Community Sustainability Plans to enable change towards sustainable practice – a Scottish case study

There is a need for a global shift towards a low-carbon society and this requires action at the local level. The aim of the study into sustainable community development is to clarify the role of a community as a whole rather than the role of individuals within that community. Mixed methods of literature review and empirical study have been used to translate the knowledge and experience with urban sustainable development into empirical knowledge of a rural, market town setting. The exemplary case study is the Scottish market town Huntly. The main findings of the study show the need for three ingredients for a Community Sustainability Plan for a town such as Huntly. Community involvement is crucial in developing such plans in a rural setting. Further research in more remote settings, e.g. coastal and island communities, is needed to allow broader conclusions on rural sustainable development.     

Are Urban Stream Restoration Plans Worth Implementing?

Environmental Management - To manage and conserve ecosystems in a more sustainable way, it is important to identify the importance of the ecosystem services they provide and understand the...     

Consuming for the Sake of Others: Whose Interests Count on a Market for Animal-Friendly Products?

Many Europeans are concerned about the living conditions of farm animals because they view animals as beings that possess interests of their own. Against this background the introduction of an animal welfare label is being intensively discussed in Europe. In choosing a market-based instrument to take these concerns into account, normative judgments are made about the formation of preferences, the value system that is implicitly assumed, and the distribution of property rights. From the perspective of classical institutional economics it can be shown that the introduction of a label as an institutional change does not redefine institutions in a way that allows them to consider the interests of animals for their own sake. Rather, the label only redefines the property rights that humans have over animals. The market segregation into privileged and normal animals conflicts with the idea of equality between sentient animals. Within the group of humans only the interests of those who act on markets count. The commodification of their moral concerns assumes that people always decide based on their own interests, which can be traded off. The lexicographical ordering of preferences, which occurs when humans view animals as entities with rights, is not compatible with the normative assumptions of markets. Furthermore, interpreting animal suffering as market failure that can be corrected by labeling impedes a reasoned dialog within the society about the values and beliefs that serve as a basis for preference formation. Thus, an animal welfare label cannot replace a fundamental societal debate about legal standards on animal well-being.     

Whose land? Whose water? Water rights,equity and justice in a peri-urban context

Based on research in peri-urban areas, this paper explores questions of water justice in the context of emerging global cities. With the growth of large cities, authorities focus on meeting their water needs through infrastructure expansion and supply augmentation. The changing water needs and priorities of peri-urban locations, which provide land and water for urban expansion, receive scant attention. This paper looks at changing patterns of water use between rural and urban uses, based on research in peri-urban Gurgaon, an emerging outsourcing and recreation hub of North West India. It describes the diversity of ways in which peri-urban residents lose access to water as the city expands. These processes raise important questions about water justice, about the politics of urban expansion, and the implicit biases about whom these cities are meant for.     

Can Human-made Saltpans Represent an Alternative Habitat for Shorebirds? Implications for a Predictable Loss of Estuarine Sediment Flats

Estuarine areas worldwide are under intense pressure due to human activities such as upstream dam building. Shorebirds strongly depend on estuarine intertidal flats during migration and wintering periods and so are particularly vulnerable to such impacts, whose magnitude will depend on the availability of alternative feeding habitats. In this study we analyze if man-made saltpans can represent an alternative habitat for wintering and migrating shorebirds in the Guadiana estuary, a wetland that is already experiencing environmental changes due to the building of the Alqueva reservoir, the largest in Western Europe. We compared the use of mudflats and saltpans as feeding areas by several shorebird species before the construction of the dam. A dataset with 26 years of counts data was also analyzed in order to detect any long-term trend in shorebirds abundance. We concluded that saltpans, in particular the fully mechanized, can be used as an alternative habitat by larger species during winter and southward migration, thus playing a major role in minimizing the possible effects of sediment loss due to dam building. In contrast, smaller species were particularly dependent on mudflats to feed. A significant change in population trends, from positive to negative, was detected for two species. Although we still have no evidence that this is directly linked to dam building, this result and documented changes that limit primary productivity justifies the implementation of a long-term monitoring scheme of shorebird populations in this estuary. We also reinforce the need to manage the saltpans as key habitats for shorebirds.     

Environmental Indicators of Biofuel Sustainability: What About Context?

Indicators of the environmental sustainability of biofuel production, distribution, and use should be selected, measured, and interpreted with respect to the context in which they are used. The context of a sustainability assessment includes the purpose, the particular biofuel production and distribution system, policy conditions, stakeholder values, location, temporal influences, spatial scale, baselines, and reference scenarios. We recommend that biofuel sustainability questions be formulated with respect to the context, that appropriate indicators of environmental sustainability be developed or selected from more generic suites, and that decision makers consider context in ascribing meaning to indicators. In addition, considerations such as technical objectives, varying values and perspectives of stakeholder groups, indicator cost, and availability and reliability of data need to be understood and considered. Sustainability indicators for biofuels are most useful if adequate historical data are available, information can be collected at appropriate spatial and temporal scales, organizations are committed to use indicator information in the decision-making process, and indicators can effectively guide behavior toward more sustainable practices.     

Arthropods and Multispecies Habitat Conservation Plans: Are We Missing Something?

Arthropods constitute well over one-half of the species of higher life on the planet and are the dominant terrestrial life form on the planet. Unfortunately, very little is known about most arthropod species. There are an estimated 163,487 species of insects in North America, of which only 66% are taxonomically known. Similarly, there are an estimated 35,514 species of North American arachnids, of which only 9316 are described; over 73% have yet to be discovered and described. Without the basic taxonomic and life history knowledge for most of the terrestrial species (i.e., arthropods) of North American ecosystems, land managers are faced with the challenge of developing, selecting, and managing biotic reserves and habitat conservation plans for which they know very little about the majority of organisms found within such reserves or covered by such plans. With respect to arthropods, this challenge includes taking into account poorly described species being used as political tools to stop development (as opposed to actually protecting a truly endangered species), thus confounding the habitat conservation planning process and ensuring that "surprises" in the form of new listings will occur within any multispecies habitat plan. Finally, using various scenarios and assumptions, estimates of the true number of endangered insects and arachnids are provided to illustrate the fact that the suspected number of threatened, endangered, and extinct species is probably low by at least an order of magnitude.     

Traditional olive orchards on sloping land: Sustainability or abandonment?

Traditional olive orchards account for a large share of the area under olives in the EU, particularly in marginal areas, like those analysed in the OLIVERO project. In general, traditional olive growing can be described as a low-intensity production system, associated with old (sometimes very old) trees, grown at a low density, giving small yields and receiving low inputs of labour and materials. Though such systems are environmentally sustainable, their economic viability has become an issue, since EU policies favour more intensive and competitive systems. Orchards that have not been intensified seem to be threatened by the recent reform of the EU olive and olive oil policy, as income support has been decoupled from production. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the present constraints to traditional olive growing, and to recommend some private and public interventions to prevent its abandonment. During the OLIVERO project, traditional olive production systems were identified and described in five target areas (Trás-os-Montes-Portugal, Cordoba and Granada/Jaen-Spain, Basilicata/Salerno-Italy, and West Crete-Greece). The causes and consequences of abandonment are discussed, based on the analysis of the costs and returns, which revealed that these systems are barely economically sustainable. Their viability is only assured if reduced opportunity costs for family labour are accepted, and the olive growing is part-time. Based on these results, recommendations are made to prevent the abandonment of traditional olive growing and to preserve its environmental benefits.     

Whose marginalisation? Politics around environmental injustices in India's Chilika lagoon

The article examines marginalisation in small-scale fishing communities in a large lagoon system. It explores what marginalisation looks like from the fishers' point of view, and examines the extreme discrepancy between the official government account of the lagoon's resources, and the fishers' account. We analyse two major drivers of marginalisation: (1) role of aquaculture development in the loss of resource access rights and decline of local institutions, and (2) ecological displacement and livelihood loss brought about by the opening of a new (2001) “sea mouth”. We consider evidence collected through household- and village-level surveys combined with a host of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The fishers' point of view, and the data obtained using this point of view as a guide, presents a more complex, multidimensional concept of marginalisation, not simply as a state of being but as a process over time, impacting social and economic conditions, political standing, and environmental health.     

One laptop per child,local refurbishment or overseas donations? Sustainability assessment of computer supply scenarios for schools in Colombia

With the intention of bridging the ‘digital divide’ many programmes have been launched to provide computers for educational institutions, ranging from refurbishing second hand computers to delivering low cost new computers. The fast and economical provision of large quantities of equipment is one of the many challenges faced by such programmes. If an increase is to be achieved in the sustainability of computer supplies for schools, not only must equipment be provided, but also suitable training and maintenance delivered. Furthermore, appropriate recycling has to be ensured, so that end-of-life equipment can be dealt with properly. This study has evaluated the suitability of three computer supply scenarios to schools in Colombia: (i) ‘Colombian refurbishment’, -refurbishment of computers donated in Colombia, (ii) ‘Overseas refurbishment’, -import of computers which were donated and refurbished abroad, and (iii) ‘XO Laptop’, -purchase of low cost computers manufactured in Korea. The methods applied were: Material Flow Assessment, -to assess the quantities-, Life Cycle Assessment, -to assess the environmental impacts, and the application of the Multiple Attribute Utility Theory, -to analyse, evaluate and compare different scenarios. The most sustainable solution proved to be the local refurbishment of second hand computers of Colombian origin to an appropriate technical standard. The environmental impacts of such practices need to be evaluated carefully, as second hand appliances have to be maintained, require spare parts and sometimes use more energy than newer equipment. Providing schools with second hand computers from overseas and through programmes such as ‘One Laptop Per Child’ has the disadvantage that the potential for social improvements – such as creation of jobs and local industry involvement – is very low.     

Wildfire Risk Management on a Landscape with Public and Private Ownership: Who Pays for Protection?

Wildfire, like many natural hazards, affects large landscapes with many landowners and the risk individual owners face depends on both individual and collective protective actions. In this study, we develop a spatially explicit game theoretic model to examine the strategic interaction between landowners’ hazard mitigation decisions on a landscape with public and private ownership. We find that in areas where ownership is mixed, the private landowner performs too little fuel treatment as they “free ride”—capture benefits without incurring the costs—on public protection, while areas with public land only are under-protected. Our central result is that this pattern of fuel treatment comes at a cost to society because public resources focus in areas with mixed ownership, where local residents capture the benefits, and are not available for publicly managed land areas that create benefits for society at large. We also find that policies that encourage public expenditures in areas with mixed ownership, such as the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 and public liability for private values, subsidize the residents who choose to locate in the high-risk areas at the cost of lost natural resource benefits for others.     

Sustainability and social inclusion? Examining the frames of Canadian English-speaking environmental movement organisations

Some scholars and activists have suggested that discourses of environmental sustainability do not include sufficient attention to social issues or environmental justice. Since social inclusion is a prevalent masterframe among activists and in social policy circles in Canada and elsewhere, our research explored the extent that English-speaking Canadian environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) incorporate discursive aspects of social inclusion into their website communication. Social inclusion includes such issues as multiculturalism, gender inequality, low income and racialisation. We analysed mission statements, programmes and policy analysis presented by a sample of ENGOs drawn from the membership of the Canadian Environmental Network for evidence of a variety of indicators of attention to social inclusion. We conclude that environmental groups remain locked into an “environmentalist” frame that often ignores such issues. This has major implications for partnerships with other Canadian social movements.     

Genetic Engineering in Agriculture: Who Stands to Benefit?

The use of genetic engineering inagriculture has been the source of much debate. Todate, arguments have focused most strongly on thepotential human health risks, the flow of geneticmaterial to related species, and ecologicalconsequences. Little attention appears to have beengiven to a more fundamental concern, namely, who willbe the beneficiaries of this technology? Given the prevalence of chronic hunger and thestark economics of farming, it is arguable thatfarmers and the hungry should be the mainbeneficiaries of agricultural research. However, theapplication of genetic engineering appears unlikely tobenefit either of these two groups. This technology islargely controlled by the private sector, and itscontinued development hinges on its profitability.Thus, the only likely beneficiaries of the applicationof genetic engineering in agriculture are companieswith the capacity to use it.     

Who can be morally obligated to be a vegetarian?

Kathryn Paxton George has recently argued that vegetarianism cannot be a moral obligation for most human beings, even if Tom Regan is correct in arguing that humans and certain nonhuman animals are equally inherently valuable. She holds that Regan's liberty principle permits humans to kill and eat innocent others who have a right to life, provided that doing so prevents humans from being made worse off. George maintains that obstaining from meat and dairy products would in fact make most humans worse off. I argue that Regan's liberty principle either contradicts his equal rights view or does not permit the slaughter of another for food. I show that a different view recognizing the moral rights of nonhumans but according them less value than normal adult humans, the unequal rights view, would permit such action if human survival or health depended upon it. However, it would also permit the slaughter of innocent humans in the same circumstances. Finally, I argue that current nutritional research does not support George's contention that most humans would suffer if they ceased eating other animals and their products.     

Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Scenarios in Europe’s Mountain Areas: Lessons from Six Study Areas

Sustainability assessment (SA) is a holistic and long-range strategic instrument capable of assisting policy-making in electing, and deciding upon, future development priorities. The outcomes of an SA process become more relevant and strengthened when conducted with multi-stakeholder engagement, which provides for multiple dialogues and perspectives. This was the object of research of the SA team in the context of BioScene (Scenarios for Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation with Declining Agriculture Use in Mountain Areas in Europe), a three-year project (2002–2005) funded by the European Union 5th Framework Program, which aimed to investigate the implications of agricultural restructuring and decline for biodiversity conservation in the mountain areas of Europe, using three distinct methodological streams: the ecological, the socio-economic, and the SA approaches. The SA approach drew on the previous two to assess the importance for biodiversity management of different scenarios of agri-environmental change and rural policy in six countries (France, Greece, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), develop causal chains, include stakeholder views, and identify potential contributions for, or conflicts with, sustainability. This article tells how SA was used, what sustainability meant in each study area through different objectives of sustainability considered, discusses the methods used in SA, and the benefits arising. The SA was conducted by a team independent of any study area, who developed and oversaw the application of the SA methodology, assisting national teams, and developing a cross-country understanding of the sustainability of proposed scenarios in the different geographical and social contexts, and their implications for policy-making. Finally, it reflects on the persistent challenges of interdisciplinary research, compounded by multi-cultural teams, and concludes on the BioScene’s lessons for the further development and application of SA.