The water-energy-food nexus: Trade-offs,thresholds and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development

Global challenges have exacerbated a search for solutions to poverty and environmental degradation. Integration it was argued would help address the twin challenge. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) was supposed to be that magic bullet and was embraced by scientists because of the clinical efficiency with which it argued for integrated analysis of sectors and resources and of systems and scale conditions. This paper argues that effective implementation of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus can be supported by robust science. The corollary that robust science automatically leads to effective implementation is not always known to be true. The nexus approach sheds light on the challenges of implementation by introducing concepts of trade-offs and thresholds and consequently emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development. This paper reviews the results of recent research to offer tentative answers to the following questions: (a) Why is the governance dimension important to undertake an integrated analysis of water-energy-food challenges? (b) What does the nexus approach connote in normative and institutional terms? (c) What does implementation mean in nexus terms? (d) How can we establish if the nexus approach is an improvement over business as usual? and (e) What tools are available that would enable translation of results of scientific research to create an evidence base that would enable decision makers to act in support of sustainable development?     

Re-considering product design: a practical “road-map” for integration of sustainability issues

The proliferation of sustainability assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools has created confusion about pathways forward for companies. It is unclear how existing approaches are complementary or distinct. How does a company assess current products and materials? How could designers create more sustainable products? What criteria, principles, approaches, and tools should be applied? Why? Is there a practical “road map” to guide product designers and product development managers in integrating sustainability issues into their decision-making processes?This article builds on previous frameworks for understanding the interconnections between various assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools related to industrial ecology, human and labor rights, and corporate social responsibility [Waage S, Geiser K, Irwin F, Weissman A, Bertolucci M, Fisk P, et al. Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological, social, and financial factors into business decision-making. Journal of Cleaner Production 2005;13(12):1117–206; Robèrt K-H, Schmidt-Bleek B, Aloisi de Larderel J, Basile G, Jansen JL, Kuehr R, et al. Strategic sustainable development—selection, design and synergies of applied tools. Journal of Cleaner Production 2002;10(3):197–214; Robèrt K-H. Tools and concepts for sustainable development, how do they relate to a framework for sustainable development, and to each other? Journal of Cleaner Production 2000;8(3):243–54]. Expanding on past work, this piece suggests a “road map” for application by product designers and product development managers. A four-phase process is offered for integrating systems and sustainability perspectives into product design, manufacturing, and delivery decisions.     

从可持续发展战略角度认识清洁生产技术

通过给出清洁生产的定义、作用 ,并与末端处理技术进行对比 ,得出积极推广清洁生产技术是实施可持续发展战略的重要途径的结论。     

中国西北地区生态需水研究(1)——干旱半干旱地区生态需水理论分析

水是西北地区生态的关键生境要素,西北地区严重的生态环境问题使得生态需水随着西部开发受到广泛的关注。论文指出生态需水所涉及的理论问题,从生态系统稳定性探讨原始天然生态系统的适宜开发强度,在此基础上,遵循可持续发展的生态观探讨西北地区生态保护与生态建设的模式;从地带性理论和径流形成原理分析西北地区各类自然地理单元上的植被需水规律,从而明确了自然界哪些生态完全靠降水支撑、哪些生态除降水之外还需径流支撑,用生态的排序方法进一步分析干旱地区地下水埋深与植被类型的关系。同时,通过分析土地利用变化与径流形成的关系,以及生物与环境的不可分割性与物竞天择的自然选择原理给出生态需水的概念,从而为量化生态需水提供了理论依据。     

Comparison between EMINENT and other energy technology assessment tools

Currently, issues related with climate change, security of energy supply, energy efficiency and sustainability are at the core of all energy policies and strategies. The current technologies are not able to face this challenge; therefore, the development of new and more sustainable energy technologies must be supported.As part of this, energy technology assessment tools can help decision-makers in the identification and evaluation of sustainable energy solutions, in order to integrate them in long term energy strategies.The EMINENT tool was developed to assess the performance and market potential of early stage technologies (EST) in a pre-defined energy chain, under national conditions, in terms of financial, energy and environmental criteria.This paper presents a comparative study between EMINENT and other tools for energy technology assessment. The tools analysed were CO2DB, MARKAL, IKARUS and E3Database.Although there are many different energy technology assessment tools, EMINENT seems to be the only one targeting EST.     

Increasing the rate of sustainable change: a call for a redefinition of the concept and the model for its implementation

Mankind is committed to taking sustainable pathways in search of a state of sustainability. Thirty years after the “Limits to Growth” published by the Club of Rome the world is still far from the equilibrium of sustainable development (SD). Technology is postponing the depletion of natural resources but is not solving the problem itself, either because the technology is itself not sustainable or because the application of it is being mismanaged. This article attempts to analyze the wide gap between the strategies drawn up and the effectiveness of the actions taken in implementing sustainability. The paper addresses the issue of whether or not mankind can make the right choices and has the right infrastructure of pathways to do so. In short, an answer is sought to the question, “What are the prerequisites for the fastest rate of sustainable change?” This question is tackled by the four authors. They start from critical arguments concerning the effectiveness of sustainable change, explain the terminology used in the article and identify the main factors for increasing the rate of sustainable change, which are then discussed in detail in each part of the text (EG). Then, each from a different starting point, they comment on self-organization (US), sustainable innovation and cultural regions (HK), global cooperation and regional resources (MB) and sustainable research by universities (EG). The individual contributions, when taken together, form a discussion of the crucial factors or prerequisites for sustainable change. It is concluded that only cooperation between regions and regional stakeholders can give sustainable change the driving force needed to overcome global (political) friction and ensure that it moves forward in equilibrium and at a constant rate. Specific measures are put forward to maximize awareness within and among regions.     

以绿色科技推动人与自然的和谐发展

科技是把双刃剑,它在推动人类进步的同时也造成了许多生态环境问题,使人与自然关系的冲突不断升级.在倡导人与自然的和谐发展的21世纪,必须充分发挥科技的积极作用,消除或减小其负面效应.绿色科技作为一种人与自然双赢的科学技术,是通向可持续发展的必由之路.大力发展绿色技术的根本目的在于努力减少或减轻科技对环境和生态的消极影响,促进人与自然的和谐发展.本文在阐述绿色科技概念与内涵的基础上,分析了绿色科技在人与自然和谐发展中的地位和作用,并探讨了如何在中国发展绿色科技及绿色科技产业.     

Designing the sustainable product-service integration: a product-service blueprint approach

As a means for providing the sustainable production and consumption, the concept of product-service system (PSS) has received increasing attention. What is at the core in the PSS is the design, since it determines the distinctive characteristics and quality of PSS. Even though some tools have been suggested for PSS design, previous tools mainly focus on identifying the relationship between actors in a conceptual level. Despite the fact that it is significant and cannot be neglected, what is more important in a practical situation is to represent the detailed flow or relationship of PSS elements, with the consideration of products and services. In response, this paper proposes a ‘‘product-service blueprint’ which is a new and systematic way to elucidate the relationship between products and services, providing the implication of how PSS can provide the sustainable production and consumption. Employing the service blueprint as a starting point, new areas, lines, and symbols are introduced to represent the distinctive features of PSS. The proposed product-service blueprint represents the product use throughout the life cycle, service flow from the management to the customer, and the relationship between products and services. Taken together, the product-service blueprint will help both managers and researchers to promote the product-service integration under the concrete framework.     

Less bad is not good enough: approaching zero emissions techniques and systems

Radical changes towards sustainable products and a clean and safe system of production have yet to be developed and implemented in all sectors of industry. Technology holds the key to addressing many environmental problems and achieving sustainable patterns of economic growth. In many cases, companies already have the appropriate technological solution. However, the technology may not be in widespread use because of market and systemic failures and cultural barriers. Examples of market failures are the lack of information about cleaner technologies. Examples of systemic failures are weaknesses in linkages among firms, universities, research and development (R&D) institutions, and others involved in developing, supplying and applying technology. Cultural barriers are caused by the differences in the way companies communicate and do business. This makes “zero emissions” a much needed approach. The Journal of Cleaner Production has devoted this special issue to “Zero Emissions Techniques and Systems – ZETS” in the production and the urgent issues surrounding, “How to make sustainable companies become reality”. To document the state of the art in this field and to report progress are main goals of this issue. The objective of the planners of this special issue is to present perspectives, case studies and pedagogic initiatives from, academic, governmental, business, technical and financial sectors, as well as from NGOs from around the world.It is, however, evident that the term “zero emissions” still has different meanings and refers to different strategies and technologies. “Zero Emissions Techniques and Systems” are really a “SYSTEMS” aspect and not a sectoral approach. It develops more and more like a discussion about a mosaic. Some speak of the image they expect to be seen at the end, others speak of the tesserae they have to shape or the cement that fills the gaps between.     

Policy coherence in climate governance in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

Climate governance in Small Island developing States (SIDS) is a pressing priority to preserve livelihoods, biodiversity and ecosystems for the next generations. Understanding the dynamics of climate change policy integration is becoming more crucial as we try to measure the success of environmental governance efforts and chart new goals for sustainable development. At the international level, climate change policy has evolved from single issue to integrated approaches towards achieving sustainable development. New actors, new mechanisms and institutions of governance with greater fragmentation in governance across sectors and levels (Biermann and Pattberg, 2008) make integration of policy in the area of climate change governance even more of a challenge today. What is the Caribbean reality regarding policy coherence in climate change governance? Are the same climate change policy coherence frameworks useful or indeed applicable for environmental governance in developing states more generally and for SIDS in particular? What are the best triggers to achieve successful climate change policy integration in environmental governance—especially as the complex interconnectivity of new actors, institutions and mechanisms make the process of integration even more challenging? What facilitates and what hampers climate policy integration in the regional Caribbean context? This article reviews the debates around policy coherence for climate change governance, creates a framework to test or measure policy coherence and examines how relevant this has been to regional climate change governance processes in Commonwealth Caribbean States. The study found that though at the regional level, there is substantial recognition of the importance of and mechanics involved in climate policy coherence, this has not translated to policy coherence at the regional and national levels. There is a large degree of fragmentation in the application of climate policy in each Caribbean Island with no mechanism to breach the gap. Silos in public environmental governance architectures, unwillingness to share data, insufficient political will; unsustainable project-based funding and lack of accountability among actors are the main challenges to climate policy coherence. The findings fill a gap in the literature on the elements of climate policy coherence from a SIDS perspective.     

生态旅游的发展与规划

分析了生态旅游产生的背景，认为生态旅游是旅游景观资源可持续利用的一条途径。阐述了生态旅游发展的社会、经济、技术和环境的一般政策，在此基础上，提出了生态旅游发展规划的一般原则、生态旅游产业发展的潜力与限制条件、生态旅游产业的结构与空间适宜性分布。     

A goal oriented indicator framework to support integrated assessment of new policies for agri-environmental systems

The goal oriented framework (GOF) for indicators has been developed as part of a comprehensive research project developing computerised tools for integrated assessment of the effects of new policies or technologies on agricultural systems (SEAMLESS-IF). The ambition has therefore been to create an indicator framework where the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development can be related to each other in a consistent way. Integrated assessment tools rely on such frameworks to capture and visualise trade-offs (antagonisms or synergies) among indicators between and within the three dimensions of sustainable development. The specific aims of this paper are to (i) present the GOF (ii) present how the GOF can be used to select indicators within the integrated assessment framework SEAMLESS-IF and (iii) discuss the advantages and limitations with the proposed approach. We show that the GOF has several advantages. Its major rewards are its relative simplicity and the possibility to link indicators to policy goals of each dimension of sustainability and thereby facilitate the comparison of the impacts of the new policy on the different dimensions. Another important feature of the GOF is its multi-scale perspective, which will enable the comparison of effects of a new policy between scales. Yet, as typical for all indicator frameworks, the GOF has also biases either instigated by the issues the included models cover or by the stakeholders’ selection of indicators. However, due to the way the GOF and its indicators are technically implemented in SEAMLESS-IF, it can easily be extended and include new indicators to increase and update its policy relevance.     

Toward cleaner production of hot dip galvanizing industry in China

China has now the largest annual outputs of galvanized steel and the most amount of galvanizing plants in the world. However, with obsolete technology, the hot dip galvanizing industry has been proved as one of the industries, which consume large amounts of raw materials and energy, produce numerous pollutants and causes serious contamination in China. Cleaner Production in the hot dip galvanizing industry is now the only way to achieve the sustainable development of hot dip galvanizing industry. The implementation of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) project: The Transfer of Technology and Promotion of demand: Batch hot dip galvanizing in China launched by International Zinc Association (IZA) is introduced in this paper, The Best Available Technologies of operation, energy and environmental management in the world are also introduced. With the implementation of the project, an assessment system of Cleaner Production and a training system have been developed and implementation of technical updating to the demonstration plant shows that the reduction of zinc loss, and water and fuel cost savings can be achieved. It is believed that the methodology of the project can be applied throughout China as the galvanizers see the cost benefits.     

经济与环境协调与可持续发展的机制分析

人类社会经济飞速发展的同时带来了环境的持续恶化。经济发展与环境保护之间存在一种博弈的两难困境,人类必须制定一定的规则和机制来改变与脱离这种困境。推动全球绿色贸易是走出这种困境的一条可操作的途径,推动世界绿色贸易、提高环境保护技术整体能力是改变博弈结构的关键。可持续发展的概念的产生是对经济发展与环境保护的一种协调。另外推动环境正义的理念也是促使经济发展与环境保护之间合作的一种人文途径。     

可持续发展与中国的实践

文章在分析了６０年代末以来全球两次环境革命后，论证了可持续发展源于环境保护的观点，文章概述了中国环境状况，分析了中国环境问题的４个主要成因，就环境保护的目标和任务，针对性地提出搞好环境保护是实施可持续发展的关系，推行清洁生产，实现经济增长方式的转变是中国可持续发展的根本途径和必然选择。文章最后例举了近年来中国环境保护有关的对策，方案和计划，并从经济，法制，科技，教育等诸方面详述了中国实施可持续发展     

昆山市晟泰村土地资源可持续利用的问题与对策

土地资源可持续利用逐渐成为人类社会发展的核心内容。为保持晟泰村所有土地均处于可用状态，并长期保持其生产力和生态稳定性，对晟泰村进行农村土地资源利用可持续发展研究。     

Environmental Impact Assessment in higher education and training in Portugal

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) education has been a reality for years in many graduate and undergraduate programs worldwide. As EIA has grown as a widely accepted environmental policy tool, several professions have tried to incorporate these skills into their academic training. The main aim of this research was to assess the Portuguese profile of EIA education, measuring the degree of EIA integration in graduate and undergraduate programs. This paper intends to contribute to an understanding of the key factors related to EIA education. A national survey was conducted to obtain data on EIA education programs. More recently, many other programs, both graduate and undergraduate, have established EIA courses. New knowledge, practices, legislation and public policies are fundamental drivers of the application of EIA, which will probably continue to expand to more undergraduate and graduate programs. The association of EIA with other environmental management tools, such as environmental management systems or environmental performance evaluation, and sustainable development initiatives will be a priority challenge for all who are engaged in this domain.     

EcoDesign and The Ten Golden Rules: generic advice for merging environmental aspects into product development

The most important moment in product development is when demands and specifications are decided for the product that is being planned. The specification defines the goal for the product development process. It is a very important steering opportunity for the continuing work and for environmentally driven demands that are to be addressed in the product development phase. The designers are said to have the key to sustainable product development through EcoDesign. Many tools have been developed in order to help them to achieve this objective. However, most tools are seldom used primarily because of a lack of sustainability oriented requirements in specifications for products. If there is no demand for improved environmental performance, then there is no need for EcoDesign tools. The lack of market demand for environmentally improved products is therefore, a crucial factor. In other words: It makes no sense to grab a screwdriver from your toolbox if you have a nail in your hand. On the other hand if you have a hammer in your hand you tend to see everything as nails! The hypothesis of this paper is that there is a strong need for a tool to facilitate the integration of reasonable environmental demands into the product development process. The presented tool, “The Ten Golden Rules,” can be helpful in this effort. A helpful tool must be well adapted to the task and therefore it is important that the individual product developer/designer can develop personal versions from the generic guidelines. The Ten Golden Rules provide such a possibility. They provide a common foundation, for all in the team, which can be used as a base and guidelines for development of situation specific product-design challenges.