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Academic research on mining and climate change and associated impacts on water resources particularly for the developing world has been limitedly explored. Climate change is expected to make water insecurity in rural areas more severe as weather patterns become unfavourable. The extent to which the mining sector is able to reduce its impact on water resources and adapt to climate change will have implications for host communities. This paper explores the relationship between climate change, mining development and water security and how this places rural communities in a position of risk from mining development and climate change for water security. This paper focuses on the Fuleni and Somkhele rural communities located within the uMkhanyakude District Municipality in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, a climate change-induced water scarce area. Despite drought, mining operations continue. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from key social actors in the Fuleni community (i.e. residents opposing mining development) and with Somkhele residents (already burdening with mining operations). Additionally for Somkhele, a questionnaire was used to ascertain 424 household views on the impacts of climate variability and mining impacts on livelihoods and water. Results indicated an interplay between climate change, mining impacts and water (and food) security. Development must be implemented in an integrated and holistic manner that contributes to sustainable development and does not impact on water resources. Technological innovations related to water and energy and inter-sectoral collaborations must be prioritised between mining, the government, and civil society, to achieve water security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea defence policy in England has proven contentious in the early twenty-first century, with government willing to defend the coast only where it is considered cost effective and not minded to compensate people for any resulting abandonment of homes. Additional focus is brought to this position by the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reflect a growing emphasis on climate change effects and other environmental hazards, and the wellbeing of the current generation and those to come. This requires policy makers to seek to balance economic, social and environmental dimensions, and to tackle inequalities; with a central commitment of the goals to "leave no one behind". Subsequent to publication of the SDGs, England was promised a revolution in the government's approach to Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM). This paper seeks to understand the nature of this revolution with particular regard to extant issues around just governance. It finds that policy fails to deal with issues over the local acceptability of proposals for change and the bearing of risk, and instead lies principally in the elevation of the problematic concept of resilience and an accompanying ambivalence towards ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. International agreement that compensation should be paid to those countries suffering the worst effects of climate change, including sea level rise, suggests that adoption of a similar approach to vulnerable homeowners might be the more appropriate revolution and bring policy more into line with the aspirations of the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sustainability has increasingly become a goal for urban policy and planning, and for local and regional developmental strategies. Neighbourhoods are a common spatial scale for studying social sustainability and there is a growing focus on social sustainability in urban neighbourhoods for both researchers and policymakers. This paper is based on a qualitative case study of a neighbourhood defined by the municipality as at-risk of negative social development in a municipality in northern Sweden. The aim is to describe the perceived threats and promoters for social sustainable development in a neighbourhood defined as at-risk, and to analyse these in relation to a perspective of spatial scale. The study is based on data from interviews with municipal representatives, local professionals and residents, representing different experiences and perspectives in the neighbourhood. Four themes illustrating threats to socially sustainable development were identified: crime, unrest and unsafety; segregation and social exclusion; reputation and stigmatisation; and low involvement in municipal processes. The promoters for socially sustainable development identified in the respondents' stories reflect four themes: strong community spirit; safety and low criminality; lively civic society and well-functioning public services. Our results show that neighbourhood social sustainability cannot be studied or acted upon without being put in a context of spatial scale and an understanding that processes occurring at a particular scale only can be adequately understood when considered in relation to other scales, i.e. the development in the neighbourhood can only be understood in relation to the development in the city and at national level. There is also a need for an awareness of how different aspects of socially sustainable development relate to each other, by strengthening or counteracting each other. Key policy highlights There are no "magic bullet solutions" to ensure social sustainable development at the local level. Rather, actions and interventions must embrace complexity. The risk for counteracting processes must be acknowledged in any actions to promote social sustainability. Social sustainability processes occurring at a particular scale can only be adequately understood and addressed when considered in relation to other scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coupling innovations in everyday social and technological practices to close energy poverty delivers local sustainable development. Although case studies on the linkages between energy access and sustainable development had been far-reaching, we know very little about their interactions in everyday practices, such as cooking. A focus on access to renewable energy for everyday activities as cooking has substantial implications for the energy justice principles of equity, accessibility, and affordability. Energy justice underlines the necessity for all people to have access to energy services fairly. At the same time, one should ensure that these energy systems do not inflict damage upon the present and future generations. This paper used a Grounded Theory approach to show how an energy transition in everyday practices such as cooking can deliver just, local, sustainable development while emerging as a sociotechnical innovation in rural Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, the Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as an important framing for business and policy action in support of sustainable development. In that time, there has been an explosion of academic publications, policy developments, and business activities related to the CE. Given that CE has been widely praised and adopted by policy think tanks, policy makers, and business, as a way to frame sustainable development, we think it is about time scholars from a critical sustainability perspective interrogate the CE framework from all three domains of sustainable development: economic prosperity, ecological integrity, and social well-being, with a particular focus on who wins and who loses in the CE. This double special issue of Local Environment helps to fill this long-overdue oversight with 14 papers that engage the Circular Economy both conceptually and through case study analyses. The aim of this special issue is two-fold – to expose diverse perspectives on the CE to Local Environment readers and to raise the awareness of justice considerations in CE discourse for a broader audience. It addresses the large knowledge gap in the literature by bringing together the work of scholars in different fields who are examining the role of justice and equity in the circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy transition has provided a framework for designing and implementing renewable energy policies in a growing number of countries in recent years. The discourse from both international energy organisations and national governments around these renewable energy policies highlights its -supposed- sustainable nature. However, much evidence shows that the "renewable" component of these energy policies and the impact on local communities' sustainable development are much smaller than what is claimed in their discourse. This paper analyses the Mazar-Dudas hydropower project (Ecuador) case study, which is officially classified as a small renewable energy project (21 MW) with presumable low environmental impact and significant positive effects on sustainability of local communities. Although, the sustainability associated with hydropower production is one of the most controversial aspects of this energy production technology. Based on interviews with relevant actors and the subsequent thematic content analysis, the results highlight that the environmental impact is perceived as significant, contrary to what it is said in the official discourse. Additionally, the benefit-sharing scheme's effects of this hydropower project are far below expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, gated communities have been associated with negative social, economic and environmental impacts that are not conducive to sustainable urban development. Eco-estates have been touted as the answer to these sustainability issues and are viewed as the new "green" gated communities. Nature is a key aspect of eco-estates as it promotes a back-to-nature narrative to homebuyers and promotes sustainable living. This paper investigates eco-estates in South Africa with a view to establish whether they really contribute to just sustainabilities, that is a nuanced framing of sustainable developmvnent that involves a focus on social and economic equity. The study posits that while green initiatives within eco-estates may play a part in sustainable development, they fall short of advancing a just sustainability. The inherent exclusionary nature of eco-estates perpetuates inequality as the access to sustainable living in eco-estates is premised on whether one can afford to buy into these estates. Just sustainabilities in eco-estates cannot be met unless interventions to widen the access to nature and sustainable living are implemented. Until then, eco-estates will remain islands of exclusion of nature and "green" living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines sustainable development, service design, and strategic thinking to develop a holistic framework for sustainable service design within the context of creative-cultural hotels. We examined this framework through a qualitative exploratory multi-case study. The framework comprises strategic, organizational, and interface levels. It is based on a strategic perspective which integrates the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable development to describe the design and implementation of service offerings that co-create value within a multifaceted network of actors. The findings of this study show that incorporating local arts and culture into sustainable service design can generate unique value and experiences for customers. This study contributes to the topic of sustainable service development for hotels by creating a hierarchical approach to service design that emphasizes the opportunities represented by local culture. It is imperative that hotels adopt sustainable service design and provide innovative service not only to increase their competitive advantage but to reduce society's overall environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sustainability has a crucial role in sustainable urban development. Neglecting social factors of sustainability in the development process will cause inadequacy in neighbourhood and cities. Despite the significance of social sustainability, there are still uncertainties in definition, criteria and measurement system of it until now. Saheb Al-Amri neighbourhood of Ghasr-Dasht district is a developing neighbourhood in Shiraz city, which involves several problems associated with its decayed urban grid. The first objective of this paper is to discuss the social sustainability definitions, through reviewing the existing literature. The second objective is to evaluate whether Saheb Al-Amri neighbourhood is socially sustainable. The third objective is to develop a more detailed guideline for measuring a neighbourhood's sustainability and addressing its shortcomings. A total of 333 residents of this neighbourhood were selected randomly based on the Cochran's sample size formula, and they were asked to respond to a questionnaire in order to reach a framework to improve the indicators of social sustainability. The quantitative results from the questionnaire analysis revealed that the indicator of "Improving welfare and Quality of life" with the mean of 2.7out of 3 was the most satisfactory indicator, while the indicator of "Participation and Social interaction" with the mean of 1.81 out of 3 was the least satisfactory indicator comparing with the other indicators. In addition, just 16.2% of local inhabitants in the Saheb-AL-Amri neighbourhood were satisfied with social sustainability criteria, whereas 83.8% were neutral. The neighbourhood requires more improvement to be socially sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Brundtland Commission's definition of Sustainable Development (SD) is widely accepted and central to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it presents some limitations for application in the traditional African context. Drawing on a qualitative research design, this study interrogated indigenous knowledge systems of land governance among the Grune people in northern Ghana and the implications for SD. The emergent perspectives on land and land ownership are compelling and underpin the need for re-conceptualisation SD. To adapt SD to Grune worldview, it is imperative to redefine the frontiers of SD, by embracing a three-generational framework for addressing needs and achieving total wellbeing. In the context of decentralisation in Africa, an Endogenous Development (ED) approach to development planning is imperative for engineering social innovations and learnings that ensure socially and culturally acceptable development and the well-being of indigenous people and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Studying the coupling relationship between multidimensional poverty and geological disaster risk is a beneficial exploration for the collaborative promotion of disaster and poverty reduction. Methods: Taking Sichuan province as the research area, this study adopted the multidimensional poverty index and the information content model to quantitatively evaluate the multidimensional poverty and geological disaster risk in 2019, and uses the coupling coordination degree model to explore their coupling relationship and coordinated development. Results: The development level of high-altitude areas and remote mountainous areas was lower than that of plain and hilly areas, and the spatial difference of multidimensional poverty is obvious. The risk of geological disaster is relatively high overall in the alpine valley regions of Western, Southern and Northern Sichuan. The coupling level of multidimensional poverty and geological disasters is comparatively prominent. The overall coordination degree is relatively high. There existed obvious gathering areas in places of disorder of both poverty and disaster, disaster risk lag, poverty lag and synchronous development. In contrast, the coordinated-disaster risk and the poverty lags were relatively scattered. The unbalanced development between eastern and western Sichuan is comparatively prominent. More efforts will be paid to pursue poverty and disaster reduction in a highly collaborative way. Conclusion: This study gives data support for the long-term mechanism established in Sichuan province for forestalling and defusing the risk of returning to poverty caused by disease so that the international community can learn from China's experience through observation and collaboration in terms of poverty and disaster reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development and sustainability have taken centre stage in national and international discussions in recent years. Empirical evidence suggests that sustainability of development endeavours and livelihood are crucial for sustainable development. In Ghana, studies have found the role of food crop production in livelihood sustainability of farmers. Ginger farming is one crop that is not fully embraced in Ghana, and as a result its production is largely limited to women in rural areas. To ascertain whether ginger farming has improved women's livelihood, this study seeks to investigate the contribution of ginger production to women's livelihood sustainability in the Asutifi South District of Ghana. The study is explorative, using a concurrent embedded mixed method approach. A total of 279 women were selected for the study, a questionnaire and interviews were used, and data were analysed descriptively and thematically. The results of the study revealed that ginger farming provides women with improved income, and as a result empowered them economically through access to and ownership of productive assets. Aside from that, the study observed that ginger production has improved women's health status, enhanced their societal recognition and decision-making powers within their households and communities. However, the study also observed that women have limited access to production resources. The study's contribution to literature and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better water supply, sanitation and hygiene systems are among the sustainable development goals which need to be achieved by 2030. However, it is challenging for developing countries especially sub-Saharan Africa to achieve sustainable sanitation and hygiene. Thus, a systematic review has been conducted to provide a deep discussion of the current and previous works on challenges facing sanitation and hygiene sector in SSA countries. The results indicate that lack of financial resources, rapid population increase, socioeconomic disparities among the urban inhabitants, topography, lack of skilled, and experienced personnel, inadequate policies and strategies, and people's behaviours and attitudes were identified as the main constraints to sustainable sanitation and hygiene in SSA. Moreover, it recommended that SSA countries can achieve sustainable sanitation and hygiene if there are political commitments, an increase of education and awareness on sanitation to the community, and cooperation among the government, non-government organisations, civil societies, and communities in addressing the issues of sanitation. These efforts will lead to enhanced and improved sanitation and hygiene services in the SSA region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]