A framework for sustainable supply chain in emerging economies

Sustainable supply chains (SSC) are an essential topic in emerging economies for achieving sustainable development. Because of their rapid economic growth, emerging economies are experiencing both sides of this development: the well‐being enhancement and the environmental impact. However, decision makers and practitioners do not have robust models for managing supply networks that consider the sustainability complexities. This study aims to provide a better understanding of SSC in emerging economies and proposes a generic framework to improve the decision‐making process. Based on a review of the literature, a decision framework for sustainability is proposed. A green sustainable decision concept is also discussed in the SSC literature. This study has implications for scholars, decision makers, and practitioners interested in advancing the SSC field based on an extension of the framework.     

Spatial systems approach to sustainable development: A conceptual framework

Even though “sustainable development” seems to have emerged as the development paradigm of the 1990s, a great deal of vagueness still surrounds the meaning, definition, and theoretical underpinnings of the concept. There is also a general lack of emphasis on the spatial dimension of sustainable development when developing relevant conceptual or environmental accounting frameworks. In clarifying the concept, this article proposes a definition that explicitly incorporates the temporal as well as the spatial dimension of sustainability. It also develops a logically consistent conceptual framework for the analysis and evaluation of sustainable development, following a spatial systems approach. Five interconnected aspatial subsystems or subsets of a spatial system are identified and their respective operational dimensions discussed. A proposed composite index calleddegree of stainable development (DSD) and its five component indicators are also outlined. The difficulties involved in operationalizing the DSD measure and the conceptual framework are noted, and the various tasks that need to be undertaken in this regard are specified. It is concluded that future research utilizing the proposed conceptual framework should not only foster the development of appropriate methodologies for the comparative evaluation of sustainable development at global, national, or regional scales, but also offer insights to appropriate decision makers at various levels regarding available options and alternative actions for the healthy development of their respective societies.     

Plant nutrient issues for sustainable land application

Interest in plant nutrient issues for sustainable land application of residuals is increasingly driven by environmental concerns. The indicators of concern are P and N in surface waters, nitrate leaching, and emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases. Federal regulations require residual application rates to be on a N basis at most, and on a P basis when risk of P loss in surface runoff is high. Modeling of mineralization offers the potential for more accurate determinations of potentially available nitrogen (PAN) and quick tests could allow the determination of PAN on residuals immediately before land application. Methods for reducing ammonia emissions from livestock operations and new techniques for quantifying emissions under field conditions are being developed. Calibration and validation of P loss assessment tools is an ongoing concern and the interpretation of edge of field P losses warrants further attention. The solubility of P in residuals and soils can be influenced by various amendments or treatment processes. High available P grains or phytase enzyme supplementation can reduce total and soluble P in animal manures by reducing the need for diet supplementation with inorganic P. The use of synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy has identified chemical forms of inorganic P. Considerable progress has been made addressing plant nutrient issues for sustainable land application and interest in this topic will remain strong into the foreseeable future.     

A differentiated approach for sustainable consumption and production policies

The importance of sustainable consumption and production in the international agenda has been growing, both because of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production in industrialized countries and because it appears to be a means for meeting the essential needs of developing countries. Adapting Fernand Braudel's model of the three layers of the economy (everyday life, market economy and global capitalism) to the current situation, this paper advocates for differentiated policies, which cannot be limited to those based on the dominant model of a rational legal system dealing with rational consumers. The cultural and collective dimensions of consumption, the social role of conspicuous consumption, the consumption of ecological services outside formal markets, the diversity of approaches to knowledge and rationality, all plead for an overarching approach and diversified policy tools. The paper underlines the need for global regulation processes which involve all stakeholders by focusing on two examples: the international task force on sustainable tourism, and the ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility.     

A geomorphic framework for developing a sustainable greenery programme in arid environments

Summary This paper attempts to demonstrate that the study of geomorphology can provide a useful framework for understanding the natural processes and factors that are critical for the development of ecologically sustainable and economically viable greenery projects in the desert and arid environments.The surface of Kuwait was subdivided into 15 geomorphic zones and each zone was assessed in terms of its potentiality for establishing greenery activities. The assessment considered the implications of relief, soil type and fertility, aeolian processes, sand encroachment and presence or absence of indurated bedrocks and pavements for the greenery plan of Kuwait. Accordingly, areas with the most favourable conditions for revegetation were identified and strategies for enhancing the conservation value and sustainability of the greenery programme were outlined.The study pointed out that while the adopted approach provided useful environmental guidelines at the planning level, further investigations would be required, at the project level, if the principles of ecologically sustainable development were to be fully incorporated within such a large scale greenery undertaking.Dr Dhia Al Bakri is a Lecturer in Environmental Management at the Orange Agricultural College, University of Sydney, Australia. He worked as a Research Scientist for the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research from 1980 to 1990. During that time Dr Al Bakri undertook a wide range of studies and research projects within the context of Environmental and Earth Sciences.     

Garcinia gummi-gutta (L.) Robs.: A promising feedstock for biodiesel production

In the present study crude Garcinia gummi-gutta seed oil was evaluated as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production. Due to the high acid value (29.73 mg KOH/g) the oil was converted to biodiesel by using acid catalyzed esterification process. Further, biodiesel properties of the sample were evaluated, which fulfilled the biodiesel specifications laid by ASTM D6751, EN 14214 and IS 15607. The biodiesel possessed excellent cetane number (66.09) and a high flash point (158°C). In addition, the calorific value (41.03 MJ/kg) was very close to diesel fuel. The results suggest that the G. gummi-gutta can be an alternative source for diesel and can be used as a potential feedstock for biodiesel in India.     

Molasses-based growth and lipid production by Chlorella pyrenoidosa: A potential feedstock for biodiesel

Biodiesel provides a feasible solution to the twin crisis of energy security and environmental concerns prevalent today, and it can be extracted from conventional oil crops as well as microalgae. However, lipid productivity in case of microalgae is much higher and has several advantages as compared with crop plants, so it is a better feedstock for biodiesel. In case of Chlorella pyrenoidosa, the heterotrophic cultured cells were found to be better in terms of lipid production, and ultimately biodiesel production, but the bottleneck is that in this mode glucose is used to feed the cells, which amounts to almost 80% of the total cost of biodiesel production. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and highlight the feasibility of using the industrially cheap cane molasses as a carbon source in place of glucose for a large-scale, low-cost lipid production of Chlorella pyrenoidosa. When treated molasses was used as a carbon source instead of glucose, the biomass sharply increases from 0.89 to 1.22 g L^–1. On the other hand, the total lipid content increases from 0.27 to 0.66 g g^–1. The specific growth rate and yield was higher in treated molasses as compared with that in glucose-supplemented. A mathematical model was also developed based on logistic, Luedeking–Piret, and Luedeking-Piret-like equations. Model predictions were in satisfactory agreement with the measured data, and the mode of lipid production was growth-associated.     

A framework for assessing the impact of land use policy on community exposure to air toxics

Our research focuses on the linkage between land use planning policy and the spatial pattern of exposure to air toxics emissions. Our objective is to develop a modeling framework for assessment of the community health risk implications of land use policy. The modeling framework is not intended to be a regulatory tool for small-scale land use decisions, but a long-range planning tool to assess the community health risk implications of alternative land use scenarios at a regional or subregional scale. This paper describes the development and application of an air toxic source model for generating aggregate emission factors for industrial and commercial zoning districts as a function of permitted uses. To address the uncertainty of estimating air toxics emission rates for planned general land use or zoning districts, the source model uses an emissions probability mass function that weights each incremental permitted land use activity by the likelihood of occurrence. We thus reduce the uncertainty involved in planning for development with no prior knowledge of the specific industries that may locate within the land use district. These air toxics emission factors can then be used to estimate pollutant atmospheric mass flux from land use zoning districts, which can then be input to air dispersion and human health risk assessment models to simulate the spatial pattern of air toxics exposure risk. The model database was constructed using the California Air Toxics Inventory, 1997 US Economic Census, and land assessment records from several California counties. The database contains information on more than 200 air toxics at the 2-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) level. We present a case study to illustrate application of the model. LUAIRTOX, the interactive spreadsheet model that applies our methodology to the California data, is available at http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~mwillis/LUAIRTOX.htm.     

Interpreting science in the real world for sustainable land application

Today's land application practices are designed to effectively treat wastes, and have evolved from earlier practices that centered on cheap disposal with less regard for environmental protection. The major objectives of this paper are to (i) review how current land application practices, and our understanding of them, have evolved over time and (ii) explore how science is used (and sometimes misused or ignored) in the development of design, regulation, and management of sustainable land application. Land treatment technologies have been used effectively for the treatment and recycling of many types of wastewaters and organic residuals for many years. Extensive research and demonstration efforts, as well as experience with pilot- and field-scale projects, have provided the information about soil reactions with contaminants in wastewater and organic residuals needed to design and operate sustainable land application projects. Still, systematic research programs are as important today as ever to support studies aimed at producing information on how soil-based treatment and recycling systems work, to address new areas of concerns as they arise, and continue to improve the overall design, performance, and reliability of land application systems as sustainable soil treatment and recycling systems.     

An integrative methodological framework for sustainable environmental planning and management

Sustainable environmental planning and management require effective integration of ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional elements. This paper presents an integrative methodological framework for sustainable environmental planning and management. The development of this integrative framework is accomplished by combining two complementary analytical approaches—Hufschmidt's conceptual framework for watershed planning and management and the ABC resource survey method. The combined methodological framework seeks to delineate and synthesize essential ecological information utilizing an integrative resource survey method. This method generates classifications of environmental significance and constraint. Areas of environmental significance and constraint are then linked to appropriate and acceptable resource management actions, implementation tools (e.g., education, technical assistance), and institutional and organizational arrangements. The integrative methodological framework was developed for application in the Rio Fortuna watershed in Costa Rica's Arenal Conservation Area. The watershed is characterized by a variety of land and resource uses, including biologically diverse and ecologically fragile protected areas, small-parcel agriculture, cattle ranching, and tourism.     

A framework for sustainable invasive species management: Environmental,social, and economic objectives

Applying the concept of sustainability to invasive species management (ISM) is challenging but necessary, given the increasing rates of invasion and the high costs of invasion impacts and control. To be sustainable, ISM must address environmental, social, and economic factors (or “pillars”) that influence the causes, impacts, and control of invasive species across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Although these pillars are generally acknowledged, their implementation is often limited by insufficient control options and significant economic and political constraints. In this paper, we outline specific objectives in each of these three “pillars” that, if incorporated into a management plan, will improve the plan’s likelihood of sustainability. We then examine three case studies that illustrate how these objectives can be effectively implemented. Each pillar reinforces the others, such that the inclusion of even a few of the outlined objectives will lead to more effective management that achieves ecological goals, while generating social support and long-term funding to maintain projects to completion. We encourage agency directors and policy-makers to consider sustainability principles when developing funding schemes, management agendas, and policy.     

A framework to assess regional environmental impacts of dedicated energy crop production

Numerous studies have evaluated air quality and greenhouse gas mitigation benefits of biomass energy systems, but the potential environmental impacts associated with large-scale changes in land-use patterns needed to produce energy crops have not been quantified. This paper presents a framework to assess the potential soil, water, and biodiversity impacts that may result from the large-scale production of dedicated energy crops. The framework incorporates producer economic decision models with environmental models to assess changes in land use patterns and to quantify the consequent environmental impacts. Economic and policy issues that will affect decisions to produce energy crops are discussed. The framework is used to evaluate erosion and chemical runoff in two Tennessee regions. The analysis shows that production of dedicated energy crops in place of conventional crops will significantly reduce erosion and chemical runoff.     

A conceptual framework of agricultural land use planning with BMP for integrated watershed management

Land use planning is an important element of the integrated watershed management approach. It not only influences the environmental processes such as soil and stream bed erosion, sediment and nutrient concentrations in streams, quality of surface and ground waters in a watershed, but also affects social and economic development in that region. Although its importance in achieving sustainable development has long been recognized, a land use planning methodology based on a systems approach involving realistic computational modeling and meta-heuristic optimization is still lacking in the current practice of integrated watershed management. The present study proposes a new approach which attempts to combine computational modeling of upland watershed processes, fluvial processes and modern heuristic optimization techniques to address the water-land use interrelationship in its full complexity. The best land use allocation is decided by a multi-objective function that minimizes sediment yields and nutrient concentrations as well as the total operation/implementation cost, while the water quality and the production benefits from agricultural exploitation are maximized. The proposed optimization strategy considers also the preferences of land owners. The runoff model AnnAGNPS (developed by USDA), and the channel network model CCHE1D (developed by NCCHE), are linked together to simulate sediment/pollutant transport process at watershed scale based on any assigned land use combination. The greedy randomized adaptive Tabu search heuristic is used to flip the land use options for finding an optimum combination of land use allocations. The approach is demonstrated by applying it to a demonstrative case study involving USDA Goodwin Creek experimental watershed located in northern Mississippi. The results show the improvement of the tradeoff between benefits and costs for the watershed, after implementing the proposed optimal land use planning.     

Toward an improved legislative framework for China's land degradation control

The Chinese government has recently been attaching increasing importance to the application of effective legal tools to tackle land degradation (LD) issues. Based on the concept of sustainable development, China began developing and reaping the benefits of environmental and natural resources legislation including LD control regulations in the 1990s. In the past three years, some central‐western provinces in China have been implementing a “ People's Republic of China/Global Environment Facility (PRC/GEF ) Partnership on LD Control of Dryland Ecosystems”, which is based on an integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach. IEM is designed to achieve a balanced, scientific and participatory approach to natural resources management, which creates the potential to improve the quality of Chinese environmental law and policy procedures. The paper studies the existing Chinese national laws and regulations pertinent to LD control within 9 areas covering land, desertification, soil erosion, grassland, forest, water, agriculture, wild animals and plants, and environment protection in detail, against IEM principles and basic legal elements. The main objective is to identify problems and provide feasible solutions and recommendations for the improvement of the existing laws and regulations. The authors conclude that the development of an improved national legislative framework is essential if LD control is to be successfully achieved. The paper is partly based on Component 1 — Improving Policies, Laws and Regulations for Land Degradation Control under PRC/GEF Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems (TA 4357).     

Measuring progress towards sustainable development: an ecological framework for selecting indicators

There are now numerous sustainable development evaluation methods to evaluate sustainable development progress. Which one to use will depend on the resources, the goals and the stakeholders. Ideally the method selected and its indicators would themselves indicate how to achieve sustainable development. Such a choice can be difficult without a framework to help ensure the representation of the essential elements of sustainable development.

This paper presents such a framework by drawing on ecological terminology to define aspects of sustainable development as manifested in the natural world. Examples of how these can be measured are provided along with an explanation of how the components of the framework contribute to achieving sustainable development in social systems.     

Salt-induced land and water degradation in the Aral Sea basin: A challenge to sustainable agriculture in Central Asia

Expansion of irrigated agriculture in the Aral Sea Basin in the second half of the twentieth century led to the conversion of vast tracks of virgin land into productive agricultural systems resulting in significant increases in employment opportunities and income generation. The positive effects of the development of irrigated agriculture were replete with serious environmental implications. Excessive use of irrigation water coupled with inadequate drainage systems has caused large‐scale land degradation and water quality deterioration in downstream parts of the basin, which is fed by two main rivers, the Amu‐Darya and Syr‐Darya. Recent estimates suggest that more than 50% of irrigated soils are salt‐affected and/or waterlogged in Central Asia. Considering the availability of natural and human resources in the Aral Sea Basin as well as the recent research addressing soil and water management, there is cause for cautious optimism. Research‐based interventions that have shown significant promise in addressing this impasse include: (1) rehabilitation of abandoned salt‐affected lands through halophytic plant species; (2) introduction of 35‐day‐old early maturing rice varieties to withstand ambient soil and irrigation water salinity; (3) productivity enhancement of high‐magnesium soils and water resources through calcium‐based soil amendments; (4) use of certain tree species as biological pumps to lower elevated groundwater levels in waterlogged areas; (5) optimal use of fertilizers, particularly those supplying nitrogen, to mitigate the adverse effects of soil and irrigation water salinity; (6) mulching of furrows under saline conditions to reduce evaporation and salinity buildup in the root zone; and (7) establishment of multipurpose tree and shrub species for biomass and renewable energy production. Because of water withdrawals for agriculture from two main transboundary rivers in the Aral Sea Basin, there would be a need for policy level interventions conducive for enhancing interstate cooperation to transform salt‐affected soil and saline water resources from an environmental and productivity constraint into an economic asset.     

An analytical framework for strategic delta planning: negotiating consent for long-term sustainable delta development

Sectoral planning on water, agriculture and urban development has not been able to prevent increased flood risks and environmental degradation in many deltas. Governments conceive strategic delta planning as a promising planning approach and develop strategic delta plans. Such plans are linked to actions and means for implementation in the short-term, in line with long-term strategic choices. This paper introduces an analytical framework that focuses on the role of actors, innovative solutions and participatory planning tools in negotiating consent for the strategic choices in a delta plan and its implementation. Cases of Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Vietnam are discussed as a plausibility probe to explore the framework's potential. The probe reveals that the framework is promising to explain the process and outcomes of strategic delta planning in urbanizing deltas. The paper ends with an initial research agenda to stimulate research and discussion on this new delta planning approach.     

Public policy, private landholders: perspectives on policy mechanisms for sustainable land management

A variety of tools can be employed in support of environmental policy objectives, but achieving preferred outcomes also requires the cooperation of private landholders and others with vested interests in the land. The Land Stewardship project in the state of Victoria, Australia, is an initiative devoted to exploring the ways in which private landholders could be encouraged towards more sustainable land management. Following the view that the success of policy initiatives is contingent on effective stakeholder engagement, a component of the Land Stewardship project involved a dialogue with landholders about policy tools (e.g., regulation, economic instruments) that might be deployed to encourage improved land management practices. This paper provides an account of the views and attitudes of landholders, as revealed in a series of three workshops, which consisted of discussions about the factors influencing agriculture, participants' interpretations of sustainability, and policy methods. The focus of the paper is on what landholders believe to be the strengths and limitations of standard policy tools, and the essential requirements for these tools to deliver the best land management outcomes. One of the main findings of the project was a 'preference hierarchy' in respect of policy methods, according to which the strongest support was expressed for voluntary and education-based tools, followed by market-based instruments, with command-and-control regulation identified as a measure of 'last resort'. In the paper we reflect also on how the views and outlook of landholders should be positioned relative to other inputs in the design of policy interventions.