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Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Water and land are essential elements for life that are becoming more and more threatened, hindering their availability for some. The development of measuring tools for water and land consumption is becoming increasingly important to guarantee their appropriate management. In this study, we compare and examine the contribution of some indicators to the environmental sustainability performance of countries. These indicators can play a number of roles in the sustainable policy process. In particular, environmental indicators can help illuminate issues by reducing complexity and diagnosing problems through the analysis of trends or correlations with other indicators, helping analysts discover patterns within and across units of analysis. The research proposes a multiple regression model to test and quantify the contribution of ecological and water footprints to the Environmental Performance Index. Given the results obtained from this study, we can affirm that, in the development of indices related to the environmental sustainability of countries, the weight of the water resource is not adequately considered. As well, the empirical result of the relation between the Environmental Performance Index and the Ecological footprint may appear unexpected because high Environmental Performance Index values for countries are related to high resources consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Binhai New Area of Tianjin has been suffering severe water shortage due to climate change and industrial activities. Integrated and effective water resources management approaches are urgent for the sustainable development of industrial parks in Binhai New Area. However, uncertainties exist in many aspects of the water resources system and are inevitably problematic for water resources planning and policy-making. To address these uncertainties, an interval multiple-objective programming model was developed here to support the long-term planning of industrial water resources management in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, China. The model incorporated both multiple-objective programming and interval linear programming into a general programming framework. The developed model could handle the uncertainties and complexities of the water management system, and also allowed decision makers to adjust fuzzy objective control decision variables to satisfy multiple holistic and interactive objectives. The solutions are useful for planning adjustments of the existing water allocation patterns in Binhai New Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of an inclusive green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication requires an approach that engages with the informal economy. However, the informal economy is generally ignored or undervalued in discussions on the green economy. This paper set out to bolster this argument by identifying the ways in which the green economy and the informal economy may be connected by establishing the extent to which policies and plans relating to green economy connect with the informal economy, and recognising several informal green activities. The barriers and opportunities for connecting the two spheres were also explored as well as possible ways in which such activities may be supported at different levels of organisation. In the case of South Africa, many informal green activities that contribute to sustainable livelihoods are recognised. However, issues pertaining to procedure, process and participation hinder the transition to a truly inclusive green economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.Findings A quick browse through the technology section of any newspaper or news website will usually uncover a number of articles about how technology is enabling progress for a sustainability issue of some sort. Be it electric cars, offshore wind farms or a new way to recycle plastic, there is a mini-industry in reporting technology used based around how it can help make the world more sustainable. However, it is instructive that there is rarely an environmental or sustainability section in the newspaper or news site – it is as if developments in this sector are not as newsworthy as progress being made in technology.Practical implications This paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use an event study to capture the investor reaction to the first Newsweek Green Rankings in September 2009, a notable, multi-dimensional recent development in the rating of corporate environmental CSR performance. Drawing on stakeholder theory, we develop hypotheses about (a) market investor reaction to the disclosure of new, relevant corporate environmental performance in both the short and longer (6-12-month) term, (b) whether market investors' reaction reflects industry context, and (c) whether firm-level contextual variables representing firm size, and market legitimacy significantly impacts the investor reaction. We find that, for the sample of the largest 500 US firms ranked by Newsweek, investors react positively both to the raw and within-industry rankings of green performance in terms of both short-term and longer-term (up to 12 months) returns. Moreover, the investor reaction is significantly influenced by contextual variables such as firm size and firm market legitimacy. Our results are compatible with the inference that rating agencies like Newsweek serve a valuable information dissemination function such that investors in better ranked firms anticipate larger future cash flows due to more positive reactions from key stakeholders such as environmentally-conscious customers, employees, NGOs, regulators, and thus reward these firms with stock price increases. Finally, larger, more visible firms benefit more, while firms which have more market legitimacy (represented by past financial performance) benefit less. We believe these findings will be of considerable interest to scholars of environmental corporate social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society faces risks, hazards, and crises on a seemingly daily basis. This is not new; indeed, pre-modern societies were subjected to natural hazards that could be attributed to fate (e.g., natural disasters), and human-made hazards considered manageable. However, late-modern society is increasingly exposed to risks that are products of the modernization process itself (e.g., health impacts of climate change) emerging from broad changes in human-environment interactions. We typically have insufficient or incomplete scientific knowledge to make calculated governance decisions that protect the public and our economies from these risks. Yet, a governance response is dictated. Understanding and anticipating public perceptions of emerging risks, therefore, has clear implications from both risk management and communication perspectives. Furthermore, it is essential that a response takes account of the context within which the risk is occurring. This paper describes the development of a place-based conceptual framework for characterizing public response to emerging environmental health risks with the goal of informing governance responses. A worked example is provided through the application of the framework to the apparent epidemic of food allergies in Canada. Despite some gaps in available data, the framework appears robust and exhibits the potential to contribute to debates and decision-making around risk governance. Comprendre les risques environnementaux émergents pour la santé : un cadre pour réagir face à l'inconnu Résumé La société fait face quasi quotidiennement à des risques, dangers et crises. Ceci est loin d'être nouveau; en effet, les sociétés prémodernes étaient confrontées, d'une part, à des risques naturels (par exemple, des catastrophes naturelles) et croyaient être victimes de la fatalité et, d'autre part, à des risques anthropiques qu'elles croyaient pouvoir maîtriser. Toutefois, le degré d'exposition aux risques augmente pour la société moderne avancée, ces derniers étant dérivés du processus de modernisation (par exemple, les impacts sanitaires des changements climatiques) qui origine de changements majeurs dans les interactions entre l'humain et l'environnement. Les bases de connaissances scientifiques disponibles présentement sont généralement embryonnaires ou insuffisantes pour prendre des décisions éclairées de gouvernance afin de soustraire le public et nos économies à ces risques. Ainsi, des progrès de gouvernance s'imposent. Comprendre et anticiper les perceptions que le public se fait des nouveaux risques entraîne, par conséquent, des répercussions à la fois sur les modes de gestion des risques et sur la communication. En outre, il est essentiel de réagir en tenant compte du contexte dans lequel se produit le risque. Cet article retrace l'élaboration d'un cadre conceptuel fondé sur le lieu et visant à caractériser la réaction du public face aux nouveaux risques de santé environnementale afin d'éclairer les réactions de gouvernance. Un exemple pratique utilise ce cadre dans l'épidémie apparente d'allergies alimentaires au Canada. Malgré quelques lacunes dans les données disponibles, le cadre semble robuste et est susceptible de contribuer aux débats et à la prise de décision en matière de gouvernance des risques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological assets and liabilities of every country as well as the universe as a whole provide basis for sustainable development. Mangrove habitat port world's tropical biodiversity and 50% of the world's mangrove forests have been lost as a result of clearing and alteration of coastlines. Mangroves are one of the biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, rich in organic matter and nutrients and support very large biomass of flora and fauna. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight one of the most important bio resources, mangrove ecosystem and the applications of mangroves. The present study explains the various aspect of mangrove ecosystem resources. This secondary research also reveals that the number of mangroves inhabiting faunal species in Indian mangroves is more than 3000, which includes prawns, crabs and mollusks, fish, insects, reptiles and mammals (Kathiresan and Quasim, 2005). According to Prabhakar (2012), it is revealed that about 26 species representing various types of fauna which includes crabs, lobster and enormous decapods are found in mangrove forests In Navi Mumbai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North Bihar has a large number of stagnant and flowing water channels that constitute a repository of aquatic biodiversity. Water plants like Makhana [Euryale ferox), Singhara (Trapa bispinosa), Khubahi (Scirpus articulates), Bhent (Nymphaea sp)and a host of other plants provide a basis to the livelihood of people in this area. All efforts are being made to make Bihar self sufficient in fish production. Of late, fish farmers are practicing Makhana based integrated aquaculture to facilitate the success of blue revolution in the state. Species of Nelumbo, Astercantha, Ipomoea, Alternanthera, Typha etc. are also utilized by local people for the various requirements of livelihood. Aeschynomene sp. is used by the traditional gardening community for "korhila art". Sesbania spp. are proving instrumental in the success of second green revolution in Bihar. Local farmers are also using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) under the 'jhang' method of capture fishing.Vetiver grass is being cultivated for aromatic oil as well as for land conservation. It provides a basis to the famous "sikki art" of Mithila region. The plant has attracted a wider scientific attention in view of its potentials for tackling the menace of global warming. Flood plains in north Bihar also harbor a luxuriant growth of palm species like Phoenix dactylifera and Borassus flabellifer. In certain pockets "bisanrh" (seedlings of B. flabellifer) cultivation has taken the shape of a cottage industry. There is a need to make people aware of the nutraceutical properties of a good number of these plants. Tribals in Chhattisgarh and other states have been in the practice of incorporating them in their dietary culture for centuries. The paper takes into account the use of indigenous phyto and zoo biota as a means of sustainable livelihood in certain parts of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades have been influenced by the growing concern regarding climate change and the ways that it will determine economic activities and human development. Many countries already took actions through international treaties to solve different problems like carbon emission reduction through certificate trade or low emission investments. The cost of the transition to a low carbon emission economy is too big for countries to support, so here, the private sector needs to help through a sustainable way of doing business. From this point of view, developed countries have a more sophisticated financing system than that of developing countries but, usually, developing countries have better competitive advantages that attract FDI. The main aim of the paper is to see how sustainable development is related to the flow and stock of FDI in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of significance is fundamental to environmental impact assessment (EIA). Even though there are many guidelines describing technical characteristics of impacts (such as magnitude, geographic extent, extent and frequency) that should be considered, there has remained a long-standing need for increased clarity on how significance determinations are ultimately reached by significance determiners, those who, on behalf of governments, make a legal determination of significance in EIAs. This involves the application of societal values, in the form of subjective informed judgement, about the acceptability of the predicted impacts. This paper introduces the significance spectrum, a graphic model that illustrates a process for determining significance, using the following steps: (1) determining the threshold of significance for each valued component; (2) weighing the evidence and considering predicted impacts; (3) deciding which side of the threshold the predicted adverse impact falls on; and (4) for unacceptable impacts, deciding if mitigations can make the residual impact acceptable. Concepts such as ecological significance should not be confused with significance in EIAs, which may not only include ecological significance but also considers societal values. We provide specific steps for determining significance that help clarify this fundamental aspect that lies at the core of EIA decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Are geography students good “environmental citizens?” Has this improved over time with increasing emphasis on sustainability within higher education? This paper compares environmental attitudes and behaviours of geography students at different stages of their degree and over a seven-year period. The findings show that although geography students have an interest in environmental issues and feel a responsibility to educate others, this does not necessarily lead to pro-environmental behaviours, particularly more indirect behaviours. Environmental citizenship attributes in first year geography students show little change over seven years, other than where behaviours have been influenced by changes to the infrastructure around them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on a collaborative ethnographic study of the United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and its preparatory meetings, we examine how the official UN ‘participatory’ process for engaging civil society in Rio+20 negotiations simultaneously enabled and disciplined contestation through processes such as seeking consensus around a common statement, professionalizing civil society representatives and controlling protests in order to protect broad access to negotiations. We document how, in doing so, the official participatory process undermined the right to voice diverse positions. We also find that Southern access to negotiations was limited by lack of funding, human resources, location and language. Finally, we illustrate how a group of non-governmental organizations based primarily in the Global South utilized the official UN Major Groups ‘participatory process’ to build alliances to protect resource rights language in the negotiating text. Ultimately, we argue that, through the struggle to build alliances, activists critical of the green economy became enlisted in reproducing its hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper tests the ‘systems of innovation’ hypothesis for a selection of crops in Ghana and Burkina Faso that have shown significant growth in production over an approximately 20-year period. The question is whether such growth can only occur if supported by a system of innovation. Using two indicators (a common understanding on objectives and priorities, and a high level of interactivity), we find little evidence for the existence of anything that might be considered a high functioning system of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Designers acknowledge that their skills can assist the visualization and materialization of a desirable future and have gone as far as proposing that design can achieve societal change. Designing for a better world is associated with decreasing environmental depletion impacts while making good for both people and the environment, if possible. Evidently, this is a space where design deals with ethical matters, defining what is good or questioning if good has a universal meaning. This paper discusses the case of Aalto LAB Mexico's (ALM) Eco-hostel project, a practical and ethical design exploration. It shares the impressions of the design team when co-designing with(in) the Mayan community of ‘20 de Noviembre’ (20 Nov), located in Calakmul, Campeche, México. The Eco-hostel project was proposed as an element which can play a central role in achieving betterment of several aspects of the community's daily life. Several of those aspects were communicated by the inhabitants of 20 Nov, and some others were identified by ALM's experts. Whereas some universal principles were applicable to the construction, the context-centred approach of ALM generated a unique proposal, conceptualized to achieve harmony with the local environmental and cultural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of the historical background and the evolution of the concept of metabolism applied to human systems, till the evaluation of the metabolism of the antrophosphere using the methodology of Material Flow Analysis (MFA). Different international and national experiences that are evidence of the applicability of the method are presented. We show that the MFA is a flexible and suitable tool for environmental management that can be applied as a tool for the comprehensive analysis of the environmental problems generated by human activity. Additionally, the MFA can be used to detect and estimate material flows and stock of material that could be undesirable or potentially dangerous, allowing the establishment of efficient management strategies material flows from the point of view of sustainability and making an estimate of future emissions to anticipate problems and take early action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synopsis Issues that women traditionally organize around—environmental health, habitats, livelihoods—have been marginalized in debates that treat climate change as a scientific problem requiring technological and scientific solutions without substantially transforming ideologies and economies of domination, exploitation and colonialism. Issues that GLBTQ people organize around—bullying in the schools, hate crimes, marriage equality, fair housing and health care—aren't even noted in climate change discussions. Feminist analyses are well positioned to address these and other structural inequalities in climate crises, and to unmask the gendered character of first-world overconsumption; moreover, both feminist animal studies and posthumanism bring awareness of species as an unexamined dimension in climate change. A queer, posthumanist, ecological and feminist approach—brought together through the intersectional lens of ecofeminism—is needed to tackle the antifeminist threads companioning the scientific response to climate change: the linked rhetorics of population control, erotophobia and ecophobia, anti-immigration sentiment, and increased militarism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the arid and semi-arid regions are located in the developing countries, while the availability of water in adequate quantity and quality is an essential condition to approach sustainable development. In this research, 'enhanced Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (eDPSIR)' sustainability framework was applied to deal with water shortage in Yazd, an arid province of Iran. Then, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique was integrated into the driven components of eDPSIR, to quantify the inter-linkages among fundamental anthropogenic indicators (i.e. causes and effects). The paper's structure included: (1) identifying the indicators of DPSIR along with structuring eDPSIR causal networks, (2) using the DEMATEL technique to evaluate the inter-relationships among the causes and effects along with determining the key indicators, (3) decomposing the problem into a system of hierarchies, (4) employing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique to evaluate the weight of each criterion, and (5) applying complex proportional assessment with Grey interval numbers (COPRAS-G) method to obtain the most conclusive adaptive policy response. The systematic quantitative analysis of causes and effects revealed that the root sources of water shortage in the study area were the weak enforcement of law and regulations, decline of available freshwater resources for development, and desertification consequences. According to the results, mitigating the water shortage in Yazd could be feasible by implementation of such key adaptive policy-responses as providing effective law enforcement, updating the standards and regulations, providing social learning, and boosting stakeholders' collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent public policies in favor of family farming in Uruguay face a lot of tension with the dominant neoliberal logic of Uruguayan agriculture. This paper analyzes the public policy innovations in the management of natural resources, land use and rural development decentralization. It also examines their effects, especially on the area of family livestock farming. Uruguay is in the process of integrating international standards in environmental policies (conservation of water and soil) and regional sustainable development. But the implementation of new regulatory instruments (territorial, environmental, land use, etc.) has problems as they come in tension or conflict with the interests of the corporate sector or with the identity of family farmer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progress toward sustainable development is to be accelerated in order to avoid irreversible transformations that could threaten the wellbeing and existence of humankind. Governmental actions by more and more effective policies already initiated the necessary changes but their path is far behind the dynamic of the environmental degradation. Integrating sustainability in businesses is becoming a mainstream trend featured by innovative approaches for finding technological, social and organizational solutions. One of the most challenging issues is to integrate sustainability in brands, but it also is credited with the largest potential to generate the paradigm change needed for transforming sustainability in social value. Departing from the model of sustainable value there are outlined several milestones to be considered for creating sustainable brands for products and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations (UN) Rio+20 summit committed nations to develop a set of universal sustainable development goals (SDGs) to build on the millennium development goals (MDGs) set to expire in 2015. Research now indicates that humanity's impact on Earth's life support system is so great that further global environmental change risks undermining long-term prosperity and poverty eradication goals. Socioeconomic development and global sustainability are often posed as being in conflict because of tradeoffs between a growing world population, as well as higher standards of living, and managing the effects of production and consumption on the global environment. We have established a framework for an evidence-based architecture for new goals and targets. Building on six SDGs, which integrate development and environmental considerations, we developed a comprehensive framework of goals and associated targets, which demonstrate that it is possible, and necessary, to develop integrated targets relating to food, energy, water, and ecosystem services goals; thus providing a neutral evidence-based approach to support SDG target discussions. Global analyses, using an integrated global target equation, are close to providing indicators for these targets. Alongside development-only targets and environment-only targets, these integrated targets would ensure that synergies are maximized and trade-offs are managed in the implementation of SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Least developed countries have prepared national adaptation programs of action (NAPAs) to coordinate international adaptation funding to reduce social vulnerability to climate change. The adaptation programs have been written for consistency with existing sectoral policies and development agendas-policies which have thus far led to inequitable and incomplete decentralization of responsibility to organize and manage adaptation at the local level. The capacity of local social organization and of cross-scale networks and flows of knowledge and resources from higher levels of government is insufficient to facilitate socially equitable and sustainable adaptation to climate change. Tanzania's NAPA, poverty reduction strategy paper, and sectoral policies for forest, water, and agriculture/livestock illustrate the coordination of adaptation plans with existing policies. National and regional statistics and a survey of households on Mount Kilimanjaro-a regional priority for climate adaptation in Tanzania-demonstrate significant gaps in local social organization and cross-scale networks for adaptation. Challenging existing structural causes of vulnerability will be difficult under adaptation plans written for complementarity with the very policies that have produced social inequality. Outside of a few development projects of limited geographic extent, there is limited evidence for socially equitable and sustainable adaptation outcomes. Sustainable adaptation will require substantial new commitments to developing local capacity and cross-scale networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the management of climate change adaptation. She notes that climate change pose threat to human society and ecosystem establishment. She contends the significance of strengthening and re-gridding climatology processes. She discusses economic costs and equity costs while carbon emissions and sustainable pathway reduction has positive environmental effects.

The manufacture of building materials and components, the construction, use and demolition of buildings contribute to the generation of environmental effects such as soil, water and air pollution. The paper defines and synthesizes the impact categories that affect the environment, as well as the factors that cause the appearance of impacts, for the choice of optimal ecological building materials. An important problem is finding impact indices that describe the factors affecting the environment, whose value might be quantified. For this, the study was extended to the methods for the evaluation and analysis of the environmental effects of impact factors. The study performed allowed to synthesize the following impact categories taking into consideration the impact factors that occur during the life cycle of materials: natural resources, human health and risk, pollution due to emissions and waste. The impact factors were analyzed from the point of view of the impact level (geographical extension) and the possible magnitude of their value. This article describes a relatively easy method for the choice of the optimal material from a group of materials, taking into calculation the following impact criteria and categories: depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation, toxic substance emissions due to the energy consumed during the production, execution, exploitation and demolition processes, as well as the possibility of reusing waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses topics on ecosocialism and the rights of nature, particularly their campaign for the recognition of the human right to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment as a constitutional right. Also cited are the pluriversalist philosophy of the Zapitista movement in Mexico, and the Zapatistas' campaign for justice and democracy for indigenous peasants in southern Mexico.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the importance of biodiversity, global food security, and the ways for sustainable development.

Human society faces a number of major problems among which the increasingly negative consequences of environmental pollution. The high uses rate of the natural resources and the large amount of waste generated tend to transform the natural environment, its feed back reactions becoming dangerous to both life and the constructive environment created. Waste is one of the best indicators that measure economic vitality and the society way of life. The economic growth and development most times generate a quantitative increase and diversification of the nature of waste produced in the processes of making community utilities. Currently, waste management and treatment have become crucial and complex issues to ensure sustainable development. Because most municipal landfills do not have a perfect waterproof foundation, leachate infiltration into the soil, subsoil and underground water may occur causing the pollution of these environmental factors. To this end the paper is focused on the collection and treatment of leachate from the municipal waste landfill by presenting modern technologies for the collection and treatment of leachate from uncontrolled municipal waste deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comunicação, Mídia e Consumo is the property of Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT This study assesses for the first time the environmental sustainability of development organizations involved in North-South cooperation by quantifying the carbon footprint as a widely adopted indicator. Our objectives are to (1) analyze the criteria that should be met for correct greenhouse gas accounting of development organizations, (2) gain insight into the emission profile for a limited sample of development organizations from Belgium and Germany, and (3) set forward policy options for more sustainable practices. Carbon footprints are calculated following official guidelines and include available data from different institutions. Mobility of staff is on average responsible for 60% of total annual emissions of the organizations under study, mainly owing to air travel (40%), followed by electricity and heating of offices. These emissions may be partially offset through voluntary carbon market transactions or within development projects themselves. Either approach requires the adoption of high standards of carbon accounting by development organizations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gales of climate change blow the future open and closed. In response, we are having to learn to live with a renewed notion of limits and a novel level of uncertainty. One emerging governance response is a turn to scenario planning, which generates narratives about multiple futures refracted out from the present. Like climate change itself, scenario planning, and the broader field of futures studies it is part of, is historically and socially positioned, belying its application as a mere method or tool. This paper discusses the growing turn to scenario planning within government climate change adaptation initiatives in light of parallel shifts in governance (eg, interest in efficiency and wicked problems) and adaptation efforts (eg, framed as risk management or resilience) and their shared roots in the ambiguities of sustainable development. It provides an extended introduction to a theme issue that provides, overall, a nested discussion of the role of scenario planning by government for climate change adaptation, noting how governance, climate change adaptation, and scenario planning all fold together the motifs of openness and closedness. This paper engages with the emerging field of future geographies and critical interest in future orientations to highlight the way society's growing engagement on climate change adaptation exposes, critiques, replicates, and amplifies our existing orientations to the future and time and their politically contested and embedded character. It points to the way the motif of open futures can be both progressive and conservative, as political and economic interests seek to open up some futures while closing down others in the name of the ambivalent goals of adaptation and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the critical theory and pedagogy of education for sustainability. Topics discussed include the use of critical theory to explore the nature of ecological crisis, the contradictions inherent in sustainability, opportunities and pitfalls for environmental educators in development and the belief of green capitalists that there is no conflict between profit and environmental excellence.

Copyright of Revista de Educacion y Desarrollo Social is the property of Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Departamento de Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sustainability-oriented undertakings employ a multitude of different definitions and understandings of the term sustainable development. Against this background, the question of which sustainability goals to refer to at project level must be posed. This article discusses this question using the example of research on land use issues. It presents a qualitative in-depth empirical analysis of the underlying sustainability understanding of research projects, and identifies crucial characteristics of the ways researchers deal with the respective normative goals. The notions of sustainable development advanced by such projects featured different foci with respect to the overall meaning of the concept and were influenced by diverse actor and stakeholder perspectives. Further, the identified sustainability conceptions were deliberated on to different extents, and also differed with respect to whether they were explicit or contextualized. Most importantly, the projects differed in how they broached the issue of sustainability goals as part of research. The findings were used to develop a set of guidelines that clarifies how research can be related successfully to the societal vision of sustainable development. The guidelines draw conceptually on general requirements for appropriate sustainability conceptions derived from the Brundtland definition. They offer a tool for reflecting on one's assumptions with respect to sustainability goals at any stage of research, which is crucial for advancing the seminal field of sustainability science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of the analysis of ecohydrological (hydrobiological and hydrodynamic) parameters of neighboring catchments, the Jaszcze and Jamne streams, located in the Gorce Mountains in Polish Carpathians are presented. Analysis of the abiotic properties of those river channel ecosystems including shear stress, granulometric properties of gravel, water movement numbers as well as biotic parameters calculated using the Polish Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP-PL) benthic invertebrate-based index suggested that even though the two small streams valleys are similar in size and geological characteristics, and are nearby, they have different flow conditions which reflect on the hydrobiological status of those rivers. The aim of this article is to compare the parameters we measured in the field to help develop an understanding of the relationships between different processes at the river channel scale to improve sustainable development in the Jaszcze and Jamne stream catchments. This is especially important in light of the river channel regulation works already undertaken there and in light of the EU Water Framework Directive which main aim is to achieve good ecological status of all water bodies by the end of 2015. An assessment of stream conditions done without a detailed description of the hydrobiological and hydrodynamical parameters could lead to serious errors. This paper shows ways to examine the above-mentioned parameters in order to compare and analyze them and hopefully use them for catchment management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand for construction materials in South Tarawa, a remote atoll in the South Pacific, provides an example of the environmental and social challenges associated with the use of non-renewable resources in the context of small island countries threatened by coastal erosion and climate change. In many small Pacific island countries, the availability of construction materials is limited, with the majority mined from beaches and coastal reefs in an unsustainable manner. Growing demand for construction aggregates is resulting in more widespread sand mining by communities along vulnerable sections of exposed beach and reefs. This has serious consequences for coastal erosion and impacts on reef ecosystem processes, consequences that cannot be easily managed. Construction materials are also in high demand for infrastructure projects which are financed in part with support from international development agencies and donors. This paper reviews the various challenges and risks that aggregate mining poses to reefs, fish, and the coastal health of South Tarawa and argues that the long term consequences from ad hoc beach/reef mining over large areas are likely to be far greater than the impacts associated with environmentally sustainable, organized extraction. The paper concludes with policy recommendations that are also relevant for neighbouring island countries facing similar challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a model that is capable of evaluating the environmental benefits of a new elementary school facility was developed. The model is composed of three steps: (i) retrieval of elementary school facilities having similar characteristics as the new elementary school facility using case-based reasoning; (ii) creation of energy consumption and material data for the benchmark elementary school facility using the retrieved similar elementary school facilities; and (iii) evaluation of the environmental benefits of the new elementary school facility by assessing and comparing the environmental impact of the new and created benchmark elementary school facility using life cycle assessment. The developed model can present the environmental benefits of a new elementary school facility in terms of monetary values using Environmental Priority Strategy 2000, a damage-oriented life cycle impact assessment method. The developed model can be used for the following: (i) as criteria for a green-building rating system; (ii) as criteria for setting the support plan and size, such as the government's incentives for promoting green-building projects; and (iii) as criteria for determining the feasibility of green building projects in key business sectors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explores the literatures on home as a place of work and a space of consumption. Geographers have made significant contributions to our understandings of homes as spaces that are (re)made by the work and consumption that goes on within them, as well as being locales of many different forms of work (paid and unpaid) and multifarious consumption activities. The paper focuses on how work and consumption in the home intertwine. That is how consumption at home creates work and is a form of work itself. Few activities in the home are separable from the work that goes on there, and consumption is intimately tied to domestic labour. This paper explores these relationships between work and consumption in the home focusing on housework, paid domestic labour, cooking and eating and sustainable consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper demonstrates a systems framework for assessment of environmental impacts from ‘green initiatives’, through a case study of meso-scale, anthropogenic–biogenic interactions. The following cross-sectoral green initiatives, combining the emerging trends in the North East region of the United Kingdom, have been considered – increasing the vegetation cover; decarbonising road transport; decentralising energy production through biomass plants. Two future scenarios are assessed – Baseline_2020 (projected emissions from realisation of policy instruments); Aggressive_2020 (additional emissions from realisation of green initiatives). Resulting trends from the Aggressive_2020 scenario suggest an increase in emissions of pollutant precursors, including biogenic volatile organic compounds and nitrogen dioxide over the base case by up to 20% and 5% respectively. This has implications for enhanced daytime ozone and secondary aerosols formation by up to 15% and over 5% respectively. Associated land cover changes show marginal decrease of ambient temperature but modest reductions in ammonia and ambient particulates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Sustainability requires employee dedication—and human resource departments have an important role to play [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author reflects on the emergence of climate change as an alarming topic for the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Topics discussed include the environmental degradation in South Asia posing threat to human security, growing disagreement of India and China regarding the climate change to be considered a major problem in developments, and conservation of natural resources. Also mentioned are several issues related with the sustainable development.

The relationship between evidence, governance and institutions in the pursuit of sustainable development is notoriously complicated. Studying organisations whose roles include managing boundaries between evidence and policy is one way to better understand this relationship. But in spite of the complexity, such organisations often appear - officially at least - to have rather limited remits, with very sharply drawn boundaries. This paper investigates this puzzle through study of the United Kingdom Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), established in 1997 to scrutinise government departments' efforts to integrate environment and sustainable development into policymaking. Gathering and deployment of evidence are critical to its work, and it is able to call as witnesses both members of the executive and experts from outside government. Drawing on Jasanoff's work on issue framing and boundaries, and Owens and Rayner's work on Royal Commissions, this paper employs a broad definition of boundary work to allow potential identification of multiple boundaries shaped by different sorts of boundary work. It investigates what boundaries are drawn, how, why and by whom. Through analysis of EAC reports, and elite interviews, the paper examines the context, consultation processes, roles played and influence of the EAC. The committee is found to play many roles, including analyst, forum for debate and political lever, all of which provide potential for influence on specific policies, and on the nature and space of political debate. The EAC shapes many boundaries using various mechanisms, both informal and institutionally-sanctioned. The rich and subtle variety of these boundaries, and different work carried out around them, confirms that a simple reading of the EAC's remit of government scrutiny falls short of understanding how it works in practice. The results vividly illustrate the politicised nature of sustainable development policy, and informs prospects for 'filling' any gap between evidence and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]