Feeding the world sustainably: knowledge governance and sustainable agriculture in the Argentine Pampas

This article discusses the role of knowledge governance arrangements in the mainstreaming of sustainable practices, in particular, in the creation, sharing and use of integrated and contextualized knowledge. That is, knowledge which accounts for the social, economic, institutional, and ecological dimensions of potentially sustainable practices, and which considers the need to adapt generic practices to the sustainability requirements of specific places. An actor-centered approach is proposed for the study of the historical evolution of knowledge governance arrangements in order to understand their role in the adoption of sustainable practices. The approach is applied to explain the rapid adoption of no-till agriculture in the Argentine Pampas. A radical knowledge governance transformation occurring in this region during the 1990s led to increasing knowledge exchange and pushing sustainability practices to the top of key actors’ agendas. This embracing of no-till agriculture illustrates the crucial role played by farmers’ associations as boundary organizations: linking farmers with actors specialized in the generation of scientific knowledge and technology. This case reveals that sustainability transitions can be fostered through knowledge governance arenas characterized by: (a) promoting public–private collaboration through boundary organizations, (b) assigning private actors a leading role in the adoption of sustainability practices at the production unit scale, (c) fostering the public sector competence in regional and socio-ecological research, and (d) addressing the heterogeneous needs of knowledge users. However, the case also shows that the success of no-till agriculture in the Pampas is pushing the agriculturization of surrounding areas where this practice is largely unsustainable. This finding suggests that present knowledge governance arrangements fail to contextualize practices that are potentially sustainable.     

中国建立落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区的战略思考

2016年12月,国务院发布《中国落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区建设方案》,引起了国内外的广泛关注,成为当前中国推进可持续发展的标志性事件.本文介绍了该方案的制定过程及其重要意义,对方案的主要内容进行了解析,并提出了近期应围绕创新示范区建设开展的几项重点工作.文章认为,建立落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区是中国顺应全球可持续发展趋势的必然选择,是解决国内可持续发展主要问题的迫切需要,是回应国际社会期待的客观要求.文章提出,在建设落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区时关键要把握好四个原则:①勇于突破GDP导向的传统发展思维,真正以可持续发展的理念推动地方发展;②从制约地方可持续发展的瓶颈问题入手,通过制度、科技等各方面的改革和创新,形成成熟有效的系统性解决方案;③调动社会各界的积极性,形成政府引导、市场配置资源、各利益攸关方共同参与的机制;④主动分享系统性解决方案和实践经验,为全球可持续发展做出中国贡献.文章最后提出,面向未来,建设中国落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区要做好四个衔接:①加强与国家可持续发展实验区工作的衔接,形成互为支撑的布局体系;②加强与"绿色技术银行"工作的衔接,促进先进适用技术落地生根;③加强与国家科技计划的衔接,促进创新能力的提升;④加强与各领域改革工作的衔接,形成综合创新示范的局面.     

Laying a solid foundation for sustainable development in Bolivian mountain villages

In Bolivia, recent decentralisation policies have broadened the participation of local actors in development processes. However, development is far from sustainable, and poverty and natural resources degradation still increase. The challenge is to develop strategies that achieve the genuine participation of poor farmers in natural resources management and sustainable development. The logical strategy, which was developed and validated in five Bolivian mountain villages, is an example. In this strategy, first a solid foundation for sustainable development is laid, with activities focussing on five basic conditions for sustainable development in rural villages: leadership and organisation, responsible participation, effective collaboration, mutual trust and environmental awareness. The results show that the existence of a solid foundation is crucial for the success of other development activities, such as soil and water conservation activities. However, given that 2 years after the project’s withdrawal the firmness of the foundation had slightly weakened, it was concluded that a better integration of these villages in local development processes is essential to profit from the new dynamics. This is especially true for soil and water conservation. To achieve this integration, municipalities—with the support of international development agencies—must be encouraged to invest in laying this solid foundation in rural villages and in facilitating follow-up activities to keep the dynamic process going. This study shows that such investments result in better organised villages, more equality, and the genuine participation of more people in sustainable village development. Effective collaboration and accountability at institutional level are, however, required.     

An assessment of the attitudes of the inhabitants of Northern Karpathos, Greece: towards a framework for ecotourism development in environmentally sensitive areas

This paper is a case study that sets out to explore the extent to which the local residents of the region of Northern Karpathos and Saria in the southeast corner of the Aegean have positive attitudes and perceptions towards ecotourism ventures for sustainable development. The area is included in the European Ecological Network Natura 2000 and was chosen for studying since it constitutes an ideal location for the promotion of soft and alternative forms of tourism. The investigation of the attitudes of the inhabitants of the Community of Olympos, in Northern Karpathos was carried out using as research tool a questionnaire that was drawn up specifically for the needs of the present work. The attempt to provide a systematic way of studying the inhabitants’ attitudes led to the proposition of a framework that contains the necessary conditions for sustainable ecotourism development. This is based on three fundamental factors, namely: (a) environmental conservation, (b) environmental education and (c) empowerment of local community. The main conclusion drawn was that the perceptions of the local people accord with the basic principles of ecotourism. Residents (a) showed a high degree of awareness and sensitivity regarding environmental conservation issues in the area, (b) recognised the need for environmental education concerning ecotourism activities and (c) had a favourable attitude towards the implementation of initiatives in the ecotourism field aimed at their empowerment and at promoting sustainable development in the area. The participants’ place of permanent residence and level of education appeared to influence significantly their perceptions of this alternative form of tourism.     

Rice farming sustainability assessment in Bangladesh

Farming sustainability is primordial to long-term socioeconomic development. This study assesses rice farming sustainability in Bangladesh by developing a composite indicator (CI) under the four pillars of sustainability and examines the main determining factors. The assemblage of top-down and bottom-up approaches were applied to generate an essential set of indicators and data were collected through a household survey from 15 villages of three major rice growing ecosystems. The results revealed that less than half of the rice growers were sustainable in terms of economical viability, ecological benefits, and quality of life. By category, Boro rice farming was found to be the most sustainable, followed by Aman and Aus rice farming. Human capital development, increasing land productivity, use of resource conserving practices and technologies, and information availability and accessibility were the main factors promoting rice farming sustainability. The findings indicated that the construction of CI by employing several methodologies such as normalisation provide straightforward and clear-cut policy inputs. The major policy implications that emerged from the findings of the study are outlined to actualise rice farming sustainability, which contributes to sustainable development in Bangladesh.     

以可持续发展理论指导社会发展综合实验区的实践

社会发展综合实验区中中国可持续发展战略的实验基地，本文对实验区如何按可持续发展原则，结合当地的人口、资源、环境状况，制宁长远的可持续发展的生态规划做了较系统的论述。     

Limits of ecodesign: the case for open source product development

Abstract

In pursuit of coping mechanisms for the challenges of sustainable manufacturing, systematic methods have been developed to allow engineers to improve the ratio between products’ utility and environmental impact. These necessary efforts remain however limited if the surrounding production and consumption practices are not called into question at the same time. This article introduces open source product development as a potential approach for unlocking the limits of existing sustainable product design practices and to lead towards alternative and eco-efficient production and consumption practices termed as participative production. First, it discusses the potential advantages of this emerging practice in terms of environmental sustainability. Second, it provides a screened qualitative environmental analysis of 18 exemplary open source hardware products. Specific sustainable design principles implemented by these products are highlighted and discussed in order to identify challenges for further common research in the field of open source and sustainable product development.     

碳汇造林项目促进了当地经济发展吗?--基于四川县域面板数据的PSM-DID实证研究

林业是重要的碳汇资源,在减缓全球气候变化、改善自然生态环境、促进经济可持续发展等方面有着至关重要的作用。作为林业碳汇的重要实现形式,碳汇造林项目兼具生态保护、促进经济发展与贫困减缓等重要功能,其实施成效究竟如何需要进一步验证。为此,本文从理论上分析了碳汇造林项目对县域经济发展的影响机理,利用2000—2016年四川47个县域的面板数据,采用PSM-DID模型估计了碳汇造林项目对县域经济发展的平均效应和动态效应,并对其影响机理进行了验证。结果显示:①碳汇造林项目的实施显著地促进了地区实际GDP和人均实际GDP的增长,这一结论在进行稳健性检验后依然成立;②囿于项目周期较长,此促进作用在短期内尚不能立竿见影,具有明显的滞后效应,且实施的时间越长,对当地经济发展的促进作用越大;③碳汇造林项目主要通过优化当地产业结构、提高居民储蓄率、提升地区政府财政收支水平等途径促进当地经济发展。因此,为更好地发挥碳汇造林项目对县域经济发展的促进作用,应继续拓展碳汇造林项目的覆盖区域,加大专项投资力度,引导碳汇造林项目向生态脆弱的深度贫困地区倾斜;在更加注重碳汇造林项目的长期效应的同时,应建立完善项目运行的长效稳定机制,防范潜在的自然与市场风险,保障项目对地区经济发展的长期驱动力;加快改善地区的融资环境,鼓励居民和企业将储蓄和融资能力有效转化为投资能力,充分依托碳汇造林项目促进当地经济可持续发展。     

Sustainable Development and the Role of the Financial World

The incapacity to finance sustainable development through philanthropic official assistance turned the Johannesburg Summit to business world and the financial industry. Pioneering financial institutions – including development banks and private banks – have developed a wide range of innovations that can support sustainable development. This article highlights a few innovative products and markets and focuses on the progress made by financial players on the level of standards, metrics and guidelines to improve sustainability management systems, reporting and accounting practices and the multi-stakeholder dynamic. The role of the socially responsible investing (SRI) community has been underexposed by the Summit. Through its voice and market success, SRI has moved from a green market niche to the mainstream, however not becoming mainstream. The invaluable levering effect of SRI has just been discovered by authorities and market regulators and is becoming instrumental. In order to show the business case of Corporate Social Responsibility and to prove the financial viability of the People, Planet, Prosperity investing approach, the SRI community should critically reflect on its own quality assurance systems, sound disclosure and verification practices.     

Creating sustainable communities: skills and learning in Ontario’s small urban municipalities

This article presents the pilot study results of a province-wide survey of skills and learning in sustainable community development in Ontario, Canada. The pilot project focuses on the testing of an online survey to examine skills building for creating sustainable communities in Ontario’s small urban municipalities. The survey examined the generic, technical and specialist skills, whether they are skills already acquired and/or required by professionals and practitioners for creating sustainable communities. The survey targeted 74 small urban municipalities and 300 respondents by profession. Building sustainable communities require ‘upskilling’ of the workforce as it poses a challenge to those hoping to make a real progress and development at the local level.     

Political Participation and Pleasure in Green Lifestyle Journalism

This article examines the reportage of green lifestyle practices across the online sites of major British newspapers. The articulation of “green lifestyle journalism” in the study is suggestive of its complex identity, given its implication in existing orders of consumption while also expressive of emerging everyday practices that potentially and variously challenge those orders of consumption. The study enquires into whether such green lifestyle journalism stories are, in fact, reported across different online sites, and if so, in which publications and how such stories are classified within online menus. It also examines the range of reported environmental lifestyle practices and how they are attributed with meaning, including their engagement with the concept of pleasure and its association with political participation. The study reveals that the pleasures associated with sustainable living are often marginalized, and instead an ethical consumer is commonly posited who is variously cognitively deficient, worried about the environmental consequences of their everyday behavior, or concerned about their inability to realize their desires to engage in sustainable lifestyle practices. The article also examines those instances when the pleasures of a more sustainable lifestyle are represented as deriving from the implementation of environmental practices and technologies in everyday, domestic contexts, and also when they are illustrated as the product of civic and political engagements with issues of sustainability.     

Introducing and Measuring Sustainable Development Initiatives by Local Authorities in Canada and Flanders (Belgium) A Comparative Study

In this paper we examine how Canadian and Flemish municipalities manage and measure sustainable development initiatives. First, we present information on how Canada, Belgium and its Flemish region introduce sustainable development initiatives at the federal and regional levels of government. The introduction at municipal level of impact assessment systems, indicator and monitoring systems, and sustainability reporting systems is discussed in general, followed by a comparison of specific case studies. In Canada, we selected the municipalities of Ottawa, Hamilton-Wentworth and Vancouver and in Flanders, the municipalities of Hasselt, Gent and Leuven. For each case study, we considered the following evaluation criteria: introduction of a long-term vision for a sustainable future; development of goals, targets and indicators; measurement of indicators; involvement and information of the local population; introduction of impact assessment and reporting systems. The discussion section deals with differences in the approach to managing and measuring sustainable development initiatives in Canada and Flanders. This study shows that sustainable development is not yet widely practised at the local level in Canada and Flanders, but Canadian municipalities have more experience with planning processes and vision development, measurement systems and public involvement. The Flemish municipalities were more inclined to go along with international campaigns dealing with local sustainability and take strong sustainable development actions which were not integrated in broader sustainable development policies.     

The EU sustainable energy policy indicators framework

The article deals with indicators framework to monitor implementation of the main EU (European Union) directives and other policy documents targeting sustainable energy development. The main EU directives which have impact on sustainable energy development are directives promoting energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources, directives implementing greenhouse gas mitigation and atmospheric pollution reduction policies and other policy documents and strategies targeting energy sector. Promotion of use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements are among priorities of EU energy policy because the use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements has positive impact on energy security and climate change mitigation. The framework of indicators can be developed to establish the main targets set by EU energy and environmental policies allowing to connect indicators via chain of mutual impacts and to define policies and measures necessary to achieve established targets based on assessment of their impact on the targeted indicators representing sustainable energy development aims. The article discusses the application of indicators framework for EU sustainable energy policy analysis and presents the case study of this policy tool application for Baltic States. The article also discusses the use of biomass in Baltic States and future considerations in this field.     

从清洁生产到循环经济

清洁生产和循环经济是20世纪90年代以来在我国引人注目的两项实践。正确认识、积极推进清洁生产和循环经济,对于转变我国经济增长方式与发展模式、促进可持续发展具有重要意义。在将资源环境要素纳入经济系统内部,转变经济增长方式,促进资源环境和经济结合一体化发展模式的概念意义下,本文从宏观历史层面阐述了我国清洁生产和循环经济的发展过程、必然趋势及其长期曲折、交错推进的过程特征。分析了以废物循环作为循环经济的认识和实践误区,提出了以清洁生产为基础推进产业生态化,结合强化末端管制,以及围绕建立“绿色”市场进行制度创新为基本内容的发展我国循环经济的建议。     

People's Biodiversity Registers: Lessons Learnt

People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR) document folk knowledge of status, uses, history, ongoing changes and forces driving changes in biodiversity resources, gainers and losers in these processes and people's perceptions of how these resources should be managed. A number of PBRs have been prepared in different parts of India beginning 1995 through initiatives of NGOs and educational institutions working with local communities and village councils. These attempts have been motivated by a desire to promote decentralised systems of management of natural resources and to create the basis for equitable sharing of benefits of commercial utilisation of folk knowledge of uses of biodiversity. The documents bring together important locality specific information on biodiversity resources and ecological processes affecting them. They lead to recognition of conservation oriented local practices such as protection of sacred groves. They help mobilise local communities to prudently manage local biodiversity resources in ways that would promote social justice. It is however important to recognise that not all folk knowledge may be valid, nor all folk practices wise, and to create systems of careful assessment of the material. There are many encouraging signs globally, as well as within India, such as the coming in force of the Convention on Biological Diversity, forces promoting decentralised democratic systems of governance and institutions of co-management of natural resources which suggest that programmes like PBR will have an important role to play in promoting conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits of biodiversity resources in the coming decades.     

A New Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Development

A critical review of the multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development reveals a lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding sustainable development and its complexities. A critical review shows that the definitions of sustainable development are vague; there is a lack of operative definitions and disagreement over what should be sustained; the concept is unclear in terms of emotional commitment; and it “remains a confused topic”, “fraught with contradictions”. This article aims to theoretically synthesize the interdisciplinary literature on sustainable development, and then identify the results by broad categories. Therefore, this article uses conceptual analysis, which reviews multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development, which recognizes patterns and similarities within the literature, then it synthesizes the patterns to different categories and independent concepts, where each concept has distinctive meanings and represents close ideas on sustainability. The analytical process elaborates seven concepts that together assemble the theoretical framework of ‘sustainable development’ and each concept represents distinctive meanings of the theoretical framework.     

Divergence in stakeholder perception of sustainable remediation

The modern society is increasingly demanding sustainable practices in engineering fields. In the specific case of engineering practices for restoring contaminated land, there is an ongoing sustainable remediation movement which has rapidly drawn attention from both the industry and governments. It is well recognized that decision making in contaminated land remediation depends on the interaction of a variety of stakeholders. However, there is still no consensus as for how various stakeholders perceive sustainable practices in remediation, and how stakeholders interact in decision making that may lead to sustainable practices. The present study proposes a hypothetical model depicting the mediating effect of stakeholder perception in decision making. Using empirical experiences, questionnaire survey, and qualitative interview results, the present study found that there is divergent perception by various stakeholders regarding how sustainable behavior is adopted and how it is affected by stakeholder influence. The divergent view was attributed to varying organizational objectives, information access, and self-perception. Moreover, it found that incorporating sustainability into real engineering practice is transdisciplinary and requires transdisciplinary processes that can help various stakeholders to reach consensus.     

公众可持续发展基本意识评价与分析--以地方21世纪议程南阳试点为例

具备可持续发展基本意识是公众参与可持续发展的前提和基础。采用问卷调查方法和GLM模型。以地方21世纪议程南阳试点为例，基于7765份调查问卷，论述了公众可持续发展基本意识的特点和人群差异。研究发现，公众可持续发展基本意识在年龄、职业、县（市、区）、城乡、收入等方面差异显著，但是在性别、地形方面差异不显著。在不增加消费成本的情况下，公众可持续发展基本意识与公众可持续发展行为取向显著正相关，但是在增加消费成本的情况下，则行为取向滞后。公众可持续发展基本意识评估值整体上较高。但仍有少部分人缺乏最基本的可持续发展知识和观念。     

The Role of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in␣Promoting the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Africa

This article outlines some of the latest developments and opportunities for development finance institutions¹ (DFIs) to become directly supportive of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM²) in Africa. In striving to make development financing more environmentally friendly and sustainable, DFIs can play a key role in promoting the CDM on the African continent by providing monetary incentives through their project financing activities; encouraging and facilitating partnerships in support of sustainable development, particularly with reference to the CDM, and; providing technical advice and support to clients with regard to project design, planning and implementation. DFIs have traditionally focused on financing infrastructure and poverty alleviation projects. However, the emergence of the CDM has brought about a shift towards investments in services and products that reduce carbon dioxide emissions and encourage investments in environmentally friendly technologies. This can be ascribed in part to the development of a “carbon market” under the auspices of the Kyoto Protocol that took effect in February 2005. The carbon market and emerging carbon funds are some of the main drivers enabling DFIs to play an increasingly important role in promoting the CDM in Africa.     

Analysis of two schemes using micro hydroelectric power (MHPs) in the Amazon with environmental sustainability and energy and economic feasibility

A major problem for sustainable development in the Amazon is the difficulty of supplying electric power to isolated communities, which represent a considerable share of the population. This problem has been a major obstacle to productive activities (especially extractive and agricultural) in such communities, thus significantly contributing to rural drift and creating social problems in larger cities. In that case, one way to supply electric power would be to use the huge network of small rivers in the region by implementing Micro Hydroelectric Power Plants (MHPs). However, this type of hydropower project requires a set of technical assessments in order to obtain better value for its cost-effectiveness from the perspective of sustainable development. Thus, based on a survey of energy demand and the local hydrological and topographical characteristics, two possible MHP designs for the hydrological site under analysis were suggested. Assessments of hydropower, economic and environmental aspects were developed. MHP designs were compared with the diesel generator design of the community under focus. Comparison showed that the MHP designs are feasible in terms of energy to meet local demand; economically, they are more feasible than the diesel generator and are environmentally sustainable, mainly because such designs involve low-head, run-of-river MHPs and the flooded areas were simulated and are not larger than 0.02 km². Therefore, the information provided by these assessments constitutes important data, serving as subsidies for MHP implementation projects, which shall contribute to sustainable development in the region.