Environmental change is likely to affect global migration flows in a number of ways. Both long-term trends such as increased flooding and the increasing scarcity of resources as well as shorter term trends like severe weather are likely to contribute to displacement and increased migration for individuals already in vulnerable situations. While often viewed as a negative outcome of climate change, planned migration can also serve as a strategy for mitigating its impact.  

Discussion at launch of this MPI-IOM Issue in Brief, Human Rights, Climate Change, Environmental Degradation and Migration: A New Paradigm, which focuses on the vulnerability of environmental migrants and how the international legal framework can better ensure their protection, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

This issue brief addresses the rights of migrants whose movement is induced by environmental degradation or climate change, particularly in the highly vulnerable Asia-Pacific region. The brief evaluates the current international legal framework, identifies gaps in the framework and its implementation, and reviews options available to the international community.

This MPI event, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), discusses the critical issue of climate-related displacement in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on the vulnerability of environmental migrants and how the international legal framework can better ensure their protection.

Meat industry and trade -- Environmental aspects.

Joseph Antonelli, Maitreyi Mazumdar, David Bellinger, David Christiani, Robert Wright, Brent Coull.

Source: The Annals of Applied Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 257--275.

Abstract:
Humans are routinely exposed to mixtures of chemical and other environmental factors, making the quantification of health effects associated with environmental mixtures a critical goal for establishing environmental policy sufficiently protective of human health. The quantification of the effects of exposure to an environmental mixture poses several statistical challenges. It is often the case that exposure to multiple pollutants interact with each other to affect an outcome. Further, the exposure-response relationship between an outcome and some exposures, such as some metals, can exhibit complex, nonlinear forms, since some exposures can be beneficial and detrimental at different ranges of exposure. To estimate the health effects of complex mixtures, we propose a flexible Bayesian approach that allows exposures to interact with each other and have nonlinear relationships with the outcome. We induce sparsity using multivariate spike and slab priors to determine which exposures are associated with the outcome and which exposures interact with each other. The proposed approach is interpretable, as we can use the posterior probabilities of inclusion into the model to identify pollutants that interact with each other. We utilize our approach to study the impact of exposure to metals on child neurodevelopment in Bangladesh and find a nonlinear, interactive relationship between arsenic and manganese.

Joe Watson, James V. Zidek, Gavin Shaddick.

Source: The Annals of Applied Statistics, Volume 13, Number 4, 2662--2700.

Abstract:
This paper presents a general model framework for detecting the preferential sampling of environmental monitors recording an environmental process across space and/or time. This is achieved by considering the joint distribution of an environmental process with a site-selection process that considers where and when sites are placed to measure the process. The environmental process may be spatial, temporal or spatio-temporal in nature. By sharing random effects between the two processes, the joint model is able to establish whether site placement was stochastically dependent of the environmental process under study. Furthermore, if stochastic dependence is identified between the two processes, then inferences about the probability distribution of the spatio-temporal process will change, as will predictions made of the process across space and time. The embedding into a spatio-temporal framework also allows for the modelling of the dynamic site-selection process itself. Real-world factors affecting both the size and location of the network can be easily modelled and quantified. Depending upon the choice of the population of locations considered for selection across space and time under the site-selection process, different insights about the precise nature of preferential sampling can be obtained. The general framework developed in the paper is designed to be easily and quickly fit using the R-INLA package. We apply this framework to a case study involving particulate air pollution over the UK where a major reduction in the size of a monitoring network through time occurred. It is demonstrated that a significant response-biased reduction in the air quality monitoring network occurred, namely the relocation of monitoring sites to locations with the highest pollution levels, and the routine removal of sites at locations with the lowest. We also show that the network was consistently unrepresenting levels of particulate matter seen across much of GB throughout the operating life of the network. Finally we show that this may have led to a severe overreporting of the population-average exposure levels experienced across GB. This could have great impacts on estimates of the health effects of black smoke levels.

A study of microbial communities at the site of a 1989 deep-sea mining test suggests the fragile ecosystem may take half a century to fully recover

The leader of a First Nation surrounded by oilsands development is frustrated by the Alberta Energy Regulator's decision to suspend a wide array of environmental reporting requirements for oilsands companies.

MY after work walk on Wednesday was a zig zag, following the sun as she headed west.

Several studies have focused on birth weight heritability, reporting results that range between 40% and 80%. Few studies have focused on the process of weight gain and were mainly based on heterogeneous samples of infants.

The present work looks at a uniform set of healthy preterm newborn twins. The resulting high heritability estimate could suggest using the inclusion criteria to identify genes that regulate postnatal weight gain or failure. (Read the full article)

Twin studies provide a natural experiment that can determine the extent of genetic and environmental influences on sleep behavior. Previous studies have indicated that genes contribute moderately to sleep.

In the largest pediatric study to date, we demonstrate that the shared environment strongly influences sleep behavior in infants, with no gender differences in the results. This research provides strong impetus to future work identifying the key modifiable environmental drivers. (Read the full article)

Sleep patterns of adult monozygotic twins are more similar than those of dizygotic twins, showing moderate heritability and little effects of environmental influences. There have been very few genetically informative studies of sleep in preschool children and results appear inconsistent.

From previous studies, we investigated daytime and nighttime continuous sleep duration longitudinally. This is the first time that the etiologies of daytime and nighttime continuous sleep duration trajectories were studied in early childhood. (Read the full article)

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common mental health condition diagnosed in childhood, is highly heritable, and more common in boys. Although studies have identified perinatal risk factors, no one has investigated perinatal risk factors separately in boys and girls.

Contrary to other studies, low birth weight, postterm pregnancy, low Apgar scores, and fetal distress were not risk factors for ADHD irrespective of gender. Early term deliveries increased the risk of ADHD, and oxytocin augmentation in girls may be protective. (Read the full article)

The Institutes of Energy and the Environment, in collaboration with Stewarding Our Planet's Resources, announced two separate community forums aimed at providing reports on existing energy and environmental activities and strategic opportunities as well as soliciting community input and recommendations for the future.

Governor Markell signed House Bill 160 to permit shellfish aquaculture in Delaware's Inland Bays, allowing the state to reap the economic benefits of a multimillion dollar industry while improving water quality in the bays.

Poultry farmer Chris Lesniowski of Marydel has been recognized for his efforts to improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff with the 2015 Delaware Environmental Stewardship Award.

Poultry farmers Ted Layton and Scott Willey have been recognized for their efforts to improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff with the 2016 Delaware Environmental Stewardship Award.

Poultry farmers Randy and Jordan McCloskey were recognized during Delaware Ag Week for their efforts to improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff with the 2017 Delaware Environmental Stewardship Award.

Poultry farmers John and Linda Brown were recognized during Delaware Ag Week for their efforts to improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff with the 2018 Delaware Environmental Stewardship Award.

Agency: NAT Closing Date: 6/1/2020

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control encourages Delawareans to take advantage of its robust collection of online resources.

DNREC filed in Delaware Superior Court on Monday to stop the Public Service Commission from freezing Delaware’s increasing standard for renewable energy.

EPA did not use conservative values for aquatic organisms in draft, Sacc says

DOE released a final programmatic environmental impact statement for Hawaii to provide federal, state and county governments as well as the public and developers with a reference document for project-specific environmental reviews.

Brazil's Institute of the Environment and Natural Resources, Ibama, has decided not to award an environmental license for the Sao Luiz do Tapajos hydroelectric plant, effectively ending development of the controversial 8,000 MW project.

Brazil's Institute of the Environment and Natural Resources, Ibama, has decided not to award an environmental license for the Sao Luiz do Tapajos hydroelectric plant, effectively ending development of the controversial 8,000 MW project.

Genex Power Limited has secured all environmental approvals required to develop the 250-MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro).

U.S. electricity markets face years of higher prices as clean-air regulations shut more coal-fired power plants than earlier forecast, cutting supply and forcing producers to rely more on natural gas.

It’s been a big news day in the U.S. Senate, with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid announcing he won’t run for another term.

U.S. electricity markets face years of higher prices as clean-air regulations shut more coal-fired power plants than earlier forecast, cutting supply and forcing producers to rely more on natural gas.

Sometimes it takes an elevated view to appreciate the big picture. NASA’s iconic “Blue Marble,” taken in 1972, helped inspire the modern environmental movement by capturing the finite and fragile nature of Earth for the first time. Today, aerial imagery from satellites and drones powers a range of efforts to monitor and protect our planet Read article >

The post Earth to AI: Three Startups Using Deep Learning for Environmental Monitoring appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

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In preparation for the forthcoming withdrawal of the UK from the EU, the Government has been amending legislation and regulations relevant to town and country planning, infrastructure planning, environmental protection, air quality, environmental im...

In preparation for the forthcoming withdrawal of the UK from the EU, Scottish Ministers have been amending legislation and associated regulations controlling the requirements and processes of town and country planning and environmental matters. The ...