Browse by: "2015"

Knowledge investment supporting the adoption of environmentally friendly farm practices is a key driver behind innovation processes in agriculture, yet impact evaluations and financial assessments of existing initiatives remain scarce despite dramatic changes in orientation, organisation and intervention. This report examines the role, performance and impact of farm advisory services, training and extension initiatives in the OECD area to foster green growth in agriculture. Based on a series of case studies, the report discusses a range of methodological issues and the merits of the different types of providers, and identifies best practices in sustainable agricultural management.

Volume II of this series compiles the science-based consensus documents of the OECD Task Force for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds from 2009 to 2014. They contain information for use during the regulatory assessment of food/feed products of modern biotechnology, i.e. developed from transgenic crops. Relevant information includes compositional considerations (nutrients, anti-nutrients, toxicants, allergens), use of the plant species as food/feed, key products and components suggested for analysis of new varieties for food use and for feed use, and other elements. These documents should be of value to applicants for commercial uses of novel foods and feeds, regulators and risk assessors in national authorities for their comparative approach, as well as the wider scientific community.

This report summarises the current situation in fisheries and aquaculture, observing that in many parts of the world these sectors are at risk and do not reach their full potential. However, the prospects for sustained growth are good if reforms along the lines suggested by the OECD Green Growth Strategy are undertaken. The report emphasises the need for a strong, science-based approach to stock management for resource sustainability, combined with a transparent and reactive policy development cycle to ensure that fisheries deliver maximum possible benefits. The report shows that improved regulation to deal with environmental externalities and space competition is key to unlocking future growth potential of aquaculture.

This report focuses on the urban water management challenges facing cities across OECD countries, and explores both national and local policy responses with respect to water-risk exposure, the state of urban infrastructures and dynamics, and institutional and governance architectures. The analyses focus on four mutually dependent dimensions – finance, innovation, urban-rural co-operation and governance – and proposes a solutions-oriented typology based on urban characteristics. The report underlines that sustainable urban water management will depend on collaboration across different tiers of government working together with local initiatives and stakeholders.

This report assesses the current trends, drivers, obstacles, mechanisms, impacts, costs and benefits of stakeholder engagement in the water sector. It builds on empirical data collected through an extensive survey across 215 stakeholders, within and outside the water sector, and 69 case studies collected worldwide. It highlights the increasing importance of stakeholder engagement in the water sector as a principle of good governance and the need for better understanding of the pressing and emerging issues related to stakeholder engagement. These include: the shift of power across stakeholders; the arrival of new entrants that ought to be considered; the external and internal drivers that have triggered engagement processes; innovative tools that have emerged to manage the interface between multiple players, and types of costs and benefits incurred by engagement at policy and project levels. This report provides pragmatic policy guidance to decision makers and practitioners in the form of key principles and a Checklist for Public Action with indicators, international references and self-assessment questions, which together can help policy makers to set up the appropriate framework conditions needed to yield the short and long-term benefits of stakeholder engagement.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD) provides information on the sources, use patterns, and potential release pathways of chemicals used as chemical vapour deposition (CVD) precursors in the semiconductor industry. The document presents standard approaches for estimating environmental releases and occupational exposures, and discusses the typical engineering controls used to mitigate exposure to CVD precursors.

Volume I of this series compiles the science-based consensus documents of the OECD Task Force for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds from 2002 to 2008. They contain information for use during the regulatory assessment of food/feed products of modern biotechnology, i.e. developed from transgenic crops. Relevant information includes compositional considerations (nutrients, anti-nutrients, toxicants, allergens), use of the plant species as food/feed, key products and components suggested for analysis of new varieties for food use and for feed use, and other elements. These documents should be of value to applicants for commercial uses of novel foods and feeds, regulators and risk assessors in national authorities for their comparative approach, as well as the wider scientific community.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD) provides information on the sources, use patterns, and potential release pathways of chemicals used in adhesive products, specifically during the use of adhesives in various industries. The document presents standard approaches for estimating the environmental releases of and occupational exposures to additives and components used in adhesive formulations.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD) provides information on the sources, use patterns, and release pathways of chemicals used in industrial cleaning. This document provides a method of estimating emission quantity in the absence of sufficient empirical data to support an analysis of the substitution of one industrial cleaner for another. Among scenarios that are highly likely to occur (as determined by analysing trends in the substitution of cleaning chemicals), possible combinations of currently used substances and their substitutes are focused. Changes in operating conditions and cleaning equipment due to the use of substitute materials are also examined.

This publication provides governments with guidance on the policy options that are available to make the most of private investment opportunities in clean energy infrastructure, drawing on the expertise of climate and investment communities among others. It identifies key issues for policy makers to consider, including in investment policy, investment promotion and facilitation, competition policy, financial markets, and public governance. It also addresses cross-cutting issues, including regional co-operation and international trade for investment in clean energy infrastructure.

Improving resource productivity and ensuring a sustainable resource and materials management building on the principle of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) is a central element of green growth policies. It helps to improve the environment, by reducing the amount of resources that the economy requires and diminishing the associated environmental impacts, and sustain economic growth by securing adequate supplies of materials and improving competitiveness. To be successful such policies need to be founded on a good understanding of how minerals, metals, timber or other materials flow through the economy throughout their life cycle, and of how this affects the productivity of the economy and the quality of the environment. This report contributes to this understanding. It describes the material basis of OECD economies and provides a factual analysis of material flows and resource productivity in OECD countries in a global context. It considers the production and consumption of materials, as well as their international flows and available stocks, and the environmental implications associated with their use. It also describes some of the challenges and opportunities associated with selected materials and products that are internationally-significant, both in economic and environmental terms (aluminium, copper, iron and steel, paper, phosphate rock and rare earth elements).

Ce rapport est le troisième examen environnemental de l'Islande. Il évalue les progrès accomplis par l'Islande en termes de développement durable et de croissance verte, avec un accent particulier sur les aspects environnementaux des politiques énergétiques et touristiques du pays.