The project evolved from a local initiative for the revitalisation of the rural hinterland of Koper in Slovene Istria. The local desire was transformed into expert guidelines for part of the emerging ...formal spatial planning documents of the Municipality of Koper. Several public participation methods with the local inhabitants were also tested.
The objective of the present study is to discuss beneficial use of life cycle based assessment (LCA) for the decision-making on implementing local biomass projects. Focusing on a local biomass ...project in Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, we conducted document and interview surveys to clarify the introduction process of the project and examined when and how LCA can be used during the introduction process. The present study suggests that there are three possibilities in the production process to evaluate environmental and socio-economic impacts using LCA, namely, prospective, design and retrospective evaluations. In the Miura biomass project, although the planners did not conduct any evaluation of the project, they think that the prospective evaluation would have been beneficial because it can help get a consensus among the Congress and local stakeholders. The prospective evaluation using LCA can contribute to the design of a more effective project and the achievement of accountability in the earlier phases of local biomass projects by providing quantitative and objective information. Thus, the development of a practical method for the prospective evaluation of local biomass projects is required in the future.
The objective of the present study is to propose a method based on a life cycle approach for assessing direct and indirect employment effects induced by the implementation of a biomass project. The ...proposed method divides Japan into three regions, namely, the project spot (i.e. the region where a biomass project is actually done), the nearby region and the distant region, to estimate the increase/decrease in employment in the above three regions. A hybrid method that combines process and input-output analysis is used for estimating direct and indirect employment. As a result of applying the proposed method to a small-scale biogas project in Hokkaido, Japan, the increase in indirect employment outside the project spot was larger than the increase in direct employment in the project spot. Moreover, it was clarified that increased employment in the distant region (outside of Hokkaido) resulting from equipment maintenance/repair and fuel production can be moved to the nearby region (inside of Hokkaido) by using local businesses and a wide-range cooperation. The method proposed in the present study allows for an appropriate understanding of the employment effect of a project and a successful design and/or improvement of a project for the region and/or Japan.
Disaster reconstruction should be implemented on the basis of local characteristics as well as lessons from the past. It is quite important to promote both decentralization of power and ...public-private cooperation. This study analyzes the characteristics of Disaster Reconstruction Fund and Intermediary Organization through both cases in the HanshinAwaji and Chuetsu Earthquakes. It is found that the fund is an useful tool to activate intermediary organization for leading local initiative. And this study also considers the challenge and vision of the Fund to make it more reliable for local governments.
Disaster reconstruction should be implemented on the basis of local characteristics as well as lessons from the past. It is quite important to promote both decentralization of power and ...public-private cooperation. This study analyzes the characteristics of Disaster Reconstruction Fund and Intermediary Organization through both cases in the HanshinAwaji and Chuetsu Earthquakes. It is found that the fund is an useful tool to activate intermediary organization for leading local initiative. And this study also considers the challenge and vision of the Fund to make it more reliable for local governments.
"Leader" approach is the main tool of the policy of sustainable rural development. However a number of strategic and organizational problems and also certain rules for its application in the praxis ...need to be formulated for its effective realization in Bulgaria. The strategic frameworkfor rural areas develop¬ment of the Ruse District and the opportunities for applying the Leader approach and creation of LAGs as a tool for assuring sustainable development are pre¬sented in the article. An analysis has been made about the problems for the "Leader" approach application in Bulgaria. The basis for the analysis are the main results from the realization of the pilot project "Sustainable Rural Develop¬ment" managed by the Ministry of agriculture andforestry and UNDP, as well as good practices and problems identified. An investigation of the establishment pro¬cess and also surveying offunctional problems of LAGs in Bulgaria is made in the article. Results of a special designed questionnaire have been analysed and dis¬cussed in the paper. On that basis appropriate conclusions and reccommendations are developed and presented in the paper, which might be used in the process of establishing of LAGs in Ruse district and also in other regions in Bulgaria.
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