Dispatches

In May, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced approval for use of the Yamaha Corporation's RMAX, a remotely piloted helicopter that can apply pesticides in hard-to-reach agricultural locations such as hilly vineyards. Even though this is the first time that a drone has been granted approval for pesticide application in the US, the RMAX is already being put to work elsewhere. “It's so common in Japan, it's looked at just like a tractor in the field”, says Steve Markofski, Yamaha spokesperson (Cypress, CA). The RMAX, which weighs ~94 kg when full of liquid, is smaller than the average helicopter but larger than the drones often used for gathering video footage. Grape growers in California have been anxiously waiting for information about its costs. Rather than being sold to individuals, the RMAX will be leased through a franchise arrangement and will probably be operated mostly by technicians already trained and licensed for pesticide application, according to Markofski. The Yahama RMAX has been approved for the spraying of pesticides in the US. Although there is little data available, many think that drone usage could reduce chemical treatments. “The technology allows targeted application of pesticides, which can help us avoid the use of more chemicals later on”, explains Ken Giles, Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California–Davis. He thinks of drones as a new tool for Integrated Pest Management. But that versatility is also giving some pause. “My concern is that this might actually increase the agro-industrial footprint”, warns Keith Bildstein, Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (Kempton, PA). “Areas not now being treated might become open to development.” The impact of drones on birds of prey is not well understood, but when footage of a hawk attacking a small drone was posted to YouTube last year, the video became enormously popular with those concerned about wildlife conservation, demonstrating the public's interest in the issue. David Bird, editor of the Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems and Professor Emeritus at McGill University (Victoria, Canada) points out that smaller drones burn less fuel than their existing counterparts and in numerous other ways can be “greener”. Many people have developed negative attitudes about drones due to portrayals in movies and other media, but the vehicles can also be operated in ways that could minimize potential harm to wildlife. Industry and agricultural development are likely to incorporate them into daily work, one way or another. “Unmanned aerial vehicles are a game-changing technology”, Bird concludes. A recent survey of 351 Chinese cities, conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development and released in early May, indicated that 62% had experienced at least one flooding event between 2008 and 2010. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the country's municipalities are facing serious water shortages. In response to these issues, China has now launched a “Sponge City” project – sponge cities are those that use green roofs, pervious surfaces, and redesigned water systems to absorb, store, and reuse rainwater more efficiently. Previously, all the rain that fell onto a city's impermeable surfaces (including roofs, roads, and sidewalks) flowed into nearby rivers via an underground sewage system, speeding up the urban water cycle and reducing the amount of water available for use in times of water scarcity. Conversely, deluges from rainstorms would overwhelm the sewage system and cause innercity flooding. The Sponge City concept aims to improve urban-runoff control by 70–75% by 2020. Sixteen cities of varying sizes and in different regions have been selected for a 3-year pilot project. Each city will design its own plan, and will receive a US$200–300-million grant from the Central Government, which local government agencies and private enterprises are expected to match. “We used to locate green space on elevated ground within residential areas, so that people could get a better view of it and its aesthetic value was maximized”, says urban designer Wei Zhang (UA Design, Beijing, China), “but now most green spaces need to be situated in depressions to catch runoff more efficiently”. One pilot project, in the Guangming district of Shenzhen City, successfully captured and reused 70% of runoff by installing green roofs and permeable pavements, and by moving green space to low-lying areas. The Olympic Forest Park in Beijing – a mixture of sports facilities (soccer, basketball, and tennis) and walking trails – is another pilot project for “sponge” technologies. The park is able to maximize runoff collection through the use of its green spaces, permeable pavements, and a water filtration system that passes the captured runoff through wetlands and ponds and reuses it for irrigation. Due to the filtration system's 4700-m3 storage capacity, very little water accumulated on the park's road surfaces even during severe rainstorms. Microbial mats – communities of organisms, including bacteria, that naturally occur in hypersaline environments – show promise for treating the vast amounts of wastewater produced during hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” operations, according to a recent study (Environ Sci Technol 2015; doi:10.1021/es505142t). During fracking, millions of liters of fluid are injected into wells to open fissures in subsurface rock, allowing natural gas or petroleum to be extracted. The water-based fluid includes granules that keep the crevices open, as well as a number of chemicals – including organic compounds such as guar gum. Once the well starts operating, much of that fluid returns to the surface as wastewater, often containing high concentrations of salt and other minerals picked up from the rock. Treatment of this wastewater presents challenges due to its high salinity and the presence of organic materials, says study co-author Kyle Bibby, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA). The fluid can potentially be reused for fracking at other wells, but toxic biocides must first be applied to kill microorganisms that would otherwise grow on the organic compounds in the waste and potentially clog drilling equipment. Wastewater can also be purified through processes such as reverse osmosis, but components like guar gum foul the membranes used in these procedures. The concentrated saline waste cannot be sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants, and disposal by reinjection into deep wells has been associated with earthquakes. Bibby and his team investigated whether microbial mats, which have been previously used in other bioremediation settings, could remove the problematic organics as a first step in treatment. The researchers cultured microbial mats that removed between 45% and 66% of guar gum from synthetic wastewater that contained up to three times as much salt as seawater. They also tested the mats with wastewater from wells in southwest Pennsylvania, and discovered that the microbes removed organic compounds faster than from the synthetic wastewater, according to Benay Akyon (University of Pittsburgh, PA), the study's lead author. The results suggest that microbial mats may reduce the need for biocides and make it easier to further treat fracking wastewater using other methods. “The vision is that you could simply place mats in holding tanks, treating the water as it's collected”, Bibby explains. Genetic analysis suggested that the bacterial community adapted to the salinity level of the fluid, so the same mats could be used for water from different wells. The method also holds potential for other applications, such as industrial processes that produce wastewater with high salt levels, he adds. Canada's Ontario Province will become the first jurisdiction in North America to cut the use of neonicotinoid pesticides when proposed regulations take effect on July 1, 2015. The action comes after a series of winters with record high honeybee deaths followed by acute summertime die-offs linked with neonicotinoid use, explains Robert Bilyea, a senior policy advisor with Ontario's Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (Toronto). Dominating the insecticide market since their introduction in the 1990s, neonicotinoids, or “neonics”, are neurotoxins that kill insects by disrupting nerve synapses. Neonics coat 100% of corn seed and 60% of soybean seed sold in Ontario. When the seeds germinate, the insecticide penetrates all plant parts and contaminates nectar and pollen harvested by bees. The compounds also wash off into soils and streams. Last year, a group of scientists released a review of 800 scientific papers on neonics (Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2014; doi:10.1007/s11356-014-3277-x), concluding that the insecticides persist in the environment and affect global biodiversity by harming pollinators, earthworms, aquatic insects, and birds, says Madeleine Chagnon, a biologist at Université du Québec à Montréal (Montreal) and an author of the review. To reduce acute risk to bees, the European Union in 2013 placed a 2-year ban on neonics, to be reviewed this year. Ontario hopes to save bees by cutting neonic insecticide use by 80%. “Europe has a ban, but we're advancing an IPM [Integrated Pest Management] approach in Ontario for corn and soy growing”, Bilyea says of the new regulations. During 2016, farmers may only use treated seeds for up to 50% of their crop. Thereafter, growers may purchase treated seeds only after taking IPM training and submitting a report confirming they have had pest damage to their crop. Ontario has set a goal of reducing neonic-treated seeds by 80% by 2017. As part of a broader pollinator-health action plan, the province is developing an environmental monitoring program for neonics, Bilyea adds. Chagnon points out that a 2014 US Environmental Protection Agency analysis showed that neonics had no impact on soybean yield. “So the product is useless to protect food production and at the same time threatens ecosystem services, such as pollination, that support food security”, she points out. In late April, athletic company Adidas (Herzogenaurach, Germany) announced that it is partnering with the group Parley for the Oceans (New York, NY) to begin incorporating plastic refuse retrieved from oceans and coastal areas into its clothing and shoes, as well as phasing out the use of plastic bags in its retail stores worldwide. This long-term initiative will focus on communication and education, research and innovation, and direct actions to reduce ocean plastic, according to the Adidas press release. Cyrill Gutsch, Founder of Parley for the Oceans, says, “An important part of the partnership is to look at the virgin plastic that is being used right now and to cut down what is possible. That makes a big difference right away. Then – together – we're creating innovative production methods, materials, and new product design concepts, which will hopefully inspire other industries to follow and establish a new way of collaborative thinking between creators, environmentalists, and major brands”. The laundry room – a little-known source of plastic waste in the oceans. Maria Westerbos, Founder and Director of the Plastic Soup Foundation (Amsterdam, Netherlands), applauds the fact that companies like Adidas want to help solve the ocean plastic problem but says that “making clothes and shoes from ‘plastic soup’ [sea-based plastic waste] is not a solution”. She emphasized that synthetic clothing, such as artificial fleece, is one of the biggest sources of plastic microfibers making their way to the world's oceans. Westerbos points to a new effort by a European research consortium to tackle the issue. Launched in late January, the EU Life+ Mermaids project is a cooperative effort between Italian, Spanish, and Dutch researchers to reduce the amount of microscopic synthetic fibers released through the process of washing clothes. The group says that up to 200 000 fibers can be released in one load of washing, a number that it aims to reduce by at least 70% in Europe, possibly through the treatment of clothes or fibers with protective substances. “It would be a lot more meaningful if clothing companies were to support the development of washing machine filters that can stop the plastic fibers from entering the environment”, continues Westerbos. “That way they would actually contribute to the reduction of plastic soup. It would give a new meaning to the term ‘greenwashing’.” Gutsch hopes to keep addressing the problem from as many angles as possible, including raising consumer awareness through the production of materials made from ocean plastic. “We can only fix this through collaboration”, he insists. “If people know and are given alternatives, they do the right thing.” India's National Green Tribunal has directed the government to phase out diesel-run automobiles older than 10 years in a bid to decrease air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. This is the first time such a step has been proposed to address air pollution in India. The nation's capital, along with adjoining towns that make up the NCR, contains 8 million vehicles. The ban will not affect taxis and public transport buses, which already use compressed natural gas. The proposal has evoked mixed reactions from experts. “Aging vehicles are known to be more polluting. Phasing them out, therefore, will improve air quality. Whether the impact is substantial or not, it does not diminish the importance of such measures”, asserts Ashish Verma, Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore, India). However, the New Delhi-based independent research group UrbanEmissions.info has presented data showing that the ban will only marginally affect air quality, bringing average ambient PM2.5 concentrations – particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size –down from 150 micrograms per cubic meter (μg m−3) to 143 μg m−3. “This is because the percentage of older automobiles is relatively small, and 10-year-old vehicles are driven 40% less than newer vehicles”, explains Geetam Tiwari, Professor of Transport Policy at the Indian Institute of Technology (New Delhi, India). Experts also fear unintended environmental impacts from the ban. “The local government lacks infrastructure and technology to deal with the scrapping of older vehicles in huge numbers in an environmentally friendly manner. Discarded automobiles may end up being sold in neighboring states”, defeating the purpose of the ban, cautions Nalin Sinha, Director of the Initiative for Transportation and Development Programmes (New Delhi, India). Verma suggests that a longer-term solution would be to implement measures like higher taxes on personal cars and charges for driving in congested areas – both of which could discourage ownership and usage of private vehicles – along with developing public transport and infrastructure for non-motorized transport. Tiwari agrees: “Nearly 45% of trips in Delhi are shorter than five kilometers. Even if 30% of these trips shift to bicycles, there can be a substantial reduction in pollution level.” Commercial agriculture and forestry (A&F) are the business sectors most responsible for biodiversity loss worldwide; however, a recent report from IUCN (http://bit.ly/1H3ruat) has laid the theoretical groundwork for such companies to not only mitigate their environmental damage but also have a net positive impact (NPI) on biodiversity. The authors – a team of business and conservation experts – define (within a framework for implementing NPI goals) two conditions under which an NPI approach may be feasible in A&F: the first, whereby native biodiversity is enhanced onsite; the second, whereby production species are diversified or natural resource use efficiency is improved onsite and natural habitats offsite are protected from conversion. The publication marks an important step toward meeting the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2020. “Out of 32 companies that have made public NPI commitments, not a single one is directly in the agriculture or forestry sectors”, says lead author Deviah Aiama (IUCN, Gland, Switzerland), adding that, “based on data from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, agriculture and forestry are threatening over four times more globally threatened species than the extractive sector, and close to twice as many as the infrastructure sector”. Businesses in the resource extraction and infrastructure (E&I) sectors are increasingly making NPI commitments, driven largely by public policy, financial-sector standards, and company operational and reputational risks. The IUCN report draws on several major differences between the A&F and E&I sectors to explain why the former lag behind the latter in declaring NPI goals. For example, “one of the difficulties with A&F is that they are often dealing with a wide variety of land users, compared to mining or infrastructure projects, which are almost always large scale”, explains Aiama. Such giant operations must in turn comply with progressively more stringent international financing standards “that mandate that those projects are net positive for critical biodiversity values”, according to report co-author Steve Edwards (IUCN, Gland, Switzerland). Despite the NPI commitments made by E&I companies, very few have actually begun to fully implement them. Conversely, the NPI approach may have improved chances for success within A&F. For instance, mining and infrastructure are generally limited by where deposits are located or where infrastructure is needed, while farms and woodlots can be more flexibly planned to avoid areas of conservation value and to rehabilitate degraded lands. Additionally, “better stewardship of the environment would actually be commercially beneficial [to A&F projects]”, observes Jo Treweek, environmental impact assessment consultant at eCountability Ltd (UK). 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He had expected them to because municipal waste contains of the food produced for people worldwide. 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