How environmentally focused is the German sustainability strategy? A critical discussion of the indicators used to measure sustainable development in Germany

There are hardly any critical discussions of sustainable development indicator sets designed for use at the national level. This article aims at rectifying this omission in critical academic research by contributing to the discourse on environmental sustainability with an assessment of the indicator set used for the measurement of sustainable development in Germany. It will evaluate to what extent the sustainable development concept is reflected in the structure of the strategy and analyse in how far fundamental environmental issues are covered by the indicator set. The discussion will show that the environmental dimension of the sustainability concept is not sufficiently integrated in the German National Sustainable Development Strategy. Although the strategy??s indicator set contains a range of environmental indicators, gaps in the German indicator set become apparent when contrasted with important issues of sustainability. It will be concluded that the environmental dimension of the sustainable development concept is not the recurrent theme in either the strategy or the indicator set.     

The impact of economic,social, and political globalization and democracy on life expectancy in low-income countries: are sustainable development goals contradictory?

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations are important guides for the development processes of developing countries. However, achieving all of these goals is only possible if the goals are consistent with each other. It has been observed in the literature that possible contradictions between these goals are ignored. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate whether two sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN are contradictory or supporting each other in low-income countries. These SDGs are “Good Health and Well-Being” (SDG3) and “Partnerships for the Goals” (SDG17). For this purpose, the role of globalization and democracy in life expectancy is empirically investigated in 16 low-income countries over the period 1970–2017. While globalization has been used as an indicator of the partnership between countries, democracy has been used as an indicator of accountability and cooperation between governments and societies. According to estimations of the continuous-updated fully modified (CUP-FM) and bias-adjusted ordinary least squares (BA-OLS), globalization and its subcomponents such as economic, social, and political globalization affect life expectancy positively. Democracy also increases life expectancy in those countries. The GDP per capita is also used as a control variable. Our results show that a higher level of per capita income is positively associated with higher levels of life expectancy. In conclusion, no contradiction was found between SDG3 and SDG17 in those countries. Achieving a healthier society requires economic, social, and political integration between governments and societies.

     

Can China achieve food security through the development of irrigation?

Regional Environmental Change - China faces the dual challenge of water scarcity and food security with continued population growth. This paper explores methods to meet that demand without...     

Are sustainable cities “happy” cities? Associations between sustainable development and human well-being in urban areas of the United States

In this paper, we assess the associations between self-reported happiness, measured using the Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index (2012), and four US city sustainability indices: the Green City Index (2011), Our Green Cities (2012), Popular Science US City Rankings (2008) and the SustainLane US Green City Rankings (2007). Based on the examination of nonparametric, rank-based correlations, we found positive associations between sustainable development and happiness on all scales and statistically significant correlations for two of the four SD indices. Results support previous research, emphasize the value of explicit consideration of happiness when measuring urban sustainability and highlight the need for future research that assesses the influence of specific subsystems of urban development on self-reported happiness.     

Is the Clean Development Mechanism delivering benefits to the poorest communities in the developing world? A critical evaluation and proposals for reform

This paper explores whether the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a flexibility mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol, has contributed to poverty alleviation in countries that host CDM projects. We argue that the CDM should deliver pro-poor benefits to the communities in which projects are established, since poverty alleviation is integral to sustainable development, which is one of the main purposes of the CDM. After briefly discussing the background of the CDM, we discuss assessment difficulties to which research is prone when evaluating CDM projects for alleged sustainable development contributions. Section 4 brings together and analyses available empirical research on the pro-poor benefits the CDM purportedly delivers to host country communities, concluding that the CDM has failed to deliver poverty alleviation. Therefore, without attempting to be exhaustive, we suggest policy reforms that aim to redirect the CDM to those most in need of assistance.     

Can conservation and development interventions in the Indian Central Himalaya ensure environmental sustainability? A socioecological evaluation

In biodiversity-rich areas, both conservation and socioeconomic development are at the core of discussions among various stakeholders, such as local people, policymakers, conservationists, resource management professionals, economists, researchers/scientists, and so forth. Various innovations are being provided that aim at promoting both improved livelihood for the people and the conservation and management of natural resources in the Central Himalaya of India. Many studies point out the factors responsible for the tremendous decline of natural resources and also how they have affected the local people’s livelihood options. In this context, the current study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of various solutions/innovations that are being implemented in the Himalayas of India. Unfortunately, only a few are found to be successful in both conservation and sustainable livelihood development. This study reveals that people are still looking for more viable solutions that could help them improve their lifestyle, as well as facilitating ecosystem conservation and supporting existing biodiversity. Based on the present study, it is argued that an in-depth empirical study of any region is a necessary process prior to offering solutions to achieve the desired goals, as considered by development agencies and policy-planners.     

Fulani pastoralists’ transformation process: a sustainable development approach in the Western Highlands of Cameroon

The Fulani pastoralists of the Western Highlands of Cameroon are a subgroup of the Fulbe, a wider pastoral group whose members are dispersed across Sub-Saharan Africa. They migrated and settled in the region in the early twentieth century at different times in migratory waves. Since arriving in the region, they have experienced different stages of transformation due to changing socioeconomic, political and ecological conditions influencing their nomadic lifestyle. The Fulani pastoralists have moved from a purely nomadic lifestyle that involved permanent seasonal migration with their herds and families to a semi-nomadic lifestyle involving return to their previous settlements at the end of each transhumance season, and they finally have adopted a more sedentary community lifestyle that involves only the seasonal movement of herdsmen and their cattle during dry periods. This pastoralist transformation process was motivated by the hospitality of native farming communities, the British colonial administration and postcolonial government of Cameroon, population growth and environmental degradation in the Western Highlands of grazing and cultivable land. This transformation has been beneficial to both pastoralists and native farming groups by improving local community development through increased agro-pastoral production and the realization of communal development projects in education and non-agro-pastoral economic activities. Several challenges have confronted this Fulani pastoralist transformation and its community development in the Western Highlands of Cameroon: landuse competition involving farmer–herder conflicts and inter-tribal wars; climate change, including rainfall variability; and environmental degradation including the disappearance of agro-pastoral lands. This paper, based on field research, investigates the various approaches, benefits and challenges involved in Fulani pastoralists’ settlement transformation in the Western Highlands of Cameroon.     

Are SDGs suitable for China’s sustainable development assessment? An application and amendment of the SDGs Indicators in China

In order to further ensure that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to be implemented and the action measures of all countries are consistent, the United Nations has put forward a set of indicators to monitor and evaluate the progress of global sustainable development. This set of evaluation indicators is aimed for global and regional progress. An important feature of the evaluation indicators is that they are internationally comparable, but due to the large differences in the levels of sustainable development among countries, this framework of evaluation indicators has a disadvantage that it does not apply to tracking the progress of sustainable development at the national level. This paper focuses on the analysis of specific issues in the application of the global sustainable development indicators framework to meet the goals and targets of the UN and builds a system of evaluation indicators to assess the progress of sustainable development at the national level in China, and offers a perspective to assess China’s progress as well.     

China–Africa development cooperation in the rural sector: an exploration of land tenure and investments linkages for sustainable resource use

China-Africa development cooperation in the rural sector has received an increased attention by researchers and policy-makers given the advantages and disadvantages of China’s contribution to the local economy. However, there is a lack of more reliable and nuanced findings to provide greater insights into the major issues concerning rural development and resource use. This paper aims to position land tenure and foreign investments linkages as a new research angle for understanding the role of land in sustainable resource use and investments. The paper provides a brief overview of China-Africa cooperation in rural development especially concerning agriculture to illustrate the neglect of critical land and resource use issues in policy and practice. The paper briefly discusses the ongoing land tenure reforms in Africa and the policy gaps to be filled through further research. It also discusses how China’s own development model, especially concerning land tenure reform, shares similar trajectories with Africa, which has important implications for the effectiveness of Chinese investments in African land. The paper concludes that there is an urgent need for lesson learning among Chinese and African policy-makers and investors towards tailoring development cooperation to more appropriate land tenure systems for sustainable resource use to the mutual benefit of Chinese and African stakeholders.     

The development of a sustainable urban district in Hammarby Sjöstad,Stockholm, Sweden?

By 2012, Hammarby Sjöstad, a former large industrial harbor area in southern Stockholm, Sweden, will be a fully developed residential district containing approximately 11,000 apartments and accommodating 35,000 people. The transformation of the area began in 1996, and the development soon became renowned for its ambitious environmental program, inspired by Agenda 21 (United Nations in Rio declaration on environment and development. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and the Sydney 2000 Olympics in Australia (Newman in Landsc Urban Plan 44:219–226, 1999). Using results based on literature reviews, in-depth interviews, discussions with focus groups, and quantitative data, this paper attempts to gain insight into how the environmental program influenced the planning and performance of the district with regard to sustainable urban development. In doing so, three important conclusions were maintained that could be valuable for similar projects concerning the planning and development of sustainable urban districts. First, the environmental program proved vital to the development process of Hammarby Sjöstad, specifically in its drive to create a sustainable urban district. When planning on improving the sustainability of future districts, such a program should be introduced and integrated earlier in the planning stage of the district. Second, the metabolic flows of Hammarby Sjöstad were reduced as a result of the integrated system—the Hammarby Model—of Hammarby Sjöstad. In order to reduce the metabolic flows in future urban districts even further, it is important to facilitate the integration of technical innovations into existing integrated systems. Third, this case study showed that there was a loss of valid and credible data related to the aims and goals of the environmental program of Hammarby Sjöstad. In future urban districts, it is of the utmost importance to include a clear structure of the assessment process in the environmental program, which would ensure the quality of gathered data and facilitate the development of even better sustainable urban districts in the future.     

Rural agricultural regions and sustainable development: a case study of the Allgäu region in Germany

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, sustainable development became an important issue. Sustainable development often focuses on a single sector or parameter such as tourism, energy supply, water management, different aspects of nature conservation, or economy. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive picture of the development of a region since the Middle Ages and discuss whether this development can be evaluated as socially, economically and ecologically sustainable. We carried out a combined qualitative–quantitative assessment where we use quantitative data and indicators when available, as well as literature sources and expert knowledge from the region for a qualitative assessment. We judge that generally a sustainable development in the Allgäu region can be found, although also some critical points and contentious issues exist. An overall good economic and income situation for most people, the good ecological conditions and rich biodiversity, the relatively well-established social structure, as well as the identity of the people with the region and comparatively low social discrepancy, can be positively stated. In contrast, different actual and future threats exist such as new or planned infrastructure, increasing traffic or tourism activities in certain areas that degrade habitats and reduce species richness, intensification of agriculture in certain areas, but also abandonment of agriculture in other areas, loss of traditions and customs, and declining numbers of smallholders. The objective for the region would be to minimise these negative impacts and reinforce positive trends to assure the sustainable development of the Allgäu.     

Forest sustainability and development in hills of Uttarakhand,India: Can they move together?

Forest cover is viewed as a resource for the nation as it provides ecosystem services. However, it becomes a burden and retards development for the people of the area, particularly the hills, where such forests flourish. Enactment of stringent laws over the past few decades has strictly prohibited tree felling in these areas, and it has become a deterrent in their growth process. While on one hand, the plains are abuzz with economic activity, on the other hand, the sparse population of the hills is compelled to bear the responsibility of maintaining ecological balance. In this context, the issue of development along with forest sustainability becomes important. Using the case study of the hills of Uttarakhand, India, the paper attempts to highlight the problems and the possible strategies that may be adopted to facilitate inclusive socioeconomic development of forest dwellers while ensuring conservation and enhancement of forest cover.     

Evaluation of the strength characteristics of cement-stabilized clay–crumb rubber mixtures for its sustainable use in geotechnical applications

The proper disposal of discarded waste tires is becoming a serious matter of concern worldwide as huge proportion of this waste is being generated which makes the proper disposal virtually infeasible. About 1000 million of waste tires are discarded every year, and by the year 2030, it will turn up to 1200 million per year. If this enormous quantum of waste remains unattended, it would led to serious health and environmental problems. The investigation aims at appraising the compaction and strength characteristics of clayey soil incorporated with waste crumb rubber and cement for its sustainable use in geotechnical application. A series of unconfined compression strength and split tensile strength tests were carried out on clayey soil incorporated with two percentages of cement (3 and 6%) by weight and four percentages of crumb rubber (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0%) by weight. Moreover, scanning electron microscope analysis was also carried out to get better intuition about the behaviour of the composite. Test results suggested that crumb rubber (up to 5%) could be mixed with uncemented/cemented clay soil with the congruent impression. The inclusion of discarded waste tires in cemented clay would be one of the congenial methods for the disposal of this waste as it substantially reduces the deleterious influence of waste tire disposal on human health and ecology.     

Sustainable development in a natural resource rich economy: the case of Chile in 1985–2004

Searching for practical means to assessing economic growth’s sustainability, we extend a standard theoretical model to calculate “true” income measures for Chile, during the 1985–2004 period, and use estimates of natural capital depreciation to obtain genuine national saving measures. We found that, for the period, Chile’s economic growth was sustainable, even when approximately 2.5% of the income recorded by national accounts corresponded to depreciation of natural resources plus costs of atmospheric pollution. This performance can be partially explained by policies implemented to force fiscal responsibility and to assure wise public investment and expending during a natural resource driven growth. This evidence reinforces recent findings contradicting the natural resource curse, and the indirect negative effect of resource abundance over growth that would operate through the quality of institutions.     

Environmental efficiency and its determinants in the development of China’s western regions in 2000–2014

In this study, we measure the environmental efficiency of western China in 2000–2014 by the super-efficiency slacks-based measure model which considers the undesirable outputs. The results show that the environmental efficiency of western China is low and rank behind in the national level. The environmental efficiency is lower than the traditional efficiency which reflects that the economic growth in 2000–2014 has paid high environmental costs. The difference between the traditional efficiency and environmental efficiency experienced “inverted U”-type trend change. The environmental efficiency of the western provinces presented differentiated developing trend and the differences between the western provinces were enlarging. The environmental efficiency of the western regions was not only lower than that in the eastern regions with a big gap but also lower than that in the central regions. Through the convergence test, we found that the environmental efficiency gap between the western and the eastern regions was gradually expanding; meanwhile, the environmental efficiency gap between the central and the western regions was narrowing. This paper also analyzes the determinants of environmental efficiency by the tobit model and then addresses.     

Do EU pesticide standards promote environmentally-friendly production of fresh export vegetables in developing countries? The evidence from Kenyan green bean industry

Developed countries are major markets for developing country fresh produce. Demand by developed country consumers for spotless produce has encouraged developing country consumers to rely increasingly on pesticides in producing fresh export vegetables. However developed country pesticide standards enacted in response to reports of increased farmer and farm worker pesticide poisoning and the food safety scandals of the 1980s and 1990s require changes in the way growers use pesticides. The EU has especially developed stringent food safety standards relating to, among other things, pesticide usage. Under EU pesticide standards (EU-PS) farmers are trained by their buyers on safe use of pesticides and then closely monitored under contract. This paper looks at the impact of these standards on developing country farmers’ use of alternative pest management practices, pesticide protective clothing and the actual usage of pesticides. It finds that compliance with EU-PS increases the use of alternative pest management practices and protective clothing. However, EU-PS has mixed effect on the quantity of pesticides used. The paper also finds that farmer’s education and access to information play an important role in the use of alternative pest management practices. The paper concludes that EU-PS encourage the use of alternative pest management practices and pesticide protective gear in production of fresh export vegetables. The findings imply that EU-PS promote environmentally-friendly methods of production of fresh export vegetables in developing countries.     

Singular Spectrum Analysis of Hydroecological Parameter Dynamics of Lake Naroch’ in the Years 1978–2015

Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) has been used to decompose continuous series of data on certain characteristics of Lake Naroch’ ecosystem during the vegetative seasons of years 1978–2015 into a long-time trend, a periodic component, and a residue not amenable to decomposition. The contribution of each component to changes in this variable has been assessed. The trends accounted for 78–97% of parameter variability, and the periodic components accounted for 2.5–15%. The fluctuations of phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass dynamics were the most diverse, and the contribution of these components was the greatest (15 and 8%, respectively). The periodic components in the changes of all parameters could be divided into four groups according to period duration (17–22, 7–15, 4–7, and less than 4 years). Multidimensional factor analysis of seven biotic parameters was performed in order to identify fluctuations in the ecosystem. Five major factors accounting for 93.6% of ecosystem changes together were identified, and each factor variable was subjected to SSA analysis. The period durations were similar for the oscillatory components identified. The first factor was interpreted as a trophic status of the water body, the second was taken to be the geographical location that defines the amount of solar radiation energy available, the third was taken to be the availability of biogenic elements (phosphorus in particular), and the fourth was interpreted as specific developmental cycles of live components of the ecosystem.     

Exposure to traffic-related air pollution and the risk of developing breast cancer among women in eight Canadian provinces: A case–control study

A few recent studies have reported positive associations between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and the incidence of breast cancer. We capitalized on an existing Canadian multi-site population-based case–control study to further investigate this association.We used the National Enhanced Cancer Surveillance System, a population-based case–control study conducted in eight of 10 Canadian provinces from 1994 to 1997. A total of 1569 breast cancer cases and 1872 population controls who reported at least 90% complete self-reported addresses over the 1975–1994 exposure period were examined. Mean exposure levels to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) (an indicator of traffic-related air pollution) were estimated for this period using three different measures: (1) satellite-derived observations; (2) satellite-derived observations scaled with historical fixed-site measurements of NO₂; and (3) a national land-use regression (LUR) model. Proximity to major roads was also examined. Using unconditional logistic regression, stratified by menopausal status, we estimated odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for many individual-level and contextual breast cancer risk factors.We observed positive associations between incident breast cancer and all three measures of NO₂ exposure from 1975 to 1994. In fully adjusted models for premenopausal breast cancer, a 10 ppb increase in NO₂ exposure estimated from the satellite-derived observations, the scaled satellite-derived observations, and the national LUR model produced ORs of 1.26 (95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.92–1.74), 1.32 (95% CI: 1.05–1.67) and 1.28 (95% CI: 0.92–1.79). For postmenopausal breast cancer, we found corresponding ORs of 1.10 (95% CI: 0.88–1.36), 1.10 (95% CI: 0.94–1.28) and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.86–1.32). Substantial heterogeneity in the ORs was observed across the eight Canadian provinces and reduced ORs were observed when models were restricted to women who had received routine mammography examinations. No associations were found for road proximity measures.This study provides some support for the hypothesis that traffic-related air pollution may be associated with the development of breast cancer, especially in premenopausal women. With the few studies available, further research is clearly needed.     

Can we infer avalanche–climate relations using tree-ring data? Case studies in the French Alps

Dendrogeomorphology is a powerful tool to determine past avalanche activity, but whether or not the obtained annually resolved chronologies are sufficiently detailed to infer avalanche–climate relationships (in terms of temporal resolution) remains an open question. In this work, avalanche activity is reconstructed in five paths of the French Alps and crossed with a set of snow and weather variables covering the period 1959–2009 on a monthly and annual (winter) basis. The variables which best explain avalanche activity are highlighted with an original variable selection procedure implemented within a logistic regression framework. The same approach is used for historical chronologies available for the same paths, as well as for the composite tree-ring/historical chronologies. Results suggest that dendrogeomorphic time series allow capturing the relations between snow or climate and avalanche occurrences to a certain extent. Weak links exist with annually resolved snow and weather variables and the different avalanche chronologies. On the contrary, clear statistical relations exist between these and monthly resolved snow and weather variables. In detail, tree rings seem to preferentially record avalanches triggered during cold winter storms with heavy precipitation. Conversely, historical avalanche data seem to contain a majority of events that were released later in the season and during episodes of strong positive temperature anomalies.     

How green our future would be? An investigation of the determinants of green purchasing behavior of young citizens in a developing Country

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Research on green purchasing behavior (GPB) has demonstrated significant progress in the past few years. However, there are still several influential...