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Sustainable development is, according to the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED): "development that seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". The sustainable development of any society must necessarily be based on three pillars, namely ensuring a sustainable environment, social equity and economic prosperity. These areas of concern, together with the corresponding responsibilities, are interlinked and require attitudes that embrace them, whether it is a citizen, a public institution or a company. According to constitutional provisions, the state through specialised public authorities must ensure citizens the right to a healthy environment. Sustainable development programmes focus precisely on the protection of the environment and resources. Romania is committed to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals at national level and has revised its National Sustainable Development Strategy to integrate Sustainable Development Goals. Environmental protection is an essential element of sustainable economic development and a condition for long-term political and social stability. The objectives underpinning the construction of the European Union's environmental policy have been laid down in the European Community Treaty, Art. 174. Thus, it states that the objectives of European environmental policy are the following: 1. To preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment. 2. Protection of human health. 3. Prudent and rational use of human resources. 4. Promoting measures at national level to address regional environmental and other problems. The European Union's environmental policy, established by the EC Treaty, aims to ensure the sustainability of environmental protection activity by developing preventive measures and respecting the "polluter pays" principle, and is a horizontal policy. Horizontal legislation includes regulations ensuring transparency and circulation of information, public access to information, facilitating the decision-making process, but also boosting the strategic environmental assessment process. The Environmental Management System (EMS) is a mechanism that addresses major environmental issues by allocating resources, assigning responsibilities, and continuously evaluating practices, procedures and processes, which are organised in a systematic way. The European Union's environmental policy, established by the EC Treaty, aims to ensure the sustainability of environmental protection activity by developing preventive measures and respecting the "polluter pays" principle, and is a horizontal policy. Horizontal legislation includes regulations ensuring transparency and circulation of information, public access to information, facilitating the decision-making process, but also boosting the strategic environmental assessment process. The Environmental Management System (EMS) is a mechanism that addresses major environmental issues by allocating resources, assigning responsibilities, and continuously evaluating practices, procedures and processes, which are organised in a systematic way. The Environmental Management System is a mechanism that allows the development of the Environmental Management Programme that guides the actions necessary to achieve the targets set by the Environmental Policy. Current environmental protection measures have been oriented towards environmental management, which uses a broad combination of coercive and incentive measures to achieve sustainable improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines India's environmental policies and budget allocations from 2016–2024, revealing a focus on infrastructure that may overshadow environmental conservation. Significant discrepancies between policy rhetoric and budgetary commitments suggest that there is a need for realignment. Advocating an 'environment-centric' approach, the study calls for increased budgetary commitments to environmental protection, a strategic shift away from fossil fuels, and stringent regulatory oversight, all essential to ensure sustainable development in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of environmental governance is increasing worldwide, and Georgia is no exception. This article uses wide-ranging sources to provide comprehensive qualitative and quantitative data to discuss the most important aspects of environmental policy directions in Georgia. The results of the study show that: (a) it is crucial to increase public awareness about the importance of climate change and environmental protection; (b) introducing environmental and climate-related goals and objectives and green budgeting principles in national priorities is as important as implementing them effectively into practice; and (c) the practice of regulatory impact assessment needs further development in Georgia, especially in the environment and climate-related areas. Finally, the paper concludes that the lack of historical data is the main limitation for the current research, and proposes that scientific and practical work continues in the future to further explore the relationships between the country’s environmental policies and aspects of sustainable development on both an individual and public level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our planet is facing increasing challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, poverty, and many other problems closely linked to a deteriorating environment. Meanwhile, one of our most important assets, rangers working in protected and conserved areas responsible for managing large tracts of the planet's lands and waters, are often underutilized, underrecognized and underequipped. They are generally left out of the debate about conservation and sustainable development policy, despite being central to the success of those policies. This paper outlines the need for global leaders across multiple sectors to recognize the profession of rangers as essential planetary health workers and to position rangers more effectively within global conservation and environmental policy mechanisms. It introduces the challenges facing rangers, the emerging diversity of roles within the ranger profession and the important contribution of rangers to conservation and sustainable development. It presents policy and implementation avenues to improve recognition and professionalization of rangers as key executors of conservation and development policy, particularly considering the recent Global Biodiversity Framework ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heavy-polluting industry is inexorably to responsible for the deterioration of the environment. Improving environmental performance is an unavoidable decision for heavy-polluting firms to ensure sustainable development under the policy framework of the carbon peak target. This study provides theoretical and empirical evidence for the effect of environmental protection subsidies on environmental performance. This study constructs basic and mediating effect models to measure how environmental protection subsidies affect environmental performance using panel data of China's heavy-polluting listed firms from 2008 to 2019. This is an important outcome of industrial green transformation in environmental governance and provides a scientific basis for government departments to formulate environmental policies. The results of the empirical analysis show that environmental protection subsidies can improve the environmental performance of heavy-polluting listed firms. After receiving environmental protection subsidies, firms engaged in clean and green production through green technology innovation, thereby reducing external environmental pollution and improving their environmental performance. The mediating role of green technology innovation in the relationship between environmental protection subsidies and environmental performance is significant only in state-owned firms and firms in Eastern China. The research results may further guide the direction of green development of heavy-polluting industries, and thus promote harmonious development between the environment and the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on the subject, it is argued that tax policy is one of the tools stimulating the transition toward sustainable economies. Public authorities can use two functions for this purpose: fiscal and non-fiscal functions. High emission rates and the rising rapid atmospheric changes that come with them are serious threats to the climate and sustainable development. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the goals towards which the world strives (including the EU), so as to keep a balance between people's expectations, economic aspects, and the needs of the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to explain whether, along with other factors, environmental policy and its component "green taxes" can act as a factor in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this article is to seek an answer to the question of whether "green taxes" as an instrument of tax policy are a significant factor influencing climate change by contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This article attempts to identify the determinants of greenhouse gas emissions (the dependent variable) using the method of linear regression analysis. Multiple linear regression models are used to predict the value of the dependent variable based on the values of the independent variables (identified from the literature). Trading of CO2 emissions was not included in the analysis due to lack of data. The regression analysis was carried out using specialized statistical software (SPSS). The authors negatively verified the hypothesis that environmental taxes are a significant determinant of greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to the analyzed determinants. "Population", "current and capital transfers for environmental protection", and "supply, transformation and consumption of solid fossil fuels" are the most important factors influencing greenhouse gas emissions. Changing consumer behavior (as an effect of the non-fiscal function of taxes) appears to be an extremely important factor in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, the public authorities should promote behaviors conducive to their reduction by means of incentives, and not mainly taxation of negative behavior or fiscal incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental protection tax is an important tool for China to deal with environmental problems when the country' s environmental governance faces severe challenges. China' s current environmental protection tax system is largely an extension of the sewage charging system. There are some problems, such as the need to adjust the tax base, unreasonable tax rates, imperfect preferential policies, and the need to improve the efficiency of tax collection and management. Comprehensively evaluating the impact of environmental protection tax and optimizing the design of the environmental protection tax rate from the perspective of economic, environmental, and innovation synergy is of great value to improving China' s environmental governance system and realizing the transformation of the green economy. This study theoretically analyzed the impact of environmental protection tax on enterprise development; constructed a simulation model to analyze the impact of environmental protection tax; and numerically simulated the comprehensive impact of different environmental protection tax implementation intensity (IEPT) from 2006 to 2019 by using the mixed data of Chinese micro-enterprises and provincial panels and the scenario analysis method to predict the multi-dimensional impact of environmental protection tax in 2030. The results showed that: ① From 2006 to 2019, China' s environmental protection tax rate was at a low level, which was less than the optimal IEPT. The relationship between the optimal IEPT and the synergy index was 'inverted-U' shaped; that is, with the continuous rise of IEPT, the synergy index also showed the trend of rising first and then fluctuating and declining. ② Over time, the optimal IEPT showed an overall upward trend. ③ When the development level and demands of the economy, environment, and innovation became different, the optimal IEPT would also change. Finally, this study puts forward policy suggestions for China' s environmental protection tax reform: ① After fully investigating the operation status and innovation development status of regional inter-industry enterprises, we should consider further refining regional and industrial heterogeneous pricing strategies within the scope of regional environmental carrying capacity. ② A dynamic adjustment mechanism for the tax rate of environmental protection tax should be established to gradually increase the tax rate and give full play to the policy effect of environmental protection tax. ③ The environmental protection tax should be used to establish a special fund for innovation support, to avoid bringing higher environmental costs to innovative enterprises due to the increase in the environmental protection tax rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana lacks an environmental policy on contaminated land. This commentary aims at suggesting a proactive risk-based contaminated land management policy by presenting precedents of land contamination and environmental disasters from developed jurisdictions and how lessons learned improved environmental regulation. In Ghana, however, when contamination and environmental disasters happen, they are hardly investigated, and even if investigated, recommendations are not implemented. Then, a summary of the United Kingdom's Contaminated Land Policy framework is presented and it is demonstrated that Ghana has the professionals to implement the policy. Recommendations are presented for future implementation of a contaminated land policy in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical analysis of public policies on environmental conservation, management, and tourism development in the protected natural areas of Ecuador to detect their dysfunctions, contradictions, and problems of applicability. A predominantly exploratory research methodology with a descriptive-analytical approach is used when studying and systematizing the different regulations, actions and guidelines existing and implemented by international and national organizations with competencies in environmental conservation and sustainable development. These are systematized and analyzed through the main documents of interest that include principles, strategic guidelines, and specific rules of application. Through primary and secondary sources, and internal documentation of various Administrations we have identified the most visible effects and impacts that these policies have generated in the protection and/or valorization of the natural heritage, as well as in the tourist development compatible with the conservation of these spaces, the generation of complementary income and economic diversification for local communities. We concluded that Ecuadorian regulations on the conservation of protected areas present notable points of collision and lack of coherence or coordination with tourism policies. This is the consequence of two main factors: the lack of a broad strategic vision and comprehensive territorial planning of these territories as sustainable tourist destinations and the lack of a framework for management, planning and collaborative planning between the different local agencies and agents that affect these spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to reveal how China's green finance reform and innovation demonstration zone policy affects ecologically sustainable development under the constraints of government environmental attention. Employing multi-period DID (Difference-in-Difference) and DDD (Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference) as the base model, the study tested the mechanism of the policy's effect on ecologically sustainable development, using panel data from 277 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2020. Endogeneity tests including Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), counterfactual tests, and other robustness checks, were employed to enhance the study's validity. The research findings are as follows: (1) The policy effectively promotes ecologically sustainable development, and this conclusion remained valid even after conducting several robustness tests. (2) The more pronounced the government's emphasis on environmental preservation, the greater its efficacy in fostering ecologically sustainable development. (3) The stimulating effect of the policy on ecologically sustainable development is more pronounced in cities with higher ecological quality and a larger population. This study not only offers new analytical perspectives for comprehensively investigating the green finance policy but also emphasizes that enhanced policy outcomes hinge on the implementation of green financial reforms and innovations tailored to local conditions. Additionally, it provides valuable policy insights for optimizing the government's role in fostering ecologically sustainable development. (e.g., optimizing the governmental role in fostering ecologically sustainable development, enhancing both the scope and intensity of green finance policy, and harnessing the synergies between green finance policy and environmental protection policy). [Display omitted] • Green finance policy can improve ecologically sustainable development. • Government environmental attention can promote the effectiveness of green finance policy. • Focuses on 277 prefecture-level cities in China between 2006 and 2020. • Uses multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) as the base model. • China should give high priority to green finance policy to improve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and sustainable development are now profoundly ingrained in the public consciousness in the modern era of the global green revolution. First, this paper uses an evolutionary game model to theoretically analyse the impact of environmental regulation and green finance on enterprises by dissecting the game behaviour between local governments, banks and enterprises. Then, we incorporate entrepreneurial spirit into the model to determine whether entrepreneurial spirit accelerates the achievement of green sustainability objectives. Environmental regulation and green finance are found to contribute substantially to the innovation of green technologies by local enterprises, while entrepreneurial spirit accelerates this process. Finally, we empirically test the findings based on a prefecture-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2020. We find that green finance has a positive impact in Central and Western cities of China, while Eastern cities are in greater need for government environmental regulation controls. For entrepreneurial spirit, the incentive effect of entrepreneurial spirit on the level of green technology innovation is more significant in Central and Western regions of China. This paper enriches the field of research on entrepreneurial spirit and regional green sustainable development by providing empirical evidence for the evaluation of environmental regulatory and green financing policy impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the longstanding debate about whether institutional pressures enhance or suppress corporate green innovation. Grounded in institutional and sustainable development theories, this paper empirically tested the impact of institutional pressures on corporate green innovation by applying a fixed effect negative binomial regression model to a research sample of listed Chinese manufacturing companies from 2012 to 2017. It was found that regulatory, normative, and mimetic pressures had significant positive effects on corporate green innovation, and that under external environmental protection pressure, companies became involved in green innovation activities to maintain their legitimacy and competitive advantage. The moderating effect of the pollution intensity and marketization variables, both of which affect the green innovation resource efficiency, were only found to play a role under regulatory and mimetic pressures. These research findings provide strategic guidance for green innovation development in manufacturing enterprises and provide the basis for future government environmental protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the science of ecology is often understood in antimodernizing terms, this article shows how ecology in China has become a means to articulate green modernization and sustainable development. As scholars predominantly focus on the policy rhetoric surrounding China's national modernization and sustainable development program called "ecological civilization building," the origins of how ecology came to take on developmental meanings remain obscure. This article highlights moments of global exchange and knowledge production by Chinese Marxists, earth systems scientists, and economists that produced eco-developmental logics. These logics define an interventionist role for the state, frame urbanization as moral progress, and refashion the role of the peasantry from the revolutionary vanguard to a backward social force impeding modernization. Ecological sciences in China, therefore, lay an epistemological foundation for legitimizing state-led technocratic practices of socioenvironmental engineering and naturalizing social inequalities between "urban" and "rural" people. In highlighting Chinese scientists' agency in producing knowledge, this article counters diffusionist accounts of science as singular systematically organized branches of knowledge that emanate from the West. Instead, I demonstrate how ecology is contingent on the historical and political conditions through which it takes on meaning. In the context of China, ecology has become integral to environmental governance, state formation, and uneven relations of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the dynamic variations in ecosystem service value (ESV) in response to land-use changes under rapid urbanization and evaluated the coordinated relationship between economic development and ecological conservation by establishing the eco-economic harmony (EEH) index evaluation model. Taiyuan, the resource-based city in China, was selected as a study area. The results show that the total ESV in Taiyuan increased from 8.95 billion Yuan in 2005 to 9.31 billion Yuan in 2016. The ESVs of all land-use types experienced a decrease except for woodland and grassland. Climate regulation and hydrology adjustment were the dominant two ecosystem service functions in the study area. The ESV of climate regulation increased the most (382.62 million Yuan) but water supply decreased the most (−47.91 million yuan). The relationships between economic development and ecological conservation have experienced the evolution process of low conflict–potential crisis–low conflict from 2005 to 2016, indicating that the contradiction between economic development and ecological conservation is becoming increasingly serious over time. Therefore, scientific land-use policies and environmental protection strategies are urgently needed for achieving a sustainable development. This study provides valuable guidance for sustainable urban planning decision-making on maintaining the balance between economic development and ecological conservation under rapid urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary examines the challenge of sustainable development in the Amazon, arguing that global efforts to mitigate climate change and current Amazonian policies are clearly inadequate to prevent global warming and deforestation from tipping the forest into a savanna. It analyses the growing climate pressures jeopardising the Amazon's resilience; the erratic Brazilian, Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian governance of the forest; and the failure of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) to establish long-term forest conservation policies in the region. The research demonstrates that the 'savannisation hypothesis' is potentially closer to reality than most debates in the social sciences assume and should be considered seriously. The commentary concludes by suggesting possible pathways for preventing the dieback of the Amazon. These are based on three strategic axes: the strengthening of the ACTO, the promotion of a technological revolution in the forest, and a progressive environmental diplomacy by the Amazonian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) has historically sought to influence environmental policies of other countries through multilateral environmental agreements. Under its 7th Environmental Action Plan and Trade for All strategy it now seeks to extend its environmental policy projection through trade; its recent free trade agreements now contain chapters addressing environment and sustainable development. However, by adopting high environmental standards the EU can also advance its own economic interests suggesting an ambiguous motivation. The recent Korean, Japanese and Canadian FTAs and the Mercosur agreements are examined in order to place the extent of this environmental turn within the context of economic advantage. The finding is that while environmental protection provisions in these FTAs may have environmental benefits, they may also serve EU domestic economic interests. This motivation has implications for new FTA negotiations, such as those with New Zealand and Australia, and now the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines success of the green parties in Swiss federal elections of October 20, 2019. It reports the Green Party (GPS) won 13.2 percent and the Green Liberal Party (GLP) 7.8 percent of the votes, and two green forces together thus secured more than one fifth of the votes for the National Council, Switzerland's lower house of Parliament. It mentions although neither party was able to achieve representation in the government, their success has shaken the foundations of Swiss party politics and, if repeated, may see them enter government.

The article explores the concept and practice of regenerative culture drawing on our experience as activist researchers within Extinction Rebellion Manchester from August-December 2019. It defines relationship between regenerative culture and a foundation of self-care, people care and planet care. It reports how in 2018 in Great Britain Extinction Rebellion (XR) launched itself as a mass environmental movement aiming to achieve systemic change through non-violent civil disobedience. It mentions need of establishing a citizens assembly to oversee the transition towards climate justice.

Regional ecological health, the core of comprehensive ecosystem assessments, is an important foundation for regional exploration, environmental conservation, and sustainable development. The mountainous areas in southwest China are backward in economy, but industrialization and urbanization have been rapid in recent years. This study assessed the ecosystem health of the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China using a pressure-state-response (PSR) model. Spatiotemporal patterns of regional ecosystem health were analyzed from 2000 to 2016, including overall characteristics as well as local characteristics. Ecosystem health in most regions was improved over time (Y = 0.0058X − 11.0132, R2 = 0.95, P < 0.001), and areas with poorer ecosystem health decreased from half to one-third of the total area. Analysis of the primacy ratio and the variation coefficient confirmed that the gap in health scores between regions has gradually expanded since 2007, but there are more high quality regions overall (Z of Moran's index < 1.96, P > 0.05). Overall, the regional ecosystems to the east of the Hu line—an imaginary line dividing east and west China into roughly equivalent parts—were healthier than those to the west. The pressure and state scores of ecosystems were determined by physiographic condition, and the response scores by government policies and social concern. The spatiotemporal patterns of ecosystem health were dominated to a greater extent by natural than anthropogenic factors, which explains why the shift in the patterns aligned with the direction of the Hu line. Dividing regions into key management areas based on natural geographical conditions and socioeconomic development could contribute to the formulation of a reasonable ecological and environmental protection policy, guaranteeing ecosystem services in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to address an important issue today, namely environmental protection and establish to what extent we can develop without too significant an impact on the resources at hand. The topic sparked nationwide controversy as well as enough international concerns. Humanity cannot survive without genuine care towards natural resources. The paper aims to present issues related to the consumption levels of society and to what extent there are policies for environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, the Reef has been a site where Australian environmental policy has flourished, mirroring global environmental policy seeking to 'balance' human activity through 'ecologically sustainable development'. The article examines the parallel and intersecting processes of modern environmental policy and news media practice in the context of the Reef to unveil how Australia's news media are communicating critical moments in the protection of the Reef. Through two key conservation moments – the 1981 World Heritage Listing and the 2012 threat to place the Reef on the List of World Heritage in Danger – the article examines the role of news media in different geographic contexts, highlighting the complex politics of protection from early conservation campaigns to the contemporary era of protecting the Reef in the context of global environmental crisis. We identify how ecologically sustainable development discourses can be used to communicate positions that challenge and discredit policy initiatives aimed at protecting natural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global Pact for the Environment is a proposal for a legally binding international instrument to bring the existing principles of international environmental law together in order to improve environmental protections and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Global Pact aims at helping States designing and developing the necessary public policies to better achieve their realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its inception, the European Union has boosted the creation of a binding shared legal framework for the present Member States including Spain. In this context, the European Union has promoted the creation of a legal body aiming at protecting the environment which is one of its main goals. The inception of the First Environmental Action Programme in 1973 fostered the adoption of more than one hundred documents with regard to this field during the seventies. The Community has set many objectives in its environmental policy. These appear in the Article 191.1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The principle of integration of the environmental protection requirements into the definition and implementation of the Union’s policies and activities (article 11), “in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development” has been the pillar upholding different policies fostering an efficient use of resources. In the field of waste management the Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste and repealing certain Directives in connection with the Union's Europe 2020 strategy, harmonizes the Union’s economic development with an efficient use of resources. Consequently, one of the most ambitious Union’s claims is preventing waste generation and if they are produced, its proper management, prioritizing the waste hierarchy established in the Article 4 of the Directive: prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery, (e.g. energy recovery) and disposal. As will be discussed, wastes from edible vegetable oils produced in the HORECA channel can be transformed in other products. Due to its polluting potential and its market value, this option has to be a priority for the Member States that must ensure an effective and efficient management of this waste flow. Additionally, we will have the opportunity of analyzing the territorial competence under the scope of the article 12.5.c).2º of the Ley 22/2011 that regulates the optional activity of local councils regarding with non-hazardous commercial wastes. Notwithstanding, the national legal framework covers the local councils in order to compel the producers of these wastes to join the municipal management system, as long as this obligation is motivated and based on criteria of efficacy and efficiency on waste management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paper which examines the complementarity of international economic and environmental laws, and their implementation in achieving sustainable development, is presented. Topics covered include need for cooperation between economic and environmental law among states, challenges posed by the sustainable development principle to the implementation of environmental law, and factors compromising implementation of environmental treaties.

Environmental expenditure can be classified as an indicator to measure the efforts of public agents with the environment. Cities and countries seek to understand the determinants of environmental spending over time. This research aims to analyze the variables that influence the environmental spending of Brazilian municipalities between the years 2012 and 2016. Thus, this research helps fill the gap on lack of longitudinal research that involves local contexts in relation to public municipal expenditures on the environment. The research method consists of the panel data model. Data were collected on the environmental expenditures of the municipalities and other variables of 4269 Brazilian municipalities, the collection generated 21,329 observations. The results showed that the municipalities of the state of Amapá had better relative expenditure averages, it was also observed that the municipalities in the Northeast region show the worst results. The municipality of Itamaracá, located in the state of Pernambuco, presented the best percentage of the country, 9.47% of the environmental expenditure in relation to total expenditure. Regarding the results of panel data, the variables revenue, population, density, GDP, and HDI presented significance in all models; the models estimated by fixed effects ensure the consistency of the parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers and dams are increasingly contested venues where knowledge pluralism is critical for effective governance. To navigate change, decision-makers can adopt culturally-sensitive interventions to address the needs of diverse stakeholders and rights holders. Calls for Indigenous flows have become important as dam operators seek to renew their legal and social licenses to operate. Knowledge pluralism is needed to enhance decision-making about flows that better address complexity and change to Indigenous livelihoods and cultural practices. However, leveraging diverse knowledge types to inform these interventions is not simply a matter of changing management practice. Power relations can constrain knowledge pluralism. We contribute an empirical example that links power in a decision-making process about a dam in Saskatchewan, Canada, to the losses experienced by downstream Indigenous communities. This paper operationalizes power to illustrate its methodological utility and documents the interconnected losses, experienced by resources users, resultant from the marginalization of Indigenous knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public policies formulated to confront the ecological and social equity crises of development have had little impact. Recently, several disciplines have converged on the socioecosystem (ses) concept as an ideal theoretical framework for managing integrated social and natural systems for their sustainable development, and its rapid incorporation into environmental public policy is sought. A consultation was undertaken to gauge the expert opinion of Mexico's federal environment sector officials with regard to the ses approach and its potential as a new basis for public policy. The results demonstrate that although the experts are unfamiliar with the ses approach, they value the policy attributes which characterize it, indicating that if these were fully incorporated into current policies, they could help correct their deficiencies. A majority of experts consider the more integral ses approach offers advantages, and it is concluded that these key actors are receptive to the approach and its possible adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the presented research is to identify local community opinions toward ecological problems in one of the mountainous region of Georgia (Upper Svaneti), to analyze how population ‘perceive, experience, and interpret’ the social, and ecological issues. The paper is based on the results of Upper Svanet ipopulation’s survey which was carried out by the authors of presented paper during the August of 2015 and 2016.The questionnaire was elaborated taking into account the peculiarities of the region. Stratified-cluster selection method was used for selection of respondents and database compilation. For statistical analysis of polling data the SPSS package was used. Based on the statistical analysis of survey results, the following issues have been studied: the most important ecological problems, environmental problems with respect to socio-economic ones, information sources on ecological problems, people’s trust in environmental issues, awareness level of the population on environmental policy, their personal contribution in environmental protection, ways to solve ecological problems, implemented environmental measures. The obtained results are important to foster mountain population’s active participation in processes that contribute to decision-making processes, planning and implementing programs for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being a social animal and being interdependent upon the natural cycle, humans on this planate earth walk day by day in the search of his source of survival, thus when man begins to develop he formulated the Social contract theory, which brought it in to a form of trading which he tends to surrender to one sovereign, the wise man, he who provides him with what he need. Thus slowly and steadily it develops in to vast commercial activity and as a result it begins the era of manmade laws, their formulation, interpretation and execution. And for this reason the trade and environment debate now has a familiar ring. It refers to the need for, and the challenges of, reconciling increasingly free international trade with the prerequisites of environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the incentives of a single firm to invest in a cleaner technology under quotas and emission taxation. We assume asymmetric information about the firm's cost of employing the new technology. Policy is set either before the firm invests (commitment) or after (time consistency). Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that with commitment (time consistency), quotas give higher (lower) investment incentives than taxes. With quotas (taxes), commitment generally leads to higher (lower) welfare than time consistency. Under commitment with quadratic abatement costs and environmental damages, a modified Weitzman rule applies and quotas usually lead to higher welfare than taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to explore the link between lean and green management, reasons for their implementation, their effect throughout the whole life cycle, as well as the current state of use of lean tools, economic and environmental indicators in the context of Croatian manufacturing companies. A semi-structured interview was used in this research. As a result, the frequency of economic and environmental performance indicators and lean tools in Croatian companies has been defined, as well as the reasons for the implementation of lean management. Additionally, the understanding of the use of Life Cycle Assessment methods, environmental standards has been obtained and the integration of lean and green management in Croatian companies has been explored. Further on, results were compared to the similar study done in the UK. Finally, it can be concluded that the integration of lean and green management is not yet sufficiently present in manufacturing companies, although there are cases in which these two approaches are integrated, primarily in the process and food industry. It is for these reasons that in the integration of these two approaches lies great potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into policies can enhance the current agenda of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has experienced serious environmental problems along with rapid economic development in recent years. Industrial production is the fundamental cause of Chinese environmental problems, while production is mainly managed and governed by local industrial Parks. Currently, Chinese industrial parks have just begun to think about sustainable development, and the demonstrative parks are designated as eco-industrial parks (EIPs); however, the EIPs' development strategies and targets are still vague and lack scientific guidance. Therefore, an optimal decision making approach can support EIPs to address environment problems and achieve regional economic development. This study provides an integrated approach to assess the multiple impacts of EIP development strategies and propose optimization planning by using a case study in Wuhu EIP. The initially constructed decision-making model systemically integrates the dynamic model of the Environment-Economic-Energy (3Es) system and an input-output model; then, the model is established and simulated using a linear optimization method. An optimal development strategy can be put forward by analysing scenarios for the Wuhu EIP. Based on the findings of this study, there are several substantial opportunities to further relieve energy pressure, improve the environment, and support socioeconomic activities, such as promotion of clean production and subsidies for technological improvements and changing the industrial structure. Additionally, adopting total environmental quantity constraints rather than intensity constraints is an urgent need in EIP planning. This study provides an applicable and feasible decision-making basis for the development of sustainable industrial parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the progress in some areas, Europe continues to face important environmental challenges, but also opportunities to make the environment more resistant to risk and change. Protecting natural capital by encouraging efficient use of resources and accelerate the transition to low carbon economy are key features of the Seventh Environment Action Programme. The results should help to boost sustainable growth and create new jobs to turn into a European space that is comfortable for its inhabitants. Achieving effectively environmental policy objectives implies and requires substantiation, development and implementation of tools and programs to stimulate the society concerns to prevent or limit environmental imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1972, at the level of the European Community, as a result of the Stockholm Conference, a series of successive programmes have been adopted, which have established both future legislative proposals and prospects on environmental policy. The programmes were aimed at setting goals that will be achieved in environmental protection field in the European Community. So far, seven such programmes have been established, called Environmental Action Programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role environmental courts on the protection and preservation of the environment, and sustainable development. Topics discussed include types of evidence in environmental litigation such as testimonial evidence, guiding principles in the Nigeria's National Policy on Environment, and guidelines for environmental sentencing.

Marketers have long recognized that, despite calls to protect the environment, we live in a disposable society, in which the adoption of sustainable initiatives is low. Taking a consumer’s perspective, this study uses an extension of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the drivers of sustainable behavioral intentions using a cross-section of 511 Australians aged 18 years and older. Two models were tested, one using the 3 original TPB constructs and the other using the extended version of TPB, with the latter model justifying the inclusion of internal ethics and moral intensity. We encourage marketers to work together to encourage sustainable practices that have a long-term benefit to the planet and to increase consumers’ knowledge and appeal to their motivations, particularly their internal ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]