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Equality Law and the Limits of the‘Business Case’ for Addressing Gender Inequalities

2012-05-31, McLaughlin, Colm, Deakin, Simon

How best to align the interests of society with corporate behaviour has been a contentious issue in the context of gender inequality throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In the UK context, the traditional, rights-based rationale for anti-discrimination law has had to compete with an officially sanctioned ‘business case’ for equality. The business case rests on the premise that addressing gender inequality is good for an organisation’s competitiveness and performance. Gender equality policies and practices, it is argued, can help organisations attract and retain valued employees, understand diverse customer needs, reduce costs associated with staff turnover and low morale, and minimise the reputational and litigation risks of discriminatory behaviour. Organisations can present their progressive policies of this kind as part of a wider agenda to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR).

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Sources of nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to Irish rivers and coastal waters: Estimates from a nutrient load apportionment framework

2017-12-01, Mockler, Eva M., Deakin, Jenny, Archbold, Marie A., Gill, Laurence, Daly, Donal, Bruen, Michael

More than half of surface water bodies in Europe are at less than good ecological status according to Water Framework Directive assessments, and diffuse pollution from agriculture remains a major, but not the only, cause of this poor performance. Agri-environmental policy and land management practices have, in many areas, reduced nutrient emissions to water. However, additional measures may be required in Ireland to further decouple the relationship between agricultural productivity and emissions to water, which is of vital importance given on-going agricultural intensification. The Source Load Apportionment Model (SLAM) framework characterises sources of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) emissions to water at a range of scales from sub-catchment to national. The SLAM synthesises land use and physical characteristics to predict emissions from point (wastewater, industry discharges and septic tank systems) and diffuse sources (agriculture, forestry, etc.). The predicted annual nutrient emissions were assessed against monitoring data for 16 major river catchments covering 50% of the area of Ireland. At national scale, results indicate that total average annual emissions to surface water in Ireland are over 2700 t yr- 1 of P and 82,000 t yr- 1 of N. The proportional contributions from individual sources show that the main sources of P are from municipal wastewater treatment plants and agriculture, with wide variations across the country related to local anthropogenic pressures and the hydrogeological setting. Agriculture is the main source of N emissions to water across all regions of Ireland. These policy-relevant results synthesised large amounts of information in order to identify the dominant sources of nutrients at regional and local scales, contributing to the national nutrient risk assessment of Irish water bodies

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Progress in Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Ireland

2016-04-13, Daly, Donal, Deakin, Jenny, Craig, Matthew, Mockler, Eva M., et al.

Successful implementation of the Water Framework Directive is vital to water resources management in Ireland. Based on lessons learned from the 1st cycle of implementation, more effective governance arrangements have been put in place, the EPA has been given additional responsibilities and community engagement has been given a high priority. Integrated catchment management (ICM) has become the accepted philosophy and approach. ICM requires catchments to be the appropriate organising landscape unit for water management, which is undertaken at five scales: site/field; water body (almost 5,000 groundwater, river, lake, transitional and coastal); subcatchment (583); catchment (46) and river basin (one national and two international). A comprehensive characterisation process is being undertaken which allocates all WBs into At Risk, Not at Risk and Review categories, whereby At Risk WBs require actions and resources to improve the situation. Geoscientific information and understanding are critical to the characterisation process. Initial subcatchment and catchment characterisation is due for completion in early 2017. Consideration of environmental objectives and mitigation measures has commenced, and will be finalised for the River Basin Management Plan due for publication in December 2017. A new tool, the WFD Application, has been developed to enable ready access to water quality data and the outcomes of the characterisation work. The Application is being made available through the development of a new 'water hub' website called catchments.ie.

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Nutrient Load Apportionment to Support the Identification of Appropriate Water Framework Directive Measures

2016, Mockler, Eva M., Deakin, Jenny, Archbold, Marie A., Daly, Donal, Bruen, Michael

A model for predicting the sources of nutrient loads (phosphorus and nitrogen) to water has been developed to support Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation. This model integrates catchment data and pressure information to enable characterisation of Source-Pathway-Receptor relationships. The Source Load Apportionment Model (SLAM) is a flexible framework for incorporating national data and research to quantify nutrient losses from both point discharges (urban wastewater, industry and septic tank systems) and diffuse sources (pasture, arable, forestry, peatlands etc.). Hydrogeological controls have a strong impact on nutrient fluxes, particularly in agricultural catchments, and have been incorporated into the diffuse agricultural model, the Catchment Characterisation Tool (CCT). This paper describes the SLAM framework, including the CCT, along with the data inputs and assumptions. Results for the Suir catchment matched the measured loads of nitrogen and phosphorus well, and showed that pasture is the dominant source of nitrogen across all sub-catchments. The main sources of phosphorus in sub-catchments varied between diffuse agriculture, wastewater and industrial discharges. A relatively small proportion (13%) of the Suir catchment area requires a reduction in phosphorus emissions to achieve Good Status. In these areas, model results can be used in conjunction with knowledge from local authorities and investigative assessments gathered through the WFD characterisation process to identify significant pressures that contribute excessive nutrient loads. An example of assessing load reduction scenarios is presented to illustrate how modelling can support catchment scientists and managers in identifying appropriate measures. 

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What are the main sources of nutrient inputs to Ireland's aquatic environment?

2017-04-26, Mockler, Eva M., Deakin, Jenny, Daly, Donal, Bruen, Michael, Archbold, Marie A.

Where rivers and lakes are impacted by excess nutrients, we need to understand the sources of those nutrients before mitigation measures can be selected. In these areas, modelling can be used in conjunction with knowledge from local authorities and information gained from investigative assessments to identify significant pressures that contribute excessive nutrients to surface waters. Where surface waters are impacted by excess nutrients, understanding the sources of those nutrients is key to the development of effective, targeted mitigation measures. In Ireland, nutrient emissions are the main reason that surface waters are not achieving the required Good Status, as defined by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). A model has been developed in order to predict the sources of nutrients contributing to these emissions and to assess future pressures and the likely effectiveness of targeted mitigation scenarios. This Source Load Apportionment Model (SLAM) supports catchment managers by providing scientifically robust evidence to back-up decision-making in relation to reducing nutrient pollution. The SLAM is a source-oriented model that calculates the nitrogen and phosphorus exported from each sector (e.g. pasture, forestry, wastewater discharges) that contribute to nutrient loads in a river. Model output is presented as maps and tables showing the proportions of nutrient emissions to water attributed to each sector in each sub-catchment. The EPA has incorporated these model results into the multiple lines of evidence used for the WFD characterisation process for Irish catchments.