Browsing by Author "Karasik, Rachel"
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Item Open Access 20 Years of Government Responses to the Global Plastic Pollution Problem: The Plastics Policy Inventory(2020-05-15) Virdin, John; Karasik, Rachel; Vegh, Tibor; Pickle, Amy; Diana, Zoie; Rittschof, Daniel; Bering, Janet; Caldas, JuanPlastic pollution in the ocean is a global problem that requires cooperation from a wide range of groups (e.g., governments, producers, consumers, researchers, civil society). This study aims to synthesize the policy response of governments to the global plastic pollution problem, as a basis for more rigorous monitoring of progress (as called for in Resolution 4/6 of the 2019 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) meeting) and to inform future public policies.Item Open Access 2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief(2023-08-31) Karasik, Rachel; Vegh, Tibor; Utz, Ria; Dominguez, Andrew; Skarjune, Melissa; Merlo, Juan; Dixon, Natalie; Virdin, JohnIn the first annual update of Annual Trends in Plastics Policy, Nicholas Institute researchers find that plastics policy enactment continues to surge and was not negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, researchers found more than 300 additional policies to index in the Plastics Policy Inventory, upon which this report is based, for a total of 894 policies. The 2022 update to the inventory increased the total by more than 50%. However, gaps in scope and implementation remain. Though more policies address additional types of single-use plastics, most still target only plastic bags. Microplastics and marine sources remain relatively unaddressed, and economic instruments are a minority of policy instruments used. To better gauge policy implementation, researchers established a new effectiveness policy library to accompany the 2022 update. These studies indicate that, while underused in existing policy, greater governmental use of economic instruments (e.g., taxes, fees, levies) and information instruments (e.g., awareness campaigns to communicate other instruments to the public, education initiatives, etc.) would aid in enacting effective policies in the future.Item Open Access Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief(2022-02-23) Karasik, Rachel; Bering, Janet; Griffin, Madison; Diana, Zoie; Laspada, Christian; Schachter, Jonathan; Wang, Yifan; Pickle, Amy; Virdin, JohnIn 2020, the Plastics Policy Inventory and accompanying report, 20 Years of Government Responses to the Global Plastic Pollution Problem, were published, providing a baseline for the trends in government responses to the plastic pollution problem, as well as highlighting some gaps. Since that time, momentum has grown toward negotiation of an international agreement as a collective response to the problem, even as governments and resources have been strained by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This first brief builds upon the 2020 report and baseline by adding new data on national policy responses to plastic pollution from 2020 and 2021. Assessment of the more up-to-date policy inventory suggests that the twenty-year trend of an increase in the number of national policies introduced to reduce plastic pollution has stalled. While additional data on national policies may subsequently become available to revise these estimates, if confirmed they would suggest a pause in government responses to the problem, coinciding with the pandemic (though we cannot show causality). Our goal is for this brief to be the first in a regular series of annual updates on the trends in government responses to the global plastic pollution problem.Item Open Access Assessing the Effects of Management Activities on Biodiversity and Carbon Storage on Public and Private Lands and Waters in the United States(2023-04-13) Warnell, Katie; Mason, Sara; Karasik, Rachel; Olander, Lydia; Posner, Stephen; Alonso-Rodríguez, Aura; Aristizábal, Natalia; Bloomfield, Laura; Estifanos, Tafesse; Gourevitch, Jesse; Littlefield, Caitlin; Mazurowski, Jason; Menice, Katarina; Moore, Maya; Nicholson, Charlie; Sands, Bryony; Spencer, Leslie; Treuer, Tim; Ricketts, Taylor; Hartley, ChrisNatural and working lands (NWLs) provide many benefits to people, including storing greenhouse gases (GHGs), supporting biodiversity, and generating other ecosystem services. Management of NWLs can influence their condition and function and therefore the benefits they provide. This project surveys the synthesis literature to assess how different management actions on various types of NWLs affect biodiversity and GHG outcomes. This information can help to determine how to best manage these lands to contribute to both biodiversity and climate solutions in the United States. These results are a starting point to assess how different forms of management on various types of NWLs contribute to or detract from biodiversity and GHG outcomes. Though this study’s scope was limited to an exploration of biodiversity and GHG benefits provided by NWLs, this process could be adapted to examine the effects of management on other important ecosystem services, as well as how management affects equitable distribution of those services. Additional quantitative synthesis is also needed to compare the magnitude of different management activities’ impacts on biodiversity and carbon and to better understand how the intensity of certain activities influences these outcomes. This report is a collaboration between the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability and the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont. This research was supported by the US Department of Agriculture, Office of Environmental Markets, under a cooperative agreement. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or US Government determination or policy. For related work, please see Tracking the Benefits of Natural & Working Lands in the United States: Dataset Evaluation and Readiness Assessment.Item Open Access Developing Key Performance Indicators for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Planning(2022-08-17) Boltz, Frederick; Losos, Liz; Karasik, Rachel; Mason, SaraThis document from the Resilience Roadmap project recommends a common approach to developing key performance indicators (KPIs) for climate change adaptation and resilience planning, drawing upon current science and tools referenced throughout. The work is particularly aimed to support climate adaptation and resilience planning by US federal agencies and thus presents principally US national-level data and online resources. The approach is broadly applicable across agencies, sectors, and systems and can also be applied by state or local planners and adaptation/resilience practitioners. The KPI development approach includes: 1. Setting the scope and goals of climate adaptation and resilience planning, following a stepwise process. 2. Developing KPIs to track performance and guide adaptive management, following a core set of ten process and five outcome indicators. This methods brief includes contributions from Beth Gibbons, Lara Hansen, Jesse Keenan, Susanne Moser, Mark Rupp, Josh Sawislak, Laurie Schoeman, and Forbes Tompkins.Item Open Access Evidence Library for Oyster Reef Restoration in the Gulf of Mexico(2020-04-28) Warnell, Katie; Karasik, Rachel; Mason, Sara; Zhao, Alicia; Sharma, Shubhi; Sandoval, ClaudiaBillions of dollars will be spent on large-scale restoration of Gulf ecosystems over the coming decades, but there is no shared platform to guide assessment and reporting of restoration progress and effectiveness for the broad set of environmental, social, and economic goals shared by the many institutions working in the Gulf. The GEMS (Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Logic Models and Socio-economic Indicators) project aims to advance standardized metrics of restoration success by developing ecosystem service logic models (ESLMs) with stakeholders from the five Gulf states, relevant federal agencies, and technical experts. ESLMs trace the effects of restoration strategies as they influence ecological and social systems to create outcomes that are important to people. This report presents a general ESLM for oyster reef restoration, representing all of the outcomes from oyster reef restoration that are significant, tightly tied to oyster reef restoration, and important to the local community, and an evidence library summarizing the scientific evidence supporting each of the relationships shown in the ESLM.Item Open Access Exploring the Social Costs of Plastics: Global Review of Impacts and Economic Damages(2024-04-26) Baker, Anne-Elisabeth; Ekberg, Jon; Sutaria, Sadaf Sadruddin; Moreno Ramos, Juan CamiloThe world currently has a unique opportunity to address pressing issues with plastic pollution in our global environment with an international legally binding agreement. It is imperative that we understand the impacts and harms – economic and social – of plastic pollution so the resulting treaty can rely upon robust scientific evidence. This project focuses on evaluating the social costs of plastics by assessing the state of science available on the impacts of plastic throughout its life cycle. This study aims to help the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University in understanding the knowledge gaps that exist on impacts of plastic pollution and how these are being evaluated to account for economic externalities In collaboration with a climate research grant team at the Nicholas Institute, we developed a system of categories for impacts of plastic throughout the entirety of its life cycle. Prior to this Master’s Project, the research team at the Nicholas Institute had consulted with experts of multiple disciplines on best approaches for the feasibility and utility of the social costs of plastics. Experts suggested a similar approach to the one used in the Social Cost of Carbon framework and the development of the system of categories (typology matrix for the purposes of this research). Using foundational literature, we developed definitions for the typologies and economic damages to then obtain search terms to be used in the literature review. We developed a semi-systematic methodology for conducting a global literature review, which is informed by the foundational literature and a typology matrix of plastic’s impacts and economic damages previously mentioned. We complement the resulting framework with outcomes and comments from a multidisciplinary expert workshop held in January 2024 in Washington, D.C. We presented preliminary results of the literature review and received guidance from the experts at the workshop in identifying the gaps. Based on 1,841 data points from 300 unique sources identified in our literature review, this report offers insights on the knowledge gaps in the plastics domain and a discussion on the state of science regarding the social costs of plastic. This study can help inform future research agendas and considerations to account for when measuring the social costs of plastics. The subsequent goal of this study is to inform policy discussions at a global scale with a preliminary understanding of the social cost of plastic with the available scientific data. Policies such as EPR schemes are discussed as solutions to this global plastic issue and they can be set more effectively by understanding the social costs. We delivered a database of impacts of plastic pollution at different geographical levels around the world. Overall, this report aims to inform future researchers and policymakers on three key areas: 1) The state of knowledge on the impacts of plastic pollution; 2) Provide preliminary considerations for a framework on the social costs of plastics; and 3) Initiate discussion amongst the multiple disciplines and policymakers working on the wide array of plastic impacts through its lifecycle. The main results of our literature review point to a huge gap at the mid-stream stage of the plastics lifecycle, skewed distribution and valuation of impacts towards the marine environment and the need for consistency in units and methodologies in quantifying impacts and valuing damages from plastics. We highlight the importance of the latter in going forward on the plastic pollution research domain as a need for fostering collaboration and actions between multiple stakeholders and researchers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most recent literature review investigating the current state of knowledge of the social costs of plastics.Item Open Access GEMS Phase I Report: Oyster Reef Restoration(2020-02-03) Olander, Lydia; Shepard, Christine; Tallis, Heather; Yoskowitz, David; Coffey, Kara; Hale, Chris; Karasik, Rachel; Mason, Sara; Warnell, Katie; Williams, Lauren; Wowk, KatyaBillions of dollars will be spent on large-scale restoration of Gulf ecosystems over the coming decades, but there is no shared platform to guide assessment and reporting of restoration progress and effectiveness for the broad set of environmental, social, and economic goals shared by the many institutions working in the Gulf. The diversity of these goals—including habitat restoration, water quality improvement, marine resource protection, community resilience, and economic revitalization—means that a variety of metrics are needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects. A set of common models and metrics relevant across projects, programs, and locations can facilitate effective project planning and evaluation. While there are existing efforts to collate and standardize ecological and biophysical metrics for Gulf restoration projects (GOMA Monitoring Community of Practice; NRDA Monitoring and Adaptive Management Manual), there is no current effort to do the same for the social, economic, and human well-being outcomes of restoration. This project aims to do that. The GEMS (Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Service Logic Models and Socio-Economic Indicators) project aims to advance standardized metrics of restoration success by developing ecosystem service logic models (ESLMs) with stakeholders from the five Gulf states, relevant federal agencies, and technical experts. ESLMs trace the effects of restoration strategies as they influence ecological and social systems to create outcomes that are important to people. The use of logic models is recommended by the National Academies of Science as best practice for monitoring plan design; these models can provide a practical and transferable approach for measuring success at different scales. The GEMS team will develop ESLMs and metrics for a wide range of coastal restoration approaches over the course of the project. This report presents the results of the first phase of the GEMS project, which focused on oyster reef restoration. The Phase II report of the GEMS project identifies metrics available to monitor the social and economic outcomes of a wide variety of coastal projects funded in the Gulf, using ESLMs to illustrate how these projects’ impacts cascade through the biophysical system to result in social and economic outcomes.Item Open Access GEMS Phase II Report: Coastal Restoration(2021-07-16) Olander, Lydia; Shepard, Christine; Tallis, Heather; Yoskowitz, David; Coffey, Kara; Hale, Chris; Karasik, Rachel; Mason, Sara; Warnell, KatieBillions of dollars will be spent on large-scale restoration of Gulf ecosystems over the coming decades, but there is currently no shared platform to guide assessment and reporting of restoration progress and effectiveness for the broad set of environmental, social, and economic goals shared by the many institutions working in the Gulf. This report, a product of the Bridge Collaborative — Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, The Harte Research Institute, and The Nature Conservancy, with support from the National Academies' Gulf Research Program — is a part of a project to advance standardized metrics of restoration success by developing ecosystem service logic models (ESLMs) with stakeholders from the five Gulf states, relevant federal agencies, and technical experts. ESLMs trace the effects of restoration strategies as they influence ecological and social systems to create outcomes that are important to people. The use of logic models is recommended by the National Academies of Science as a best practice for monitoring plan design; these models can provide a practical and transferable approach for measuring success at different scales. Numerous strategies for coastal restoration exist, and there are many places along the Gulf coast where restoration can be implemented. ESLMs are a great tool to compare across restoration strategies and locations to match likely restoration outcomes with stakeholder goals. In addition, evidence that accompanies these models can be used to clarify uncertainties that need to be considered and to identify critical research gaps. This Phase II report of the GEMS project identifies metrics available to monitor the social and economic outcomes of a wide variety of coastal projects funded in the Gulf, using ESLMs to illustrate how these projects’ impacts cascade through the biophysical system to result in social and economic outcomes. Phase II expands the focus to assess socioeconomic metrics for 16 coastal project types, including habitat restoration, recreational enhancement, and water quality improvement projects. This report follows the Phase I report, which focused on understanding the various types of oyster reef restoration occurring in the Gulf and how those projects contribute to social and economic well-being.Item Open Access Initial Assessment of Gender Considerations in Plastics Policy(2023-08-31) Dixon, Natalie; Skarjune, Melissa; Mason, Sara; Karasik, Rachel; Virdin, JohnGlobally, women are disproportionately burdened and impacted by the harmful effects of plastic across the life cycle of products. These burdens vary across cultural, socioeconomic, and political contexts, and based on how women engage with plastic, but broadly include health and safety impacts, access to opportunities in the waste sector, and exposures to harmful plastic-associated chemicals. This initial assessment considers how women, people who are assigned female at birth and have been socialized as females, and/or female-identified people are considered in plastics policy scope and implementation. Researchers identified 25 documents at the intersection of plastics policy and gender, indicating gender is rarely considered when crafting plastics policy. However, evidence of gender-differentiated impacts of plastics policy is emerging. Plastics bans, waste management policies, and economic development funds often ignore or do not consider women’s roles as heads of households or informal waste sector workers, both of which expose women to excesses of plastics and their negative effects. Despite this, some policies that do consider gender were identified. Most are primarily focused on incorporating women in the waste management sector and alleviating the burden of low-income women from complying with plastic bag fees. None address the risks associated with chemical exposure across the plastics life cycle. These policies, alongside expert interviews, suggest that the path toward tangible consideration of gender-differentiated impacts associated with plastic and plastics policies requires, at a minimum, ensuring the inclusion of women in policymaking, waste management industries, and research and development. The reviewed literature emphasizes that only when power structures are reexamined and corrected for will there be meaningful changes to the ways humanity designs plastics, manages waste, and informs the public about the products they consume.Item Open Access State of the Coast: A Review of Coastal Management Policies for Six States(2023-01-17) Karasik, Rachel; Pickle, Amy; O’Shea, Maggie; Reilly, Kelly; Bruce, Molly; Earnhardt, Rachel; Ahmed, IqraThis analysis of coastal habitat policy in six US states—California, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington—aims to identify promising policy approaches for improved protection and restoration of oyster reefs, mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass. Coastal habitats provide critical environmental, economic, and recreational services valued at billions of dollars in the United States alone. However, the quantity and quality of most coastal habitats have been under decline for centuries due to a variety of threats. Coordinated policy responses across levels of government are required for protection and restoration of coastal habitats because they do not have discrete jurisdictional boundaries and are often harmed by distant anthropogenic activities. The analysis finds that state-level management is principally guided by federal coastal protection and management statutes, namely the Clean Water Act and Coastal Zone Management Act. State and federal policies are rarely habitat-specific and do not comprehensively address threats, which can result in a fragmented policy landscape that struggles to meet habitat protection and restoration goals. With limited long-term monitoring data and few effectiveness studies, our ability to understand which policy levers work and the extent to which they can be replicated in other states is limited. A successful path forward may be found through local initiatives tailored and designed for their local context that have effectively restored degraded habitats and employed innovative regulatory mechanisms intended to streamline the permitting process for restoration. Dedicated funding for sustained, long-term monitoring to best understand the effects and outcomes of habitat protection and restoration policy efforts will also be critical to identify enabling conditions and replicate effective measures in similar contexts. The Pew Charitable Trusts supported the development of this report. Pew is not responsible for any inaccuracies and does not necessarily endorse the findings.Item Open Access Template for Providing Access to Local North Carolina Seafood in Low-Income Communities(2016-04-29) Karasik, Rachel; Talmage, SpencerThis Master’s project provides NC Catch with a template and recommendations for implementing a supply chain that brings locally sourced seafood to low-income communities in North Carolina. The model determines processing, distribution and retail costs that generate revenue while encouraging equitable seafood consumption and identifies strategic partners for the implementation of this project. While the local food movement has introduced ecologically responsible and local fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat products into rural and low-income communities, sustainable seafood is less frequently included in promotion, distribution and education. This project aims to determine if underutilized fish species, which tend to be lower-value, caught off of North Carolina can become seafood products for lower income communities. These products can enter supply chains and markets and be sold at lower prices than current locally harvested seafood products are. A variety of methods were utilized in this process, including a literature review, interviews, focus groups, and GIS and cost analyses for distribution. Results demonstrate that there is an interest in expanding seafood access in North Carolina and that people have diverse preferences for taste, texture, flavor, and processed forms of the seafood they choose to purchase. The results of this work are a cohesive framework for effectively building a supply chain of locally caught, affordable seafood.Item Open Access Workshop Guide: Using Facilitation Techniques to Integrate Ecosystem Services into Coastal Management Decisions(2019-02-18) Mason, Sara; Karasik, Rachel; Olander, LydiaEstuarine systems are areas of immense ecological importance and provide numerous social, economic, and environmental benefits. The strong link between healthy habitats and these benefits requires incorporating the concerns of both nature and people into coastal management. An ecosystem services approach to coastal management and stewardship is defined by consideration of those benefits that flow from nature to people. As coastal managers increasingly attempt to fully characterize and communicate how natural systems affect the people who live near, work in, depend on, and care about the habitats they manage, ecosystem services considerations are progressively more important to address. Incorporating ecosystem services into management aims to result in an intact and resilient ecosystem that takes multiple beneficiary groups’ needs into consideration. This guide is targeted at coastal resource managers and practitioners who are actively thinking about how to more deliberately incorporate ecosystem services into their coastal decision-making processes.