Plastic needs have expanded along with population growth, industrialization, and urbanization. Plastic is unrivaled due to its useful properties and is used to prepare numerous important goods daily. This paper encloses the different kinds and applications of petroleum-based plastic and the drawbacks related to their use, i.e., its nonbiodegradability which leads to their stay in the environment for a very long time. Additionally, there are not enough effective disposal techniques for the large volume of plastic waste produced; thus, plastic garbage builds up in the environment and endangers it. Limiting the usage of plastic is necessary to protect the environment. This can be done with the help of bioplastic, which is an excellent substitute for plastic. The different kinds of bioplastic and their biodegradability in different mediums, viz., soil compost and aquatic systems, are addressed in this paper. Along this, the different areas of application of bioplastic have been explored. The present study also addresses the underlying mechanism of plastic polymerization and biodegradation and the current status of bioplastics in the global market.

The water, food, and energy demands are the basic requirements of society. These demands are increasing daily due to an increase in population or lifestyle changes. To fulfill these ever-increasing demands, several water resource projects have come up which require the storage or diversion of river water. These interventions have caused widespread degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Due to the degradation of the aquatic ecosystem, several programs all around the globe began. In this series, Brisbane Declaration (2007) provided a more holistic definition of Environmental Flows (EFs) as the quantity, timing, duration, frequency, and quality of flows required to sustain freshwater, estuarine and near-shore ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well-being that depend on them. The present study was envisaged to assess for environmental flows of the Tawi river with a major objective of assessing the environmental flows of the Tawi river using the Global Environmental Flow Calculator developed by IWMI. The method provides E-Flows for different Environmental Management Classes. For the western Himalayan region, the river stretches in Environmental Management Class ‘B’ and ‘C’. The assessment provides E-Flows in two ways: (i) the percentage of Mean Annual Runoff and (ii) average monthly environmental flows. E-Flows were estimated as 42.34% to 56.96% of Mean Annual Runoff and varied from 5.73 cumecs during November to 68.23 during August.

Pollution abatement and flood control activities require effective water resource planning, engineering assessment, sophisticated technology, and appropriate hydraulic structure designs. This paper x-rays flood mitigation and pollution abatement strategies that can be adopted in the Kaduna metropolis in Nigeria. Analytical hierarchy process of design, questionnaires, engineering assessment approach, and standard method for estimation of the runoff discharge was adopted for this research. Estimating water balance components and QSWAT Hydrological Model can be used with the QGIS interface for a greener environment. Suitable hydraulic systems were designed for long-term flood control in the River Kaduna catchment area through an analytic hierarchy Process. Statistical analysis, manning equations, and rational methods were utilized for adequate assessment and planning. The hydraulic discharge capacity of culverts, open channels, and other hydraulic structures was carefully checked. Flooding greatly impacts infrastructural development, and inadequate drainage systems contribute to it. Mitigation strategies, adequate water resource planning, and management will greatly benefit from addressing flood-related issues in the study area. This research provides information on the flood vulnerability of infrastructures and mitigation strategies that can be adopted in the study area. Viable policies and management strategies can be utilized to avert losses traceable to floods in developing and developed countries.

Free trade causes damage to the environment substantially as it puts pressure on natural resources in its venture to expand economic activities. On the other hand, there is also an argument that free trade has the potential to improve environmental quality by contributing to growth. Such growth enhancement may help individuals, organizations, or governments raise funds and spend more on environmental protection. This paper highlights the links between trade and the environment. Besides, it also shows how international trade and environmental protection are both essential to the well-being of humanity and, conversely, how they are mutually supportive. This paper also scrutinizes how the WTO plays a role in balancing trade and the environment, as many WTO agreements have environmental exceptions.

In this paper, boron nitride materials were prepared by a two-step synthesis method, and this material’s adsorption property for neodymium ions was explored. The experimental results show that the adsorption capacity of boron nitride is closely related to pH. When the pH is 6.0, the adsorption performance of the material is the best; the kinetic data show that the adsorption equilibrium can be reached in about 150 min, and the adsorption capacity at equilibrium is 207.3 mg.g-1. In addition, the Freundlich and Langmuir models were used to fitting the thermodynamic results. It was found that the adsorption process of boron nitride on Nd(III) involved both monolayer adsorption and multi-layer adsorption. These data indicate that boron nitride has a good adsorption effect on Nd(III) in water and is a promising material for environmental remediation.

Laguna de Bay is the largest lake in the Philippines. It is surrounded by developing cities that pollute the lake with plastics from different industrial and domestic activities. In the study, microplastics were collected from the lake’s surface water through three (3) collection points within the lake. The collection of microplastics was conducted from August 2018 to October 2018. About eight-hundred ninety (890) microplastics were collected and cataloged. Among the collection sites, ‘Brgy. Sampiruhan’ has the most microplastics, with a median of 15 ranging from 11-24 microplastics per 1000 L of lake water. On the other hand, ‘Brgy. Napindan’ has a median of 4 which ranges from 2-6 microplastics per 1000 L, and ‘Brgy. San Isidro’ has a median of 6 which ranges from 4-24 microplastics per 1000 L. Image analysis revealed that microplastics from this site were larger and angular. The color analysis shows signs of whitening and yellowing of the plastic materials, which suggests that the microplastics undergo photodegradation. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) found that most of the microplastics in the lake are made of polyethylene and its derivatives. Microplastics in Laguna de Bay show the continuous plastic pollution in the Philippines’ largest lake.

Insect pest control is one of the major issues facing the agriculture sector because of the need for new agrochemicals and biocontrol agents that are environmentally friendly, economically affordable, and safe for human health. Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm) is one of the insect pests that causes huge damage to various crops around the globe due to its generalist nature. In the present study, three selected Embelia ribes Burm F (Myrsinaceae) constituents, which include embelin, 5-O-methylembelin, and vilangin; one semi-synthetic compound (potassium embelate); three synthetic compounds, namely coenzyme Q10, dopaquinone, and idebenone; and two reference compounds (azadirachtin and amitraz) were assessed on the docking behavior of S. frugiperda (beta glycosidase and caspase-1. The docking studies showed that coenzyme Q10 exhibited the highest binding energies (-130.61 and -434.56 kcal.mol-1) for the target enzymes S. frugiperda (beta glycosidase and caspase-1, respectively). Thus, the present investigation provides new knowledge in understanding Embelia ribes Burm F (Myrsinaceae) constituents as possible inhibitors against S. frugiperda (beta glycosidase and caspase-1) enzyme activities. Furthermore, the present work can help to develop new insecticides and pesticides against S. frugiperda and other related insect pests.

Construction activities produce considerable environmental effects and have resulted in a growing demand to implement favorable environmental practices. In this sense, this research aimed to evaluate the effect of the level of compliance with environmental regulations in public civil works in the San Ignacio, Cajamarca, Peru district. Data were obtained through direct observation and structured interviews in 7 selected construction sites. The deductive and analytical method was used. As a result, the level of compliance was obtained. Work 4 had the highest rank, and works 2 and 5 had the lowest. Currently, all the works are in a similar range of compliance. The degree of association between the level of compliance with environmental regulations and the current state of the civil works indicates a probability of 0.0190, which shows that the low level of compliance with environmental regulations in the construction of public civil works in the district of San Ignacio generates a deterioration in the quality of the environment and increases the possibility of administrative sanctions.

Water pollution caused by oil spills at sea and industrial and daily wastewater discharges are causing serious damage to the ecological environment, not only in terms of economic losses but also in terms of human health and survival, a problem that needs to be addressed urgently. Oil/water separation is a global challenge, and while these problems are frequent, various oil/water separation strategies have been extensively investigated in recent years. The efficiency of the materials prepared is a key factor, as are the environmental friendliness and low cost of the methods and raw materials used in the experiments. This work reviews methods and materials applied in oil/water separation in recent years, including natural textile materials, metal meshes, synthetic membranes, particulate adsorbent materials, foams, sponges, aerogels, smart controllable special wettable separation materials.

Arsenic, aluminum, iron, lead, chromium, copper, zinc, manganese, and cadmium are some of the heavy metal pollutants in the air that cause severe impacts on the biotic and abiotic environment. This study intended to find the accumulation capacity of the heavy metals on the leaves of tree species such as Terminalia catappa, Syzygium cumini, Saraca asoca, Pongamia glabra, and Ficus religiosa and predict their accuracy by comparing different machine learning (ML) models. The samples were collected at six different locations (likely Vellagate, Cancer Institute, CSI hospital area, Moongilmandapam, Collectorate, and Pallavarmedu) and distributed in a manner within Kanchipuram town, Tamil Nadu, in February and March of 2018 and 2019, respectively. Six ML methods were selected, such as KStar (K*), Lazy IKB, Logistic Regression Algorithm (LR), LogitBoost Classifier (LB), Meta Randomizable Filtered Classifier (MRFC), and Random Tree (RT), for prediction and to compare the efficiency of their predictions. Out of six models, Logistic functions perform well in terms of TP rate when compared to other classifiers (93.21%-99.81% TPR– 0.93–0.99) and Logitboost attained a low TP rate that ranged from 0.76 to 0.82. This study indicates the feasibility of different ML methods in the prediction of species capabilities toward the accumulation of heavy metals.