11
December 2008 - Carbon-based nanoparticles
can inhibit the growth of rapidly growing
bacteria in the soil as well as fertility
in earthworms. This is revealed by new experiments
at the National Environmental Research Institute.
Johansen, A, Pedersen,
AL, Jensen, KA, Karlson, U, Hansen, BM,
Scott-Fordsmand, JJ & Winding, A 2008.
'Effects of C60Fullerene Nanoparticles on
Soil Bacteria and Protozoans', Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry, vol. 27, nr. 9,
1895-1903.
Scott-Fordsmand, JJ,
Krogh, PH, Schaefter, M & Johansen,
A. 2008.The toxicity testing of double-walled
nanotubes-contaminated food to Eisenia veneta
earthworms. Ecotoxicology and Environmental
Safety71 (2008), 616-619. doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2008.04.011
Read more about the results (in Danish)
in DMUNyt no. 22
Also in DMUNyt:
Evaluation of nanotechnology's
effects on the environment and humans
Nanotechnology is widely
defined as technology that occupies itself
with materials in the range of 1-100 nm,
which corresponds to the thickness of a
strand of DNA up to that of a typical virus.
It is a relatively new technology, even
though a range of nanomaterials have always
existed in our environment. However, scientists
create new nanomaterials from a wide variety
of elements, either in their pure form or
in combination.
Vurdering af nanoteknologiens effekter på
miljø og mennesker
Contacts: Senior scientists Anders Johansen
+ More
Valuation of nature
and cultural goods.
11 December 2008 - This
project report aims at adding to the development
of methods used to value public goods, focusing
of developments and tests of importance
for the practical policy relevance of stated
preference methods used for evaluating nature
and environmental projects. When used for
practical decision making in Denmark the
credibility of the methods and results has
been questioned, among other reasons because
the aggregated benefits have shown to be
very high compared to the costs. Several
causes for overestimated aggregate benefits
are examined in this report, and split samples
are used for testing these potential causes
for overestimation and biased aggregation.
The tests are applied
in a CE-study of the Danish population’s
willingness-to-pay for a nature restoration
project in the Store Aamose area in Western
Zealand, which is supposed to improve biodiversity
and recreational opportunities as well as
continued preservation of significant, cultural
heritage sites buried in the top-soil in
this specific agricultural area.
The results are ambiguous
but the authors compiles and discusses advantages
and disadvantages of the different approaches.
The report is written
in Danish with an English summary.
Contact: Senior scientist Berit Hasler
+ More
Plan for the aquatic
environment fails on nitrogen
11 December 2008 - Measures
in the Danish Actionplan for the Aquatic
Environment III are not sufficient to reach
the desired reduction in nitrogen leaching
from agriculture in 2015. To date the plan
therefore has had no decisive effect in
the form of reduced nitrogen leaching to
the aquatic environment.
On the other hand, the
desired halving in agriculture's phosphorous
excess will be reached. Finally, the plan's
aim of establishing a further 50,000 hectare
of uncultivated buffer zones is far from
being fulfilled - on the contrary, this
extent of this area is on the decline.
