Managing the World’s Natural Treasures

Greeting from the Australian National University in Canberra, where the book "Protected Area Governance and Management" has been launched by the Ambassador

to the EU. The complete text is available free on-line (in PDF of individual chapters, whole book and ePub formats) and it is designed so that chapters can be used in a course for free.

Table of Contents

Cover

• Preliminary pages
• Sponsors
• Figures
• Tables
• Acknowledgments
• The Editors
• Foreword

1. Introduction
2. Concept, Purpose and Challenges
3. Earth’s Natural Heritage
4. Earth’s Cultural Heritage
5. Social and Economic Influences Shaping Protected Areas
6. Values and Benefits of Protected Areas
7. Governance for the Conservation of Nature
8. Managing Protected Areas
9. Capacity Development
10. Benefiting from Complexity Thinking
11. Knowledge Generation, Acquisition and Management
12. Leadership and Executive Management
13. Planning
14. Engagement and Participation in Protected Area Management: Who, why, how and when?
15. The Media and Protected Areas
16. Managing Threats
17. Climate Change and Protected Areas
18. Geoconservation in Protected Areas
19. Managing Freshwater, River, Wetland and Estuarine Protected Areas
20. Marine Protected Area Management
21. Managing Protected Areas for Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Functions
22. Managing Cultural Uses and Features
23. Visitor Management
24. Managing Operations and Assets
25. Managing Resource Use and Development
26. Managing Incidents
27. Connectivity Conservation Management
28. Protected Area Management Effectiveness
29. Conclusion

• Index

ps: The book contains stunning photographs, but unfortunately this makes the downloads very large (59 MB for the whole book). I have suggested ANU Press produce a version of less than 6 MB, to make it more suitable for students to download. 

pps: The ePub version of the book can be unzipped to extract a HTML version of chapters or sections for use in study.

Growing the Green ICT Sector in Europe

Mr. Leo Brincat, Maltese Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, has called for Green ICT to Boost Green Growth and Create Green Jobs in Europe, at an EU Environment Council Meeting (Government of Malta Press Release 7 March 2015). I am not sure what the Minister had in mind, but I have been teaching ICT Sustainability at the Australian National University (ANU) and designing a new course in "Innovation: Commercialisation and Intrepreneurship in Technology" to help students start-up their own business. I plan to be in Europe in late June for the 10th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE 2015). ANU has a Centre for European Studies funded jointly with the European Commission. I would be happy to discuss green ICT for growth with government and industry while in Europe.

European e-Competence Framework

The European Union issued the "European e-Competence Framework" (version 2.0) in November 2010. The e-CF lists 36 ICT competences for ICT practitioners. This is similar to Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and the UK Government Knowledge and Information Management Professional Skills Framework (GKIMPS) but intended for international use. However, unlike SFIA which has been actively used and updated, the eCF seems to have been developed and then forgotten.

e-CF has five proficiency levels, spanning European Qualifications Framework (EQF) levels 3 to 8. The top level in this scale is a doctorate/PHD. In comparison, SFIA has seven (GKIMPS has four). e-CF has 32 competences in five areas, whereas SFIA 96 skills in six categories.

The eCF has four "dimensions", described in "European e-Competence Framework 2.0":

1. 5 e-Competence areas, derived from the ICT business processes PLAN – BUILD – RUN – ENABLE – MANAGE
2. A set of reference e-Competences for each area, with a generic description for each competence. 32 competences identified in total provide the European generic reference definitions of the e-CF 2.0.
3. Proficiency levels of each e-Competence provide European reference level specifications on e-Competence levels e-1 to e-5, which are related to the EQF levels 3 to 8.
4. Samples of knowledge and skills relate to e-Competences in dimension 2. They are provided to add value and context and are not intended to be exhaustive.

The 32 competences look very similar to SFIA:

A. PLAN

A.1. IS and Business Strategy Alignment
A.2. Service Level Management
A.3. Business Plan Development
A.4. Product or Project Planning
A.5. Design Architecture
A.6. Application Design
A.7. Technology Watching
A.8. Sustainable Development

B. BUILD

B.1. Design and Development
B.2. Systems Integration
B.3. Testing
B.4. Solution Deployment
B.5. Documentation Production

C. RUN

C.1. User Support
C.2. Change Support
C.3. Service Delivery
C.4. Problem Management

D. ENABLE

D.1. Information Security Strategy Development
D.2. ICT Quality Strategy Development
D.3. Education and Training Provision
D.4. Purchasing
D.5. Sales Proposal Development
D.6. Channel Management
D.7. Sales Management
D.8. Contract Management
D.9. Personnel Development
D.10. Information and Knowledge Management

E. MANAGE

E.1. Forecast Development
E.2. Project and Portfolio Management
E.3. Risk Management
E.4. Relationship Management
E.5. Process Improvement
E.6. ICT Quality Management
E.7. Business Change Management
E.8. Information Security Management
E.9. IT Governance

Interoperability of mobile devices for crisis management

The report "Interoperability of mobile devices for crisis management", provides the results of a 2012 EU workshop and a successful field  experiment in mapping using mobile devices.

In general, the experiment was a success: all data feeds reached the eOSOCC, all teams left on time, and
there were no major problems during the field exercise. Devices were able to use either GPRS/3G or were
able to utilize the available WiFi network hotspots on site to transfer their data.
The final map with all incoming feeds in the eOSOCC was very cluttered due the great number of devices,
field teams, and different systems. The eOSOCC team leaders reported that there was considerable
information overload. As much as 328 entities of information (placemarks, tracks, polygons, etc.) were
simultaneously streamed to the eOSOCC. Therefore sophisticated editing, filtering, and visualization
functionalities (e.g., multiple views) have to be available for OSOCC staff.
6By the time the first teams arrived back from the field, most information had been processed and was
available on a summarized situation map. The eOSOCC team then converted the available information in a
priority list and action items. After each team leader was consulted to confirm and correct information, the
eOSOCC was ready for presentation, including an electronic map and action documents.
The pOSOCC leaders used the A0 map they produced for presentation and they had an overview of the
priorities which they marked also with post-it notes. They did not prepare any documents in writing to be
shared or communicated.
Both paper and electronic OSOCC reached similar situation awareness. The final map based briefing
material is almost identical with very few exceptions. Interestingly both OSOCC teams made mistakes with
regard to the exact positions. The mistakes of the eOSOCC team made in transferring accurate data to the
briefing material underline the need for an OSOCC software suite covering the whole workflow of
procedures essential in OSOCC operations.
The outcomes showed that both paper and electronic OSOCCs reached a similar situation awareness in the
same time, identifying similar needs and locations for prioritization, but only the eOSOCC had products
available as sharable electronic maps and documents. The pOSOCC would need at least 30 minutes to come
to the same result. The other advantage of the eOSOCC was the possibility to monitor a situation changing
over time and the possibility to keep track of the situation (awareness) evolution....

From  Interoperability of mobile devices for crisis management", Outcomes of the 1st JRC ECML Crisis Technology Workshop on Mobile Interoperability for International Field Deployment, by Markus Rester, Tom De Groeve, Alessandro Annunziato, Daniele Galliano, Andreas Hirner, Luca Vernaccini, Stefano Paris , European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, 12-13 March 2012

Accessibility requirements for ICT in Europe

The European Commission (EC) has issued a draft of "Accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe".

The EC daft  calls up the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, which recently became an international standard(ISO/IEC 40500 2012). This is unlikely to be controversial. More contentious are the requirements for Real Time Text (RTT, telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or in Australia teletypewriter, TTY), where there are differences in national standards.

There is an overview in "Digital Agenda: Commission proposes rules to make government websites accessible for all" (EC, IP/12/1305, 03/12/2012) and a list of the draft documents in "European Accessibility Requirements for Public Procurement of Products and Services in the ICT Domain" (European Commission Standardization Mandate M 376, Phase 2).

Australia to Join European Emissions Trading System

The Australian Government and European Commission have agreed to link the Australian and European carbon emissions trading systems, by 1 July 2018. Australian and European businesses will be able to buy and sell carbon units on the Australian emissions trading scheme and the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

The linking will require the minimum price set for carbon in Australia to be removed to make it compatible with Europe. The lower price of carbon in the European system may cause some adjustment problems for Australia.

The linking also has implications for how, and if, Australia runs its own on-line system for carbon trading. The Australian Government was tendering for a carbon trading system. But it may be simpler to use the European system directly. There have been problems with the security of the European system, but these should be resolved by 2018.

European Data Protection Changes

The European Commission has proposed changes to the EU's 1995 data protection rules. What has got most attention is a proposed "right to be forgotten", but there are also proposals to streamline the reporting for business and queries for citizens. At present businesses have to register with each national data authority where they do business and citizens have to esquire with the relevant national authority. Under the new scheme the business will deal just with the authority where they are headquartered and will just have to tell them when there is a data problem. Citizens will be able to ask the authority where they are about any business anywhere. The EU has published a comprehensive list of materials. An easy place to start is the media release:

... Key changes in the reform include:

• A single set of rules on data protection, valid across the EU. Unnecessary administrative requirements, such as notification requirements for companies, will be removed. This will save businesses around €2.3 billion a year.

• Instead of the current obligation of all companies to notify all data protection activities to data protection supervisors – a requirement that has led to unnecessary paperwork and costs businesses €130 million per year, the Regulation provides for increased responsibility and accountability for those processing personal data.

• For example, companies and organisations must notify the national supervisory authority of serious data breaches as soon as possible (if feasible within 24 hours).

• Organisations will only have to deal with a single national data protection authority in the EU country where they have their main establishment. Likewise, people can refer to the data protection authority in their country, even when their data is processed by a company based outside the EU. Wherever consent is required for data to be processed, it is clarified that it has to be given explicitly, rather than assumed.

• People will have easier access to their own data and be able to transfer personal data from one service provider to another more easily (right to data portability). This will improve competition among services.

• A ‘right to be forgotten’ will help people better manage data protection risks online: people will be able to delete their data if there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it.

• EU rules must apply if personal data is handled abroad by companies that are active in the EU market and offer their services to EU citizens.

• Independent national data protection authorities will be strengthened so they can better enforce the EU rules at home. They will be empowered to fine companies that violate EU data protection rules. This can lead to penalties of up to €1 million or up to 2% of the global annual turnover of a company.

• A new Directive will apply general data protection principles and rules for police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The rules will apply to both domestic and cross-border transfers of data.

The Commission's proposals will now be passed on to the European Parliament and EU Member States (meeting in the Council of Ministers) for discussion. They will take effect two years after they have been adopted. ...

From: "Commission proposes a comprehensive reform of data protection rules to increase users' control of their data and to cut costs for businesses", Press release, European Commission, Brussels, 25 January 2012

... Article 17 provides the data subject's right to be forgotten and to erasure. It further elaborates and specifies the right of erasure provided for in Article 12(b) of Directive 95/46/EC and provides the conditions of the right to be forgotten, including the obligation of the controller which has made the personal data public to inform third parties on the data subject's request to erase any links to, or copy or replication of that personal data. It also integrates the right to have the processing restricted in certain cases, avoiding the ambiguous terminology “blocking”. ...

(53) The principles of fair and transparent processing require that the data subject should be informed in particular of the existence of the processing operation and its purposes, how long the data will be stored, on the existence of the right of access, rectification or erasure and on the right to lodge a complaint. Where the data are collected from the data subject, the data subject should also be informed whether they are obliged to provide the data and of the consequences, in cases they do not provide such data. Any person should have the right to have personal data concerning them rectified and a 'right to be forgotten' where the retention of such data is not in compliance with this Regulation. In particular, data subjects should have the right that their personal data are erased and no longer processed, where the data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which the data are collected or otherwise processed, where data subjects have withdrawn their consent for processing or where they object to the processing of personal data concerning them or where the processing of their personal data otherwise does not comply with this Regulation. This right is particularly relevant, when the data subject has given their consent as a child, when not being fully aware of the risks involved by the processing, and later wants to remove such personal data especially on the Internet. However, the further retention of the data should be allowed where it is necessary for historical, statistical and scientific research purposes, for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, for exercising the right of freedom of expression, when required by law or where there is a reason to restrict the processing of the data instead of erasing them.

(54) To strengthen the 'right to be forgotten' in the online environment, the right to erasure should also be extended in such a way that a controller who has made the personal data public should be obliged to inform third parties which are processing such data that a data subject requests them to erase any links to, or copies or replications of that personal data. To ensure this information, the controller should take all reasonable steps, including technical measures, in relation to data for the publication of which the controller is responsible. In relation to a third party publication of personal data, the controller should be considered responsible for the publication, where the controller has authorised the publication by the third party. ...

From: Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation), COM(2012) 11 final 2012/0011 (COD), European Commission, Brussels, 25.1.2012

Regulation of Electronic Communications in the European Union

Dr Marialuisa Costa, will speak on "The Regulation of Electronic Communications in the European Union: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges", at the Australian National University in Canberra, 6 October 2011, 11:00am to 12:30pm:

The Regulation of Electronic Communications in the European Union: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges

Dr Marialuisa Costa, ANU Centre for European Studies

Thursday 6 October 2011, 11:00am – 12:30pm

Over the past two decades the regulation of electronic communications in the European Union has undergone significant development. These changes have been motivated by a combination of technological innovations and the adoption of new regulatory strategies consistent with a liberalisation of the sector and the aim of creating an integrated and vigorous market for electronic communications across EU member countries. This seminar will explain and analyse the main changes in the regulatory framework that the EU institutions have created. Several challenges were overcome in the process of developing a harmonised regulatory framework and effective intra-European competition, but other challenges remain. The seminar will discuss the lessons learned, and will identify a number of future regulatory issues that may need to be resolved.

Dr Marialuisa Costa holds a Bachelor of Law (Honours) Cum Laude from Sapienza, University of Rome. She recently completed her PhD in Economic and Market Law at the Scuola Superiore ISUFI (SSI), Department of Euromediterranean School of Law and Politics, University of Lecce. Dr Costa has served as Contributing Writer and Editor of the Legal Encyclopedia at The Institute of Italian Encyclopedia in Treccani. During her stay at the ANU Centre for European Studies she has started a new research project on the extent to which the principle of proportionality may be applied as an effective and appropriate constraint on decision-making in the regulation of electronic communications in Europe and Australia.

Venue:ANU Centre for European Studies, 1 Liversidge Street (Bldg 67C), Canberra

Parking: please see the Visitor Parking Map

RSVP:europe@anu.edu.au by by Wednesday 5 October

ANUCES is an initiative involving four ANU Colleges (Arts and Social Sciences, Law, Business and Economics and Asia and the Pacific) co-funded by the ANU and the European Commission.

Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture

Istanbul has been designated as a "2010 European Capital of Culture" by the European Union. There are a lot of cultural things to see and do in Istanbul, but you would be hard pressed to find them from the official web site. Most useful is the calendar of events. See also my Istanbul by Public Transport.

There are two official documents. Unfortunately, while these must be magnificent in printed format, with high quality photos of the city, they are too large and cumbersome when translated into PDF documents. It is a shame some of this effort was not put into making a more usable web site. The official web home page had 255 HTML Validation errors and is not mobile friendly.

One document is the "Istanbul 2010 2010 European Capital of Culture Program". This is 137 pages of PDF (15 Mbytes):

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION / 4
Hayati Yazıcı / 6
Hüsamettin Kavi / 7
Sekib Avdagiç / 8
Yılmaz Kurt / 9
ISTANBUL 2010 ECoC OPENING ACTIVITIES / 10
ISTANBUL 2010 ECoC BRUSSELS LAUNCH / 12
OTHER EUROPEAN CAPITALS OF CULTURE FOR 2010 / 15
Pécs / 16
Ruhr / 18
ISTANBUL 2010 ECoC PROJECTS / 21
Vısual Arts / 22
Musıc / 40
Theatre and Performıng Arts / 62
Fılm Documentary Anımatıon / 76
Tradıtıonal Arts / 84
Internatıonal Relatıons / 92
Urban Culture / 108
Educatıon / 120
Lıterature / 126
Cultural Herıtage and Museums / 136
Urban Implementatıons / 150
Urban Projects / 166
Marıtıme / 184
Corporate Relatıons / 190
Promotıon / 198
Parallel Actıvıtıes Supported by Istanbul 2010 / 210
ISTANBUL GUIDE / 233
EVENT CALENDAR / 242
INDEX OF PROJECTS / 256

The second publication is the Istanbul 2010 Magazine (49 pages, 14 Mbytes of PDF):

AGENDA
10 Cultural and art events calendar
14 Private museums
20 Interview HAYAT‹ YAZICI, Minister of State:
“2010 is the year in which change begins”

HERITAGE
28 Yenikap›: Istanbul 8,500 years ago
Discovering the future in the trails of the past
Tsunami and pickle effect
36 An ArcheoPark in Küçükyal›
40 Sur-i Sultani will be protected
The Story of the Strategic Plan for Sur-i Sultani
44 First city museum to be founded on the Islands
46 Interview ‹LBER ORTAYLI, President of Topkap› Palace Museum “2,000 Years of Common Heritage”

CITY'S ENERGY
50 Interview
OYA ECZACIBAfiI:
"Istanbul will be a stage for arts and life to act upon"
54 Interview PAUL MCMILLEN and HAKKI MISIRLIO⁄LU, creative directors of Istanbul 2010 ECOC Agency's domestic and international promotional campaings
60 Literature
40 books, 40 authors, 40 districts: “‹stanbulum”
64 Art is Everywhere!

Works and Lives in Istanbul
Portable Arts
Photography Parade
Kad›rga Art Production Centre
70 Cinema
1001 Istanbuls in My Binocular
Cinema Lies as the Heart of Istanbul
At›f Y›lmaz Studio
74 European Culture Award goes to “41º-29º ‹stanbul Network”
75 Istanbul’s Century-Long Transformation: 1910-2010 exhibition
76 Istanbul on the stage!
First Istanbul International Opera Festival
Seond Istanbul International Ballet Competition
Dance, theatre, music: Barbarossa
80 Classical Turkish Music is being archived
82 Inspired
84 Symbols of the City
90 Books and CDs on Istanbul
92 Leaving trails behind

EU Culture Capital is a well deserved honour, but curious as:

1. There are three such capitals for 2010: the other two are Essen in Germany and Pécs in Hungary
2. Istanbul is not a member of the EU
   
3. Only half of Istanbul is geographically in Europe, the other half is in Asia.
   

European Draft Environmental Handbook

The European Commission has invited Consultation on the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook by 31 August 2009. Unfortunately the invitation to comment is written in almost unintelligible bureaucratic language. It was difficult to work out from the invitation what it was comments were being invited about. The documents themselves are much better written than the request for comment and are poorly served by it.

Five PDF files are provided, which appear to be the manual, although the word "manual" is not used:

1. General guidance document for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
2. Specific guidance document for generic or average Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data sets
3. Analysis of existing Environmental Impact Assessment methodologies for use in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - Background Document
4. Framework and requirements for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) models and indicators
5. Review schemes for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and annex on Reviewer qualification

Below is the executive summary of the general guidance document. While well written, it suffers from having been poorly formatted as large PDF files. The distribution of documents in this format is contrary to sound environmental practice. It should be replaced with an efficiently formatted web document which meets accessibility standards.

I have suggested the documents be reformatted to achieve 80/100 with the W3C mobileOK Checker and pass Priority 1 and 2 tests on a automated accessibility test. This will make it easier for people, and web search engines, to read the document and also reduce its carbon footprint by 90%.

Executive summary

Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are moving into the core of modern environmental policies and business decision support.

Life Cycle Assessment is a structured, internationally standardised method and management tool for quantifying the emissions, resources consumed, and environmental and health impacts that are associated with goods and services (“products”). LCAs take into account the product’s full life cycle: from the extraction of resources, production, use and recycling, up to the disposal of remaining waste. LCAs help thereby to avoid resolving one environmental problem while creating another: They avoid the so-called “shifting of burdens”, e.g. from one part of the life cycle to another, amongst different types of impacts on the natural environment and on human health, and amongst countries.

This guidance document is a component of the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). It provides a detailed technical guidance to the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards on LCA, differentiated by four main decision contexts. The overall objective is to provide a common basis for consistent and quality-assured life cycle data and robust studies. These are required in support of coherent and reliable policies and robust decision support in the public and private sectors and related to products, resources and waste management.

Background / The International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD)

The International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) has been established to support the use of consistent and quality-assured life cycle data and methods in the public and private sectors.

The ILCD consists primarily of the ILCD Handbook and the ILCD Data Network: The Handbook is a series of technical guidance documents in line with the ISO 14040 series and developed through peer review and public consultation. The Data Network is a web-based, decentralised network of consistent and quality-assured life cycle inventory (LCI) data sets. This is ensured through compliance with the requirements of the ILCD Handbook. It is open for all data providers to join under their own terms and conditions.
Purpose and Addressees of this Guidance Document
Today, no commonly accepted guidance exists that complements the general framework given in the ISO 14040 series for ensuring consistent and reproducible life cycle data and robust assessments. However, for use in policy context and for reliable decision support in the public and private sectors, such foundations are indispensable.

This document provides guidance for the planning, performance, review, and documentation of life cycle emission and resource consumption inventory (LCI) data sets and life cycle assessments, as defined in the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. Such data sets and assessments are the basis for all types of applications, such as e.g. ecolabels, carbon footprint declarations, eco-design studies.
The main target audience for this technical guidance document is the LCA practitioner. This document also serves as an introduction to the main technical principles and requirements of Life Cycle Assessment, providing many illustrative in-line examples and graphics. It is however not meant to be a comprehensive and detailed introduction or training material for beginners.


Approach and principles followed

The relevant ISO 14040 and 14044 standards, existing LCA handbooks, and the general LCA literature have been analysed to compile a set of “needs for guidance” and to obtain input in form of approaches and arguments.

Reflecting the global nature of product life cycles and the necessity of having globally agreed methods and data, the ILCD is developed through consultation with UNEP and with non-European national authorities developing LCA databases. This is currently facilitated by the European Commission, including interactions with representatives of its 27 Member States. The consultation on first drafts equally included the about 40 members of the advisory groups of business associations, LCA software and database developers, as well as life cycle impact assessment method developers. The development and consultation procedures can be found at http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eplca/deliverables/international-reference-life-cycle-data-system-ilcd-handbook .

Building on this state-of-the-art analysis and ISO 14044 as main basis, this guidance document has been developed towards a practical guidance. The stakeholder process (up to the achieved status) is documented in Explanatory Memoranda for each ILCD System component; access via http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eplca/deliverables/international-reference-life-cycle-data-system-ilcd-handbook .

The uptake or endorsement of this document and the other ILCD System components by governments and businesses as well as other stakeholders is independent of this technical development.

Key Issues Addressed in this Guidance Document

This document provides a complete technical guidance, based on the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. It is further detailing and specifying the ISO provisions along four main decision-context situations that were identified as being of relevance in LCA and in need of differentiated guidance:

• Situation I ("Short-term product decision support"): Decision support for near future: LCI data for EPDs and Type I Ecolabel, weak-point analysis for eco-design, background LCI data for generic use, etc.
• Situation II ("Future product decision support"): Decision support for more remote future, scenario based: System changes with none or small scale effects on the background system
• Situation III ("Future strategy decision support"): Decision support for more remote future, scenario based: System changes with effects in the background system at society or sector level
• Situation IV ("Monitoring"): Monitoring (typically of past or present situation): Documentation of what has happened, not for direct decision support or comparisons

Focus is on issues that give rise to differences in current practice of developing life cycle data sets and in assessments. Among these the two main issues are around the questions:
- How to model the life cycle of a product (i.e. depicting the supply-chain or analysing expected consequences associated with changes), and closely related
- How to share the environmental impacts of a process among co-products if it has more than one (e.g. by allocation of impacts based on allocation criteria or by crediting for avoided production of replaced alternative products).

A detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the related methods and approaches and their applicability in practice provides the basis for this guidance, including which option to use when.

In addition, the following issues that need guidance are worked out in more detail as well:
- the question which kinds of activities are to be included in LCA, how to relate them to the analysed product, and how to quantify the completeness of the data,
- how to avoid misleading LCA studies,
- how to meet the requirements of transparency and reproducibility in context of potentially sensitive or proprietary process data and information,
- when to use primary data from goods producers and service operators and when secondary data can be used, and
- how to capture and evaluate the quality of life cycle data and assessment results.

The sub-structure of this document reflects the practical work-flow of performing an LCA. “Actions” at the end of chapters condense the guidance to a check-list style practice guidance. References to the corresponding chapter in the ISO 14044 standard are given in each chapter.

Open issues

The condensation of this main guidance into specific guidance documents for different types of LCI and LCA studies is ongoing and will be completed after the consultations.

The summary of the outcome of the parallel work on review is to be integrated into the “Review” chapter of this document.
A “translation” of this guidance into sector-specific manuals could be beneficial. ...

From: General guidance document for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, Draft for Public Consultation, 1 June 2009

Life Cycle Assessment

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, is looking for independent experts to reviewer reports and papers on Life Cycle Assessment. They pay €450 a day. You can register online. This might be one for people with an academic background.

ICT for a Global Sustainable Future

The European Commission has issued a draft document on "ICT for a Global Sustainable Future", held a conference and are inviting comments as part of its PARADISO project. While well meaning it is a shame the EU did not produce an accessible HTML version of the PARADISO document. The PDF version will be hard to download and hard to read. As well has making it hard to access for people on slow links in developing nations, it will generate excessive greenhouse gas emissions due to its inefficient encoding. As an example of the flaws in the document, the Introduction (text appended) has a photo of people in suits sitting in a meeting room. Having to wait and pay money to download this useless photo is not going to be seen as useful by those the document is supposedly trying to help.

The PARADISO project (see WWW.PARADISO-FP7.EU) launched with the support of the European Commission (DG INFORMATION SOCIETY AND MEDIA) aims at identifying strategic research directions on network and service infrastructures suited to the perspective of a global (truly) sustainable future.

The European Union is undoubtedly one of the best placed world powers to proactively promote a new concept of progress, based on revised social, environmental and economic objectives: a true sustainable development, more sustainable economic growth, more equally shared resources, eventually the well-being of peoples around the world, measured through a new “beyond GDP” index related to the progress of societies.

Which ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) applications and services will be needed to support these new objectives? More precisely, which network and service infrastructures will have to be developed?

The PARADISO project, launched in March 2008 and run by SIGMA ORIONIS and the CLUB OF ROME (through its Italian Chapter: the Aurelio Peccei Foundation) will investigate this disruptive paradigm and identify the ICT research areas that have to be explored in this perspective.
The paradigm is being investigated - and the innovative research will be identified - through “The PARADISO reference document”, based to a large extent on the outputs of two international events organised by the project: a scientific workshop (on June 12-13, 2008 in Brussels) and an open conference (on January 22-23, 2009 in Brussels).

The present document is the very first version of the PARADISO reference document, prepared after the PARADISO scientific workshop. It will be extended in the second half of 2008, taking in particular into account the
feedback from the participants in this workshop (see attendee list on next page), and the inputs received from other individuals and organisations, since the document will be made available in the public area of the
PARADISO WEB SITE for open consultation. A more substantial document will thus be prepared before the end of 2008 and discussed on the occasion of the PARADISO open conference of January 2009.

The final version of the document will be released following this conference and widely disseminated so that the key PARADISO messages (a foreseeable paradigm shift worldwide in the definition of societal progress, the proactive role Europe can play to show the way to this better future, the central contribution ICT can bring to achieving revised economic, environmental and social objectives) can be conveyed to the widest possible community and eventually have an impact on the political agenda.

In the meantime, the PARADISO project stakeholders are considering options to build on these first modest achievements, and to further develop the activities of their cross-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder “think and action tank” addressing sustainable future issues with a focus on ICT. All options logically include a close connection with organisations involved in similar activities in Europe and worldwide, in order that synergies can be exploited and that the impact of all initiatives can be even greater and best serve the building of a true sustainable future for peoples around the world.