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1.
William Ascher 《Sustainability Science》2007,2(2):141-149
The policy sciences, in offering the most comprehensive approach to policy analysis and the sociopolitical processes that
shape policy outcomes, is particularly appropriate for guiding the analysis required to promote sustainability. This article
presents the main components of the policy sciences framework and demonstrates its potency in the crucial task of deepening
the problem definitions required to select and enact policies to promote sustainability. As such, it provides background for
the policy sciences articles of this special feature.
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William AscherEmail: |
2.
Jung Wk Kim 《Sustainability Science》2006,1(1):107-114
The East Asian economy has been growing fast in recent years, and environmental stresses are building up rapidly. Transboundary air pollution, water shortages, drinking water contamination, freshwater and marine pollution, deforestation, climatic disasters, and other environmental problems are becoming serious threats to the well-being of people in this densely populated region. The ESI (environmental sustainability index) reported by the World Economic Forum in 2005 is a good indicator of the environmental status of the region; most East Asian countries ranked at the bottom. East Asia is not moving toward a sustainable society, and the environment will not sustain the current rate of economic development for long. The traditional culture of East Asia used to be sustainable, so we can learn much from our traditions. Land use should be planned from an ecological point of view so as to best preserve the land’s productivity and stability. There should be definite goals as to where and how much to preserve the three important ecological bases: forests, coastal wetlands and agricultural farms. The forest is the base for the terrestrial ecosystem, including flood control, water resources, and climate; the coastal wetland is the base for the marine ecosystem; farmland is the base for producing food. Within these defined goals, limits should be set on how much land can be utilized for activities like urban development, manufacturing, and recreation. Limits on the pollution load resulting from such activities should be set so as not to irreversibly damage the environment. Economic development should be planned to allow the use of energy and resources only after satisfying these constraints.
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Jung Wk KimEmail: Phone: +82-2-8805653Fax: +82-2-8876905 |
3.
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.
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Cornelia E. NauenEmail: |
4.
Brad Allenby Cynthia Folsom Murphy David Allen Cliff Davidson 《Sustainability Science》2009,4(1):7-15
Sustainable engineering is a conceptual and practical challenge to all engineering disciplines. Although the profession has
experience with environmental dimensions of engineering activities that in some cases are quite deep, extending the existing
body of practice to sustainable engineering by including social and cultural domains is a significant and non-trivial challenge.
Nonetheless, progress is being made, as a recent study undertaken by the Center for Sustainable Engineering in the United
States demonstrates.
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Brad AllenbyEmail: |
5.
Matthew R. Auer 《Sustainability Science》2007,2(2):179-187
It has been nearly 20 years since a working definition for “sustainable development” was put forward by the World Commission
on Environment and Development. The concept endures in the mission statements and frameworks of action of various societal
actors, including those of neighborhood associations, metropolitan development authorities, environmental ministries, and
United Nations (UN) specialized organizations, to name a few. Yet many observers doubt that sustainable development is occurring
in poor countries. This failure, the critics contend, stems from miserly transfers of foreign aid. The extent to which inadequate
aid is to blame for poor environmental/developmental outcomes is an open question. But vocal demands for increasing aid to
meet sustainable development goals come from many parts of society and are persistent. Exhortations for more aid to help poor
countries are noble, perhaps even justifiable, but there are understandable doubts about the wisdom of transferring large
capital and technical resources to countries that are slow to adopt needed institutional reforms. Aid without institutional
reform is a recipe for wasted resources and donor fatigue. Worse, it may enhance inequities of wealth and power in recipient
countries. There are few illustrations to draw on demonstrating how institutionally impoverished societies are affected when
they are compelled to absorb massive aid inputs over a short period––a remedy suggested by some prominent aid experts. As
a proxy, it is valuable to examine instances where swift macroeconomic changes, spurred by external investment and export-led
growth, has occurred without significant institutional development. The case of Equatorial Guinea and its sudden oil riches
is examined to discern whether, in the absence of meaningful institutional reform, rapid and profound increases in foreign
direct investment and export income enable poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
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Matthew R. AuerEmail: |
6.
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: |
7.
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: |
8.
Graciela A. Canziani Rosana M. Ferrati Claudio Rossi Diego Ruiz-Moreno 《Regional Environmental Change》2006,6(4):181-191
The purpose of this work is to assess the impact on the Esteros del Ibera wetland ecosystem caused by the Yacyreta dam, a large hydroelectric power plant on the Parana River, Argentina, in comparison to other factors of environmental change. The project of the dam started around 1970. The power plant began operating in 1994. In 1989, the neighboring Ibera wetland ecosystem showed a substantial increase in the water level for which several different causes were conceivable, including climate change and the dam construction. We analyzed all existing hydrometeorological data and studied other changes that were observed in this ecosystem. A water balance model was used to analyze different scenarios. Increased groundwater inflow, generated since the construction of the dam, appears to be affecting the wetland more than any other factor. The study has implications for the assessment of global and regional consequences of building dams.
相似文献
Graciela A. CanzianiEmail: Phone: +54-2292-447104Fax: +54-2293-446317 |
9.
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: |
10.
Carbon neutral Biggar: calculating the community carbon footprint and renewable energy options for footprint reduction 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
The objective of this research was to develop a community carbon footprint model that could be used to assess the size and
major components of a community’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The town of Biggar aims to become Scotland’s first carbon neutral town. As expected for this rural community,
car transport accounted for nearly half of the CO2 emissions, with natural gas and electricity consumption resulting in a further 24% and 12% of total emissions, respectively,
and air travel being the last major component at 10% of emissions. An assessment was also made of the wind and solar resources
of the town. One large wind turbine would provide the town’s electricity, while three to four turbines would be needed to
offset all CO2 emissions. In contrast, offsetting by tree planting would require in the region of 2,000 ha of trees.
相似文献
R. J. BarthelmieEmail: |
11.
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 |
12.
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: |
13.
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: |
14.
Weisheng Zhou 《Sustainability Science》2006,1(1):115-122
It has been clearly recognized that future global climate change will limit the possibilities for sustainable development in China. To minimize these negative effects, as a practical strategy, we suggest that the Chinese government engage in international cooperation as a key contributor in the prevention of global warming. This suggestion results from numerical estimations of China’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends accompanied with economic growth up to 2100. The results show that China’s gross domestic product (GDP), measured in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), may overtake the sum of the GDPs of the United States and Canada in 2020. It is predicted that GDP per capita may reach US$20,000 and $80,000 in 2050 and 2100, respectively; meanwhile, CO2 emissions in China will increase from 6.6 billion tons (in carbon equivalent units) in 1990 to 54.6 billion tons in 2100. This means that the global peak concentration of GHG cannot be practically reduced without significant contributions from China. For international cooperation in mitigating global climate change, we introduce a new option, “per-capita emission restricted by assigned amount,” as an accounting rule for GHG reduction. This baseline classifies global CO2 reduction actions into three categories: compulsory reduction, self-imposed reduction, and voluntary reduction. We suggest that China contribute to world CO2 reduction according to the following timetable: voluntary reduction until 2012, self-imposed reduction until 2020, and compulsory reduction from 2020. The simulation results also indicate that China can benefit from this strategy in terms of improvements in its domestic economy and environment, for instance, by reducing fossil fuel consumption and the emission of pollutants.
相似文献
Weisheng ZhouEmail: Phone: +81-75-4663418Fax: +81-75-4663418 |
15.
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: |
16.
Akimasa Sumi 《Sustainability Science》2007,2(1):67-76
Environmental issues and the future sustainability of society are among the greatest concerns facing society today. How to
formulate a pathway toward a sustainable society is a critical question. Several issues associated with this question are
presented and discussed. First, a structuring of the issues is presented. The environment can be said to consist of three
systems—the natural, social, and human—and their interactions; environmental problems may therefore be defined in terms of
perturbations of the interactions among the three systems. A sustainable society can be realized by restoring these interactions.
Next, the characteristics of the issues are discussed. Because environmental issues relate to the future, forecasts of the
future are essential. Because it is impossible to predict the future with complete accuracy, however, we should develop a
method of using information about the future with allowance for error. It should be noted that error characteristics differ
according to their time-scale. Third, the relationship between environmental issues and society is discussed. To take collective
action on these issues we need society-wide consensus, which requires a reliable and objective platform. Here, more attention
must be paid to the distribution of knowledge across society, because scientific knowledge in a modern society tends to be
monopolized by research organizations. The role of the media is therefore important. Another important factor is the commitment
of the general public; user-friendly ways of galvanizing such commitment should be developed.
相似文献
Akimasa SumiEmail: |
17.
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: |
18.
The impact of climate change on tourism in Germany,the UK and Ireland: a simulation study 总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3
We downscale the results of a global tourism simulation model at a national resolution to a regional resolution. We use this
to investigate the impact of climate change on the regions of Germany, Ireland and the UK. Because of climate change, tourists
from all three countries would spend more holidays in the home country. In all three countries, climate change would first
reduce the number of international arrivals—as Western European international tourist demand falls—but later increase numbers—as
tourism demand from increasingly rich tropical countries grows. In Ireland and the UK, the regional pattern of demand shifts
is similar to the international one: tourism shifts north. In Germany, the opposite pattern is observed as the continental
interior warms faster than the coast: tourism shifts south.
相似文献
Jacqueline M. HamiltonEmail: |
19.
Towards a spatially explicit and quantitative vulnerability assessment of environmental change in Europe 总被引:9,自引:4,他引:5
Over the next century, society will increasingly be confronted with the impacts of global change (e.g. pollution, land use changes, and climate change). Multiple scenarios provide us with a range of possible changes in socio-economic trends, land uses and climate (i.e. exposure) and allow us to assess the response of ecosystems and changes in the services they provide (i.e. potential impacts). Since vulnerability to global change is less when society is able to adapt, it is important to provide decision makers with tools that will allow them to assess and compare the vulnerability of different sectors and regions to global change, taking into account exposure and sensitivity, as well as adaptive capacity. This paper presents a method that allows quantitative spatial analyses of the vulnerability of the human-environment system on a European scale. It is a first step towards providing stakeholders and policy makers with a spatially explicit portfolio of comparable projections of ecosystem services, providing a basis for discussion on the sustainable management of Europe’s natural resources.
相似文献
Marc J. MetzgerEmail: Phone: +31-317-482983Fax: +31-317-484839 |
20.
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 |