Building a freshman-year foundation for sustainability studies: Terrascope, a case study

Terrascope is a freshman learning community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in which teams of students work to find solutions to large ‘unsolvable’ problems and to communicate about those problems with a wide variety of audiences in multiple formats. The program strongly promotes students’ autonomy in focusing and structuring their work, and student projects culminate in public presentations, both to general audiences and to panels of technical specialists. Students who have completed the program tend to show strong engagement with environmental and sustainability issues, as well as the skills and experience to work intensively on such issues within multidisciplinary teams. Here, we present the program as a case study, with some discussion of the factors that are key to its operation.

Implementing pro-poor policies in a decentralized context: the case of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program in Tanzania

This paper examines the challenge of achieving a balance between the implementation of centrally designed pro-poor policies and the decentralization of responsibilities to local governments in many African countries. It analyzes the implementation of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program in Tanzania. Key mechanisms for planning and allocating resources are analyzed at ministry, district, and village levels. Results show that a mixture of policy incoherencies, technical shortcomings and political influence determine that only a small proportion of funds reaches the underserved areas. We argue that a greater connection between the bottom-up and top-down planning mechanisms, and a sharp increase of downwards accountability are needed before decentralized decision-making result in better resources allocation. Meanwhile a bigger intervention from central government is needed.     

Building climate change resilience through local cooperation: a Peruvian Andes case study

Many of the problems faced by international projects intending to create adaptive social–ecological systems for climate change stem from lack of stakeholder engagement, limited understanding of local political, economic, and environmental complexities, and restricted time. Local organizations focused on conservation and development might have an advantage in creating adaptive social–ecological systems because they understand local processes and are involved with communities for extended periods of time. A local non-governmental organization, Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), works in twenty-one communities in the Andean highlands outside of Cusco to conserve the endangered Polylepis forests. As part of the conservation project, ECOAN supports community-led development projects such as building greenhouses. Data for this project were gathered through interviews (with community members in three different communities, ECOAN staff, and donors) and participant observation. This paper shows that ECOAN’s extensive use of participation has led to community ownership of the conservation and development projects. The communities’ close connections to the Polylepis project contribute to resilience through creating networks, extending the local environmental ethic to the Polylepis trees, supporting projects that diversify and strengthen community sustenance, and contributing to the growth of economic activities. This case study provides a positive example of the potential for local organizations and people to take charge of their own resiliency efforts where international projects and protocols may otherwise prove ineffective.     

Water management in Saudi Arabia: a case study of Makkah Al Mukarramah region

Environment, Development and Sustainability - In the hydrologic design of water management infrastructures, rainfall characteristics are often used and the available historical rainfall events in...     

Water resources planning and management based on system dynamics: a case study of Yulin city

Water security is an integral aspect of the socio-economic development in China. Nevertheless, water resources are under persistent pressures because of the growing population, heavy irrigation, climate change effects and short-term policies. Traditional management approaches narrowly focus on increasing supply and reducing demand without considering the complex interactions and feedback loops that govern water resource behaviour. Whereas these approaches may provide quick fix solutions, they often lead to unanticipated, sometimes catastrophic, delayed outcomes. Therefore, water management needs to take a holistic approach that caters to the interdependent physical (e.g. water inflows, outflows) and behavioural (e.g. decision rules, perceptions) processes in the system. Unlike reductionist approaches, System Dynamics (SD) takes a system-level view for modelling and analysing the complex structure (cause–effect relationships, feedback loops, delays) that generates the systemic behaviour. Simulating the SD model allows assessing long-term system-wide impacts, exploring leverage points and communicating results to decision makers. In this paper, we follow an SD modelling approach to examine the future of water security in Yulin City. First, we present a conceptual model for integrating water supply and demand. Based on this, we build an SD model to simulate and analyse the dynamics of water resource over time. The model output is tested to ensure that it satisfactorily replicates the historical behaviour of the system. The model is used to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of various supply/demand management options. Three scenarios are designed and examined: business-as-usual, supply management, and demand management. Results show that current management regime cannot effectively meet the future water demand. Whereas supply acquisition provides short-term benefits, it cannot cope with the growing population. A combination of conservation measures and demand-management instruments is regarded the most effective strategy for balancing supply and demand.     

非自愿性移民生产安置中土地公平补偿研究——以湖南皂市水利枢纽工程为例

水利水电工程建设与移民安置会占用淹没区与安置区土地,根据补偿原理,淹没区与安置区理应获得补偿,从公平角度研究其土地补偿,对于增进移民与安置区居民福祉、实现社会公平正义具有积极意义。本文在界定和讨论淹没区与安置区土地公平补偿内涵与范围的基础上,分析了研究区域现行补偿标准的公平性,采用收益还原法和条件价值法分别测算了淹没区与安置区土地的市场价值与非市场价值,并由此测算土地公平补偿。结果表明:1淹没区与安置区土地公平补偿内涵是"损失什么,补偿什么",采取完全补偿原则,能体现"两区"之间的公平,公平补偿范围包括农地市场价值和非市场价值;2研究区域淹没区和安置区水田的市场价值分别是698 558.18元/hm2和573 272.73元/hm2,旱地为457 090.91元/hm2和465 818.18元/hm2;淹没区和安置区水田的非市场价值为50 006.40元/hm2和52 008.36元/hm2,旱地为47 045.65元/hm2和48 278.08元/hm2。3淹没区水田公平补偿测算结果为748 564.58元/hm2,旱地为504 136.56元/hm2;安置区水田公平补偿为625 281.09元/hm2,旱地为514 096.26元/hm2;4现行淹没区水田和旱地补偿标准仅为测算结果的53.77%和53.80%,安置区的补偿标准更是远低于该测算结果。研究结论:研究区域现行土地补偿标准仅能反映部分农地价值,是不完全补偿,同时,有关补偿制度未将淹没区与安置区土地补偿置于平等地位,现行土地补偿标准有失公平;本文基于农户的福利损失测算土地补偿,体现了公平补偿内涵;在土地补偿政策改进方面,应提高淹没区与安置区土地补偿标准,建立完善的社会保障制度,实施更加积极的就业政策等。     

Sustainability assessment with time-series scores: a case study of Chinese provinces

Asian nations are currently facing a number of challenges, including environmental degradation and growing societal inequalities, in the course of their rapid economic growth and industrialization. Under such conditions, it is of critical importance to develop appropriate assessment tools with which to comprehensively measure the sustainability status of a region in order to guide its transformation into a sustainable society. This paper proposes a method of sustainability assessment consisting of the three components of environment, resource, and socio-economic with aggregated time-series scores. This method can demonstrate the relative sustainability scores of targeted regions for different time periods, thereby, enabling the comparison of relative sustainability status for different regions over these periods. We carried out a case study of Chinese provinces for the years 2000 and 2005 using the proposed method and confirmed its applicability as the indicative type of sustainability assessment at the regional level, while actually investigating the sustainability status and its chronological changes. The results indicated that aggregate sustainability index scores improved between 2000 and 2005 in most provinces, mainly due to significant improvement in the scores for the socio-economic component, whereas the scores for the environment component deteriorated in some provinces over the study period. Our method proves to be effective in analyzing the relative sustainability status among targeted regions for different time periods in the form of aggregate scores, paving the way for practical applications, such as policy analysis, in the pursuit of a sustainable society.     

度量生态服务价值的选择实验:方法介绍及案例研究

选择实验作为一种价值评估工具,自1990年代以来被应用于生态环境和自然资源利用领域。选择试验不同于开放式或封闭式条件价值法中采用的那种直接出价方式,它实际上模拟了一个关于不同水平属性组合的交易市场。由于选择实验可以评价生态环境和自然资源利用的某一属性,所以这一方法更适合作为生态补偿政策的评估工具。选择实验基于特征效用理论和随机效用理论,该方法成功的关键是选定合适的属性及其水平。设计选择实验目前最有效的方法是D-效率设计,这一设计要求的原则是水平平衡,正交性,最少重叠,以及效用平衡。作为案例研究,本文利用选择实验计算了资兴东江湖雾的景观价值。将影响东江湖旅游这一产品的效用和价值的主要属性确定为雾、其他自然景观、设施以及门票,其中门票价格是成本属性。数据由课题组实地通过问卷调查获得。计算结果是,相对于无雾,东江湖游客愿意支付132.93元看到小雾,支付136.59元看到仙境雾。本文还计算出让其他自然景观维持现状、变好的支付意愿分别为151.84、198.98元,让道路及旅游服务设施变得更好的支付意愿是28.43元。     

基于适度人口容量的生态文明城市建设研究——以广东省惠州市为例

生态文明城市是新型城镇化建设的目标,是实现经济发展、民生改善与生态保护协调统一的最佳方式。适度的人口容量、科学的城市规划和有效的城市治理是避免和减轻城市病的根本途径。本文从生态经济学和系统工程学跨学科的视角出发,构建了一个基于适度人口容量,人口流动和城乡均衡发展的生态文明城市建设路径的理论分析框架,并以广东省惠州市为例,根据土地功能定位和主体功能区定位,分别测算了惠州市的适度人口容量;基于人口自然变动和人口机械变动的趋势,预测了惠州市未来人口发展状况。研究发现,惠州市常住人口已略微超过基于土地功能定位测算的适度人口容量,但基于主体功能定位的人口密度模型测算表明,惠州市未来人口发展规模远低于适度人口容量,进而从总体上剖析了惠州市生态文明城市建设中适度人口容量和人口均衡发展方面带有普遍性的问题和原因。由此,揭示出生态文明城市的创建,必须基于人口承载力,走动态规划调控路子,协同推进经济建设、民生改善、生态保护、环境优化和制度改革,真正地促进流动人口市民化、城乡公共服务均等化和社会保障公平化。     

Flora biodiversity change detection: a case study

Changes in flora biodiversity are a dilemma facing managers in order to cope with challenges of extinction or endangering plant species as well as replacement by invasive species. Such problems can occur in the region as disruption of ecosystem balance. The first step of proper management of a watershed is obtaining accurate information about plant communities and their dominance and biodiversity status. Such information will help decision makers to adopt an appropriate management approach. Accordingly, the current study was conducted to detect various types of plant species in Zanjanrood Watershed. For this porous, quadrate and transect methods were applied to determine available plant species in the region. Afterwards, Shannon and Simpson’s Reciprocal indices were used to specify the biodiversity status of the identified communities. The calculation results revealed 3.19 and 5.98 for Shannon and Simpson’s Reciprocal indices, respectively. As the results suggested, there has been a downward trend in biodiversity status over the last 20 years. Such a deteriorating condition has been accelerated rise in recent years so that the non-palatable species are rapidly replaced by the palatable ones due to uncontrolled overgrazing of livestock. If management is not based on principles of sustainability in the region, the watershed will experience an extreme poverty of land cover. The findings would be so helpful to achieve an appropriate strategy in order to conserve the biodiversity in a sustainable manner.     

Assessing water quality in rivers with fuzzy inference systems: a case study

In recent years, fuzzy-logic-based methods have demonstrated to be appropriated to address uncertainty and subjectivity in environmental problems. In the present study, a methodology based on fuzzy inference systems (FIS) to assess water quality is proposed. A water quality index calculated with fuzzy reasoning has been developed. The relative importance of water quality indicators involved in the fuzzy inference process has been dealt with a multi-attribute decision-aiding method. The potential application of the fuzzy index has been tested with a case study. A data set collected from the Ebro River (Spain) by two different environmental protection agencies has been used. The current findings, managed within a geographic information system, clearly agree with official reports and expert opinions about the pollution problems in the studied area. Therefore, this methodology emerges as a suitable and alternative tool to be used in developing effective water management plans.     

Water Bodies Protection Index for assessing the sustainability status of lakes under the influence of urbanization: a case study of south Chennai, India

Vulnerability of water resources to degradation is one of the critical issues facing developing countries. Changes in population and land use associated with urbanization may alter social interdependence of water bodies in the vicinity of urban and periurban areas thereby affecting their sustainability. Preservation and proper management of lakes are urgently needed to ensure that these freshwater ecosystems continue to deliver their services to the people in the changing scenarios resulting from urbanization. In this paper, we make use of indicators, a powerful tool in decision making, and propose Water Bodies Protection Index (WBPI), which can serve as monitoring cum ranking tool to prioritize conservation efforts for periurban water bodies. Water quality, biological diversity, encroachment of the lakes, role played by the local community in lake management and preservation, and implementation of existing Acts for protection of water resources by government agencies are the five factors chosen for formulating this index. The data and information for this were obtained through socio-ecological study of six water bodies situated in the urban to rural gradient at the southern fringe of Chennai city in south India. Weightages were assigned to the above factors based on a Delphi study. A simple aggregation of weighted factors yields the index that classifies the protection status from poor (<2.5) to sustainable (>9). Application of the WBPI to the study lakes and comparing it with an urbanization index from the literature for the locations of the study lakes provided satisfactory classification and correlation, respectively. The WBPI is expected to help assess many such water bodies elsewhere to set targets for their revival and preservation.     

Study abroad in support of education for sustainability: a New Zealand case study

This article presents a case study of an existing study abroad program to New Zealand interested in infusing sustainability themes into the curriculum. The review of the program is set in the context of United Nations Education for Sustainable Development goals and the role of sustainability in institutions of higher education. The author was an invited external observer and suggests that study abroad programs in support of sustainability education provide transformative learning experiences that invest in the well being of both people and places. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Motivations for organic farming in tourist regions: a case study in Nepal

An increasing number of individuals and businesses involved in the tourism industry have begun activities related to organic farming and organic agro-products not only in Europe and North America but also in developing countries in Asia. Both organic farming and rural tourism are considered important to socially and economically sustainable rural development. The influences on the establishment of or conversion to organic farming have been much discussed in Europe but not in developing countries. This study focuses on Nepal, where small-scale organic farming occurs in tourism areas, and qualitatively reveals the motivations for organic farming and other factors related to its adoption. It was found that the reasons for introducing organic farming practices varied with the timing of their adoption. Additionally, the kinds of organic-related activities adopted varied depending on how the individual adopter first encountered the term “organic farming.” However, all individuals involved in organic farming shared some common motivations, such as desires for personal health, quality produce and rural development.     

Drought-induced resettlement: a case study from Burkina Faso

As a result of the '16-year drought' that Burkina Faso experienced from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, there has been significant movement of people from the north of the country to the south. The large numbers of people that were displaced as a result of this natural disaster put pressure on the production systems of the south and caused concern amongst development organisations that environmental degradation would follow. Through a 2-year research period, using participatory approaches, it was found that despite a doubling of the population and the introduction of foreign production systems, the process of communal land control has significantly limited environmental degradation. This paper explains how customary law has controlled the settlement of immigrants (the Mossi and Fulani) and how it has overseen land allocation in three villages. The conclusions of the study indicate that, firstly, the customary law mechanisms in the three villages are effective in addressing communal resource use and, secondly, there is an evolution in customary law systems as they respond to local change. Received: 24 February 1999 · Accepted: 15 May 1999     

Cleaner production: a case study of Kaveh paper mill

The pulp and paper industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its energy consumption and impact on the environment. The ‘Cleaner Production’ (CP) approach has been widely utilised as a tool to meet environmental concerns by industry. However, because of the high initial capital cost of CP implementation, it is important to develop a model for prioritisation. In this paper, using analytic hierarchy process methodology, a tree-level hierarchy model was structured to facilitate the prioritisation process in the Kaveh Papermaking Company located in Iran. Using a literature review and field study, the proposed model can provide a framework for CP implementation in a paper factory. The results show that process change gives higher priority between 5 criteria and that repair of all leaks in the paper-making process gives higher priority between 35 sub-criteria. Process change was further evaluated and discussed in which input material changes gained higher priority. The results of this research can be used to accelerate the implementation of CP in Iran's pulp and paper industry.     

Regional carbon footprints of households: a German case study

Households are either directly or indirectly responsible for the highest share of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, programs helping to improve human consumption habits have been identified as a comparatively cost-effective way to reduce household emissions significantly. Recently, various studies have determined strong regional differences in household carbon footprints, yet a case study for Germany has not been conducted. Local information and policies directed at household consumption in Germany thus devoid of any foundation. In this paper, we analyze the impact of different criteria such as location, income and size on household carbon footprints in Germany and demonstrate how the impact of GHG mitigation opportunities varies for different population segments. We use a multi-region input output hybrid LCA approach to developing a regionalized household carbon footprint calculator for Germany that considers 16 sub-national regions, 15 different household sizes, and eight different income and age categories. The model reveals substantial regional differences in magnitude and composition of household carbon footprints, essentially influenced by two criteria: income and size. The highest income household is found to emit 4.25 times as much CO₂e than the lowest. We identify indirect emissions from consumption as the largest share of household carbon footprints, although this is subject to fluctuation based on household type. Due primarily to local differences in vehicle availability, income and nutrition, an average household in Baden-Wuerttemberg is found to have 25 % higher carbon footprint than its Mecklenburg-West Pomeranian counterpart. Based on the results of this study, we discuss policy options for household carbon mitigation in Germany.     

An indicator-based sustainability assessment method for indigenous communities: a case study from Mexico

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Indigenous and Western communities are faced with increasing issues of sustainability compromising their natural resources and cultural heritage, for...