Policy Development for Environmental Licensing and Biodiversity Offsets in Latin America

Attempts to meet biodiversity goals through application of the mitigation hierarchy have gained wide traction globally with increased development of public policy, lending standards, and corporate practices. With interest in biodiversity offsets increasing in Latin America, we seek to strengthen the basis for policy development through a review of major environmental licensing policy frameworks in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Here we focused our review on an examination of national level policies to evaluate to which degree current provisions promote positive environmental outcomes. All the surveyed countries have national-level Environmental Impact Assessment laws or regulations that cover the habitats present in their territories. Although most countries enable the use of offsets only Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru explicitly require their implementation. Our review has shown that while advancing quite detailed offset policies, most countries do not seem to have strong requirements regarding impact avoidance. Despite this deficiency most countries have a strong foundation from which to develop policy for biodiversity offsets, but several issues require further guidance, including how best to: (1) ensure conformance with the mitigation hierarchy; (2) identify the most environmentally preferable offsets within a landscape context; (3) determine appropriate mitigation replacement ratios; and (4) ensure appropriate time and effort is given to monitor offset performance.     

Study on the long-term and short-term effects of globalization and population aging on ecological footprint in OECD countries

Population aging has become a global phenomenon. Whereas, the ecological consequences of population aging are rarely addressed in current research. In this context, this study contributes to the existing literature by providing new empirical evidence on how population aging along with globalization, economic growth, energy consumption, natural resource rent, and human capital affect ecological footprint for selected 27 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries during 1970–2017. This study utilizes an advanced econometric approach, Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator for empirical estimation, that allows heterogeneity in the slope parameters and dependencies across countries. The long-term results disclose that globalization (overall) decreases the ecological footprint. On the other hand, financial and political globalization poses a favorable impact on environmental quality, while economic and social globalization is found to increase environmental degradation. Population aging has a statistically significant negative effect on the ecological footprint, but its non-linear term increases the ecological footprint. Additionally, economic growth, energy consumption, and natural resource rent exacerbate environmental deterioration. In contrast, human capital decreases ecological footprint. Based on the empirical results, important policy implications have been provided.     

Bio-safety and bio-security: A major global concern for ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

Besides its impacts on governance, economics, human culture, geostrategic partnership and environment, globalization greatly exerted control over science and security policies. Biosecurity is the critical job of efforts, policy and preparation to protect health of human, animal and environmental against any biological threats. With the transition into a global village, the possibility of biosecurity breaches has significantly increased. The COVID-19 pandemic is an example of an infringement on biosecurity that has posed a serious threat to the world. Since the first report on the recognition of COVID-19, a number of governments have taken preventive measures, like; lockdown, screening and early detection of suspected and implementing the required response to protect the loss of life and economy. Unfortunately, some of these measures have only recently been taken in some countries, which have contributed significantly to an increased morbidity and loss of life on a daily basis. In this article, the biological risks affecting human, animal and environmental conditions, biosafety violations and preventive measures have been discussed in order to reduce the outbreak and impacts of a pandemic like COVID-19.     

The relationship between consumption and production system and its implications for sustainable development of China

Rapidly developing economy in China makes great improvement in human life quality. At the mean while, it brings great pressures on environment which has drawn broadly attentions all over the world. The ‘problems of consumption’ comes both from consumers and producers. Hybrid life cycle analysis method and structural decomposition analysis model were used in this paper to explore the interaction of consumption and production and how technology development and household consumption contributed to CO₂ emissions in the period of 1992–2002. The achievements of technology development in the last two decades reduced the emission intensity and technical coefficients which lowered the CO₂ emissions. But the household consumption has offset this technological contribution and resulted in the growth of CO₂ emission. Interaction analysis results showed that consumer's demand for energy-intensive product was an important driving force of pollution production. Household consumption in China contributed a lot to the expansion of manufacturing activities in the last two decades. We concluded that sustainable development could not be achieved if policy makers continuously emphasize the control of polluting industries. The government should simultaneously emphasize technological development and consumer policies to curb these emissions and induce more environmental conscious production and consumption patterns.     

Electric car life cycle assessment based on real-world mileage and the electric conversion scenario

Purpose

While almost all life cycle assessment (LCA) studies published so far are based on generic vehicles, type approval energy consumption as well as emission data, and application scenarios related to standardized laboratory-based driving cycles, this projects aims at quantifying the LCA based on a real-world vehicle composition and energy consumption data measured before and after the electric conversion of a mini class car. Furthermore, consequences of a second life of a vehicle’s glider on the environmental impact were investigated.

Methods

After having driven 100,000 km, a Smart was converted from combustion to electric in a laboratory project. The inventory was developed grounded upon materials data from laboratory measurements during the conversion process as well as on real-world energy consumption data prior and after the conversion. Three base models are compared in this life cycle impact assessment: a conventional new Smart (combustion engine), a new electric Smart, and a Smart converted from combustion engine to electric. Together with two sensitivity analyses (four different electricity mixes as well as urban vs. mixed driving conditions) and two EOL treatments, 36 scenarios have been quantified. The inventory is based on Ecoinvent database v 2.2 as a background system and includes raw material extraction.

Results and discussion

In urban use, the modeled battery electric vehicle has a favorable environmental impact compared to the ICEV even when charged with the German electricity mix of the year 2013. The advantage in summed up endpoints of the converted Smart is 23 % vs. the new electric Smart on average for the mixed driving conditions and 26 % for the urban driving conditions, respectively. Over a variety of impact categories, electricity consumption during battery cell production in China as well as impacts due to microelectronic components dominated the life cycle. Results for 18 midpoint categories, endpoints for damages to human health, to resource quality and to ecosystem quality as well as the Single score endpoints are reported.

Conclusions

This investigation points out that real-world treatments in inventory development can more specifically outline the environmental advantages of the electric car. The electric conversion of a used combustion engine vehicle can save an additional 16 % (CO₂-eq) and 19 % (single score endpoints) of the environmental impact over a lifetime, respectively, when compared with the new BEV.

     

Tackling Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms with Chinese Colleagues: We're All in the Same Boat

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (CyanoHABs) are a rapidly proliferating global problem, threatening the use and sustainability of our freshwater resources. In recent decades, the United States, China, and other developed and developing countries threatened by CyanoHAB expansion have established collaborative efforts aimed at mitigating and managing this environmental and human health problem. However, an escalating negative political climate and restrictive policies on scientific exchange threaten these efforts. In this Perspective, I point to progress that has been made to counter the CyanoHAB problem on U.S.–Chinese fronts through our collaborations, which have been mutually beneficial from research and academic perspectives. Much like global efforts now needed to control pandemics, we are all “in the same boat” when to comes to countering the threat CyanoHABs pose for drinkable, swimmable, and fishable freshwater supplies and human health.     

Economic growth and environmental impacts: An analysis based on a composite index of environmental damage

The conflict between economic growth and the environment is complex and sharper today than ever before. Indeed, the relationship between economic growth and the sustainability of ecosystems has been extensively discussed in the literature, but the results remain controversial.This paper reviews the use of single and composite indicators of environmental damage and questions whether the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis sufficiently mirrors the relationship between economic growth and ecological damage. Ecological Indicators are relevant when they potentially inform society about ecological developments in a reliable way. We use the modified composite index of environmental performance (mCIEP) to measure environmental damage, and GDP per capita to represent economic growth. The econometric model is developed using panel data composed of 152 countries and a period of 6 years. The model is estimated for the full sample, for three different sets of countries, by level of development, and a decomposition analysis is carried out, which corresponds to the study of the CIEP individual dimensions.Our results reveal that, at present, the EKC hypothesis is not proved. We conclude that it is critical to be clear that economic growth alone is not enough to improve environmental quality. Therefore, creating a consistent, coherent and effective environmental policy framework is essential in order to improve environmental quality that supports wellbeing and enables long-term economic development.     

The impact of epizootics on livelihoods

Epizootics (nonhuman animal disease epidemics) can have detrimental impacts on livelihoods through a complex interaction of demographic trends, food production, and animal disease. Differences in the rate of demographic shifts, including rates of population growth, economic growth, urbanization, environmental sustainability, and role of women in society, are strong driving forces that will determine to what extent food demand will be matched by food production capacity. Epizootics can negatively affect commerce and trade in all countries, and in low-income countries limited infrastructure and resources as well as competing priorities provide additional disincentive to controlling or eradicating animal diseases. Economic growth is critical to overcoming disparities among countries and is best supported by integrated animal health, public health, labor, and foreign policies. The adverse impacts of epizootics can be largely overcome through programs that support job growth along the value-added chain of food production and will require significant investments in science- (risk-) based education.     

General Trends of Technological Changes in Agriculture

In this article we show that technological development in agriculture exhibits general trends when assessed on a large scale. These trends are generated by changes in the larger socioeconomic context in which the farming system operates. We characterize agricultural performance by land and farm labor productivity and the pattern of use of technological inputs. By means of a cross-sectional analysis of agricultural performance of 20 countries (at the national level), we show that increases in demographic pressure and socioeconomic pressure (increases in average income and labor productivity) in society are the main driving forces of technological development in agriculture. Further, it is shown that the ecological impact of farming (environmental loading) is linked to the particular combination of land productivity and labor productivity at which the agricultural sector operates (through the particular mix and the level of inputs used in agricultural production). Briefly we discuss the role of international trade in agricultural policies and performance. Special attention is given to the situation of Chinese agriculture.     

Variable impact transportation (VIT) model for energy and environmental impact of hauling truck operation

Purpose

Fuel economy and emissions of heavy-duty trucks greatly vary based on vehicular/environmental conditions. Large-scale infrastructure construction projects require a large amount of material/equipment transportation. Single-parameter generic hauling models may not be the best option for an accurate estimation of hauling contribution in life cycle assessment (LCA) involving construction projects; therefore, more precise data and parameterized models are required to represent this contribution. This paper discusses key environmental/operational variables and their impact on transportation of materials and equipment; a variable-impact transportation (VIT) model accounting for these variables was developed to predict environmental impacts of hauling.

Methods

The VIT model in the form of multi-nonlinear regression equations was developed based on simulations using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) to compute all the impact categories in EPA’s TRACI 2.1 and energy consumption of transportation. Considering actual driving cycles of hauling trucks recorded during a pavement rehabilitation project, the corresponding environmental impacts were calculated, and sensitivity analyses were performed. In addition, an LCA case study based on historical pavement reconstruction projects in Illinois was conducted to analyze the contribution of transportation and variability of its impacts during the pavements’ life cycle.

Results and discussion

The importance of vehicle driving cycles was realized from simulation results. The case study results showed that considering driving cycles using the VIT model could increase the contribution of hauling in total life cycle Global Warming Potential (GWP) and total life cycle GWP itself by 2–4 and 3–5%, respectively. In addition to GWP, ranges of other hauling-related impact categories including Smog, Ozone Depletion, Acidification, and Primary Energy Demand from fuel were presented based on the case study. Ozone Depletion ranged from 9 to 45%, and Smog ranged from 11 to 48% of the total relevant life cycle impacts. The GWP contribution of hauling in pavement LCA ranged between 5 and 32%. The results indicate that the contribution of hauling transportation can be significant in pavement LCA.

Conclusions

For large-scale roadway infrastructure construction projects that need a massive amount of material transportation, high fidelity models and data should be used especially for comparative LCAs that can be used as part of decision making between alternatives. The VIT model provides a simple analytical platform to include the critical vehicular/operational variables without any dependence on an external software; the model can also be incorporated in those studies where some of the transportation activity data are available.

     

A life cycle model for high-speed rail infrastructure: environmental inventories and assessment of the Tours-Bordeaux railway in France

Purpose

The objective of the study is to progress towards a comprehensive component-based Life Cycle Assessment model with clear and reusable Life Cycle Inventories (LCIs) for high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure components, and to assess the main environmental impacts of HSR infrastructure over its lifespan, to finally determine environmental hotpots and good practices.

Methods

A process-based LCA compliant with ISO 14040 and 14044 is performed. Construction-stage LCIs rely on data collection conducted with the concessionaire of the HSR line combined with EcoInvent 3.1 inventories. Use and End-of-Life stages LCIs rest on expert feedback scenarios and field data. A set of 13 midpoint indicators is proposed to capture the diversity of the environmental damage: climate change, consumptions of primary energy and non-renewable resources, human toxicity and ecotoxicities, eutrophication, acidification, radioactive and bulk wastes, stratospheric ozone depletion, and summer smog. Three characterization methods are used: the “Cumulative Energy Demand” method to quantify energy demand, the EDIP method for waste productions, and the CML method for the rest.

Results and discussion

The study shows major contributions to environmental impact from rails (10–71%), roadbed (3–48%), and civil engineering structures (4–28%). More limited impact is noted from ballast (1–22%), building machines (0–17%), sleepers (4–11%), and power supply system (2–12%). The two last components, chairs and fasteners, have negligible impact (max. 1 and 3% of total contributions, respectively). Direct transportation can contribute up to 18% of total impact. The production and maintenance stages contribute roughly equally to environmental deterioration (respectively average of 62 and 59%). Because the End-of-Life (EoL) mainly includes recycling with environmental credit accounted for in our 100:100 approach, this stage has globally a positive impact (??9 to ??98%) on all the impact categories except terrestrial ecotoxicity (58%), radioactive waste (11%), and ozone depletion (8%). Contribution analyses show that if concrete production is one of the important contributing processes over the construction stage, primary steel production is unquestionably the most important process on all the impact categories over the entire life cycle.

Conclusions

These results are of interest for public authorities and the rail industry, in order to consider the full life cycle impacts of transportation infrastructure in a decision-making process with better understanding and inclusion of the environmental constraints. Suggestions are provided in this way for life cycle good practices—for instance as regards gravel recycling choices—and additional research to reduce the impact of current major contributors.

     

Monitoring the consumption footprint of countries to support policy-making: An assessment of data availability in Germany

The European Green Deal and the German Resource Efficiency Programme both aim at decoupling resource consumption and associated environmental burdens from economic growth. Monitoring the progress of such policies requires robust estimates of environmental pressures and impacts, both from a domestic and a footprint perspective. Building on the life cycle assessment-based consumption footprint (CoF) indicator, developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre, we assess the environmental impacts of Germany's consumption in the areas of food, mobility, housing, household goods, and appliances during the period 2010–2018. A comparison between European and national consumption statistics revealed some differences in terms of data composition, granularity, consumption intensities, and calculated environmental impacts. Using national data sources results in slightly lower environmental impacts (e.g., due to differences in the assessment scope of national statistics) and requires some data preparation to match the CoF indicator. Emerging consumption trends can be highlighted using national data. Both data sources converge on main trends: Germany transgresses the safe operating space for several impact categories, with consumption of food, household goods, and mobility being the main drivers. Domestic impacts have decreased over time at the expense of outsourcing environmental pressures and impacts to other countries. The CoF indicator could complement resource monitoring frameworks and might be further aligned to the national context using country-level consumption statistics and life cycle inventory data.     

Impacts of human activity on environment in the high-cold pasturing area: A case of Gannan pasturing area

Identifying the specific forces driving environmental impact is a hot topic in the field of sustainable development in the pasturing area. In the paper, the ecological footprint was taken as the index of environmental impact, and a series of index like population quality, prosperous, using intensity, livelihood tactics are considered as the main human factors. Using the STIRPAT model and temporal series data from 1980 to 2007, the author analyzes the effects of the human driving forces of environmental impact.
The ecological footprint method presents a simple framework for national natural capital accounting, and it has been used as a comprehensive index of human activity impact, which indirectly reflect human activity’s pressure on the environment. Our analyses showed that the ecological footprint increased from 238736.9 to 877716.1 ha and per capital ecological footprint also increased from 0.854 to 1.961 ha/per during 1980–2007 in Gannan pasturing area. However, in the meantime, the ecological footprint intensity was inclined from 25.396 to 3.025 ha/ten thousand yuan.
With a view of dismantling the human driving forces of ecological footprint, the modified IPAT-called STIRPAT has been employed as a common analytic framework. Our analyses showed that population quantity and using intensity was a major driver of ecological footprint, their coefficients were greater than 1.0 in model (1); In addition, promoting the prosperous lever and the primary industry proportion, the impact of environment will be increased, but their coefficients are less than 1.0 in model (1). At the same time, the technological eco-efficiency of sample regions was discussed in details, the range ability of the technological eco-efficiency was wider, and 15 years went beyond the average level, but the other was less than the average level. Another important finding in the empirical study is that there are some evidences of an environmental Kuznets curve for ecological footprint within the range of calculated data. Some potential improvements in some further researches and suggestions to alleviate the environment pressure, and it is put forward in the last section.     

Sustainability evaluation of e-waste treatment based on emergy analysis and the LCA method: A case study of a trial project in Macau

Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has become one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world, and many countries have established e-waste treatment enterprises to solve their e-waste problems. Because of the potential environmental pollution from e-waste, evaluating the overall sustainability of e-waste enterprises is critical to both nations and cities, although a great challenge academically. In this study, a combined approach of emergy analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) was undertaken, to quantitatively investigate the effectiveness of an e-waste treatment trial project in Macau. In the emergy analysis, we also introduced two new indices (emergy recovery and technical efficiency) in order to evaluate the technical level of e-waste treatment in Macau. The research results show that the trial project has low competitive ability, due to high input emergy and low economic benefits. The emergy environmental efficiency analysis and LCA analysis together indicated that the trial project will indeed produce a low impact on the local environment, and because of the recovery of some resources in the e-waste treatment process, can even generate some environmental benefits. The analysis on the emergy recovery efficiency and technical efficiency shows that trial project has a relatively higher emergy recovery rate (52.78%) and technical level (72.36%) than the e-waste treatment enterprises in mainland China. However, based on both the emergy sustainability index (ESI) and the emergy–LCA sustainability index, it was found that the e-waste treatment trial project is not sustainable over the long term, due to low economic efficiency. Compared to ESI, the emergy–LCA sustainability index is more intuitive and easier to understand. Relevant results and data from this study could provide decision support to enterprise managers and government sectors, so that they could implement appropriate policies on e-waste treatment, to promote sustainable development and improved e-waste processing technologies.     

北京市域生态敏感性综合评价

区域生态敏感性评价对于制定区域环境政策,有效进行环境管理具有重要作用.在综述当前生态敏感性评价研究的基础上,综合考虑自然和人文两大类影响因子,构建了反映对水土流失、河流水量水质、土地沙化、泥石流、采矿、路网、濒危物种不同敏感程度的7个指标,运用地理信息系统和遥感技术,综合分析和评价了北京市域生态敏感性程度及其空间分布状况.结果表明,高生态敏感区主要有两类,分别分布于北京东北-西南走向的山区-平原过渡地带和永定河、潮白河、北运河、大石河河岸带,此外,大兴南部也有集中分布.中敏感区除分布于上述高敏感区外围以外,还集中分布于怀柔中部的红螺山、云蒙山地区和门头沟妙峰山地区.不敏感区则主要集中在怀柔、延庆的北部山区,其余地区为低敏感区.敏感性程度的空间变化基本规律是:在山区,从平原-山区过渡地带沿西北方向朝低山区和中山区衰减,在平原,则沿河道两侧向外围衰减.在评价的基础上,尝试提出了环境保育和生态建设的相关对策.     

Fish Invasions in the World's River Systems: When Natural Processes Are Blurred by Human Activities

Because species invasions are a principal driver of the human-induced biodiversity crisis, the identification of the major determinants of global invasions is a prerequisite for adopting sound conservation policies. Three major hypotheses, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive, have been proposed to explain the establishment of non-native species: the “human activity” hypothesis, which argues that human activities facilitate the establishment of non-native species by disturbing natural landscapes and by increasing propagule pressure; the “biotic resistance” hypothesis, predicting that species-rich communities will readily impede the establishment of non-native species; and the “biotic acceptance” hypothesis, predicting that environmentally suitable habitats for native species are also suitable for non-native species. We tested these hypotheses and report here a global map of fish invasions (i.e., the number of non-native fish species established per river basin) using an original worldwide dataset of freshwater fish occurrences, environmental variables, and human activity indicators for 1,055 river basins covering more than 80% of Earth's surface. First, we identified six major invasion hotspots where non-native species represent more than a quarter of the total number of species. According to the World Conservation Union, these areas are also characterised by the highest proportion of threatened fish species. Second, we show that the human activity indicators account for most of the global variation in non-native species richness, which is highly consistent with the “human activity” hypothesis. In contrast, our results do not provide support for either the “biotic acceptance” or the “biotic resistance” hypothesis. We show that the biogeography of fish invasions matches the geography of human impact at the global scale, which means that natural processes are blurred by human activities in driving fish invasions in the world's river systems. In view of our findings, we fear massive invasions in developing countries with a growing economy as already experienced in developed countries. Anticipating such potential biodiversity threats should therefore be a priority.     

Charging up Battery Recycling Policies: Extended Producer Responsibility for Single‐Use Batteries in the European Union,Canada, and the United States

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies have proven effective at raising consumer awareness, expanding waste collection infrastructure, and shifting costs of end‐of‐life (EOL) management from municipalities to stewardship organizations. Yet, such policies have been less successful in advancing waste management programs that ensure a net environmental benefit. This article analyzes how EPR policies for single‐use batteries in the European Union (EU), Canada, and the United States address the environmental costs and benefits of EOL management. Considering these EPR policies is instructive, because single‐use batteries have high collection costs and are of relatively low economic value for waste processors. Without deliberate planning, the environmental burdens of collecting and recycling such batteries may exceed the benefits. This article considers how EPR policies for single‐use batteries integrate performance requirements such as collection rates, recycling efficiencies, and best available techniques. It argues that for such policies to be effective, they need to be extended to address waste collection practices, the life cycle consequences of EOL management, and the quality of recovered materials. Such strategies are relevant to EPR policies for other products with marginal secondary value, including some textiles, plastics, and other types of electronic waste.     

Prevalence and significance of hepatitis B surface antigen in a general hospital.

Over a 6-month period 2025 patients admitted to New Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by counter-immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) and radioimmunoassay (RIA). CIEP detected 12 HBsAg-positive patients and RIA 16. RIA is therefore the more sensitive test for HBsAg. Of the 16 patients 2 had liver disease previously diagnosed, 3 had malignant disease and 11 were asymptomatic carriers. Of the 11 carriers all were born in countries where the carrier rate is known to be high. Routine screening of hospital patients on admission is of no value in detecting unsuspected liver disease but is of value in detecting asymptomatic carriers, which is of importance for the patient and his family. Routine screening tests for HBsAg in Canadian hospitals that treat many patients born in countries with a known high HBsAg prevalence is recommended. Routine screening is also recommended in all hospitals in Mediterranean and Asian countries.     

Health and environment in Czechoslovakia.

The study summarizes basic information on environmental conditions and health status of the Czechoslovak population. It analyzes the relationships between health and environmental conditions, and Appendix brings the comprehensive results of relevant studies performed in Czechoslovakia. The analytic results suggest the quality of Czechoslovak ecology as unsatisfactory, which in some localities, e.g. North Bohemia coal fields, Prague, Ostrava, is next to critical, with heavy impact on the population's health. The Czechoslovak citizens are more prone to falling ill, die sooner than their peers in the majority of European and non-European countries. In addition to the specific effects of individual factors and life style also immunity, reproduction cycle, metabolic processes etc. become involved in the health-living conditions relationships. All these influences are responsible for high rates of morbidity due to the so-called civilization diseases. Inevitably, the only possible solution is to protect effectively human healthy by protecting his living conditions, i.e. environment and life style.     

Design of ant-inspired stochastic control policies for collective transport by robotic swarms

In this paper, we present an approach to designing decentralized robot control policies that mimic certain microscopic and macroscopic behaviors of ants performing collective transport tasks. In prior work, we used a stochastic hybrid system model to characterize the observed team dynamics of ant group retrieval of a rigid load. We have also used macroscopic population dynamic models to design enzyme-inspired stochastic control policies that allocate a robotic swarm around multiple boundaries in a way that is robust to environmental variations. Here, we build on this prior work to synthesize stochastic robot attachment–detachment policies for tasks in which a robotic swarm must achieve non-uniform spatial distributions around multiple loads and transport them at a constant velocity. Three methods are presented for designing robot control policies that replicate the steady-state distributions, transient dynamics, and fluxes between states that we have observed in ant populations during group retrieval. The equilibrium population matching method can be used to achieve a desired transport team composition as quickly as possible; the transient matching method can control the transient population dynamics of the team while driving it to the desired composition; and the rate matching method regulates the rates at which robots join and leave a load during transport. We validate our model predictions in an agent-based simulation, verify that each controller design method produces successful transport of a load at a regulated velocity, and compare the advantages and disadvantages of each method.