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1.
Achieving sustainability by introducing alternative livelihoods 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
The millennium ecosystem assessment report on global assessment of desertification has highlighted its worldwide impacts on the environment—increasing dust storms, floods and global warming—as well as on societies and economies. It links sustainable management of resources, and inter alia well-being of dryland populations, to reducing societal pressures on dryland ecosystems through adoption of alternative livelihoods. This paper, in combination with a companion paper by Safriel and Adeel, presents the conceptual underpinnings of this approach as well as examples of how innovative approaches for creating livelihoods can help reduce the pressure on marginal drylands. Three case studies presented are based on activities undertaken within a joint international project called sustainable management of marginal drylands. First, introduction of chicken farming to farmers in Hunshundake Sandland in northern China has reduced the pressure on grasslands and led to a major recovery of these ecosystems. Second, development of desert-based aquaculture, with accompanied longer-term storage of water, on the margins of the Cholistan desert in Pakistan has provided a new source of income for the villagers. Third, development of a new income-generating activity based on soap production from olive oil in Dana Biosphere Reserve in Jordan has demonstrated that traditional olive farming can be linked to community-based innovation to create a new, high-demand market for goods. Working with communities to develop new, sustainable livelihoods that reduce pressure on marginal drylands can thus be used as powerful tool for overcoming and reversing desertification. 相似文献
2.
Michinori Uwasu Helmut Yabar Keishiro Hara Yoshiyuki Shimoda Tatsuyoshi Saijo 《Sustainability Science》2009,4(1):45-53
One of the most important and yet difficult challenges that modern societies face is how to mobilize science and technology
(S&T) to minimize the impact of human activities on the Earth’s life support systems. As the establishment of inter-disciplinary
education programs is necessary to design a unified vision towards understanding the complexity of human nature, the Research
Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS) launched a new program on sustainability science in April 2008. The program expects
to address the issue of how to use knowledge more effectively to understand the dynamic interactions between nature and human
society. This paper first offers an overview of international and Japanese initiatives on sustainability education in which
we highlight the uniqueness of the attempt by the Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S). The paper
then introduces the RISS program for sustainability science, addressing the principles and curriculum design of the program.
The paper discusses the main problems and constraints faced when developing the program, such as institutional barriers in
building a curriculum and obtaining cooperation from faculty. To challenge these barriers and limitations, the RISS uses the
program as a platform to disseminate the idea of sustainability science across the university. This attempt helps us to obtain
the continuing cooperation necessary to improve and maintain the program.
相似文献
Michinori UwasuEmail: |
3.
Industrial ecology: engineered representation of sustainability 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Industrial ecology is a relatively new field of research and academic study and is well established in North America and in several Asian countries. However, it has not yet received the attention it deserves in some other important parts of the industrialized world, including Germany. This paper may contribute to a better appreciation of industrial ecology as a tool in the process of sustainable development of economies, social systems, and of aquatic and terrestrial biotopes under the pressure of rapidly changing conditions triggered by global warming and urban growth. For this reason, methods are needed to quantify the successful application of industrial ecology measures. The “Integrated Sustainability Triangle” is introduced as a promising new possibility of quantification and monitoring. It enables justification of the contributions industrial ecology can make to sustainable development. The aggregation of individual economic contributions is assumed to create an overall impetus to the entire industrial sector including the sector of environmental engineering. Thus, the potential of industrial ecology is discussed from the macro-economic and the engineering perspective using the concept of sustainable development as a guiding principle. But the authors come to the conclusion that finding solutions to the pressing problems of our time requires more than collaboration of economy and engineering. It requires joint efforts of the whole spectrum of scientific disciplines in close collaboration with industrial and political stakeholders. 相似文献
4.
Research core and framework of sustainability science 总被引:2,自引:6,他引:2
Yuya Kajikawa 《Sustainability Science》2008,3(2):215-239
This paper reviews recent achievements in sustainability science and discusses the research core and framework of sustainability science. We analyze and organize papers published in three selected core journals of sustainability science: Sustainability Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy. Papers are organized into three categories: sustainability and its definition, domain-oriented research, and a research framework for sustainability science. First, we provide a short history and define the basic characteristics of sustainability; then we review current efforts in the following research domains: climate, biodiversity, agriculture, fishery, forestry, energy and resources, water, economic development, health, and lifestyle. Finally, we propose a research framework for sustainability science that includes the following components: goal setting, indicator setting, indicator measurement, causal chain analysis, forecasting, backcasting, and problem–solution chain analysis. We emphasize the importance of this last component for improving situations and attaining goals. 相似文献
5.
Young B. Moon 《International Journal of Sustainable Engineering》2017,10(1):2-19
This article is a review of work published in various journals and conference proceedings on the topics of Simulation Modelling for Sustainability between January 2000 and May 2015. A total of 192 papers are reviewed. The article intends to serve three goals. First, it will be useful to researchers who wish to know what kinds of questions have been raised and how they have been addressed in the areas of simulation modelling for sustainability. Second, the article will be a useful resource for searching research topics. Third, it will serve as a comprehensive bibliography of the papers published during the period. The literature is analysed for application areas, simulation methods and dimensions of the triple bottom line model of sustainable development. 相似文献
6.
Steven J. Wright Evelyn Habit Sara Adlerstein Oscar Parra Jeremy D. Semrau 《Sustainability Science》2009,4(1):29-36
A course for upper division undergraduate students was developed in response to a request for a cross-disciplinary course
in environmental sustainability with an emphasis on an international issue. The topic selected for the course focused on the
energy needs for Chile and a proposal for five hydropower projects on the Baker and Pascua Rivers in the Patagonia area. Collaborations
between the University of Michigan (USA) and the University of Concepción (Chile) to develop the course led to a plan to offer
a parallel course at both universities, with the students of both courses participating in a site visit to Patagonia. The
courses were structured to enhance learning through interdisciplinary team-based activities. The courses were taught in a
seminar format, with invited lecturers to provide background information on technical, environmental, economic, social, and
political issues surrounding hydropower development in general and the proposed projects in particular. The students combined
this information with insights obtained during the site visit to prepare a variety of course products, notably an assessment
of the concerns of the various affected stakeholder groups. Assessment of the course outcomes is discussed. 相似文献
7.
Ola Busari 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2009,11(1):71-83
This paper captures the lessons learned from the implementation of water supply and sanitation interventions in Mayiwane community
in the rural northeastern region of the Kingdom of Swaziland, relating to water system rehabilitation, water quantity and
quality improvements, and the promotion of latrine construction. The issues examined include both the dimensions of implementation
efficiency and project effectiveness: first identifying the inputs, activities and final outputs and, then, tracking the entire
project cycle, from design to implementation and monitoring. To draw meaningful lessons for the sustainability of similar
interventions, project evaluation involved extensive fieldwork, water sampling and testing, review of documentation, and interviews
with community members and officials of governmental, civil society and collaborating external agencies.
Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue. 相似文献
8.
Giuseppe Siracusa Angela D. La Rosa Paolo Palma Emiliano La Mola 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2008,10(6):845-855
The emergy analysis was used to evaluate the sustainability of a village which aims to be ecologically friendly. The choice of focusing on the use of local resources including agriculture and farm goods, photovoltaic panels, renewable heating and cooling systems, recycled water from constructed wetlands etc., aims to obtain a sustainable village. Indices and ratios based on emergy flows have been calculated and used to evaluate the behaviour of the whole system. Their dependence upon the fraction of renewable and non renewable inputs as well as locally available versus purchased inputs from outside is stressed. A new index of sustainability (SI) is also applied to the case study. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue. 相似文献
9.
Christian Fuchs 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2008,10(3):291-309
This paper discusses the relationship of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and sustainable development. It deconstructs popular myths about a sustainable information society. One myth is that telework has reduced the need to travel and hence environmental pollution. The reality is that teleworkers make up only a small share of the total workforce, telework can generate new social relationships and hence the need for more travelling, work-related travel produces only a small amount of the total carbon dioxide emissions, and that the total distance travelled per employee is constantly rising. Another myth is that information economy is weightless and dematerialized which reduces environmental impacts. The energy and resource intensities of the ICT sector are indeed lower than the one of the total economy. The ICT sector also emits less CO2 than the total economy. But the ICT sector constitutes only a small portion of the total value added and fossil fuel combustion is still the dominant activity of modern industrial economies. Some stakeholders argue that virtual products allow resource, energy, and transport savings. But burning digital music on compact discs and DVDs, printing digital articles and books, etc. results in rebound effects that cause new material and energy impacts, computers have a low life span of 2–3 years, reusable and upgradeable computers and computer equipment are hardly used and might not be as profitable as non-reusable ones, computers are consuming much energy. Alternatives such as energy consumption labels on ICTs and green ICTs that consume less energy contradict dominant economic interests. A sustainable information society is a society that makes use of ICTs and knowledge for fostering a good life for all human beings of current and future generations by strengthening biological diversity, technological usability, economic wealth for all, political participation of all, and cultural wisdom. Achieving a sustainable information society costs, it demands a conscious reduction of profits by not investing in the future of capital, but the future of humans, society, and nature. 相似文献
10.
Supporting climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessments in the Asia-Pacific region: an example of sustainability science 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Sustainability is achieved only when there is full reconciliation between: (1) economic development; (2) meeting, on an equitable basis, growing and changing human needs and aspirations; and (3) conserving the limited natural resources and the capacity of the environment to absorb the mulitple stresses that are a consequence of human activities. The linkages between climate and sustainability are examined in the context of both the wider Asia-Pacific region and local level climate risks and adaptation responses. These findings are used to underpin and illustrate several implications for sustainability science. Climate change is seen as both an impediment to increasing sustainability and as an opportunity, though in most cases the former far outweighs the latter. Assessments of climate change vulnerability and risk are shown to be of critical importance because they inform decisions as to where resources for adaptation are best invested. They also show whether global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions need to be strengthened because of limits to adaptation. In practice, adaptation takes place at many levels, essentially ranging between tangible interventions at community and enterprise level and national and international efforts to strengthen the enabling environment for adaptation. It is informative to undertake regional assessments of adaptation, even though most adaptation interventions need to reflect local conditions, including local adaptive capacities. The foregoing findings, based in part on a series of regional and local case studies, lead to several recommendations for further research that will help reduce barriers to implementing responses that reduce climate related risks, including adverse consequences for sustainability. The recommendations relate to such themes as making optimum use of predictive capabilities, characterising the linkages between climate change and sustainability, implications of the required rates and magnitudes of adaptation, institutional responses that enhance adaptive capacity, use of new and traditional technologies, the multiple dimensions of social responsibility, and enhancing the enabling environment for adaptation at the community and enterprise level. If these recommendations are acted upon they will, in turn, help address much needed improvements in quantifying the costs and benefits of adaptation, prioritising adaptation options, assessing sustainable development tradeoffs, and monitoring the success of adaptation initiatives. Such improvements will have even greater utility if they are incorporated into user-friendly decision support tools for adaptation. 相似文献
11.
David Manuel-Navarrete Gilberto C. Gallopín Mariela Blanco Martín Díaz-Zorita Diego O. Ferraro Hilda Herzer Pedro Laterra María R. Murmis Guillermo P. Podestá Jorge Rabinovich Emilio H. Satorre Filemón Torres Ernesto F. Viglizzo 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2009,11(3):621-638
Assessing the sustainability of complex development processes requires multi-causal and integrated analyses. We develop a
system-based methodology, rooted in interdisciplinary discussion and consensus building between 15 experts, to construct a
multi-causal diagram which examines the sustainability of the Argentine Pampas′ process of agriculturization. The resulting
diagram includes 25 factors and provides a big-picture of the multiple dimensions and interrelations affecting sustainability.
According to this examination, the increasing concentration of production and the incorporation of technological innovations,
triggered by economic and institutional factors, are the cause of environmental distresses and social changes, whose consequences
for sustainability are still highly disputed. Nevertheless, the symptoms of both environmental and social unsustainability
are more evident in the case of the extra-Pampean regions than in the Pampas. This suggests that the Pampean agriculture model
should not be transferred to these regions without substantial modifications. The experts did not reach consensus on whether
the agriculturization process is overall sustainable or unsustainable. Lack of consensus revolved mainly around opposing perspectives
regarding the significance of the threats to environmental sustainability. The magnitude of socio-distributive unbalance and
loss of rural jobs were also contentious. Yet, the paper shows how the exercise of building a joint causal diagram was undoubtedly
helpful for linking piece-meal disciplinary facts, brought in from all fronts, into a comprehensive and coherent picture.
Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue. 相似文献
12.
John Cusick 《Environment, Development and Sustainability》2009,11(4):801-813
This article presents a case study of an existing study abroad program to New Zealand interested in infusing sustainability
themes into the curriculum. The review of the program is set in the context of United Nations Education for Sustainable Development
goals and the role of sustainability in institutions of higher education. The author was an invited external observer and
suggests that study abroad programs in support of sustainability education provide transformative learning experiences that
invest in the well being of both people and places.
Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue. 相似文献
13.
Yuya Kajikawa Junko Ohno Yoshiyuki Takeda Katsumori Matsushima Hiroshi Komiyama 《Sustainability Science》2007,2(2):221-231
Sustainability is an important concept for society, economics, and the environment, with thousands of research papers published
on the subject annually. As sustainability science becomes a distinctive research field, it is important to define sustainability
clearly and grasp the entire structure, current status, and future directions of sustainability science. This paper provides
an academic landscape of sustainability science by analyzing the citation network of papers published in academic journals.
A topological clustering method is used to detect the sub-domains of sustainability science. Results show the existence of
15 main research clusters: Agriculture, Fisheries, Ecological Economics, Forestry (agroforestry), Forestry (tropical rain
forest), Business, Tourism, Water, Forestry (biodiversity), Urban Planning, Rural Sociology, Energy, Health, Soil, and Wildlife.
Agriculture, Fisheries, Ecological Economics, and Forestry (agroforestry) clusters are predominant among these. The Energy
cluster is currently developing, as indicated by the age of papers in the cluster, although it has a relatively small number
of papers. These results are compared with those obtained by natural language processing. Education, Biotechnology, Medical,
Livestock, Climate Change, Welfare, and Livelihood clusters are uniquely extracted by natural language processing, because
they are common topics across clusters in the citation network. 相似文献
14.
Terrascope is a freshman learning community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in which teams of students
work to find solutions to large ‘unsolvable’ problems and to communicate about those problems with a wide variety of audiences
in multiple formats. The program strongly promotes students’ autonomy in focusing and structuring their work, and student
projects culminate in public presentations, both to general audiences and to panels of technical specialists. Students who
have completed the program tend to show strong engagement with environmental and sustainability issues, as well as the skills
and experience to work intensively on such issues within multidisciplinary teams. Here, we present the program as a case study,
with some discussion of the factors that are key to its operation.
相似文献
Ari W. EpsteinEmail: |
15.
Toward knowledge structuring of sustainability science based on ontology engineering 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Terukazu Kumazawa Osamu Saito Kouji Kozaki Takanori Matsui Riichiro Mizoguchi 《Sustainability Science》2009,4(1):99-116
In sustainability science (SS), it is difficult to identify what needs to be solved, and it is also not clear how to solve the problems that are identified. There has been no consensus on the underlying question of “What is structuring knowledge in SS?” This paper focuses on knowledge structuring accompanied by supporting of thinking. It addresses the key challenges associated with knowledge structuring in SS, identifies the requirements for the structuring of knowledge, proposes a reference model, and develops an ontology-based mapping tool as a solution to one layer of the reference model. First, we identify the important requirements for SS knowledge structuring. Second, we develop a reference model composed of five layers based on three of the requirements. Third, we develop an ontology-based mapping tool at Layer 2 of the reference model for meeting the two major challenges for SS, namely, identifying what problems should be addressed in SS itself and proposing solutions for those problems. The tool is designed to store and retrieve information regarding SS, to provide access to a prototype ontology for SS, and to create multiple maps of conceptual chains depending on a user’s interests and perspectives. Finally, we assess whether the developed tool successfully realizes the targeted part of the reference model for SS by examining the tool’s conformity to the reference model, as well as its usability, effectiveness, and constraints. Although several issues were identified in the prototype ontology and the mapping tool, the study concluded that the mapping tool is useful enough to facilitate the function of Layer 2. In particular, the mapping tool can support thinking about SS from the viewpoint of: (a) finding new potentials and risks of technological countermeasures studied in SS; (b) helping users to get a more comprehensive picture of problems and their potential solutions; and (c) providing an effective opportunity to come up with new ideas that might not be thought of without such a tool. 相似文献
16.
Abstract The Heihe River Basin of northwestern China is one of several areas severely affected by desertification. This article outlines the status of desertification in this basin. There are mainly 5 types of desertification in the Heihe River Basin, namely soil and water erosion, sandy desertification, soil aridization, soil salinization and vegetation degradation. Among the 5 types of desertification, the main desertification type is sandy desertification with an area of 10 771.97 km2; Second type is soil salinization with an area of 10 591.82 km2; Next to the soil salinization is the type of soil and water erosion with an area of 5 747.68 km2 and the other types of desertification in the Heihe River Basin are soil aridization with just area of 1 369.96 km2 and vegetation degradation type with an area of 1 490.48 km2 respectively. Both natural and man-made factors are responsible for the causes of desertification development, among which the latter is the main driving force for desertification in the basin. 相似文献
17.
Adi Kuntsman Imogen Rattle 《Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture》2019,13(5):567-581
The materiality of digital communication inflicts substantial environmental damage: the extraction of resources needed to produce digital devices; the toxicity of e-waste; and the rapidly increasing energy demands required to sustain data generated by digital communication. This damage, however, is paradoxically under-theorized in scholarship on environmental sustainability. Despite the existing critique of the “techno-fix” approach in sustainability studies, digitization – and digital communication in particular – continue to be celebrated as the tool for environmental sustainability; an approach we coin “digital solutionism.” The article presents the first systematic review of the literature to map the implicit assumptions about the relationships between digital communications and environmental sustainability, in order to examine how digital solutionism manifests, and why it persists. We propose a concept matrix that identifies the key blind spots with regards to environmental damages of the digital, and call for a paradigmatic shift in environmental sustainability studies. An agenda for future research is put forward that advocates for the following: (1) a systematic account of material damages of devices, platforms and data systems adopted into sustainability research and practice, resulting in changes in both research framing and methodological foundations; (2) a reconceptualization and denaturalization of the digital itself as a promising solution; (3) a theoretical dialogue between sustainability studies and environmental communication. (4) an expansion of environmental communication as a field, from focusing on the communication aspect of environmental change to include the environmental footprint of communication itself. 相似文献
18.
Qi Shanzhong & Luo Fang College of Population Resources Environment Shandong Normal University Jinan China Cold Arid Regions Environmental Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academic of Sciences Lanzhou China 《中国人口.资源与环境(英文版)》2004,2(4)
The Heihe River Basin of northwestern China is one of several areas severely affected by desertification. This article outlines the status of desertification in this basin. There are mainly 5 types of desertification in the Heihe River Basin, namely soil and water erosion, sandy desertification, soil aridization, soil salinization and vegetation degradation. Among the 5 types of desertification, the main desertification type is sandy desertification with an area of 10 771.97 km2; Second type is soil salinization with an area of 10 591.82 km2; Next to the soil salinization is the type of soil and water erosion with an area of 5 747.68 km2 and the other types of desertification in the Heihe River Basin are soil aridization with just area of 1 369.96 km2 and vegetation degradation type with an area of 1 490.48 km2 respectively. Both natural and man-made factors are responsible for the causes of desertification development, among which the latter is the main driving force for desertification in the basin. 相似文献
19.
Abstract Population, resources, environment and socio-economic development are four major issues of increasing world attention today and are also four major factors constraining China's development tomorrow. Through an analysis of the international situation and an assessment of China's actual conditions, this article proposes a basic framework and conception of promoting the sustainability of China's population, resources, environment and socio-economic development. 相似文献