Instruments and strategies to improve the eco-efficiency of products

This article examines what tools can be used to analyze and improve the environmental performance of a product. It discusses how companies can upgrade the environmental performance of products in a cost-effective way and enhance their competitive position in the market through product innovation. Based on current examples, it is concluded that a complete toolbox is available to assist companies in developing more eco-efficient products. Which combination of practices can best be applied depends on various factors, particularly the type of external demand(s) the company is facing, its available resources, its time horizon, and its environmental strategy. Experience shows that it is better for companies to be ahead of external criticism and act more proactively. This article shows how companies can follow four main strategies in which eco-efficient product development goes hand in hand with a better competitive position in the market: (1) an efficiency improvement strategy; (2) a market share improvement strategy; (3) a market development strategy; and (4) a product diversification strategy. Finally, the importance of product innovation is stressed in order to implement the eco-efficiency strategies mentioned above.     

Capital assets and intercultural borderlands: socio-cultural challenges for natural resource management

In their design or implementation, many natural resource management (NRM) programs ignore critical socio-cultural dimensions of the challenge to advance sustainability. Building on particular ideas about culture and human ecosystems, we combine the strengths of the capital assets model of sustainability and the idea of intercultural borderlands to respond to this gap. To advance our thesis about the utility of these tools, we critically reviewed and analysed a cross-disciplinary literature relating to the socio-cultural dimensions of NRM. This paper stems from that labour and examines particular tensions that arise in land management as a result of Australians' specific colonial and postcolonial legacies. These tensions--related to ethnicity, gender, population, age and health--are among the threads in the larger tapestry that comprises the socio-cultural dimensions of NRM. For the Australian case, they are central, longstanding and persistent, and thus worthy of analysis; and they are applicable in general terms to other places with similar histories of settlement and land use.     

Mining investment and regional development: A scenario-based assessment for Northern Sweden

The way in which mineral development contributes to economic development in the region where it takes place is important for the mining industry’s relations to the local community. The purpose of this paper is to provide an assessment of the regional-economic impacts of a large-scale contemporary iron ore project in Northern Sweden (including two new mines, two processing plants, and one pellet plant). The regional input-output model rAps, provided by the Swedish government agency NUTEK is used, and it explicitly addresses the linkages between demographic development, the labour market, industrial production and the municipal finances in a consistent modelling framework. The simulation results suggest an average employment multiplier of about 2-2.5 during the maximum production phase, indicating that for every 100 jobs in mining about 100-150 jobs are supported elsewhere in the local economy. The positive impacts in this case are made possible in large because of the existing mining cluster and local suppliers in northern Sweden. Still, these results are perhaps best viewed as an indication of the potential for local economic development as they neglect, for instance, potential supply constraints (e.g., attracting the necessary labour force, road infrastructure, etc.). Specific policies to further strengthen the regional linkage effects may therefore be necessary in order for this potential to be realized in practice, and attention would preferably be paid to policy measures that have positive external spillover effects on the surrounding geographical area.     

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.     

Planning and Creating Eco-cities: indicators as a tool for shaping development and measuring progress

Eco-cities strive to become more liveable, enjoyable, and healthy. Indicators can be an effective mechanism for understanding people's values, needs, concerns, and expectations; guiding development decisions; evaluating progress and making revisions; and gaining support for desired actions. This Viewpoint describes how sustainability indicators can be developed to measure a community's environment, economy, quality of life, and governance. Five helpful hints are offered to guide this process.     

人类发展指数的修正与可持续发展的替代指标

本文确认了全球社会-生态问题(过度消费,道德危机)的主要根源并提出了新的可持续发展的愿景,重点要关注精神、道德、心理、生理和人的智力开发(而代替以消费为导主的理念)。讨论了人类发展指标不足所涉及到的因素(寿命预期、人均国内生产总值),提出了测量人类可持续发展的替代指标,即:健康人口的比例。生态效率也被建议作为转化可持续发展的必要条件,人的精神,根据生态中心立场(社会-生态幸福)。通过适当的教育和体制政策而实现环境和人类健康、公平和整个人类的发展。     

Integrated water management of the Brahmaputra basin: Perspectives and hope for regional development

Water is strongly linked with the overall development framework of the Brahmaputra basin. However, the absence of integrated management of Brahmaputra water resources and lack of coordination among the riparian states constitutes an ongoing threat to future development plans within the basin. Brahmaputra's abundant hydropower potential can help give riparian countries a safer energy future that is the key driving force behind the prospect of potential cooperation. This paper analyses the current status of Brahmaputra water resources and identifies the perspectives of riparian countries regarding the development of the Brahmaputra basin. It also identifies the opportunities for cooperation and regional development through integrated water development and management of the Brahmaputra basin. It is essential to develop an integrated water resources management approach involving all riparians to foster regional development and overcome the prospect of severe water conflict along the Brahmaputra basin.     

Environmental training fosters bottom-line education and regional economic development

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. If Einstein was correct, the question that you should be posing to yourself right now is “how can I make the change to a different level of thinking?” This challenge was given to a group of managers from a broad range of businesses in a training program delivered at the Centre for Environmental Training (CET) in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It will be examined in this article as part of a case study about the success of a TQEM approach to improving the bottom line of business. At the heart of this story is the germination of a business vision to make improved environmental performance a key factor in regional economic renewal. In keeping with the TQEM theme, this is a never ending story; this article is just the prologue.     

Energy indicators and sustainable development: The International Energy Agency approach

The International Energy Agency (IEA), together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN‐DESA, Eurostat and the European Environmental Agency, has recently published a comprehensive joint‐agency overview of energy indicators for sustainable development. The IEA's contribution to this publication is based on the IEA energy indicator approach. This approach has been developed and used by the IEA over a number of years. The indicators advocated by the IEA are relatively disaggregated to allow for meaningful analysis of sustainability issues in the energy sector. Using a decomposition approach helps reveal the causal links between human/economic driving forces, energy use and emissions. This article presents examples of IEA's work with indicators and an overview of the methodology used, including an explanation of the link to sustainable development. It also provides an example of a simplified indicator analysis of India, to illustrate the importance of improved data systems in developing indicators that can provide meaningful policy analysis.     

A planning and decision-making framework for ecological restoration

A broad and objective perspective of ecological and socioenomic knowledge is required to underlie a scientific approach to the problems of terrestrial restoration ecology. Uncertainty associated with limited scientific knowledge highlights the crucial importance of the interaction between science and policy in weighing ecological restoration alternatives in relation to other management options. In this paper, we provide a pragmatic definition for restoration ecology that is suitable for extensive terrestrial applications and present a decision framework to help organize and clarify different phases of the decision process as it is related to ecological restoration. We argue that restoration planning should include a wider spectrum of participants and decisions than have traditionally been employed.     

Nematodes as indicators of ecosystem development during platinum mine tailings reclamation

As nematodes are widespread throughout the terrestrial ecosystem, and have shown potential to be used as indicators of ecosystem development. Nematode indices were used to distinguish between two different amendment types during platinum mine tailing reclamation. The two different amendment types include the use of woodchip-vermicompost and inorganic fertiliser. Both treatments had a higher number of nematodes than the natural veldt. Of the 17 genera identified, Rhabditis dominated in all sites. A significant difference (ANOVA; p < 0.05) was observed between Plant parasitic indices of both treatments and the natural veldt. The main decomposition pathway was dominated by bacterial decomposition for all sites as evident from the Channel index values. The dominance of bacterial feeding nematodes and the high number of nematodes feeding on higher plants indicate that the platinum mine tailings sites may be in an initial stage of succession. It is expected that the woodchip-vermicompost may have a low C:N ratio, causing the system to be nutrient enriched as indicated by the enrichment index. An increase in food-web development was observed in the woodchip-vermicompost sites indicating recovery from disturbance, during the third sampling period.     

Participatory development for regional sustainability in Western Australia: an enabling state?

Regionally specific sustainability processes that account for diverse environments and populations and that integrate social, economic, political and ecological spheres are being developed in Western Australia. A coordinated commitment to sustainability principles and a participatory philosophy by the state and local governments is necessary. This requires a transformation of the public service, from a director of passive programmes and laws to a facilitator of community projects and outcomes, towards an enabling state. An international participatory paradigm provides an array of concepts and methods for local and regional communities in partnership with government and industry to achieve this. Participatory methodologies are utilised successfully around the globe to create an institutional framework that facilitates a process of dialogue, partnership, networking, learning and managing change. This paper examines the potential contribution of a participatory approach to improve the participatory capacity of regional communities and both local and state governments towards the facilitation of regional sustainability processes.     

Urban development grant — an early assessment of regional implications

An examination of the Urban Development Grant during its first round of operation reveals that certain regions, particularly the West Midlands and London, are winning considerably more funding than others. A change in this trend is likely to require a reassessment, by the Government, of the targetting criteria presently used to direct the grant to areas of need.     

Simulation and mathematical programming decision-making support for smallholder farming

Many mathematical programs have been developed over the past 50 years to aid agricultural experts and other farming decision-makers. The application of these mathematical programs has seen limited success because their development has focused on mathematical theory as opposed to the requirements needed for application. This paper describes the development of two mathematical programs that were designed to integrate with a visualization simulation that aids a nontraditional group of agricultural decision-makers: illiterate Sri Lankan subsistence farmers. The simulation was designed to help these illiterate farmers make business decisions about their crop selection choices which, in turn, will help them develop their business plans required for obtaining bank micro-loans. This paper’s focus is on the use of linear programming as a potential tool to demonstrate the benefits of crop diversification and rotation to the farmer based on various available crop types. It also highlights the issues using such an approach.     

Evaluating regional sustainable development: Approaches,methods and the politics of analysis

One of the by-products of the culture of targets, performance and assessment, is the introduction of uniform methods for the evaluation of the success of policy interventions. Such an approach has been applied to attempts to evaluate regional sustainable development, often with unsatisfactory results. This paper reviews some of the fundamental requirements for the evaluation of regional sustainable development and provides research evidence that indicates the need for procedural and institutional innovation. The evidence in support of innovation reflects the need for assessment procedures and methods to be tailored-to-fit the environmental, social and economic conditions obtaining in an individual region. An additional consideration in analysing the evaluation of regional sustainable development is the extent of socio-political influence over the choice of procedures and methodologies.     

Criteria and indicators of forest sustainability assessment for Cameroon

Against a backdrop of continuous deforestation and the degradation of forest resources, this paper is an attempt to develop auspicious criteria and indicators of forest sustainability for Cameroon, drawing from the strength and weaknesses of those currently applicable. Using data emanating from both secondary and primary sources, this paper concludes that while the adoption and implementation of the criteria for forest sustainability should normally lead to sustainability, it should not be taken for granted because sustainability is not an abstract concept, but measurable. Thus, whether or not forest in Cameroon is sustainable can only be ascertained through the effective application of the criteria and indicators delineated in this paper.     

ModelOps for enhanced decision-making and governance in emergency control rooms

Environment Systems and Decisions - For mission critical (MC) applications such as bushfire emergency management systems (EMS), understanding the current situation as a disaster unfolds is critical...     

Group decision-making for leakage management strategy of water network

The problem of leakage is complex and requires actions drawn from different aspects of water network management. Inadequate maintenance has serious consequences, both financial and environmental. This paper proposes a group decision-making model based on PROMETHEE V method to aim a leakage management strategy, which takes into account the points of view of four stakeholders, selecting feasible options, and considering the available budget as constraint. Thus, this strategy is the combination of options that will efficiently meet technical, socio-economic and environmental criteria to achieve sustainable development.     

Petroleum royalties and regional development in Brazil: The economic growth of recipient towns

In 1997, Brazil approved law n^er 9478, establishing new rules for sharing petroleum royalties with Brazilian municipalities. The goal of this paper is to evaluate whether royalties distributed under the new law have contributed for the development of benefited municipalities. For that the difference-in-differences estimator (diff-in-diff) is used, which compares the evolution of the economic product into the municipality affected by the new law with the unaffected ones, by exploring the new legislation as an exogenous change. The data refer to the municipal gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate before and after the event. Results are surprising, showing that royalty receivers grew less than municipalities that did not receive such resources. The difference is small but statistically significant. In general, an increase of one real in royalties per capita reduces the growth rate of the municipal product in 0.002 percentile points.