Climate, Environment and Biodiversity

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    Determinants of mobile phone waste recycling and end-of-life management in Johor
    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2017) Shah, Gautam Lalit
    Growing development in the telecommunications industry, along with frequent purchases, upgrading and increased ownership of mobile phones (MPs) have indirectly contributed to the global increase in e-waste generation, along with future pile-ups of used MP units and accessories. An improper end-of-life (EOL) management of MPs further exacerbated environmental degradation associated with their hazardous waste components. The increasing number of new MP purchases and service subscriptions, especially in Johor had made it relevant to study how the MP usage trend and its EOL management amongst consumers and sellers could affect future stockpiling and e-waste disposal. This study also analyzed the urban and non-urban respondents‘ willingness to pay (WTP) for a green MP or participate (WTPar) in a recycling program as well as their opinions on MP-related policy and recycling facilities. It involved a randomly selected sample of 1200 MP users and 110 sellers around urban Johor Bahru and nonurban areas (i.e., Muar and Kota Tinggi). Mean comparison or analysis of variance (ANOVA), bivariate analysis, and linear regression were used to determine associations between socio-economic background and purchasing activity as well as willingness-toparticipate in a recycling program between the groups. Results indicated that on average, urban consumers chose price in making purchases, owned more MP units and kept them as spares, thus implying the stockpiling problem. Based on Kendall's tau coefficient, willingness to participate in a recycling program and pay more for a green MP differed according to socio-economic and locational factors (i.e., p < 0.01 or significant at 99% confident level). Majority, especially the non-urban respondents, were highly supportive of incentives and rebates, along with improved accessibilities and increased number of recycling facilities in promoting a more sustainable EOL management of MPs. The study provides a new insight in integrating locational and socio-economic factors, as well as MP usage, pricing, purchasing behavior, and convenience with current and future MP‘s EOL management system and policy framework.
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    Integration of the river ecosystem attributes for river health assessment
    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2013) Eh Rak, Aweng
    Currently in Malaysia, only physical and chemical components are used as an indicator for river health monitoring and rehabilitation programme. These attributes were used for many years as a basis and reference in rehabilitating rivers in Malaysia and none of them was proven to be successful. Therefore, the aim of this study is to integrate the river ecosystem attributes for the purpose of river health assessment in Malaysia by using benthic macroinvertebrate as the main biological indicator. This study was conducted in Sungai Mengkibol, Sungai Madek and Sungai Dengar in Johor. There were a total of five sampling sites, three for impact stations and two as reference stations, including one highland station. The sampling was conducted six times during November 2008 to June 2010. Surber Net measuring 500 micron mesh size combined with a rectangular quadrate of 30 cm x 30 cm (0.09 m2) were used to sample the benthic macro-invertebrate. Biodiversity Indices was also analyzed. For water quality, six in-situ parameters were measured namely temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, turbidity and salinity using a multi parameter probe as well as a single parameter probe. Meanwhile, field survey form was used to assess river habitat namely river riparian compositions, canopy cover and large woody debris. In addition, Pebble Count Method was used to measure substrate compositions and Valeport ‘Braystoke’ Model 001 Flow Meter was used to gauge the river. Based on the results obtained from the study, it can be suggested that ephemeroptera, plecoptera, and trichoptera index (EPT) taxa could be used as biological indicator for preliminary river health assessment. However, for the detail assessment, physicochemical water quality, river discharge, channel deformation, substrate compositions, riparian and canopy cover and large woody debris need to be evaluated and integrated.
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    Modelling the impacts of land-used and climate change in Skudai river watershed
    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2018) Danladi Bello, Al-Amin
    Predicting the impact of land-use, climate change and Best Management Practices (BMPs) on a watershed is imperative for effective management of aquatic ecosystems, floods, pollutant control and maintenance of water quality standard in a tropical climate. Based on the prediction, unique information can be derived that is critical to the watershed management under dynamic environmental conditions. The study seeks to evaluate how land-use and climate change influences the hydrology, sediments, and water quality of an urbanized tropical watershed in which the land-use is controlled by urban development as observed from historical and projected land covers. Therefore, the response of a tropica l watershed and its river system under climate and land-use changes were evaluated using Skudai River watershed as a case study. Seven land-use scenarios from the year 1989 to 2039 were developed using remote sensing teclmiques, and nine projected climate change scenarios were derived using dynamically downscaled model from the based projection under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenarios. These scenarios were integrated into the Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model to determine the impact of land-use , climate change, and pollutants control via best management practices in a tropical watershed system. The model was calibrated and validated from 2002 to 2014, and the performance coefficients showed a good correlation between simulated and observed streamflow, water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate nitrogen (N03-N), and orthophosphate (P04) concentrations. The output of the validated model under land-use changes showed that the hydrological water balance of the watershed changes with total runoff as the primary source of water loss. For streamflows and in-stream concentrations (NH3-N, N03-N, and P04) , as the streamflow increases, NH3-N and P04 concentrations increase while N03-N concentration showed low response as compared to the other two concentrations. As urban development increased from 18.2% to 49.2%, nutrient influx such as total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads increased from 3080 to 4560 kg/yr and from 130 to 270 kg/yr, respectively. Furthermore, TN to TP ratio changed from 8.3:1 to 7:1, an indication that the rivers are receiving excess nutrients flows which might result in eutrophication at the downstream of the watershed . The amount of sediment load produced in the watershed decreased by approximately 17.8% as a result of the changes in land-use derived from urban development. Further analysis ofthe results showed that climate change with high rainfall and increase in air temperature do not affect DO concentration and water temperature in comparison to climate change with low rainfall. Implementation of multiple detention pond BMPs in identified Critical Source Areas (CSAs) reduced pollutant loads by 14% to 27% as compared to watershed without any BMPS, independent ofclimate and landuse changes. Analysis ofBMPs using existing and future land-use is very important to ensure their effectiveness to control and maintain water quality. This study provides a basis to develop water resource management in an urban watershed and be resilient to land-use and climate changes.
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    Assessment of urban air quality in Makassar South Sulawesi Indonesia
    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2013) Sattar
    An assessment of the urban air quality in Makassar area, which covers SO2, CO, NO2, O3, Pb, and TSP sampled over a period of eleven years (i.e 2001 to 2011), with PM10 monitored for six years (2006-2011) are discussed and presented in this thesis. The air quality data were obtained from secondary measurements made by the Office of Ministry of Environment Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, the Environment Board of the Province of South Sulawesi, and the Environmental Agency of Makassar City. In addition, the primary data of airborne PM10 concentration sampled on a weekly basis for a period of one year (i.e February 2012 to January 2013) at one Makassar site are also reported. PM10 was sampled using a standard size selective high volume air sampler and analyzed for its elemental, black carbon and ionic species constituents. Results showed that the overall average concentrations of SO2, CO, NO2, O3, Pb, TSP and PM10 measured at eight monitoring sites of Makassar was 74.9 µg/m3, 1007 µg/m3, 42.5 µg/m3, 53.7 µg/m3, 0.70 µg/m3, 179 µg/m3, 53.9 µg/m3, respectively. The concentration of the particulate matter found in the study area was typically influenced by the dry and wet season experienced in the region. A total of nineteen elemental components (i.e Ag, Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Si, Ti and Zn), four ionic species (i.e Cl-, NO3 -, SO4 2-, NH4 +) and black carbon, together constituted a mere 28.8% of the PM10 mass concentration, while the remaining 71.2% are yet to be explained. However, the use of a more rigorous source apportionment model based on positive matrix factorization (PMF) successfully identified six major sources of air pollution in the area, which include marine, motor vehicle, road dust, soil dust, industry and biomass burning, each contributing 25%, 24%, 16%, 13%, 12%, and 10% of the particulate mass concentration, respectively
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    Systematic management and recycling training as the educational tool of food waste composting
    (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2016) Hassan, Rokiah
    Solid waste management is an important issue around the world. As the amount of solid waste is increasing with the number of population and rapid growth of urbanization process, there is an increasing demand for minimization of the solid waste generation at source especially food waste using method such as composting. However, the number of people engaging in composting activities in Malaysia is relatively low. Thus this study provides a channel to promote and educate the public to practice food waste composting at source. A newly developedsystem called SMARTHERITAGE was introduced to respondents in Seremban and Bandar Baru Bangi. SMARTHERITAGE consists of three components which is BonusHijau, Green Ambassadors and BuyBack program which were introduced to respondents in Seremban, while in Bandar Baru Bangi, only BonusHijau and Green Ambassador were introduced. The period of study conducted in Seremban was two years while for Bangi case, it took six months. By using a random-quasi experimental research design, the findings obtained are as follows. In the case of Seremban, it is found that the level of knowledge, intention and perception of respondents toward food waste composting were increased after they were engaged with SMARTHERITAGE. Accodingly, their knowledge , intention and perception level had increase to 83%, 100% and 73% respectively. On the other hand in the case of Bandar Baru Bangi the findings showed there was an increase in the level of knowledge and intention of the respondents toward food waste composting. SMARTHERITAGE was successfully increase the knowledge level by 14.3% and intention by 12.4%. However the perception level are found to be reduced by 15.7% On overall, SMARTHERITAGE has the ability and potential as a promoting strategy to educate and implement food waste diversion by composting activities