Nature conservation measures

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Table of contents

1. Introduction générale (version abrégée en français)
1. General Introduction
1.1 Risk associated to oil and gas activities
1.1.1. The concept of risk
1.1.2. Risk Assessment
1.1.3. Environmental risk assessment for crude oil activities
1.2. The North-eastern Ecuadorian Amazon as a case study
1.2.1. General overview and importance of the study area
1.2.2. Biophysical characteristics
1.2.3. Lithology and hydrogeology
1.2.4. Nature conservation measures
1.2.5. Oil activities in the NEA
1.3. Thesis rationale and research questions
Chapter I – Spatial analysis of accidental oil spills using heterogeneous data: a case study from the north-eastern Ecuadorian Amazon
I.1. Introduction
I.2. Materials and Methods
I.2.1. Study area
I.2.2. Data for crude oil spills
I.2.3. Accounting for heterogeneity in data quality: well- vs. poorly-documented oil blocks
I.2.4. Calculating the oil spill rates to be used for estimations on poorly-documented blocks
I.2.5. Oil spill mapping
I.2.6. Validity of the procedure to estimate oil spills on poorly-documented blocks
I.3. Results
I.3.1. Oil spills: temporal and spatial patterns
I.3.2. Reliability of the procedure used to estimate missing data
I.4. Discussion
I.4.1. Uncertainties and data quality
I.4.1.1. Data reporting
I.4.1.2. Spill estimates
I.4.2. Accuracy of oil spill estimations
I.4.3. Spatial distribution of spills and hazard potential
I.4.4. Potential economic, health, and environmental losses
I.5. Conclusion
Chapter II – Spatial inventory of selected atmospheric emissions from oil industry in Ecuadorian Amazon: insights from comparisons among satellite and institutional datasets 
II.1. Introduction
II.2. Materials and Methods
II.2.1. Study Area
II.2.2. Data for atmospheric emissions and comparisons
II.2.3. Emission processing and calculations
II.2.3.1. Gas flaring
II.2.3.2. Black carbon
II.2.4. Atmospheric emission mapping
II.2.5. Carbon dioxide and methane
II.2.5.1. Estimating variations based on percentile change in key parameters
II.3. Results
II.3.1. Gas flaring and black carbon emissions according to publicly available data
II.3.2. Estimates of this study compared to other datasets
II.3.3. Mapping of airborne black carbon emissions at a regional scale
II.3.4. Greenhouse gas estimates
II.4. Discussion
II.4.1. Data reporting
II.4.2. Emission estimates
II.4.2.1. Black carbon
II.4.2.2. Greenhouse gases
II.4.3. Comparison of emission sources
II.4.3.1. Single flare stacks from various countries
II.4.3.2. Institutional and satellite datasets
II.4.3.3. Across activity sectors
II.4.4. Potential economic, health, and environmental losses
II.5. Conclusion
Chapter III – Vulnerability assessment of natural heritage and biodiversity in the North-eastern Ecuadorian Amazon using land use cover and nature protection status.
III.1. Introduction
III.2. Materials and Methods
III.2.1. Study area
III.2.2. Data compilation
III.2.3. Vulnerability assessment
III.2.3.1. Assessing ecological integrity vulnerability
III.2.3.2. Assessing biodiversity vulnerability
III.2.3.2.1. Calculating biodiversity value from land use types
III.2.3.2.2. Validity of the relationship between biodiversity and land use
III.2.4. Standardisation and combination of vulnerability values
III.3. Results
III.3.1. Biodiversity vulnerability map obtained from land use
III.3.1.1. Species richness across land use categories in tropical regions
III.3.1.2. Relative vulnerability values across the landscape
III.3.2. Ecological integrity vulnerability map obtained from protection status
III.3.3. Relationships between vulnerabilities derived from the different metrics.
III.4. Discussion
III.4.1. Relevance of protection status in vulnerability assessment
III.4.2. Biodiversity and land use
III.4.3. Implications for spatial planning and conservation policies
III.4.4. Caveats of the study and steps forward
III.5. Conclusions
Chapter IV – Risk assessment of unlined oil pits to groundwater quality in the Ecuadorian Amazon: A modified GIS-DRASTIC approach
IV.1. Introduction
IV.2. Materials and Methods
IV.2.1. Study area
IV.2.2. Compiling database for the modified DRASTIC index
IV.2.3. Intrinsic vulnerability: indexing and mapping
IV.2.3.1. Water-related parameters
IV.2.3.1.1. Hydrogeological settings and aquifer media
IV.2.3.2. Soil-related parameters
IV.2.4. Sensitivity analysis
IV.2.5. Hazard assessment: estimating volumetric properties of pits
IV.2.5.1. Estimation of TPH content in pits
IV.2.5.2. Propagation of hydrocarbons at a regional scale
IV.2.6. Contamination risk mapping: hazard overlaid with vulnerability
IV.3. Results
IV.3.1. Influence of single groundwater parameters to overall vulnerability
IV.3.2. Impact of parameter removal and assigned weights on vulnerability index variations
IV.3.3. Risk mapping: spreading contamination in groundwater vulnerability zones
IV.4. Discussion
IV.4.1. Components of risk: vulnerability and hazard
IV.4.1.1. Groundwater vulnerability
IV.4.1.2. Impact of hazard assessment in overall risk
IV.4.2. Land use planning implications
IV.4.3. Limitations and further adaptations
IV.5. Conclusion
Chapter V – General discussion
V.1. The significance of the risk assessment approach
V.2. Spatial emission inventories
V.3. From the general concept of vulnerability to its ecological specificities
V.4. Groundwater vulnerability as a case study for risk assessment
V.5. Towards integrated ERA
V.5.1. Further assessment of environmental assets
V.5.2. Selection of alternative assets for vulnerability evaluation
V.5.3. Insights for land use planning implications: towards adaptive capacity management
V.6. Perspectives
V.6.1. Towards incorporating components for overall vulnerability: environmental resilience
V.6.2. Towards incorporating components for overall vulnerability: Societal assets
V.6.3. Transport models and validation
VI. – Conclusion
VI. – Conclusion en français
VII. Bibliography
VIII. Appendix