Participatory assessment of soil degradation in the uplands of southwestern Tanzania: Implications for sustainable agriculture and rural livelihoods

Rural household food insecurity and poverty are closely linked to soil degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, causes, degradation processes, coping strategies and need for interventions may vary from one place to another. This study was conducted in Mbinga District, SW Tanzania, to investigate causes and biophysical processes of soil degradation; effects on livelihoods, coping strategies and entry points for interventions. Implications for sustainable production and rural livelihoods are discussed. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), household surveys using a short open-ended questionnaire and biophysical exploration were the research tools used. Soil fertility depletion resulting from continuous cropping and erosion losses is the main form of soil degradation. Maize yield was 57% lower in fertility-depleted farms than in productive farms. Soil pH, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and CEC accounted for 79% of variations in maize yield. Organic soil fertility amelioration was a common strategy used by smallholders. Use of beneficial tree and shrub fallows is the most environmentally, economically and socially promising improvement that can be used to build on the existing strengths of farmers' knowledge and strategies. Subsidy for the right type of fertilizers, infrastructure improvement and education of farmers on proper use of fertilizers should significantly contribute to improved and sustainable production and livelihoods.     

Environmental quality and its impact on the local economy: A case study from Dongguan,South China

Industries that pollute the environment developed in the early 1990s in Dongguan City, especially those in the middle and lower valley of the Dongjiang River (waterside area) have seriously affected water and air quality and hence have affected soil quality through polluted water irrigation and precipitation. Investigation of the economic growth and environmental pollution in the 32 township units in the City from 1990 to 2000 also reveals that environmental pollution has affected the history of the development of the towns or townships in the waterside region in the delta of the River Dongjiang, especially the towns near the river mouth, and has prevented their industry from upgrading and hence has slowed down their economic growth. The impact of environmental pollution on economic growth is most severe in the towns along the lower valley, or in down-wind regions. In contrast, economic development in the protected area of the upper valley of the waterside region indicates that environmental protection that strictly controls the discharge of pollutants does not restrict the development of the local economy.     

Characteristics of geological hazards in South China coastal areas and impact on regional sustainable development

Prevention and treatment of geological hazards is important for the sustainable development of human society. Surface geological hazards alone caused direct economic losses of ¥3.47 billion, with 768 deaths and 785 injuries in Guangdong Province, South China, from 1994 to 2005. The major factors causing geological hazards can be categorised into three types: geo-environmental, climatic-meteorological and human activity. Accompanied by rapid economic development and population growth, human activities can cause geological hazards that are as serious as those caused by natural factors. The authors propose some suggestions for prevention and treatment of geological hazards to achieve sustainable development on the Chinese coast.     

Environmental education,community mobilization and sustainable development in Hong Kong: a comparative perspective

SUMMARY

This paper focuses on efforts to promote environmental education and community mobilization around environmental issues in Hong Kong. It is primarily concerned with efforts directed at the broader community (i.e. the population as a whole) rather than with environmental education through formal school and college curricula. The paper draws on a recently completed study commissioned by the Environmental Campaign Committee, the principal source of financial support for such efforts undertaken by environmental NGOs, community groups and educational institutions in Hong Kong. The study examined how and to what effect the Committee had used its financial resources between 1994–1999. It also examined international experience with a view to recommending changes in the overall approach to environmental education and community mobilization initiatives and their funding in Hong Kong.

The paper suggests that the existing approach to community-wide environmental education and its funding in Hong Kong have suffered from various weaknesses, most notably the absence of an integrated and goal-oriented strategy, an over-reliance on a ‘top-down’ campaign-based approach, a failure to establish explicit linkages with the concept of sustainable development and to ground initiatives at the local neighbourhood and community levels, and a preoccupation with the financial inputs provided to support this work at the expense of effective monitoring and auditing of project outputs and benefits.     

环境问题与"可持续发展"道路存在的误区

环境问题本质是人的问题,具体表现于人口问题和人的德行问题。文章认为导致我们系列环境政策没有起到预想结果的原因在于我们"德行"中存在的认识误区,分析了这些认识误区;提出解决环境问题的根本途径是改造我们的"德行"并知道我们生活在地球"极限之内"。     

The sustainable development oxymoron: quantifying and modelling the incompatibility of sustainable development goals

ABSTRACT

In 2015, the UN adopted a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate poverty, establish socioeconomic inclusion and protect the environment. Critical voices such as the International Council for Science (ICSU), however, have expressed concerns about the potential incompatibility of the SDGs, specifically the incompatibility of socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we test, quantify and model the alleged inconsistency of SDGs. Our analyses show which SDGs are consistent and which are conflicting. We measure the extent of inconsistency and conclude that the SDG agenda will fail as a whole if we continue with business as usual. We further explore the nature of the inconsistencies using dynamical systems models, which reveal that the focus on economic growth and consumption as a means for development underlies the inconsistency. Our models also show that there are factors which can contribute to development (health programmes, government investment) on the one hand and ecological sustainability (renewable energy) on the other, without triggering the conflict between incompatible SDGs.     

Pollution prevention for sustainable development: the land-use question

The central argument of the paper is that effective pollution prevention can be achieved only by integrated land-use planning which offers the broad framework for co-ordinating technological and non-technological means to achieve sustainable development. The paper first reviews the role of land-use in preventing or contributing to pollution over time, focusing especially on contemporary efforts to promote environmental protection through land-use planning and management. The relationship between land-use, pollution and sustainable development is analysed by examining the most important types of land-use-related problems, discussing their causes and identifying a number of land-use-related constraints to sustainable development. Finally, a land-use planning and policy framework approach to pollution prevention for sustainable development is outlined which emphasizes the need for integrated analysis of pollution problems and adoption of comprehensive approaches to their solution. Scientific, spatial, temporal and policy issues are addressed in the context of the proposed approach.     

Evaluation of ecosystem health for regional development in the southwestern Beijing, China

Ecosystem health assessment is one of the most important issues in regional ecological quality and safety studies. It also has a great significance to ecological conservation and regional development. This study focused on assessing the health status of forest, agriculture and urban ecosystems in the southwestern Beijing, China, including the Fangshan and Fengtai Districts. Based on field surveys and data collection, an assessment index system containing the vigor, organization and resilience factors was developed to measure the ecosystem health. Each index was scored from 1 to 5, representing five levels that contribute to the whole ecosystem health. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to measure the weights of each index and three factors, and thus an overall score for a certain ecosystem was calculated. The results show that the forest ecosystem in the Fangshan District had higher health value than the Fengtai District, while the urban ecosystem had a slightly lower value in the Fangshan District than the Fengtai District. Both districts show lower resilience values in forest and urban ecosystems. Maintaining the ecosystem health will definitely benefit the long-term development of two districts. This study suggested that an approach for assessing the regional ecosystem health could be further developed to address spatial and synergy relationships between ecosystems and the three health factors.     

PICABUE: a methodological framework for the development of indicators of sustainable development

SUMMARY

Significant interest in the concept of sustainable development exists amongst scientists, planners, policy makers and the public, and considerable effort and expenditure is made or envisaged at local, national and international levels to promote a more sustainable society. Until ‘green accounting’ and similar systems are made available and are implemented, the sustainability indicator will be the most effective tool available for monitoring progress towards a more sustainable society. Sustainability indicators are already available but are characterized by a poor or absent theoretical underpinning. This paper addresses this problem by proposing a methodological framework that can be applied to the construction of indicators of sustainable development. In order to be consistent with widely accepted definitions of sustainable development, considerations relating to the measurement of quality of life and ecological integrity are central to the methodology. The methodological framework has relevance to a variety of spatial scales and to geographically diverse areas (urban or rural, developed or developing countries) so that a suite of sustainability indicators can be produced that is tailored to the needs and resources of the indicator user, but which remains rooted firmly in the fundamental principles of sustainable development.     

Rubber cultivation and sustainable development in Xishuangbanna,China

SUMMARY

Xishuangbanna in southwest China is a tropical and subtropical region with extraordinary traditional cultures and attractive landscapes. Rubber cultivation is a key production source undergoing rapid growth. It contributes substantially to improvement of the local economic situation and partially replaces traditional slash-and-burn agriculture in the uplands, but it also results in biodiversity loss and environmental degradation and disturbs the peaceful life of the indigenous people. We discuss the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) preserved in daily practices and the present types of rubber plantations and suggest the application of TEK, in particular, the indigenous land-use experience to rubber cultivation, in order to promote sustainability in local economic development and ecological well-being.     

How dynamics and drivers of land use/land cover change impact elephant conservation and agricultural livelihood development in Rombo,Tanzania

Land use/land cover (LULC) change affects the provision of ecosystem services for humans and habitat for wildlife. Hence, it is crucial to monitor LULC particularly adjacent to protected areas. In this study, we measured LULC change in Rombo, Tanzania, an area with high-potential agro-ecological zones that is dominated by human–elephant conflicts (HECs). We used remote sensing and geographical information system techniques, questionnaires and village meetings to assess spatio-temporal patterns of the LULC changes in the study area. Using Landsat imagery, digital elevation model (DEM) and ground truthing, we classified and monitored changes in LULC from the years 1987 to 2015. We found that within Rombo, settlements were increasing, while agricultural and agroforestry lands were decreasing and respondents’ perceptions varied along the altitudinal gradient. Patterns of HEC and LULC were observed to change along the gradient and the later threatened the agricultural land and ecological integrity for elephant habitat, leading to high tension and competition between elephants and people. This research offers baseline information for land use planning to balance wildlife conservation with livelihood development in Rombo and highlights that managing the impacts of LULC changes on HEC and elephant habitat loss is a matter of urgency.     

教育、宣传和培训--可持续发展能力建设的重要组成部分

本文从可持续发展能力建设的角度分析了教育、宣传和培训的内涵并讨论了它们在可持续发展能力建设中的作用.同时,全面介绍了中国在推动可持续发展教育、宣传和培训方面所开展的工作和一系列的活动.论述了教育、宣传和培训作为促进公众可持续发展思想意识提高、鼓励公众积极参与可持续发展的途径和手段,在人类社会变革和观念与意识更新中的重要作用.     

Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: an introduction

This introduction article is for the special issue ‘Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: natural resources, biodiversity, and climate change’ in the International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology and presents an introduction to the topics and summarizes accepted contributions in the special issue. The accepted works may contribute with organizational management in the search for more sustainable organizations. The works focus on the challenges of managing organizations in a context of degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Accepted papers discuss these issues, based on the reality of emerging economies (e.g. Brazil, India, and China).     

Institutional deficiencies and capacity building constraints: the dilemma for environmentally sustainable development in Africa

SUMMARY

The authors question Africa's ability to achieve sustainable development in view of the erosion of its institution building capacity, a problem compounded by the alarming rate of Africa's continuing marginalisation in the world economy. The situation has been provoked by inappropriate domestic policies which have not only compromised Africa's competitiveness, but also made it particularly vulnerable given the increasing globalisation of markets and factors of production. The benefits associated with effective global economic participation transcend direct financial gains and include technology transfers, technical and managerial skills transfers, and other skills transfers associated with the ‘learning and doing’ process. These benefits are instrumental in the development of the economic, administrative, legislative and social institutions that prescribe the organisational and managerial structure of an economy and define its capacity for sustainable growth. In Africa, the absence of such structures has undermined development efforts and created large impoverished populations. But poverty in living standards is not only prevalent, there is also the acute poverty in knowledge and skills which is so damaging to institution building capacity. The socio-economic impact is manifest in dilapidated infrastructure, decaying institutions, the exodus of the professional and managerial cadre, and the almost total disintegration of society. It is within this context that Africa's ability to evolve and effectively manage sustainable development policies is questioned. The study concludes that the continent's capacity to initiate sound environmental and sustainable development policies depends crucially on its ability to develop appropriate and functional institutions.     

Biosafety principles for GMOs in the context of sustainable development

If genetically modified organisms are to contribute to welfare they must be considered in the context of sustainable development. Biosafety implies considering the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. These dimensions can be interpreted through the principles of precaution, polluter pays and public participation. In this article, these key biosafety principles are operationalised and ways of implementing them in society are discussed. A comparison is made between the principles and the present EU law for deliberate release of GMOs. It is concluded that several improvements in EU policy are necessary to ensure sustainable development really is promoted.     

The EU's double-track pursuit of sustainable development in the 2000s: how Lisbon and sustainable development strategies ran past each other

For almost a decade, the EU has pursued sustainable development not with one but with two overarching strategies: the so-called Lisbon Strategy and sustainable development strategies. While the Lisbon Strategy was a genuinely European policy response to global economic and social pressures, which was superseded by the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy in 2010, sustainable development strategies are ongoing cyclical processes that aim to better coordinate and integrate economic, social and, in particular, environmental policies at both the EU and Member State levels. This paper explores the horizontal governance linkages that existed between the two strategies. It first contrasts the Council rhetoric, emphasizing the complementarity of the two strategies with their different histories and governance arrangements. This paper then shows that the Council rhetoric of complementarity never materialized in the everyday governance routines of the two strategies, and provides three explanations for this finding. Based on these findings, this paper finally provides a brief outlook discussion on how to proceed with the governance of sustainable development in Europe.     

Potentialities,problems, policies and progress in modelling sustainable development: A dynamic,hierarchical approach

This paper discusses some of the potentials, problems, policies and progress in modelling sustainable development. After briefly describing ten approaches to modelling sustainable development, some of the methodological problems still to be resolved are addressed. It is then suggested that policies to promote sustainable development should operate at six different spatial levels connecting global, multinational, national, regional, local and individual. Attempting to model sustainable development in such a hierarchical manner is exceedingly difficult. One way of modelling sustainable development is to develop the concept of a sustainable corridor, combining ecological, economic and equity considerations in a hierarchical fashion and through space-time. A preliminary dynamic, hierarchical model is described connecting global and national patterns of development. Using global and national data for Scotland, the calibrated model, running under the business-as-usual scenario, shows that current development paths are unsustainable. It is shown that, by implementing a judicious choice of policies, a sustainable corridor for a global and a national system can be achieved. The ways in which this preliminary model can be developed to connect all six hierarchical levels are discussed.     

Participatory research and sustainable development in the Sahelo-Sudanian region

SUMMARY

A participatory research programme was conducted in the groundnut basin of Senegal, where there was a need to intensify the local farming systems. The research yielded a set of technical references and profitable innovations, which were introduced through specific development actions. The technology transfer aims at the establishment of sustainable farming systems and takes into account the climatic risks and innovation costs. Identification of research themes and implementation of results was based on various analyses: climatic analysis at regional level (establishment of climatic zones) and identification of constraints at farm level. Farmers' interests and the research results were combined to define suitable interventions for each surveyed farm, with the aim of increasing farm income and restoring soil fertility. The research also yielded elements for formulating an appropriate and realistic agricultural policy for the region. Clearly, the development of livestock farming activities is essential in bringing new economic life into the region and increasing the sustainability of farming systems in erratic climatic conditions.     

Water shortages and countermeasures for sustainable utilisation in the context of climate change in the Yellow River Delta region,China

With an increasing population and rapid development of the economy and society of the Yellow River Basin region, the Yellow River is at crisis point. The discrepancy between supply and demand of water resources is a key issue. In 2000–2006, the mean annual discharge of the Yellow River entering the delta was 13.2 billion m³, a reduction of 18.6 billion m³ compared with the 1980s, and 9 billion m³ less than in the 1990s. The water requirements of various sectors are increasing. Large amounts of water essential to maintain the health of the delta ecosystem have been diverted for other users. The lower river channel is shrinking and the threat of flooding is becoming severe. Moreover, water pollution is increasing to a serious level; the river mouth ecosystem is subject to degradation. Due to overall decreased flow into the delta, and almost no flow into the delta for much of the year except in wet periods, biodiversity is threatened and there has been degradation of the ecological environment. In view of the water scarcity and variation in water supply, particularly in the context of climate change, measures need to be taken to realise sustainable water use in the Yellow River Delta region. In view of the lack of a complete index system for sustainable utilisation of regional water resources in China, this paper examines the major countermeasures for sustainable water use in the region. A rational adjustment mechanism for water prices is needed. Adjustment of agricultural infrastructure and water saving need to be directed by water prices, and thus the reasonable exploitation of groundwater must also be directed by water prices. Participation of the public is to be encouraged, with the development of a water user association that will become involved in formulating water rights, water allocation and water prices. Decision-making, management and supervision of this association will be done in a democratic way to promote the social management of water saving.