Is the economic dimension inducing the other sustainability dimensions,or is it the reverse? Perceptions from the Portuguese metal industry

ABSTRACT

In organizational sustainability, the economic dimension is recognized as having a very important role. However, the discussion regarding whether it is exclusively the economic dimension that has the power to induce the other sustainability dimensions is far from agreement. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the perceptions regarding the existence of mutual influences between the economic dimension of sustainability and the other sustainability dimensions – environmental, social and cultural – in a relevant Portuguese economic sector: the metal industry. The analysis and statistical tests performed with the 211 collected answers led to the conclusion that the influence exerted by the economic dimension on the other sustainability dimensions is perceived as dominant, both in present and future perspectives. The results also show the perception that the economic dimension is equally influenced by the environmental and social dimensions, and in a less extent, by the cultural dimension, and that all these mutual influences are perceived to increase in the future. The existence of organizational management systems has a positive effect on the perceptions regarding the existence of mutual influences between sustainability dimensions, but only for those companies with more than one certified management system. These results confirm that organizational management systems are connected to higher degrees of awareness regarding sustainability issues. Given that the great majority of the sampled industries are SMEs, the results obtained in this research demonstrate that the existence of mutual influences between sustainability dimensions is recognized even in small-sized industries.     

Are we leaving the community out of rural community sustainability?

SUMMARY

The Rio Earth Summit and publication and distribution of Agenda 21 (UN, 1992) have generated much activity in many nations towards development and implementation of community indicators of sustainable development (SI). In recent years efforts at development and implementation of SI have intensified at regional and urban government levels, although fewer efforts are evident at a rural community level. In response to initial ad hoc efforts, methodologies for SI construction are currently being proposed, tested and refined. Within this evolutionary process, increasing recognition is being given to the critical need for, and importance of, ‘stakeholder’ involvement in SI development and implementation. This paper critically reviews these and related efforts from the perspective of rural communities in Canada. The argument is presented that the process of development and implementation of rural community-level SI can significantly benefit from development and implementation of a methodological approach in support of principles and practices of effective stakeholder involvement. It is further argued that development of SI must be stakeholder-driven, and that a pivotal element in the SI development process is the facilitation of information sharing. The paper concludes with a proposal for an approach to stakeholder participation and information sharing achieved through research, testing and refinement, and integration of these concepts within the process of rural community sustainable indicator development.     

Is the quest for sustainable use of the planet unworldly?

SUMMARY

Is the quest for sustainable use of the planet utopian and unworldly, or an act of enlightened self-interest? Few would label the attempts to increase human longevity unworldly, yet what significance will it have in an unsustainable world? Achieving sustainability will require entire societies to emulate attributes that humans profess to admire in others. Among the dictionary definitions of unworldly are: not seeking material advantage, and spiritually minded. Since our global life-support system is vulnerable to irresponsible individual and societal practices, the consequences of unethical behaviour and lack of compassion might well be catastrophic for human society. This paper consists of a preliminary exploration of some of these issues.     

Timber Certification: Where Is the Voice of the Biologist?

Editor's note: This Conservation Forum begins with a reprinted editorial by Elizabeth Bennett from the August 2000 issue of Conservation Biology . Several papers were submitted in repsonse to that piece, and it is reprinted here to start this forum.     

Is Scotland sustainable? A the series of indicators of sustainable development

Seven measures of sustainable development for Scotland are examined for the period 1980-1993. These measures are green net national product, genuine savings, ecological footprint, environmental space, human appropriation of net primary production, the index of sustainable economic welfare and the genuine progress indicator. Very different messages concerning sustainable development in Scotland emerge from these measures.     

Is selenium deficiency really the cause of Keshan disease?

Keshan disease (KD) is a dilated cardiomyopathy closely related with a diet deficient in the mineral selenium. It is named for the northeastern Chinese county Keshan, where the disease prevalence is high because of selenium-deficient soil. KD is a gene–environment interaction disease. Here, we used stepwise multiple regression analysis to analyze the risk factors of the disease and the main clinical features in 71 KD patients and 290 controls. The variables analyzed included age, sex, family history of KD, blood selenium level, glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPx-1) activity, variance at codon198 in GPx-1 gene, residence in an endemic area, abnormal electrocardiography (ECG) findings, and cardiothoracic (CT) ratio. The main risk factors found were low GPx-1 activity, family history of KD and living in an endemic area. The main clinical features were increased cardiac load on ECG and increased CT ratio and Tei index. Public health and clinical prevention efforts could focus on increasing GPx-1 activity to address KD. Is selenium deficiency really the certain cause of KD? This is not at all a settled question. And further study is promptly required to investigate the etiology of KD.     

Within-plant allocation of a chemical defense in Secale cereale. Is concentration the appropriate currency of allocation?

Summary. The among-leaves allocation of DIBOA, a hydroxamic acid associated with plant resistance, in the shoot of rye (Secale cereale) was evaluated over the vegetative development of the plant. The appropriateness of using the concentration of secondary metabolites, DIBOA in this case, as the parameter to evaluate defense allocation in plants is discussed. Both biological and statistical arguments are put forward to suggest that allocation of chemical defenses should refer to absolute content and not to concentration. Results showed that leaf age was significantly linked to leaf concentration of DIBOA, young leaves having higher concentrations. In contrast, leaf content of DIBOA, our proposed currency of allocation, was not significantly higher in younger leaves. Furthermore, a regression analysis showed that the DIBOA content of leaves was better explained by the leaf relative biomass (proportion of shoot biomass) than by leaf biomass itself. It is suggested that, rather than leaf age, leaf relative biomass is the major factor determining DIBOA allocation in rye shoots. It is proposed that studies addressing within-plant defense allocation should use chemical defense content as the currency, emphasizing the major factors driving this process and its underlying mechanisms. Likewise, it is proposed that studies aiming at characterizing optimal patterns of plant defense should use chemical defense concentration as the currency, and be accompanied by evaluations of the actual resistance against herbivores of the plant parts analyzed, together with the effect on plant fitness. Received 19 February 1999; accepted 28 April 1999.     

Is there an inverted U-shaped curve? Empirical analysis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve in agrochemicals

As the largest contributor to water impairment, agriculture-related pollution has attracted the attention of scientists as well as policy makers, and quantitative information is being sought to focus and advance the policy debate. This study applies the panel unit root, heterogeneous panel cointegration, and panel-based dynamic ordinary least squares to investigate the Environmental Kuznets Curve on environmental issues resulting from use of agricultural synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, and film for 31 provincial economies in mainland China from 1989 to 2009. The empirical results indicate a positive long-run co-integrated relationship between the environmental index and real GDP per capita. This relationship takes on the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve, and the value of the turning point is approximately 10,000–13,000, 85,000–89,000 and over 160,000 CNY, for synthetic fertilizer nitrogen indicator, fertilizer phosphorus indicator and pesticide indicator, respectively. At present, China is subject to tremendous environmental pressure and should assign more importance to special agriculture-related environmental issues.     

Does the stock market value the inclusion in a sustainability stock index? An event study analysis for German firms

This paper empirically analyzes the effect of the inclusion of German corporations in the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index (DJSI STOXX) and the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) on stock performance. In order to receive robust estimation results, we apply an (short-term) event study approach that is based on both a modern asset pricing model, namely the three-factor model according to Fama and French [24], and additionally a t-GARCH(1,1) model. Our empirical results suggest that stock markets may penalize the inclusion of a firm in sustainability stock indexes. This finding is mainly driven by a strongly negative effect of the inclusion in the DJSI World. In contrast, we do not find significant average cumulative abnormal returns for the inclusion in the DJSI STOXX. This suggests that the inclusion in a more visible sustainability stock index may have larger negative impacts.     

Does environmental regulation affect labor demand in China? Evidence from the textile printing and dyeing industry

Developing countries, including China, are just beginning to figure out how to balance economic development with the desire to address numerous severe environmental problems. In this paper, we use two enterprise-level data sets – China's Environmental Statistics Database and China's Industrial Enterprise Database – to estimate the impact of a more stringent wastewater discharge standard imposed on all the textile printing and dyeing enterprises in the Lake Tai, Jiangsu region, on labor demand. We find that enterprises which face this new more stringent standard decreased labor demand by approximately 7%. Furthermore, we find that the new standard had heterogeneous impacts on different types of enterprises. For example, our results indicate that the more stringent discharge standard reduced employment in domestically-owned private enterprises by 7.4%, but had little or no impact on state-owned or foreign-owned enterprises.     

Market interactions,farmers' choices,and the sustainability of growing advanced biofuels: a missing perspective?

Advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are of great interest in the USA. With agriculture being the major source of feedstock for advanced biofuels, how farmers would respond to markets and policy incentives in providing such feedstock can directly affect sufficient and sustainable supply of advanced biofuels and their environmental sustainability. In this study, we developed an economic model to examine farmers' production choices in a context where agricultural markets are linked to energy markets. We identified the economic conditions under which farmers could maximize their profits by converting current grain cropland to grow cellulosic biomass crops. An empirical illustration showed that with current technology, farmers are unlikely to grow switchgrass as a dedicated energy crop instead of corn on cropland. The biofuel incentives in the 2008 Farm Bill can improve the competitiveness of switchgrass, but may stimulate corn production as well, with corn residues as an alternative feedstock for advanced biofuels. The continuous, possibly expanding, corn production in future raises the same issues for advanced biofuels as for corn grain-based ethanol. To assure the environmental sustainability of advanced biofuel production, further research is needed to help design environmental policies alongside existing biofuel initiatives.     

Who counts in evaluating the effects of air pollution policies on households? Non-market valuation in the presence of dependencies

Individuals who are likely to realize the largest benefits from improvements in air quality often depend on other members of their households to make time or monetary contributions to their care. The presence of these dependency relationships among household members poses challenges for benefit estimation since it is unlikely that the conditions necessary for recovering the underlying individual preferences from household choices are satisfied in this setting. We propose a conceptual framework that highlights the role of these dependencies in the choice models used to estimate the willingness to pay for environmental quality improvements. We design a complementary stated preference survey that describes hypothetical dependency relationships for household members of different ages to test the implications of our conceptual model. Respondents' stated choices take into account the proposed care-giving responsibilities for young children and teenagers but not for older adults.     

On eco-planning for an eco-demonstration park (EDP) and sustainability—Case study of the Luhua EDP in the Chongming Island of Shanghai, China

The background, concept, connotation, principles, and methods of eco-planning for an Eco-Demonstration Park (EDP) and sustainability were examined based on a case study of the Luhua EDP in the Chongming Island of Shanghai, China, which is an important part of Shanghai Eco-city planning and construction in the 21st century. By analyzing natural, social and economic conditions, calculating population using the land capacity eco-model, eco-function zoning, and eco-construction, an innovative eco-industrial structure and technical chain were formulated. A comprehensive eco-planning scheme for the EDP was proposed, including planning and management strategies for subsystems of efficient industry, good quality human settlement, high standard eco-construction and eco-tourism as well as effective environmental protection and attractive landscape. The EDP should be an area with coordinated and sustainable economic, social and environmental subsystems. Eco-planning for the EDP should be a very important part of eco-city planning and sustainability. The paper aims to set up a theoretical framework and practical basis for eco-planning and promoting harmony between human and nature.     

Is aridity restricting deforestation and land uses in the South American Dry Chaco?

In this paper, we explored how aridity influences the regional deforestation and land-use patterns (i.e. crops/pastures) in South American Dry Chaco. To do this, we contrasted land use during last decade (2001–2012) with a spatially explicit aridity index, which we complemented with a crop water balance model. Land-use classifications were performed by considering the temporal variability of NDVI from MODIS satellites, showing that 40 and 60% of deforested land was assigned to crops and pastures, respectively. Results indicate that although the regional deforestation pattern was not associated with the aridity gradient, with drier areas similarly deforested as wetter areas, contrasting differences were observed in the use of this land, with crops mostly located (90%) in wetter areas and pastures evenly distributed across the whole aridity gradient. This research highlighted the strong effect of water limitations on the land-use option after deforestation and may help to set the basis for future land-use planning policies.