Environmental Policy Commons^™

Evaluating The Preparedness Of Local Zoning Regulations For Flood Risk Reduction In The Most Affected Local Jurisdictions In Nebraska, Md Asaduzzaman Noor

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Flooding has profound social, economic, and environmental impacts on local communities, and zoning plays a critical role in mitigating these risks. The 2019 Nebraska floods, among the most severe in the state’s history, highlighted the urgent need to strengthen local preparedness and mitigation strategies. This study assesses the extent to which local zoning regulations in Nebraska’s most affected jurisdiction, including rural areas, address flood risk reduction. A systematic review of 117 zoning ordinances from counties, cities, towns, and villages, we applied a structured analytical framework encompassing regulatory and permitting policies, voluntary and incentive-based measures, and nature-based solutions. The results show …

Bridging Conservation And Disaster Recovery: A Dual Study On Wetland Program Plans Evaluation And Midwest Post Disaster Recovery Assessment, Rao Nargis Jahan

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Wetlands provide essential ecological, social, and economic benefits for our society. In the United States, states and tribes play crucial roles in wetland protection, restoration, and management. However, no research has systematically measured state-level wetland planning efforts towards national conservation goals. This study is the first to comprehensively evaluate how state-level Wetland Program Plans (WPPs) align with national missions, particularly the "no-net-loss" of wetlands goal. Our research assesses the EPA-approved state-level WPPs from 42 out of 50 states in the United States during the period from 2015 to 2024. Using a protocol of 30 indicators across five categories, this study …

Flood Resilience Through Working-Land Conservation: Assessment Of Wetland Inundation Dynamics Across Wrp, Wma, Wpa, Padus And Crp Lands In Nebraska (2018–2024), Pranjay Joshi

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This study first confirms whether Nebraska’s wetlands are still functioning hydrologically in ways that reduce flood impacts. Wetlands are known to lessen flood damage by storing water, slowing runoff, and moderating peak flows, but these benefits depend on the wetlands’ ability to maintain inundation and saturation through time. Many wetlands across the state have undergone drainage, hydrologic alteration, or isolation from surrounding watersheds, raising uncertainty about their present-day functioning. Using seven years of Sentinel-2 imagery processed in Google Earth Engine, this research establishes a clear, long-term record of inundation patterns across thousands of wetland parcels. This analysis verifies which wetlands …

Data-Driven Evaluation Of Sustainable Waste-To-Energy Pathways For Intelligent Urban Systems, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

The handling of municipal solid waste (MSW) in swiftly urbanizing Philippine cities poses intricate energy and governance challenges. In Baguio City, reliance on landfills has reached critical levels due to diminishing capacity, rising transport costs, and opposition to trash transfers by nearby LGUs. Although shaped by unique topographical and governance constraints, Baguio’s situation reflects issues faced by other rapidly growing Philippine cities; therefore, analyzing it offers insights for national MSW decision-making. This study applies a triple bottom line (TBL) framework to assess three management scenarios: (1) Status Quo, where all MSW is landfilled with no energy recovery; (2) Landfill with …

Engineering Risk And Indigenous Resilience Toward Intelligent Decision Support For Mining In Ancestral Lands, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

Mining within ancestral territories reveals an ongoing conflict between technical viability and Indigenous consent. This collaborative study, conducted by an engineering scholar and a policy researcher of Indigenous heritage in Benguet among the Ibaloi and Kankanaey peoples, investigates how risk transparency and policy alignment can bridge existing divides, while formulating principles applicable to other Indigenous mining contexts. The study provides an initial evaluation of the feasibility of a proposed large-scale mining operation within a risk-informed, data-driven governance framework. Three elements of engineering risk were assessed utilizing literature-derived and proxy parameters: (1) Land degradation is indicated by a Soil Productivity Index …

Safety, Security, And… Beavers? An Engineer's Low-Tech Climate Strategy, Matt Mullins

University College: Environmental Policy and Management Capstones

Colorado’s headwaters are the source of drinking water to millions and are a key pillar of the state’s tourism industry. Consequently, they are some of the most vulnerable areas to natural disasters including wildfires, droughts and flooding. Climate change will increase the severity and frequency of these natural disasters. This project focuses on some of the most vulnerable areas from an economic and climate change perspective of Colorado’s headwaters including the Big Thompson River, and the Colorado River. These headwaters located in and around Estes Park, Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park are currently severely impaired. Low-tech process-based restoration …

Public Support For New Agricultural Best Management Practices To Protect Florida Water Quality, Sadie Hundemer, Madison A. Dyment, Matthew Gold

Journal of Extension

Recent research finds that changes to land management practices in geographically vulnerable areas of Florida could substantially reduce groundwater contamination; however, water quality improvement comes with tradeoffs. A change in land use or the adoption of new agricultural best management practices (BMPs) would have economic and cultural implications for farmers, rural communities, taxpayers, and the state as a whole. In two studies, we examined Florida residents’ support for alternative land management policy options, the considerations contributing to their policy preferences, and how preferences and considerations vary across demographic characteristics.

Wine-Rs Or Losers: Assessing The Socio- Economic Impact Of Eu Regulations On Climate-Exacerbated Pests And Diseases In Northern Italian Viticulture, Kyley Fishman

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

As climate change creates extreme weather events, unprecedented disease and pest infestations, European farmers are challenged by these threats. Balancing sustainable and traditional practices while maintaining socio-economic stability under European Union agroregulations can be extremely difficult. An area of concern for the EU is viticulture, which is among the most climate-sensitive agricultural sectors. My study examines in what ways the EU’s regulations addressing climate-exacerbated pests and plant diseases influence the socioeconomics of different vineyard farms in Northern Italy. Three key socio-economic findings emerged from the analysis. First, top-down and research-driven management strategies can subvert local, place-based knowledge, which undermines traditional …

U.S. Water Infrastructure: Diving Into Needs And Recent Policy Developments, Joseph Kane

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled, "U.S. Water Infrastructure: Diving Into Needs and Recent Policy Developments" by Brookings fellow in Brookings Metro, Joseph Kane. Whether providing drinking water, treating wastewater, or managing stormwater, water infrastructure in the United States spans a wide range of human-made and natural systems. In turn, the enormous scale and variety of these systems is leading to an array of challenges: aging and vulnerable infrastructure; fragmented governance and siloed planning across different geographies; a lack of financial, technical, and managerial capacity; difficulties adapting to new industrial and …

Urban Heat Islands In Mountain West Cities, 2024, Mia Tschan, Krish Sharma, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Environment

This fact sheet presents data on Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) in six cities across five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are derived from the 2024 Climate Central report, “Urban Heat Hot Spots in 65 Cities,” which includes data on how UHIs boost temperatures in 65 major cities across the United States. This fact sheet focuses on UHIs in six Mountain West cities: Albuquerque, NM; Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Salt Lake City, UT; and Tucson, AZ.

Using Markets To Decarbonize, Jonathan H. Adler

Popular Media

"Traditional environmental regulation is not powerful enough for problems on the scale of climate change."

Examining The City Of Philadelphia’S Proposition Bill #250768 “Stop Trashing Our Air Act” By Addressing Waste Management And Environmental Justice Challenges In Chester City, Pennsylvania And The Philadelphia Region, Dylan Wascavage

Student Publications

This paper offers a policy analysis of the City of Philadelphia’s "Stop Trashing Our Air Act" by summarizing the reasoning for the bill's call to action, its legislative background, identifying key players and their strategies, and how these strategies reflect philosophies of environmental governance and the policy cycle. It seeks to inform local community members and policymakers of the implications of this bill, to highlight the lack of state and federal intervention on this issue, and to address the environmental justice and pollution concerns of the Covanta waste incinerator in Chester City and its neighboring communities. It also aims to …

Addressing Climate Vulnerability And Policy Gaps Of Heat Waves In Upper Egypt: The Case Study Of Al-A’Qaab Village In Aswan, Eman Abdullah

Theses and Dissertations

Heatwaves are currently one of the most dangerous climate hazards globally. Egypt is experiencing an increase in the intensity and frequency of heatwaves, which affects health, economy, infrastructure, and the ecological system. Upper Egypt is one of the most vulnerable regions in Egypt to rising temperatures, particularly in Aswan Governorate. The risks of heat waves are increasing vulnerability among vulnerable groups, such as women and low-income individuals. However, there is a clear gap in protection policies against heat waves, along with a lack of studies examining the effects of heat waves on individuals in Aswan. Accordingly, this thesis aims to …

Early Signs The Eu Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism Is Reshaping Eu-India Steel Trade, Gian Luca Vriz, Theodor Florian Cojoianu, Carolyn Fischer, Luca Taschini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study examines early signals of the EU CBAM's impact on iron and steel exporters from India by integrating firm-level export data with third-party estimates of manufacturers' emissions and production. Changes in trade flows and pricing during the CBAM reporting phase indicate that high-emission-intensity firms have decreased both their average unit prices and shipment sizes to the EU, while low-emission-intensity firms have not changed shipment behavior and may have benefited from increasing prices. Such supply chain adjustments are in line with EU policy intentions, creating opportunities for low-emission producers while reducing reliance on high-emission suppliers to the EU.

Cwu's Electronic Waste Management: A Success Story In Sustainable Practice, Srijita Gurung

Journal of the Symposium of University Research and Creative Expression

Project Mentor(s): Susan Rivera, PhD; Kevin Lomax

Purpose: This research examines how Central Washington University (CWU) manages electronic waste (e-waste) to promote economic, environmental, and equitable sustainability practices. In February 2024, Computer Support Services (CSS) started a computer reconciliation project, which is vital due to the Windows 10 operating system going end of life after October 14, 2025, and no longer receiving software support. This project tracks and documents the life of electronic assets, with a focus on the role of Surplus and IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) companies. Method: The primary research methods involve interviews, and online research of active …

Rising Waters, Falling Taxes: The Impact Of Hurricane Sandy On Property Tax Assessments In New York City, Wei Guo, Qing Miao, Yusun Kim, Yilin Hou

Center for Policy Research

Climate disasters pose fiscal challenges for local governments by increasing recovery costs and demand for property tax relief. Homeowners with or without property damage face tax burdens that may not match changes to their property value. This study examines the impact of Hurricane Sandy on property values and tax assessments in New York City. Using a difference-in-differences approach and comprehensive property-level data, we find that (1) inundated properties faced greater tax burdens due to limited declines in taxable value; (2) unaffected properties in flood zones saw tax burden increases due to declining market values and unchanged taxable values; and (3) …

Criminalising Ecocide For Climate Justice And Global Security, Norain El Gebely

COP30

The climate emergency is deepening and needs urgent attention involving radical, binding, and multilateral measures. Ecocide is the large-scale and deliberate destruction of ecosystems which undermines human security, destabilizes the fragile states and increases geopolitical tensions. It has been contended in this policy brief that ecocide needs to be internationally criminalized pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to place environmental destruction firmly within the scope of global peace and security. The proposals promote climate justice by prioritizing certain countries, which include Equatorial countries, industrializing high emission countries and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through …

Climate Justice Across Borders: Responding To Ecocide And Displacement, Camila Micheletti Flores

COP30

This policy paper examines how climate change accelerates cross-border displacement, especially in regions most vulnerable to ecocide and environmental degradation. Climate refugees remain unprotected under international law, as the 1951 Refugee Convention excludes environmental grounds for asylum, leaving populations exposed to human rights violations and securitized responses. It analyzes legal and institutional gaps, highlighting failures in global climate governance and the disproportionate risks faced by SIDS and other affected regions. The paper calls for COP30 to mandate a high-level UNFCCC forum on climate displacement and ecocide to build a just, cooperative, and rights-based international framework.

Cop-30 Simulation Report Ignite And Insight: A Global Mutirão, Anes Saadi

COP30

The first Global Stocktake (GST) certifies that there is a widening gap between our collective ambition and the real-world deliveries. And while the COP29 did set a new climate finance floor of US$300 billion/yr by 2035, the science however showed that this is far below developing country needs, and the current trajectories still overshoot the Paris 1.5 C limit. With the most recent updates, Article 6 market rules are now in full operation. That is inclusive of a mandatory 5% "share of proceeds" for the Adaptation Fund; it is an underused lever to channel resources to the frontline communities (UNFCCC, …

Learning Platforms: A Future In Environmental Education Or A Motionless Present?, Nazareno Calvo

COP30

In a global context marked by the climate crisis, environmental education and training have taken a different path, adapting to current technologies. It is in these circumstances that learning platforms (from now on LP’s) emerge, changing the way we learn and perform around climate change. This type of web app can provide remote knowledge, and has taken on a growing role the last few years. However, despite their potential, challenges remain, such as inequality in digital access, poor variety of languages and cultural adaptation, a lack of media outreach, and the absence of assessments of their real impact on communities …

Cop 30 Simulation Invisible Emissions, Visible Suffering: Conflict, Climate, And The Gst Gap, Mostafa Labib

COP30

The Global Stocktake (GST) at COP30 faces a critical risk of producing an incomplete climate assessment because it excludes emissions generated from wars and destruction as well as displacement within Fragile and Conflict-Affected States (FCAS). The 39 FCAS states which have the smallest responsibility for global warming emit large amounts of conflict-related greenhouse gases that match the annual emissions of small nations although these emissions are missing from Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and GST reports. The missing data in global climate accounting creates an inaccurate picture which unfairly penalizes FCAS for their uncontrollable circumstances while undermining climate justice. Climate change …

Engaging And Utlilising Smes In Global Stocktake And Climate Action A Policy Paper, Alice Nelson

COP30

The first GST concluded that the current rate of climate action, the terms of the Paris Agreement will not be achieved and will only remain achievable with a significant increase in action (UNFCCC, 2023). Yet despite this, policy pertaining to the GHG emissions and climate action of SMEs remains limited therefore leading to their underutilisation with GST follow up actions. Furthermore, SME are particularly vulnerable to climate hazard related costs, which present significant risk to global economic stability due to their contribution to global GDP and crucial role in supply chains. This paper identifies that low SME engagement in climate …

Theme 7: Global Stocktake & Cop30 Implementation Agenda, Karam Abuodeh

COP30

The first Global Stocktake (GST) at COP28 showed what many feared: current national plans are not enough to keep warming near 1.5C. The GST is an accurate, urgent diagnosis, but a diagnosis without a delivery plan will not change outcomes. This paper recommends that COP30 adopt a practical Globally Determined Contribution (GDC) as a shared benchmark and gives concrete ways to link that benchmark to national planning, measurement, and finance. Three pillars are essential: (1) an operational GDC with transparent allocation rules and a UNFCCC-hosted technical panel to publish annual syntheses; (2) mandatory, time-bound integration of GST findings into NDCs, …

Climate Transparency Pact (Ctp) For Post-Gst Accountability A Policy Framework For Strengthening Global Climate Governance Through Transparency, Incentives, And Behavioral Insights, Sandy Elnenay

COP30

The Climate Transparency Pact (CTP) is an actionable proposal to bridge the credibility gap in the Paris Agreement's Global Stocktake (GST). While the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) sets a reporting structure, it remains largely voluntary and lacks strong compliance measures. The result is clear: despite successive COP negotiations, global temperature projections remain at 2.5-2.9C above pre-industrial levels (UNEP, 2023), threatening ecosystems, economies, and human security. Drawing upon Dr. Robert Cialdini's six principles of persuasion, the CTP is built not only as a legal instrument but also as a behavioral framework: Authority: Embedding the CTP under UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body for Implementation …

Willingness To Pay For A Restored And Protected Watershed: Evidence From The Countryside, Sherrie Ann Cananua-Labid, Julie Ann M. Quilatan, Lovely Rose A. Bolante

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Climate change and human activity have severely degraded watersheds, jeopardizing their sustainability. The willingness of residents to pay for watershed management is essential for developing sustainable environmental protection efforts. This study determined the respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) for the restoration and protection (RP) of the Ulot Watershed of Samar Island Natural Park using a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation approach. The researchers used the Kish grid method to draw respondents from 150 households. The study revealed that families with an average annual income of approximately $2746.70 were ready to contribute $0.78 per month, or $9.36 annually, to the watershed …

Realizing Nepa’S Reasonable, Productive, And Enjoyable Harmony: The Fiscal Responsibility Act’S Amendments And Implications For Practitioners, L. Sheldon Clark, Catherine E. Kanatas, Maxwell C. Smith

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the “Magna Carta” of environmental protection, serves two important purposes: providing (1) decision makers and (2) the public with a federal agency’s assessment of the impacts that may occur from its proposed or selected course of action before the agency acts. Despite frequent criticism about NEPA reviews causing costly project delays, NEPA’s procedural requirements and framework had remained unchanged for more than 40 years. That all changed with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA). The writing on the NEPA wall is now very clear: agencies must now produce shorter NEPA analyses with a …

Regulatory Impacts On Us Hazardous Waste Exports, Xiaofan Ji, Mengyu Wang, Tianyi Zhang

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

This paper examines the impact of key domestic and international regulations on US hazardous waste exports, focusing on shifts in export destinations and waste types from 2002 to 2023. Since 2005, OECD countries and US Trade Agreement Partners have become primary destinations for US hazardous waste, with significant surges after 2018 and a notable decline in 2022. An analysis of the regulatory landscape reveals that, while international frameworks such as the Basel Convention of 2021 have had a relatively limited impact on reducing US hazardous waste exports, domestic policies—particularly those in California—have more directly influenced export behaviors. Additionally, the US …

Compensation, Horizontal Diffusion, And Bottom-Up Pathways: State Climate Policies In The United States And Australia, Ian Bailey, Roger Karapin

Publications and Research

Recent years have seen growing interest in subnational governments as arenas of climate governance, but limited systematic research exists on the extent, conditions, or pathways through which subnational climate policies can influence, or compensate for deficits in, national policies. This article addresses this gap by examining options for states to influence climate policy in the United States and Australia, two countries where federal governments have made limited progress in developing national climate policies. As an analytical framework, it conceives a typology of state government approaches to climate policy that distinguishes among compensating, horizontal diffusion, and bottom-up pathways. It then uses …

Identifying Latent Workforce Capacities For Extreme Heat Resilience: An Artificial Intelligence Assisted Approach, Jieshu Wang, Patricia Solís

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Extreme heat events, intensified by climate change, pose critical challenges to public health, infrastructure, and workforce resilience. Despite the urgency of these challenges, there is no systematic framework to identify workforce adaptive capacities that can help build regional heat resilience. This study introduces a novel large language model assisted approach, using task-level data from the O*NET dataset, to identify workforce capacities that enhance heat resilience. By defining heat-solution tasks as activities mitigating heat impacts, protecting public health, or improving infrastructure, we classify heat-solution occupations and dual-impact occupations, which are both vulnerable to heat and critical to heat resilience. A case …

Hunting Lease Comparisons For Wild Game Across Nebraska In 2025, Jim Jansen

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Survey and Report 2024-2025 provides insight into recent trends in the market value of land and cash rental across the state. Each year, the special feature section covers topics on new or emerging issues related to the agricultural land industry in Nebraska. These topics reflect the interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Reports. The special feature section in 2025 focuses on hunting rental arrangements in Nebraska, including the types of wild game commonly hunted and the value associated with leasing these rights.

Landowners seeking to …