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1.
William Ascher 《Sustainability Science》2006,1(1):15-22
Given progress in policies for pursuing sustainable development, promoting commitment to thinking and acting more far-sightedly has become the primary strategic challenge. In the face of impatience, selfishness, uncertainty, analytical limitations, and vulnerability, strategies for promoting far-sightedness can be identified by assessing how these obstacles can be overcome. Strategies for creating or rescheduling tangible and deference rewards, realigning performance evaluations, implementing cognitive exercises, framing communications, altering decision-making processes, using self-restraint devices both to resist temptation and to enhance credibility, altering institutions to empower the patient, and stabilizing living conditions are the major categories for identifying and assessing the many strategies which arise out of both ordinary and constitutive policy initiatives.
相似文献
William AscherEmail: Phone: +1-909-6073071Fax: +1-909-6218419 |
2.
Culture as trigger for sustainability transition in the water domain: the case of the Spanish water policy and the Ebro river basin 总被引:2,自引:2,他引:0
There is a mounting body of literature dealing generally with the dynamics of transitions of human systems towards sustainability
and specifically with the different stages and processes of transitions. However, the question of why transition processes
occur in the first place remains largely unexplained. This paper explores the concept of transition triggers, such as culture
or material resource scarcity, and provides a theoretical framework to explain the emergence of a transition and its relation
to recent developments in Spanish water policy. We adapt the general framework provided by current transition theory and gather
empirical evidence and insights from processes occurring within the Spanish policy context and the Ebro river basin in particular.
Our results show that the sole existence of biophysical limits to water use or development cannot explain the start of a possible
sustainability transition in this domain in Spain. Changes in the existing water policies in the direction of sustainability
were not ignited by people directly affected by water scarcities but by a coalition of sensitive agents, mostly from academia,
NGOs and local constituencies, who managed to articulate new identities, integrate multiple sources of policy relevant knowledge,
and develop new values under the umbrella of the new water culture movement.
相似文献
Akgun IlhanEmail: |
3.
Motivation of Japanese companies to take environmental action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions: an econometric analysis 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
To analyze the motivations of Japanese companies to take environmental actions to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
we used FY2006 research data and questioned Japanese industries regarding their reduction of GHG emissions. Empirical investigations
revealed that voluntary targets set by industry organizations, government requirements, and advance responses to possible
future regulations can positively influence environmental actions for GHG emission reduction; however, cost reductions and
corporate social responsibility fulfillment cannot.
相似文献
Seiji IkkataiEmail: |
4.
The Kyoto Protocol relies on incentive-based regulations layered underneath a global cap on net emissions of greenhouse gases.
Within the Kyoto Protocol are opportunities and constraints for signatory nations. Of concern to developing nations are the
constraints the Kyoto Protocol could place on future growth. We examine the constraints and the opportunities offered to developing
countries within the Kyoto Protocol. By identifying the potential costs and benefits the Kyoto Protocol has to offer to developing
countries and by examining the incentives each create, we hope to spark serious investigations into ways to minimize the potential
costs of entering the Kyoto Protocol and take full advantage of the potential benefits.
相似文献
Amin SarkarEmail: |
5.
This report summarizes the results of two studies of electricity supply for Europe (EU), the Middle East (ME) and North Africa
(NA) up to the year 2050. It shows that a transition to competitive, secure and sustainable supply of electricity and water
is possible using renewable energy sources, efficiency gains and fossil fuel backup for balancing power. A strong cooperation
between the EU and MENA for the market introduction of renewable energy and the interconnection of the electricity grids by
high-voltage direct-current transmission are keys to the success and survival of the whole region. However, the necessary
measures will take at least two decades to become effective. Therefore, adequate policy and economic frameworks for their
realization must be introduced immediately. The importance of sustainable energy for the security of freshwater supplies in
MENA is also described.
相似文献
Hans Müller-SteinhagenEmail: |
6.
Working toward sustainable community is a complex task for communities especially given the ambiguous nature of implementing
the concept of sustainable development. However, by working to understand the nature of community capital, administrators
can begin to move beyond bottom line thinking toward a more comprehensive and collective view of community. This paper presents
a theoretical framework that helps municipal decision makers begin collecting information they need to help them build sustainable
and resilient communities.
相似文献
Edith G. CallaghanEmail: |
7.
Refining the ecological footprint 总被引:8,自引:0,他引:8
Ecological footprint measures how much of the biosphere’s annual regenerative capacity is required to renew the natural resources
used by a defined population in a given year. Ecological footprint analysis (EFA) compares the footprint with biocapacity.
When a population’s footprint is greater than biocapacity it is reported to be engaging in ecological overshoot. Recent estimates
show that humanity’s footprint exceeds Earth’s biocapacity by 23%. Despite increasing popularity of EFA, definitional, theoretical,
and methodological issues hinder more widespread scientific acceptance and use in policy settings. Of particular concern is
how EFA is defined and what it actually measures, exclusion of open oceans and less productive lands from biocapacity accounts,
failure to allocate space for other species, use of agricultural productivity potential as the basis for equivalence factors
(EQF), how the global carbon budget is allocated, and failure to capture unsustainable use of aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems.
This article clarifies the definition of EFA and proposes several methodological and theoretical refinements. Our new approach
includes the entire surface of the Earth in biocapacity, allocates space for other species, changes the basis of EQF to net
primary productivity (NPP), reallocates the carbon budget, and reports carbon sequestration biocapacity. We apply the new
approach to footprint accounts for 138 countries and compare our results with output from the standard model. We find humanity’s
global footprint and ecological overshoot to be substantially greater, and suggest the new approach is an important step toward
making EFA a more accurate and meaningful sustainability assessment tool.
相似文献
Jason VenetoulisEmail: |
8.
Wilfred Nyangena 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2008,10(6):745-767
Soil erosion is a major environmental problem and threat to rural development in Kenya. Numerous attempts to address the problem
have apparently had little success. There are however some districts that have been very successful, notably Machakos. In
this study we search for the factors that determine successful development in soil conservation such as social capital, human
capital and market integration. One of our main results is that social capital measures are significant determinants of investment
in soil conservation. A better understanding of the relevant mechanisms is essential for developing policies targeting improvement
in natural resource management.
相似文献
Wilfred NyangenaEmail: |
9.
Modern urban life is characterized by the consumption of materials and energy, which are imported from all over the world
and discharge waste that in many cases has a negative impact on ecosystems far from the cities in which they consumed. Indeed,
cities cannot survive without worldwide hinterlands for resources and emissions sequestration. The ecological footprint (EF)
concept provides valuable insights into the human appropriation of resources relative to earth’s carrying capacity, and therefore
it enables us to compare human demands with nature’s supply and provides an indicator of human ecological sustainability.
An attempt was made to calculate the EF of Ra’anana, Israel as a case study, to compare the EF-value with the expected for
ecological sustainability and to emphasize the dependence on overseas ecosystems. Ra’anana, a town of 67,300 inhabitants in
the year 2002, is considered a ‘dormitory town’ with a high quality of life. The EF was calculated using mainly the component
method. The calculated EF for Ra’anana is 4.0 ha/resident which means that the required hinterland, located all over the world,
is nearly 180 times the size of the town. The town’s EF is twice the value expected for sustainability on a global scale.
We draw several scenarios in order to reduce the EF. On a national basis as well as with the town case study, electric energy,
food and waste can be reduced and in turn would have a dramatic impact on the EF.
相似文献
Meidad KissingerEmail: |
10.
Climate change and coastal vulnerability assessment: scenarios for integrated assessment 总被引:2,自引:1,他引:1
Robert J. Nicholls Poh Poh Wong Virginia Burkett Colin D. Woodroffe John Hay 《Sustainability Science》2008,3(1):89-102
Coastal vulnerability assessments still focus mainly on sea-level rise, with less attention paid to other dimensions of climate
change. The influence of non-climatic environmental change or socio-economic change is even less considered, and is often
completely ignored. Given that the profound coastal changes of the twentieth century are likely to continue through the twenty-first
century, this is a major omission, which may overstate the importance of climate change, and may also miss significant interactions
of climate change with other non-climate drivers. To better support climate and coastal management policy development, more
integrated assessments of climatic change in coastal areas are required, including the significant non-climatic changes. This
paper explores the development of relevant climate and non-climate drivers, with an emphasis on the non-climate drivers. While
these issues are applicable within any scenario framework, our ideas are illustrated using the widely used SRES scenarios,
with both impacts and adaptation being considered. Importantly, scenario development is a process, and the assumptions that
are made about future conditions concerning the coast need to be explicit, transparent and open to scientific debate concerning
their realism and likelihood. These issues are generic across other sectors.
相似文献
Robert J. NichollsEmail: |
11.
Cornelia E. Nauen 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2008,10(5):605-622
The paper examines preliminary experiences with international scientific cooperation in fisheries, aquaculture and coastal
zone issues through 90 projects in successive European Research Framework Programmes (FP4–FP6: 1994–2006). FPs had increasingly
ambitious objectives in response to international commitments, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Millennium
Development Goals, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and dialogue with partner regions. Sustainable aquatic food production
in the context of respect for ecosystems was a central concern. Engagement with different social actors and attention to investment
in education, people and institutions enabled uptake of research results in education, innovation and some impact. The emphasis
in several recent projects on more integrated analyses and knowledge products in the public domain is an encouraging response
to the growing crisis of aquatic resource systems. It is suggested that significant up-scaling will be required. This might
be done through institutional internalisation and better translation of research results into policy developments supportive
of transitions towards sustainable production systems and ecosystem rehabilitation. Capacity building to use research in novel
ways and other enabling mechanisms need to be put in place to increase societal and environmental benefits of the research.
相似文献
Cornelia E. NauenEmail: |
12.
Ian Calder Ashvin Gosain M. S. Rama Mohan Rao Charles Batchelor M. Snehalatha Emma Bishop 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2008,10(4):537-557
This paper recommends a revision of watershed development policy in India in relation to the planning of development interventions
involving agricultural intensification and rainwater harvesting following biophysical and societal impact studies carried
out on two watershed development projects in Karnataka. A need for changes in policy has arisen in response to progressive
catchments closure at the basin level and declining volumes of water flowing into village level reservoirs (known locally
as tanks). Flow reductions have occurred largely as a result of increased agricultural intensification over the past 10–15 years.
Field levelling, field bund construction, soil water conservation measures, farm ponds, the increase in areas under horticulture
and forestry and the increased abstraction and use of groundwater for irrigation are all contributing factors to reduced flows.
Planning methodologies and approaches, which may have been appropriate 20 years ago for planning water harvesting within watershed
development projects, are no longer appropriate today. New planning approaches are required which (1) take account of these
changed flow conditions and (2) are also able to take account of externalities, which occur when actions of some affect the
livelihoods of others who have no control or influence over such activities and which (3) contribute to the maintenance of
agreed minimum downstream flows for environmental and other purposes.
相似文献
Ian CalderEmail: |
13.
Athanasios Ragkos Asimakis Psychoudakis Argiro Christofi Alexandros Theodoridis 《Regional Environmental Change》2006,6(4):193-200
This study proposes the valuation of wetland functions as an alternative to the conventional approach to wetland valuation, in order to derive indicators for decision-making in wetland management. It is illustrated that these functions can be valuated in terms of the goods and services they provide to society. Using a functional approach, the functions are identified and the goods and services they provide are explicitly allocated among them; then, the latter are valuated with the Contingent Valuation method. Statistical analysis of the data provides welfare measures that reflect the value of these functions. It is argued that the values of separate functions are more useful in policy-making than their aggregated value.
相似文献
Athanasios RagkosEmail: Phone: +30-2310-998826Fax: +30-2310-998828 |
14.
A spatially explicit and quantitative vulnerability assessment of ecosystem service change in Europe 总被引:5,自引:1,他引:4
Marc J. Metzger Dagmar Schröter Rik Leemans Wolfgang Cramer 《Regional Environmental Change》2008,8(3):91-107
Environmental change alters ecosystem functioning and may put the provision of services to human at risk. This paper presents
a spatially explicit and quantitative assessment of the corresponding vulnerability for Europe, using a new framework designed
to answer multidisciplinary policy relevant questions about the vulnerability of the human-environment system to global change.
Scenarios were constructed for a range of possible changes in socio-economic trends, land uses and climate. These scenarios
were used as inputs in a range of ecosystem models in order to assess the response of ecosystem function as well as the changes
in the services they provide. The framework was used to relate the impacts of changing ecosystem service provision for four
sectors in relation to each other, and to combine them with a simple, but generic index for societal adaptive capacity. By
allowing analysis of different sectors, regions and development pathways, the vulnerability assessment provides a basis for
discussion between stakeholders and policymakers about sustainable management of Europe’s natural resources.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
相似文献
Marc J. MetzgerEmail: |
15.
Jin Sato 《Sustainability Science》2007,2(2):151-158
The objective of this paper is to trace the evolution of the resource concept in modern Japan by highlighting key individuals
who played major roles in communicating this idea to a wider audience during its formation and development between the 1910s
and 1950s. Special attention will be paid to the effect of different historical contexts on interpretations of the term “resource”.
The paper reveals how the integration of knowledge indispensable for achieving sustainability occurs. The orientation of resource
policy was drastically different before and after World War II. In the pre-war period, the military government used the resource
concept to create a comprehensive inventory of the nation’s military forces, and “resource” was thus a convenient term to
neutralize the aggressive connotations of top-down military mobilization. After the turn to democratic principles in 1945,
“resource” suddenly acquired a symbolic meaning as a means to serve the people. Despite these contrasts, however, pre and
post-war resource concepts share a commonality in that the government acted as the centralizing force, providing a platform
to integrate disparate knowledge under the resource concept. At a time when society itself is more prone to fragmentation,
the resource concept, which played a significant role in unification in the past, should be re-examined. The history of the
concept in Japan, particularly during the pre and post-war period up until the 1950s, contains a wealth of insights as to
how this can be achieved.
相似文献
Jin SatoEmail: |
16.
A stakeholder dialogue on European vulnerability 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Anne C. de la Vega-Leinert Dagmar Schröter Rik Leemans Uta Fritsch Jacomijn Pluimers 《Regional Environmental Change》2008,8(3):109-124
A stakeholder dialogue was embedded in the ATEAM project to facilitate the development and dissemination of its European-wide
vulnerability assessment of global change impacts. Participating stakeholders were primarily ecosystem managers and policy
advisers interested in potential impacts on ‘Agriculture’, ‘Forestry’, ‘Water’, ‘Carbon storage’, ‘Biodiversity’ and ‘Mountain
environments’ sectors. First, stakeholder dialogue approaches to integrated assessment are introduced. Methodological considerations
on stakeholder selection and dialogue implementation and evaluation follow. The dialogue content and process are evaluated
from the perspectives of stakeholders and scientists. Its usefulness in the research process and the relevance of outcomes
for stakeholders are particularly considered. The challenging compromises required to perform innovative research, which seeks
to achieve both peer scientific credibility and societal relevance, are emphasized. Effective stakeholder dialogues play a
substantial role in raising the visibility and meaningfulness of vulnerability assessments as critical means to improve awareness
on global change and its potential worrying impacts on society. They further provide scientists with critical information
on ecosystem management and sectoral adaptive capacity. These processes of mutual learning and knowledge exchange moreover
foster a better understanding of the potential and limits of global change modelling and vulnerability assessment for policy
and ecosystem management.
相似文献
Anne C. de la Vega-LeinertEmail: |
17.
Bhaskar Nath 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2008,10(4):471-486
Most environmental professionals and decision-makers, and certainly the public at large, hold the view that the integrity
of earth’s natural environment will be conserved for posterity and sustainable development achieved if all the nations rigorously
enforced their environmental and emission standards. It is argued in this paper that this view, sincerely held by many as
an “axiomatic truth,” is mistaken and misplaced. This is because as a biogeochemical entity the Earth has limited self-regenerative
capacity (SRC) to cope with anthropogenic pollution, and all kinds of environmental problems ensue when that limit is exceeded.
Indeed, mounting environmental problems now occurring on all fronts amply testify to the fact that the limit has already been
exceeded. They also provide necessary and sufficient proof that environmental and emission standards have been woefully inadequate
for protecting earth’s natural environment and life-support systems. It is argued that true global environmental sustainability
will be achieved, paving the way to true global sustainable development, if and only if global environmental and emission
standards are set so that global anthropogenic pollution does not exceed the limit of earth’s natural SRC to cope with such
pollution. These and related issues are discussed in this paper. A simple mathematical model using basic mathematics is also
presented to explain how the phenomenon of “positive feedback” works in some of the environmental problems to exacerbate environmental
degradation and progressively to erode nature’s SRC.
相似文献
Bhaskar NathEmail: |
18.
Joseph Alcamo Lilibeth Acosta-Michlik Alexander Carius Frank Eierdanz Richard Klein Dörthe Krömker Dennis Tänzler 《Regional Environmental Change》2008,8(4):137-149
In this study we develop an “inference modeling” approach to compare and analyze how different disciplines (economics, political
science, and behavioral science/environmental psychology) estimate vulnerability to drought. It is thought that a better understanding
of these differences can lead to a synthesis of insights from the different disciplines and eventually to more comprehensive
assessments of vulnerability. The new methodology consists of (1) developing inference models whose variables and assertions
incorporate qualitative knowledge about vulnerability, (2) converting qualitative model variables into quantitative indicators
by using fuzzy set theory, (3) collecting data on the values of the indicators from case study regions, (4) inputting the
regional data to the models and computing quantitative values for susceptibility. The methodology was applied to three case
study regions (in India, Portugal and Russia) having a range of socio-economic and water stress conditions. In some cases
the estimates of susceptibility were surprisingly similar, in others not, depending on the factors included in the disciplinary
models and their relative weights. A new approach was also taken to testing vulnerability parameters by comparing estimated
water stress against a data set of drought occurrences based on media analysis. The new methodologies developed in this paper
provide a consistent basis for comparing differences between disciplinary perspectives, and for identifying the importance
of the differences.
相似文献
Joseph AlcamoEmail: |
19.
Accounting for the mismanagement of tropical nearshore fisheries 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
The underlying reason for the mismanagement of tropical nearshore fisheries is the implementation of policies and programs
based on Western models and approaches, coupled with an inability and/or unwillingness to consider non-Western alternatives
of empirically proven value. Such attitudes are embedded in donor and development agency behavior, and are demonstrated by
the temperate bias in conventional approaches to fisheries education and management, with a corresponding lack of understanding
of tropical milieux, and in the persistence of various prejudices. Adaptive Management, The Ecosystem Approach, Local Knowledge,
and Protected Areas are discussed from the perspectives of Western models and pre-existing Pacific Island systems as alternative
models. Given the parlous condition of the global environment and resources, the best non-Western pre-existing models and
Western approaches must be blended to provide sustainable solutions.
相似文献
Francis R. HickeyEmail: |
20.
Local vulnerability as an advantage: mangrove forest management in Pará state,north Brazil,under conditions of illegality 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
When ecosystems are threatened or scientific knowledge of the effects of human action is uncertain, legislative prohibition is often adopted. This paper examines how the criminalization of mangrove tree use affects ecosystem management outcomes. We explore the biological, economic and social sustainability effects of the legal ban on mangrove use on the coast of Bragança, Pará, north Brazil. There are two main categories of mangrove users in this area: firstly, local subsistence users who also derive some financial incomes from mangrove sale. Their mangrove use is intertwined with household livelihood strategies and they display self-initiated planning and action towards sustainable management; secondly, more mobile, purely commercial users who are responsible for most commercial mangrove exploitation and who employ regionally sequential, predatory resource exploitation strategies. These users are typically based at some distance from the exploited areas and share neither local livelihood strategies nor sustainability agendas. The current outright ban on any utilization of mangrove flora seems to undermine biological sustainability, is economically inefficient and generates normative insecurity, conflict and social polarization. The ineffectiveness of the outright legal prohibition of mangrove tree use in terms of sustainable coastal management leads us to investigate alternative management options. We suggest that the legalization of local mangrove utilization and the strengthening of local users rights and responsibilities to control outsiders in a co-management framework, as proposed in the Brazilian extractive reserves (RESEX) approach, is most likely to advance ecologically, economically and socially sustainable mangrove management. It is demonstrated that a legal recognition of local entitlements to mangrove trees would reduce social vulnerability and therefore move forest management outcomes into more desirable directions.
相似文献
Marion GlaserEmail: Fax: +49-421-2380030 |