Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

Le, Tran Ha Trang; Nguyen, Thi Dieu Chi; Cao, Thi Y Nhi; Dang, Thi Thuy Hong

2024 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

doi: 10.2478/environ-2024-0015

AbstractThe worldwide need for environmental preservation and robust economic development has garnered significant interest from scholars and politicians. This study examines the influence of green finance and environmental protection tax on Vietnam’s financial sustainability and the transition towards a green economyas an emerging economy. The study obtained data from the Central Bank of Vietnam and World Bank Indicators covering 2012 to 2022. The authors used the Ordinary Least Squares approach to examine the associations between the variables. The analysis and examination of the data used Stata 19 software. The findings show a favourable correlation between green finance and environmental tax on sustainable development goalswith all control variables. These results have prompted authorities to focus on green finance and environmental issues in the progress towards the country’s green economy and sustainable development.

Vasnetsov, Catherine; Vasnetsov, Victor; Pramoda, Meghna; Pramoda, Siona

2024 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

doi: 10.2478/environ-2024-0016

AbstractPrior studies found links between ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and proximity to toxic environmental contaminants harmful to human health. However, there is no consensus among environmental economists on whether ethnicity or economics are the primary causes of health inequity under the influence of environmental hazard exposure. This paper explores this research question in Texas, the second largest US state, and the most diverse demographically, using a comprehensive framework with twelve main factors as key determinants for environmental-related health outcomes. The matrix of associations among factors of environmental pollution, economic class, race/ethnicity, and state of health is very complicated by multiple inter-correlations among components. To differentiate the relative importance of various factors, twelve statistically large population cohorts were compared, based on four racial/ethnic groups, each with three different levels of poverty. This novel approach allows for more meaningful comparisons, by normalizing groups for ethnicity and prevalence of poverty, two of the most influential socioeconomic factors. Compared to majority-White communities, majority-Hispanic and -Black communities were found to be more disproportionally negatively impacted by environmental pollution and socioeconomic challenges. This resulted in worse health outcomes: higher prevalence of chronic diseases and a shortened life span. The prevalence of poverty appears to play a dominant role in health outcomes across all racial/ethnic groups. Consistent with prior research, the Hispanic community has shown a strong positive correlation with the prevalence of diabetes, while the Black community has a high prevalence of asthma.

Diallo, Moussa; Konaté, Ahmed Amara; Sidibé, Diaka

2024 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

doi: 10.2478/environ-2024-0017

AbstractArtisanal gold mining is recognized as a long-standing activity in the Siguiri prefecture in general and the Doko sub-prefecture in particular. Despite its significant contribution to community development, it has disastrous consequences for both the environment and the lives of gold miners. The collapse of underground galleries as a result of gold panning is a phenomenon that plunges families into mourning in gold panning areas in Africa. Unlike other land movements, despite their dangerous nature, there has been almost no scientific interest in limiting the consequences of collapsing underground galleries in goldmines. Working to mitigate their effects is more than a necessity for those involved in gold panning.This study aims to understand the perceptions of those involved in gold panning regarding the conditions of occurrence and the main causes of underground gallery collapses, to formulate recommendations to the authorities and gold miners to minimize the risk of these accidents occurring and their impact. The methodology used was based on semi-structured and structured interviews. The results of this survey show that the human factor is certainly the main cause of accidents (collapse of underground galleries), but the design of structures without taking into account the study of the geomechanical properties of the ground, the weakness of the safety measures put in place, and the lack of involvement of the country’s authorities are not negligible factors. This study identified the causes and consequences of these accidents, as well as the responsibilities of those involved.

Dokov, Hristo

2024 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

doi: 10.2478/environ-2024-0018

AbstractDomestic regional policies are increasingly expected to tackle significant spatial disparities, promote territorial justice, and ensure equal opportunities, thereby supporting various aspects of sustainability. This article focuses on the case of Bulgaria, serving a dual purpose: it outlines the emergence and evolution of contemporary regional policy in the country and measures the extent and dynamics of socio-economic inequalities at different territorial levels. The conceptualization of a comprehensive regional policy framework following the socialist era was largely driven by top-down Europeanization impulses, which catalysed political debates on the transformed roles of the regions and the necessity for effective decentralisation. However, despite years of domestic regional policy implementation, socio-economic inequalities in Bulgaria remain substantial, with certain peripheral regions notably trailing behind. The comprehensive assessments conducted in this study include primarily descriptive statistics, regression and correlation analyses, time series analyses, and classification/categorization of territorial units. They indicate significant spatial heterogeneity and the prevalence of pronounced ‘centre-periphery’ patterns, which pose a serious threat to the long-term sustainable development of the country.

Tuan, Nguyen Tran

2024 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

doi: 10.2478/environ-2024-0019

AbstractReporting land use changes over time is important for evaluating land resource management. This study applied GIS technology to determine land use fluctuations for the entire mainland territory in Vietnam. In particular, the research focused on two main issues: (1) spatial fluctuations of some main land groups in Vietnam, and(2) the rate of land use change in socio-economic regions in the two periods 2007–2016 and 2016–2020. Research results showed that the Forests land group showed a growth of over 14% and spatial fluctuations took place in all regions, except for two regions with little change in this land group: Red River Delta (RRD) and Mekong River Delta (MRD). Meanwhile, crops decreased by over 16% from 2007–2020 and appeared heavily in the Northern Midlands and Mountains (NMR), North Central and Central Coast regions (NCR), and Central Highlands region (CHR). Urban land group increased by 3% during 2007–2020. The speed of land use conversion also showed different results between economic regions and inthe two research periods. The results showed that the recent research period witnessed a higher rate of land use conversion in the regions compared to the period 2007–2016. In particular, the NMR region showed that the conversion rate was the largest in both stages.

Dulias, Renata

2024 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

doi: 10.2478/environ-2024-0020

AbstractThis work aimed to investigate the abrasion of quartz grains from beach and dune deposits on the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia. Five sites were established on the coasts of Malaga and Almeria provinces: Genoveses, Monsul, Carraca, Malagueta, and Artola. Grain size and mineral composition were determined for 15 samples taken from beaches (6) and dunes (9). Quartz abrasion was established using the morphoscopic method. Investigated deposits, with two exceptions, are primarily medium-grained and moderate sorting. The share of quartz is relatively small – in aeolian sands, it is on average 38.3% and is higher than in beach sands (average 26.4%). The average proportion of fresh and angular NU grains is significantly higher in aeolian sands (58.9%) than beach sands (43.4%), indicating morphoselection’s important role during wind transport. In beach sands, there are, on average, 32.4% of grains with aeolian abrasion (RM and EM/RM), which is twice as much as in dune sands (15.5%). The multiple predominances of EM/RM grains over RM grains indicate a relatively short aeolian activity.