cost was distributed to the water users or governments in the whole sharing area according to the proportion of shared benefits.

Our Boiler Feedwater Pumps Just Do Not Perform Like Before

This article discusses the performance problems associated with process water pumps. It highlights that at a boiler steam load in the 25% to 40% range, an automatic recirculation (ARC) valve is simply not accurate enough to detect a minimum pressure differential change of possibly 1–2 psig when the boiler drum level control valve closes for short-duration process demand changes. Converting the ARC valve to an electronic controller does not work reliably either. The amperage change is difficult to discern at low feedwater flow rates. Failure of the valve to open is a recipe for pump cavitation and becoming “steam bound.” If the boiler trips on “low water,” plant production can be affected immediately. For larger boilers with high-capacity, high-horsepower feed pumps, the ARC valve often becomes an energy conservation (cost) issue.

Putting a Price Tag on Conservation: Cost Benefit Analysis of Venezuela's National Parks

The article discusses the use of cost-benefit analysis to assess conservation efforts, and applies this technique to Venezuela's National Parks Systems to assess how much Venezuela should spend in managing its National Parks. As with any major environmental decision, this calls for more than economic criteria. Social values, science and politics all affect environmental decisions, and economics should be but one factor considered. Nonetheless, cost-benefit analysis provides a valuable tool and a framework for improved understanding of the tradeoffs among different factors.