Climate Change is a serious threat to all nations across the globe. The climate change effects on developing countries like India and China are adverse as their capacity and resources to deal with the challenge is limited. India has been experiencing disasters such as Floods, Cyclones and Droughts resulting in loss of lives and livelihoods in an increasing manner. Farmers, Women, adolescent girls and children are the worst sufferers. The disasters and its aftermath effect distort their living. Victims take shelter on embankments, railway tracks often under the open sky in the case of floods. Scarcity of food and drinking water compels people to consume minimal. In drought situation, migration is rampant as communities do not find employment in their areas and are forced to migrate to cities or other places where farm based livelihood is available. Climate related mortality is increasing. Poor governance and improper service provision by the government compounds the vulnerability of disaster affected communities in India. EFICOR, with a strong emphasis on community mobilization and people centric advocacy, involves with the most vulnerable community with an approach of community based adapation to climate change. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as adaptation tool is being implemented in flood prone and arid zone (drought) areas of North India.
These programs in sync with the participatory planning process has set up mitigation structures like evacuation routes, tube wells on high-raised platforms to save them being contaminated during the floods and water harvesting structures like check dams, farm ponds, gully plugs, and afforostation as carbon credits. These projects's experiences suggest that a well planned "DRR and adaptation" initiates with community capacity building backed up by common minimum governance measures establishing a resilient community with minimum loss of life and livelihood thus adapting to changing climate. Sustainable development has been a vibrant focus since the beginning of the program. Communities have been informed and empowered to be able to work as pressure groups to get entitlements. There have been sustainable links with the potential corporates, industries and line department to further see sustainable development with long term focus where young generation can able to equipped and work towards sustainable development.

This paper proposes an indicator to assist the evaluation of urban transportation projects, called the Humanistic Evaluation Index (HEI). This index assigns a grade between 0 and 1 to alternative urban transportation projects, which can be to add a humanistic dimension to the decision making process related to the implementation of these projects. The development of the HEI is based on a heuristic model, which was built to take into account imprecise data – such as weather conditions; sound and visual pollution; human welfare; safety; speed and other factors – that is especially important in the assessment of the impact of transportation projects on people and on the environment. The model is capable of dealing with two types of input variables: quantitative, expressed in some unit of measurement, and qualitative, subjectively defined. The latter is obtained from experts in transportation, environmentalists and prospective project end-users. The neuro-fuzzy methodology was employed in the development of the HEI because it brings together the fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks approaches. It is thus appropriate for dealing with complex problems, in which imprecision, vagueness and ill-defined concepts make the use of conventional techniques hopeless.

The bio-accessible fractions of As, Cd and Pb were measured to calculate the soil cleanup levels in a terrain where metallurgical plants and an As2O3 plant had been operating for almost a century. The Mexican environmental regulation method (NOM-147) that only includes the gastric phase was tested comparing it with the PBET method that includes gastric and intestinal phases (Ruby et al., 1996). General parameters and total concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Ag, Tl and V were measured. The soluble fraction of the As, Cd and Pb was determined and the speciation of As was done.
The As concentrations were high in all the area studied. Nevertheless, As(V) was the predominate species in solid wastes with high content of Al, Fe and toxic elements, mainly As, Pb and Cd. These wastes presented relatively low solubility of these elements. As(lll) more toxic than As(V), was detected mainly in soil samples taken around the As2O3 plant. The Bioaccessible percentages determined following the NOM-147 method, varied significantly: As between 10 to 69 %, Cd from 24 to 99 % and Pb from 3 to 99.
The bioaccessible concentrations of Cd and Pb were lower with the PBET method than with the NOM-147 method, probably due to the increase of pH during the intestine phase. In some samples, arsenic concentrations were higher in the intestine phase (PBET method) than in gastric phase (measured by both methods).
Lead bioaccessible percentages measured with the NOM-147 method were higher than those obtained with the PBET method, probably overestimating the potential of lead absorption.
When the NOM-147 data is used to calculate soil cleanup levels, applying the NOM-147 formula, incorrect results are obtained. An alternative approach is proposed in this work in order to avoid the weakness of this regulation, helping the mining industry involved in several important projects of soil remediation. Also, we recommended changes in the extraction equipment required by the regulation, in order to get better reproducibility.

Metallurgical Newco Ferronikeli L.L.C is an industrial complex that produces considerable amounts of Fe-Ni, a product that is very valuable for steel and other industries and for the society development. However, due to the fact that the cleaning systems in this company were not working sufficiently well in accordance with accepted standards regarding the environment pollution, a negative impact is felt in the surrounding environment. In one hand, off gases containing dusts are discharged directly in the atmosphere and on the other, the industrial water is released in the Drenica River, causing water pollution issues in Drenas Municipality and in Kosovo as well.
The aim of this investigation is to establish through a systematic water sampling and chemical analysis a complete quantitative picture of the pollution degree of Drenica River taking into account also the quantity of industrial Ferronikeli Co. waste water released every day in the river without treatment. Based on this work, recommendations will be given on methods and techniques to reduce and/or eliminate the river pollution from this industrial complex.

The present work aimed to achieve valorization of Akrache clay (from Morocco) for the preparation of carbon paste modifier that is commonly used as sensor of pollutants [1]. The collected clay was characterized by different techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), absorption atomic spectroscopy (AAS) and thermal analysis (DSC) [2]. In this work, the reduction reaction of paraquat herbicide was used to obtain analytical signals at clay modified carbon paste electrode (CCPE) using electrochemical techniques in Na2SO4 solutions, at pHƒi7.0, and containing different concentrations of paraquat [3]. Experimental conditions were optimized by varying the accumulation time, clay loading, measuring solution pH and differential pulse parameters. Calibration plots were linear under the optimized parameters over the herbicide's concentration range 5-240¡Ñ10-7 mol L-1, with a detection and quantification limits about 1.63¡Ñ10-9 mol L-1 and 5.43¡Ñ10-9 mol L-1, respectively. The repeatability expressed as relative standard deviation was always less than 2.13%. The method shows a good repeatability and was successfully applied to the determination of paraquat in potato, lemon, orange and natural water samples.
Key words: Clay, paraquat, river water, food, differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry.
References:
[1]:A carbon paste electrode modified with kaolin for the detection of diquat Original Research Article
Applied Clay Science, Volume 43, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 130-134
M.A. El Mhammedi, M. Bakasse, R. Najih, A. Chtaini
[2]: R. E. Grim, Applied Clay Mineralogy, International Series in the Earth Sciences, McGraw Hill, New York, 1962
[3]: Accumulation and trace measurement of paraquat at kaolin-modified carbon paste electrode Original Research Article
Materials Science and Engineering: C, Volume 30, Issue 6, 20 July 2010, Pages 833-838
M.A. El Mhammedi, M. Achak, M. Bakasse, R. Bachirat, A. Chtaini

Electrolysis method is among the promising ones for purification of quarry sewage from copper ions. But Electrolysis method is not widely abundant for copper extraction from diluted solutions (Cu<1 g/l) because of low current efficiency and polarization and because of high voltage at electrolyzer. For copper extraction with a high degree and with a high current efficiency from diluted solutions, we have elaborated a special construction of main electrolyzer with corresponding hydrodynamic regime. The shape and location of the electrodes in an electrolyzer is favorable for fluid motion between the electrodes by high rate and for automatic control of consistency between solution concentration and current density at the electrodes, which is favorable for retention of maximum current efficiency of the product. The reactor operates by hydro cyclone principle. The fluid flow, moving by high rate along the electrodes, removes the cathode product, which is collected on the bottom of conic body (collector) from which it is periodically discharged. In the reactor, a considerable increase of the intensity of the forced convection as well as solving the problem of copper powder removal from the cathodes are attained. An elaborated construction of electrochemical reactor allows to perform the purification of quarry waters from copper ions by high efficiency (95% extraction of copper) at power consumption corresponding to 5-10% of copper cost. Hydro electrometallurgical technology of our elaboration for purification-processing of sewage provides the complex processing by preparation of commercial products: copper ingots of 99,8%; vitriol and other chemical compounds; bio dyes and other pigments; zinc and its powder; brasses of various type; gold; pure water.
Keywords: Electrolyzer, guarry waters, cathode, anode

Historically, metal extraction from mining activities has produced huge amount of waste which contains a lot of toxic metals. Due to the rapid environmental growth, this activity continues to attract the investor of the mining sector. Mining activities have lots of environmental and health impacts. The waste released from mining activities due to its highly acid nature contributes to a lot of environmental problems. Water leaching from the mining wastes might carry many toxic metals such as lead, zinc, copper, cadmium and arsenic. Such waste often possesses a significant threat for the vegetation and human health as well. These environmental and health effects of mining activities have been attracting attention recently and need seriously to be addressed.
The current paper focuses on the impacts of mining and mineral processing on the environment and human health in Mitrovica Region, Kosovo. In line with the problems outlined above the study presents the effects of mining on activities on soil, water and agricultural land within Mitrovica Region and determine and examine the intervention measures of Trepca Mine in ensuring the safety of residents in the surrounding mining area.
Key words: hazardous mining waste, environmental, health impact.

In Kosovo, the environmental impacts from mining results from both historical and ongoing mining operations. The main environmental problems associated with mining operations are soil and air pollution, changes in water quality, sedimentation, acid mine drainage, erosion, loss of biodiversity, high-volume of toxic waste and dust. The Kosovo legal framework that regulates the mining sectors environmental compliance requires all mining projects to go through an environmental impact assessment (EIA) process and to get environmental permits from the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. The Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals also provides technical assistance to the government in all matters related to mines and minerals in Kosovo. The implementation of EIA system in Kosovo is to be seen as an important opportunity to create a stable process of assessing the environmental impacts and increase the environmental policy integration. However, due to the current economic development needs in Kosovo, the EIA system only superficially considers proposed mining projects and does not promote the sustainable development. The current economic development in Kosovo is focused on new planed mining activities that will increase the work of the active industry, while very little attention is given to the remediation options of the old existing facilities that present a continue environmental threat. A special concern is given to the improper supervision of the implementation of EIA as a key process in making the social and environmental accountability in mining projects. This paper presents the EIA process, related legislation, administrative decisions, as well as provides recommendations to improve the EIA system towards sustainable environmental management. It is suggested to take actions to better implement the existing EIA in order to improve the quality of Environmental Impact Statements and Management Action Plans of mining corporations and to increase the participatory process of the EIA among relevant governmental authorities, corporations/companies, nongovernmental organizations and communities.
Key words: Environmental Impact Assessment, Kosovo, sustainable management.

New financial instruments linked to new technologies and renewable projects.
Financial markets are following renewable developments into a low carbon economy.
Albert will describe and discuss some new designs in finance:
• ESCO, the Energy Service Companies, a growing number of ESCO's are serving building owners to upgrade their energy efficiency level.
• How is an ESCO working and what does it imply for both owner and financier?
• GREEN bonds are a very fast growing market, how are they used for renewable finance?
• China, the fastest moving renewable project developer in the world. Overlook of this market and what large multilateral organisations like World-bank and IFC are doing to stimulate developments.
• New carbon market to come in CHINA and its impact.
With broad experience in financial markets and an active role as carbon consultant in Turkey and China, there might be interesting points for you to follow.

Corporation staff are normally sent abroad with the goal of helping companies strategies for making their businesses international. This is mostly carried out by global players, specially those from energy, metal and mining sector as shown by the statistics below.
35.4 % Energy, metal, mining, chemistry, building supplies
16.1 % Automobile
9.7 % Telecommunication, IT-Services and Media
9.7 % Medical Services
9.6 % Financial Institutions and Insurance
6.5 % Travel and logistics
6.5 % Consumer goods
6.5 % Trade
Such expatriation procedures are associated with high expectations, as it involves considerable investments per employee. This is more valid during economic recession, where most of the multinational companies are cautious in sending staff abroad. Frequently, they rely on more experienced personnel, as these employees reduce the risks connected with their period of stay abroad. Although there has been a steady increase in numbers of these employees, in 2014 statistical numbers show a stable or slight decrease. In spite of this, the process of sending staff abroad is well understood to play an important role in foreign direct investment.
Expatriate tasks include starting relations with local partners and build on these relations successfully. This is more difficult in regions such as the Near East or Asia because approximately one third of the expatriates fails and returns home. In developing countries and the Near East, this rate is even higher, 70 to 80%. In such cases, customers will be lost or expensive projects will be jeopardised. If expatriates do not find an equivalent position on returning home and decide to quit the employment, important knowledge about the foreign culture and the market will be lost. In the worst case scenario, long term business contacts will cease.
In this point of view, the preparation and training of employees for a successful work abroad is a complex task for personal management. Companies should put policy in place to properly prepare the employees that will be working internationally and prevent expatriates confronting problems in their new position.
The selection of expatriate candidates is a very important process that can be improved by using suitable selection criteria. All aspects of sending employees abroad, such as selection, preparation, support and re-integration, are interrelated and should reach a synergy.

Stainless steelmaking slags are suitable for application in road construction. However, it exists environmental concerns regarding the utilization and landfilling of stainless steel slag by virtue of the presence of heavy metals and especially to the leachable quantities of hexavalent chromium. Hexavalent chromium has been identified as a priority pollutant by Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) as a result of its carcinogenicity, toxicity and mutagenicity. Leaching tests are used to help to quantify toxic inputs due to mobilization of contaminants and the pH is one of the main parameters that helps to determine heavy metal mobility of waste materials. This paper discusses the use of pH leaching tests (Method 1313 US EPA) as a tool to assess the potential mobilization of trivalent and hexavalent chromium from stainless steelmaking slags. The method consists of parallel batch extractions of solid material, each one with an aliquot of either dilute acid or base. The total chromium concentration of the leach solutions was measured by inductively couple plasma optical emissions spectrometry (ICP-OES) and the hexavalent chromium concentration was measured by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy.

Lean manufacturing is one of the most stringent manufacturing productivity tools. Developed countries have aggressively pursued the strategy of implementing lean manufacturing and other productivity improvement tools, which has resulted in major improvement in their production output. Since the late 1990’s Nigeria manufacturing industry has suffered a decline in their production level which has resulted in low productivity in some factories or in some cases outright shutting down of the plant. The aim of this study is to investigate the implementation of lean manufacturing adoption in the Nigerian manufacturing industry. The study was conducted using primary and secondary data. The primary data were obtained through a questionnaire survey while the secondary data was obtained from peer-reviewed articles. Results emanating from the study revealed that most manufacturing companies are not familiar with productivity improvement tools such as lean and also there is a lack of technical know-how of implementing the tools.

The emerging nanotechnological products increase relevance in study of nanoparticles as part of waste. The physical and chemical properties of these emerging pollutants (EPs) are not well understood. For this reason, electrochemical measurements and quantum chemical calculations of metallic nanoparticles in simulated solutions were performed to study their redox properties, esp. focused on changes after interaction with environment. The underground water, simulated acid rain solution and Hank solution as simulated human body fluid were used for assessment of dissolution rate and corrosion properties of Fe, ZnO and Ag nanoparticles. The dramatic change of redox behaviour for nanoparticles was observed in addition of antioxidant agents into the solution. Total inhibition effect of dissolution process of ZnO anchored by vitamin C may be explained by the redox properties of organic molecule. The performed quantum-chemical calculations show that the electrons are transferred from vitamin C to nanoparticle and the radicals are suppressed. The paper in general deals with case study considering nanoparticles as part of waste.

In the last years, Chile has been the largest copper producer worldwide, producing this metal by two routes: pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes.
However, these processes generate several harmful wastes like acid drainage, flotation tailings, smelter slags and flue dusts, acid effluents, among others.
Government has passed several environmental regulations to control and handle waste generation, such as air standards for sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and arsenic from smelters, as well as a new law on mine closure including a financial guarantee; and another law about waste handling and recycling. Additionally, several initiatives are being carried out to handle abandoned mining waste, mainly flotation tailing, with the purpose to avoid pollution.
On the other hand, local copper industry has implemented several technologies to handle and manage these wastes and reach the environmental standards. Additionally, it has carried out a lot of research treating to recover metals contained, mainly copper, molybdenum, iron ore, among other less important.
In this context, this paper will review environmental regulations established in Chile affecting copper mining industry, as well as initiatives for waste management with focus in metal recovery.

Photocatalysis play an important role in dealing with today's challenging demand for wastewater treatment technologies. Among the photocatalysts, TiO2 is believed to be the most promising presently known material due to its superior photocatalytic activity, non-toxicity, long-term stability and low price. However, the lifetime of reactive oxygen species is relatively short under UV irradiation, which often led to a partial mineralization of organic pollutants. Mesoporous TiO2 has been considered to be a promising photocatalyst owing to its advantages such as high specific surface area and multidimensional framework. The modification of TiO2 with precious metals can alter the charge-transfer properties between TiO2 and the surrounding environment, thus improving the performance of TiO2 nanomaterials-based devices.
In this study, mesoporous TiO2 prepared by a templating sol-gel method was modified with precious metals such as Ag, Au and Pd. Photocatalytic activity of doped and undoped mesoporous TiO2 were evaluated under simulated solar light irradiation on real wastewater effluents sampled in the output of wastewater treatment plant located in the North of France. This study clearly demonstrated that the doped TiO2 photocatalysts present better activity than undoped ones.

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