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China's progressive assumption as a major actor on the African scene needs critical academic attention and examination. Although there are undoubtedly varied benefits, there are also concerns about whether China's win-win rhetoric is sincere or just empty propaganda. This paper contributes to the debate by examining the relationship between China and Africa through the lens of neo-colonialism. In this regard, the paper examines China's involvement in the textiles and mining industries of Ghana as a case study to argue whether the partnership between China and Africa is one that actually promotes development or engenders a new trend of neo-colonialism. Since this research focuses on areas such as partnership (i.e., between Ghana and China) and illegal mining with its effects, it intersects four of the SDGs (clean water and sanitation [SDG 6]; sustainable cities and communities [SDG 11]; life below water [SDG 14]; and partnership for the goals [SDG 17]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Singapore, on 19 December 2020, a trendy restaurant served nuggets prepared with chicken meat grown by the company Eat Just. According to customers, this product was similar in taste and texture to 'conventional meat'. In the National Review, journalist Matthew Scully welcomes this innovation and emphasises its re-humanising character. The aim of our paper is to show that this innovation, described by the journalist as a 'civilisational milestone' is based on what Mauss called 'a merchant's moral'. Cultured meat refers to powerful economic issues and generates alliances that are more economic-political than ethical. Far from 'rehumanising' us, it leads instead to replacing the living work of humans and animals with the dead work of machines. In other words, it dehumanises us and enslaves us. To show this, we first question the notion of 'real meat' and the historical dynamics that have led this product to being part of a project of agriculture without breeding. We then question the links between these innovations and the 'defenders' of animals and the planet, and the representations of animals underlying these links. Finally, we show that the morality of the merchant who promotes cultured meat is opposed to the universal morality of gift that has been building our relationship with domestic animals for ten millennia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to community sustainability remains an understudied topic of academic inquiry. Focusing on southern and central Ontario, Canada, the ways in which NTFPs may contribute to sustainable livelihoods are explored, along with how a fragmented sociopolitical landscape and the potential impacts of climate change might impede the development of the sector. Following interviews with twenty NTFP producers, four key themes highlighting the major challenges and opportunities are discussed. This paper contends that for an economically viable, socially just and environmentally sustainable NTFP industry to emerge, political-ecological power relations informed by critical social and environmental justice thinking must be understood and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores responses to COVID-19 by the Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai in Japan. Sōka means 'value-creation', but what kind of 'value' was created amidst a global pandemic? So-called 'new religions' in the context of Japan are typically presumed to embody a 'flight from the human world' into the exotic and remote. SG's response, however, encouraged people to stay very much within a 'human-bound world'. How did SG differ compared to other popular responses in Japan that drew on yōkai (or 'spirits') for comfort in defeating the soon objectified virus 'monster'? SG may be well-built for responding to disaster in its extensive grassroots networks and its daily newspaper to provide information. Responding with a renewed focus on study, chanting and outreach also highlights, however, how the meaning of 'hope' and 'well-being' were generated by internal change while structurally working to realise the SDG s as part of more long-term solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the emergence of cooperative photovoltaic projects in the Rhône-Alpes region (southeastern France) in the early 2010s marked by a national solar energy policy which at that time favoured the development of individual and private projects. The first part of the paper shows that in 2010 these projects emerged from converging national, regional and local dynamics and problematics. In the second part, the article analyzes the tribulations experienced by one of these collectives when it attempted to open the national incentive policy for photovoltaics to local issues which it did not take into account (redistribution and reinvestment of solar revenues, landscape and architectural innovation). Our analysis shows an innovative collective going through multiple trials in their attempt to initiate a territorial trajectory of energy transition that it deemed more equitable than the one then at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the conditions of emergence and the content of energy transition policies in shrinking cities. International academic literature considers shrinkage either as a factor favorable to alternative public policies, particularly in the field of sustainable development, or as a check to their acting capacities due to the multifactorial crises that hit shrinking cities. This paper is based on a case study of Vitry-le-François, archetypal of a small shrinking town in France. Two hypotheses are considered. In the first, urban shrinkage appears as a favorable context for an energy transition policy when the intensity and severity of the shrinkage process leads to a major crisis. In the second, energy transition policies applied to shrinking cities involve a course of action that extends beyond the energy sector and affects the whole of the urban policies in order to address the shrinkage phenomenon itself. The first part of the paper analyses the role of urban shrinkage and of the crisis affecting the local social housing landlord in the emergence of energy transition policies. The second part describes the content of the local energy policy transition and shows that this policy is focused on the rescue of the heating network owned by the social housing landlord, and on economic redevelopment issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoptés solennellement par les 193 États membres de l'Organisation des Nations unies en septembre 2015, les Objectifs du développement durable (ODD) sont présentés comme « 17 objectifs pour sauver le monde » (United Nations 2015). Ils proposent à tous les pays, sans aucune exception, des réponses aux principaux défis qui se posent à l'humanité, parmi lesquels ceux qui sont « liés à la pauvreté, aux inégalités, au climat, à la dégradation de l'environnement, à la prospérité, à la paix et à la justice » (id.). En cela, ils portent un programme d'éducation au politique qui se lit de façon transversale dans toutes les cibles envisagées, mais qui apparaît de la façon la plus explicite dans certaines de celles qui concernent l'enseignement. Cet article se concentre sur celles qui sont focalisées sur l'éducation au développement durable, et plus précisément encore sur l'évaluation qu'en organise le programme PISA de l'OCDE en prenant la mesure de la « compétence globale ». Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the 193 Member States of the United Nations in September 2015, are presented as "17 Goals to Transform our World" (Sustainable development (un.org)). These prospects provide answers to the main challenges facing humanity, including those linked to "poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace and justice" (id.) to all countries. The related goals carry on a political education program that can be considered transversally in every target envisaged, mainly in educational terms. This paper focuses on those related to education for sustainable development, and more precisely to the evaluation organized by the PISA program of the OECD by measuring "global competence". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy concept is currently being used in multiple ways. For some academics and organizations circular economy can be identified as a long term goal of achieved green growth while others argue that circular economy is fundamentally different from green growth. In this paper, we explore the conditions allowing green growth to be compatible with the concept of circular economy. Our model explicitly takes into account the possibility of a dematerializing of wealth production and raw material recycling through a green growth framework. We show that the reconciling of green growth with circular economy requires: (i) a fast decrease of the raw material intensity of economy far removed from present and past trajectories, (ii) the absence of a physical limitation to this decrease. This seems to indicate that green growth is essentially different from, and incompatible with the concept of circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algeria, like the most countries of the world, made a lot of efforts to raise the standard of living of the population, and this by adopting development programs for which huge financial allocations were made. This research paper aims to study the extent of the impact of these programs on the reality of sustainable development in Algeria, and we have reached the conclusion that those plans during the period (2005-2019) have achieved many results on the economic and social level, but they failed to achieve all dimensions that achieve optimal exploitation resources to ensure their survival for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the feedback from the project leaders on the management of interdisciplinarity involving 14 scientific projects (3 networks and 11 research projects) that are part of a program on the integrated management of animal health, and from researchers participating in the overall management of the program. The difficulties encountered by the project leaders relate to a need for acculturation among disciplines, to the equilibrium and mutual respect between disciplines within the project, to the lack of time dedicated to the scientific animation of the project, and to the difficulty of publishing interdisciplinary work. The level of interdisciplinarity varies among projects, from juxtaposition of several disciplines to their actual integration. Recommendations proposed to future project leaders at the various steps of a projet involve the co-design step, in order to facilitate the decentering of disciplinary questioning, the implementation step requiring an agile management, and the report step, in order to analyse how interdisciplinarity has shifted disciplinary lines and modified initial questions. Strengthening of interdisciplinary programs should prioritize the training of researchers in interdisciplinarity, provide support for the conception of interdisciplinary projects, and analyse the degree to which integration of disciplines was achieved in the projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and background: The concept of social accountability in health (SAH) is emerging as a major challenge, at the moment when the health systems are more than ever in difficulty and when society as a whole encounters new events linked to a pandemic that forces our main preoccupations towards a necessary paradigm shift. Objective: This paper offers a brief retrospective of the notion of accountability, from that of social responsibility in entrepreneurship, under the light of the human sciences (philosophy, anthropology, sociology) and discuss how the concept concerns the core of the professional exercise in health. Analysis: How can the social and environmental preoccupations be integrated in the daily medical practice without overloading the already overburden of the health professionals? Several hypotheses are conditioning this process: one of which is the introduction of a systemic thought, making possible a transformative action, a commitment around the values, a co-management with all the professionals and the involved stakeholders. This hypothesis draws the contours of a broadened definition of the SAH, including all actors of health and correlated activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the financial crisis that broke out in 2008, new terms to talk about sustainable development started to emerge: the "green" economy and "green" growth. Some countries supported their usage and others did not. The literature witnessed the recrudescence of the debate on the relationship between economic activity and taking care of the environment, divided into three stances: degrowth advocates, "green" growth backers, and the growth-agnostics. This paper dives into the different "green" terms, paying special attention to the case of Argentina. Unlike in previous papers, which have analyzed country interventions in international forums, the methodology here was to search the web pages of the most relevant local players. The most traditional terms ("sustainable development") were strongly predominant, and the concepts of "green" economy or "green" growth were few and far between. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societies are facing social ecosystemic crises which affect the highly anthropized and globalized Planet and which constitute major issues and a huge challenge for the future. Addressing these issues requires facing the very tough complexities of extensively anthropized ecosystems whose understanding demands interaction between the full range of environmental sciences (ESs), i.e. earth, life, human and societal sciences. Interdisciplinarity is not an option, but a structural constraint. The author presents a comprehensive interdisciplinarity facility which he designed within the French CNRS and implements since 2007 to address with this situation: the Human-Environment Observatories (Observatoires hommes-milieux, OHMs). Thirteen of these have been created in France and in other countries in 2019. In 2012 they were the French Governement's PIA1 laureate with the Labex DRIIHM (InterDisciplinary Research Facility on Human-Environment Interactions) for an 8 years funding which has just been renewed for 5 years (2020-2024). The OHMs are dedicated to the study of heavily anthropized sites hit by a "disrupting event" which has upset the ecological, economic and social balances that have developed over decades in the local socio-ecological conditions (for instance, a coalfield mine and its shutdown). In this paper, the author states the qualities needed for this interdisciplinary work in order to deal with these social ecological issues, and specifies the definition of multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinarity. He remarks that, within the OHMs, an "enlightened disciplinarity" spontaneously develops between all ESs due to a heuristic open-minded attitude called "indisciplinarity". Three examples of this mode of functioning are presented. They highlight the flexibility and simplicity of the process and its efficacy in developing links among scientists and between these and society in a sustainable development outlook. The OHMs facility provides one of the possibilities to take up the challenge of confronting the hypercomplex ecosytemic crises that arise in highly anthropised socio-ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific discourses are influenced by worldviews and values shared by scientific communities. In terms of sustainable development, as for other subjects, the production, dissemination and reception of knowledge structure the discursive universe of academic activities. This paper provides a mapping of the field of academic interactions based on a sample of 93 influential intellectuals active in sustainable development thinking in Latin America, from a review of more than ten thousand citations over a period of forty years (1972-2012). The software Gephi was used to draw figures that highlight these networks along three separate periods of time. A first period runs from 1970 and the start of modern environmental concerns until 1987 and the publication of the very influential Brundtland Report. A second period (1987-2002) covers the period of a flourishing institutional concept of sustainable development until the Johannesburg Conference. And the third one runs until the Rio+20 Summit in 2012. This quantitative analysis is complemented by a qualitative analysis of the works and relations of the most influential authors. The results show a gradual structuring of the discursive field on the subcontinent. We are able to trace the main relations between authors in Latin America and outside, mostly to the US and Europe. Our results also show that many academics in the sub region elaborated critical discourses that developed in synergy with various social movements that strive for justice and socio-environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper treats the ancient city of Constantine to identify the elements and forms of built heritage in Arab-Muslim city through historical monuments and constructions reflecting the creative abilities of the technical, organizational, and cultural dimensions, to bequeath to future generations. The city is experiencing a regression of the built environment and the quality of urban life, due to natural and human factors. What are the characteristics of the ancient city? How can we protect it in the context of sustainable development? Can we conciliate the past with the present to explore the future? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Gross Sustainability Index of the municipalities of Mato Grosso do Sul, prepared according to variables related to the political-administrative structure, instruments and actions developed in favor of environmental preservation. The data were obtained from the Municipal Basic Information Survey (MUNIC), made by the IBGE in 2013. The results indicate that several municipalities are far below the ideal in terms of the political-administrative structure and actions aimed at preserving the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We often hear about the resistance of First Nation (FN) communities to the industrial model of forestry, but we hear less about what they wish to achieve. Translating FN perspectives into concepts that are understood by the mainstream society can help inform current and future forest policies. Such translation can support initiatives that seek ways to increase FN participation in the forest sector. This paper documents one process of translation. It identifies the principles and objectives for forest-based development of the Essipit Innu First Nation in Quebec, Canada, reflective of the deep roots that anchor the Essipit to their territory. Based on participatory research carried out between January and July 2013, we identify 34 objectives folded into three core FN principles: Nutshimiu-Aitun (identity-territoriality), Mishkutunam (sharing-exchange), and Pakassitishun (responsibility-autonomy). Our analysis shows that the economic aims of the dominant forestry model are too narrow for FN communities. This paper contributes to expanding FN engagement in forestry through management and economic approaches that are better adapted to their culture and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The words "green ICTs" (information and communication technologies), "green IT" or "eco-ICTs" have spread in recent years either asserting the ecological potential of digital technologies or, on the contrary, underlining the progress needed in this field. Our paper raises the issue of ICT production and use, showing how they help to steer human societies towards more ecological ways, or on the other hand how they generate pollutions and "rebound effects", which might more than cancel expected benefits. What stakes are currently involved in these terms? By crossing the contributions of several disciplines, the paper highlights a trend shared by many stakeholders who believe that the problem can be solved through technical advances and thus can be dropped out of their agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, renewable energies have become increasingly important at the global level, with a significant impact on the sustainable development of various nations. Although multiple papers have examined the efficiency of policies and instruments to promote renewable energy sources, the majority have disregarded the fact that the context in which policies are implemented determines how well they perform. This paper analyzes renewable energy development in the electricity market in Argentina, paying special mind to the contextual conditions in which the policies were designed and finding that in recent history, it is precisely these conditions that constitute the main reason why renewable energies have such a low degree of penetration in the electrical power system in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although urban sprawl is a normal process associated with the population growth and their activities it is considered as an uncontrolled process when urban growth is faster than population growth (European Environment Agency -JCR 2006-2011). It is known that the origins of this uncontrolled growth is a change in the way of inhabiting the territory and involves some environmental and social imbalances. The lack of attention to this excessive growth in territorial development planning it remains challenging to which the Spanish society is facing. In this sense, the paper aims to provide conceptual and instrumental elements which offer the possibility to analyze in perspective spatial and demographic growth of the Andalusian metropolitan areas, since its origins until the last real estate crisis. Thus seeks to value the territorial cohesion as a whole based upon basic principles of social and environmental sustainability as posed by the future European urban agenda. The results suggest a quite sustainable behavior of Andalusian metropolitan areas despite the deep changes in the pattern of metropolitan development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ANR Agrobiosphère program (2011-2013) aimed to support and fund research projects addressing the issue of transition towards sustainable production systems. It followed in the steps of the ADD (2005-2006) and Systerra (2008-2010) programs and of Adage, a prospective workshop on the impacts of climate change and new adaptation strategies. Priority was given to issues related to the long-term evolutionary trajectories of systems, to the design of agro-ecological innovations at the territorial and sector levels, also including the notions of transition, sustainability and resilience in situations of change. This paper gives the main points of a final review conference organized in November 2016, at which the results generated by the projects were discussed within five sessions: adaptation to global changes; biogeochemical cycles; functional biodiversity; territorial modeling and support to actors; relations between natural environments and economic systems. We show that the program succeeded in building bridges between different scientific communities in an innovative way. It facilitated the development of new forms of interdisciplinarity and inter-institutional collaboration, leading to a significant increase in the contribution of scientific teams in ecology and social sciences to the project, and thus opening a space in agronomic research for the various dimensions of sustainable development. The program has proved crucial in stabilizing the concept of agroecology, which has now became a very concrete component of French public policy. The lessons learnt from Agrobiosphère are a strong argument for thematic programs to support targeted research on emergent issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses some of the challenges related to integration and cooperation in Latin America: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a clear platform that involves every country in the region, as well as various actors, and trade negotiations in the twenty-first century, in particular, mega-regional agreements whose scopes are limited to a few countries. Latin America is currently exploring the possibilities of convergence and cooperation in a context of diverse geopolitical interests. This will require adopting a flexible and inclusive approach. The experiences of Asia and Africa in this arena will undoubtedly be relevant. Achieving convergence will be crucial to fostering cooperation and coordinating policies to respond to the challenges of globalization. The region will also have to find new resources and models for national and international funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings have significant impacts on the environment and economy as they were reported by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 2009 to account for 40% of the global energy consumption. Building owners are increasingly seeking to integrate sustainability and green measures in their buildings to minimize energy and water consumption as well as life-cycle cost. Due to the large number of feasiblecombinations of sustainability measures, decision makers are often faced with a challenging task that requires them to identify an optimal set of upgrade measures to minimize the building life-cycle cost. This paper presents a model for optimizing the selection of building upgrade measures to minimize the life-cycle cost of existing buildings while complying with owner-specified requirements for building operational performance and budget constraints. The optimization model accounts for initial upgrade cost, operational cost and saving, escalation in utility costs, maintenance cost, replacement cost, and salvage value of building fixtures and equipment, and renewable energy systems. A case study of a rest area building in the state of Illinois in the United States was analyzed to illustrate the unique capabilities of the developed optimization model. The main findings of this analysis illustrate the capabilities of the model in identifying optimal building upgrade measures to achieve the highest savings of building life-cycle cost within a user-specified upgrade budget; and generating practical and detailed recommendations on replacing building fixtures and equipment and installing renewable energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, the expression «sustainable spatial development» has been successfully incorporated into spatial planning documents, becoming a guiding principle thereof. This paper analyzes the integration of the principles of sustainability into Spanish spatial planning and assesses its practical outcomes. An analysis of legislation and regional plans has been conducted, focusing on four case studies (the Basque Country, Navarra, Andalucía and the Valencian Community) selected for the relevance of sustainability principles in their regional planning processes. Complementary information was gathered by interviewing key agents of spatial planning in those regions. According to the results, despite the good intentions embodied in plans and legislation, the integration of sustainability in regional spatial planning progresses slowly, and its practical outcomes are still barely visible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates that the strategies of sustainability, social responsibility and innovation do have an impact on the business plans of smaller organizations. This statement has been made after creating, testing and cross-checking a model that identifies these strategies in SMEs. A total of thirty-nine SMEs from the province of Avila were included in the model. The format chosen for the study was a prize, which not only made it possible to analyse the strategies but also to promote and disseminate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of corporate strategies based on CSR is at an early stage in Ecuadorian companies. This paper explains the impact that greater implementation of CSR policy would have on the strategic plans of companies. To this end, the authors conducted a survey of 70 entrepreneurs working in strategic industries in the city of Guayaquil. To improve CSR implementation in Ecuadorian companies, specifically those located in Guayaquil (Ecuador's most populous city and busiest port), the authors propose a new management model based on social responsibility. The benefits of its implementation could improve not only the living conditions of professionals working in companies, but also those of the population as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a new approach for evaluating the sustainability by crossing two scientific barriers within the concept of eMergy. The emergy analysis of steady-state complex systems presents the first barrier. As the second barrier, the emergy analysis of recycling process can be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L'objectif principal de l'article est de présenter le concept et la signification du tourisme durable. On présente la définition du l'Organisation Mondiale du Tourisme qui définit le tourisme durable comme un tourisme qui tient pleinement compte de ses impacts économiques, sociaux et environnementaux actuels et futurs, répond aux besoins des visiteurs, de l'industrie, de l'environnement et des communautés hôtes. On souligne les agendas 21 locaux qui ont engagé une démarche territoriale dans le développement du tourisme durable. Une caractéristique fondamentale du secteur du tourisme est sa capacité de relier les aspects économiques, sociaux, culturels et environnementaux du développement durable. L'article traite les acteurs du tourisme durable et explique le rôle important des gouvernements dans le développement durable du tourisme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]