Practical sustainability criteria for decision-making

SUMMARY

The new paradigm of sustainability necessitates revisions to traditional decision-making processes. This paper, which is the first in a series of four, outlines the changes required for decision-making to reflect sustainability concerns. Three sustainability criteria, that are the focus of the three subsequent papers, are introduced and the rationale for each is explained. A framework for incorporating the three sustainability criteria into the decision-making process is briefly outlined. The paper ends with the introduction to a case study, the North Central Project (NCP) for electricity supply alternatives. The NCP is used in the three following papers to demonstrate the individual components of the new approach to sustainable decision-making.     

Livelihoods,power, and food insecurity: adaptation of social capital portfolios in protracted crises—case study Burundi

The failure of food security and livelihood interventions to adapt to conflict settings remains a key challenge in humanitarian responses to protracted crises. This paper proposes a social capital analysis to address this policy gap, adding a political economy dimension on food security and conflict to the actor‐based livelihood framework. A case study of three hillsides in north Burundi provides an ethnographic basis for this hypothesis. While relying on a theoretical framework in which different combinations of social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) account for a diverse range of outcomes, the findings offer empirical insights into how social capital portfolios adapt to a protracted crisis. It is argued that these social capital adaptations have the effect of changing livelihood policies, institutions, and processes (PIPs), and clarify the impact of the distribution of power and powerlessness on food security issues. In addition, they represent a solid way of integrating political economy concerns into the livelihood framework.     

全球化视阈下的生态伦理学研究述论

作为人类文化的重要创新,生态伦理学研究推动了将道德延伸到自然界,通过协调各方利益,规范人类的环境态度和行为,重建人与自然的和谐关系,从而保证人类整体事业的繁荣。生态学所描述的仅仅自然界的自然生态,虽然其基本原理为生态伦理学所吸纳,但后者并非生态加伦理如此简单而已,它的研究对象更为广阔,也更为复杂。人始终是伦理学关怀的主体,其出发点是人,最终的对象也必然是包含人在内的整个自然。在伦理学层面上,人首先是社会性的,其次才是生物性的,在这一方面中国自古以来便形成了良好的生态文化传统。生态伦理的思想若要深深扎根当前所有人的心中,必须首先在全社会形成浓厚的生态文化,使环境保护的理念真正落到实处。以生态伦理为核心的生态文化必将成为人类社会生态文明建设的指南。21世纪继往开来的中国的生态伦理学应该具有清晰的价值定位,不仅需要超越生态学的全自然视角,突出人的社会性,而且需要体现社会主义的制度特征,构建自己的生态伦理话语体系。     

境外企业社会安全事件调查分析方法研究

针对我国境外企业在社会安全方面所面临的严峻形势,对境外企业社会安全事件的调查分析方法进行研究.通过对境外中资企业社会安全事件的分类、分级,事件报告和调查的程序,事件统计分析方法等方面的研究,提出境外社会安全事件的分类、分级的标准和原则,境外社会安全事件报告和调查的程序及主要注意事项及统计分析的建议,设计了境外中资企业社会安全事件管理的基本框架,从而加强社会安全事件的调查和统计分析,为科学统计此类事件造成的损失提供依据.     

Employee judgments of and behaviors toward corporate social responsibility: A multi‐study investigation of direct,cascading, and moderating effects

Do employee judgments of their organization's corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs relate to CSR‐specific performance and in‐role job performance? Can middle managers influence the formation of such judgments and what factors might moderate such cascading influences? To answer these yet unaddressed questions, we conduct three studies. Study 1 takes an organizational justice perspective and tests our baseline model. Results show that employees' CSR judgments trigger their affective commitment and performance on extra‐role CSR‐specific behaviors; however, extra‐role CSR‐specific performance is unrelated to in‐role job performance. Study 2 replicates Study 1's findings while, in addition, applies a social information processing approach and offers novel insights by demonstrating the cascading effects of managers' CSR judgments on employee CSR judgments. Investments made in CSR programs in order to improve employee judgments and behaviors may be unsuccessful if employees' CSR judgments are based on social information that remains unchanged. In addition to replicating the findings from studies 1 and 2, study 3 draws from middle management involvement and leadership theories to show that leadership styles and managers' involvement in implementing deliberate strategy can strengthen or weaken these cascading effects. This highlights the important role of middle managers as “linking pins” in the CSR strategy implementation process. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applying models of employee identity management across cultures: Christianity in the USA and South Korea

Identity management refers to the decisions individuals make about how they present their social identities to others. We examined cross‐cultural differences in distancing and affirming identity management strategies of Christian‐identified employees utilizing samples from the USA and South Korea. Religious centrality, risks of disclosure, pressure to assimilate to organizational norms, and nation were key antecedents of chosen identity management strategies. Risks of disclosure and pressure to assimilate related to more distancing and less affirming strategies when religious centrality was low, but nation served as a boundary condition for the moderating effects of religious centrality. Distancing strategies related to negative outcomes regardless of religious centrality, but affirming strategies only related to positive outcomes when religious centrality was low. We discuss how this work contributes to theoretical and practical understanding of identity management in the workplace and across cultures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pre‐training perceived social self‐efficacy accentuates the effects of a cross‐cultural coping orientation program: Evidence from a longitudinal field experiment

Analyzing additional data from a longitudinal field experiment, the present research investigate whether pre‐training perceived social self‐efficacy (PSSE) may moderate cross‐cultural training effectiveness. On the basis of the interactionist perspective, we hypothesized that sojourners with high pre‐training PSSE would benefit more from a cross‐cultural coping orientation program, called “Realistic Orientation Program for Entry Stress” (ROPES), than sojourners with low pre‐training PSSE. As a result, the treatment effects (the ROPES program over the control program—a traditional cross‐cultural orientation program) would be more positive for high‐PSSE sojourners than for low‐PSSE sojourners. Seventy‐two incoming graduate students from East Asia entering a large US public university were randomly assigned to either a ROPES program or a control program, and were assessed pre‐entry and multiple times post‐entry. The results strongly supported our predictions, as the hypothesized PSSE × Treatment interactions were observed on a comprehensive set of training outcomes based on multisource data. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterizing Spatial Uncertainty when Integrating Social Data in Conservation Planning

Recent conservation planning studies have presented approaches for integrating spatially referenced social (SRS) data with a view to improving the feasibility of conservation action. We reviewed the growing conservation literature on SRS data, focusing on elicited or stated preferences derived through social survey methods such as choice experiments and public participation geographic information systems. Elicited SRS data includes the spatial distribution of willingness to sell, willingness to pay, willingness to act, and assessments of social and cultural values. We developed a typology for assessing elicited SRS data uncertainty which describes how social survey uncertainty propagates when projected spatially and the importance of accounting for spatial uncertainty such as scale effects and data quality. These uncertainties will propagate when elicited SRS data is integrated with biophysical data for conservation planning and may have important consequences for assessing the feasibility of conservation actions. To explore this issue further, we conducted a systematic review of the elicited SRS data literature. We found that social survey uncertainty was commonly tested for, but that these uncertainties were ignored when projected spatially. Based on these results we developed a framework which will help researchers and practitioners estimate social survey uncertainty and use these quantitative estimates to systematically address uncertainty within an analysis. This is important when using SRS data in conservation applications because decisions need to be made irrespective of data quality and well characterized uncertainty can be incorporated into decision theoretic approaches.     

Foundations of Resilience Thinking

Through 3 broad and interconnected streams of thought, resilience thinking has influenced the science of ecology and natural resource management by generating new multidisciplinary approaches to environmental problem solving. Resilience science, adaptive management (AM), and ecological policy design (EPD) contributed to an internationally unified paradigm built around the realization that change is inevitable and that science and management must approach the world with this assumption, rather than one of stability. Resilience thinking treats actions as experiments to be learned from, rather than intellectual propositions to be defended or mistakes to be ignored. It asks what is novel and innovative and strives to capture the overall behavior of a system, rather than seeking static, precise outcomes from discrete action steps. Understanding the foundations of resilience thinking is an important building block for developing more holistic and adaptive approaches to conservation. We conducted a comprehensive review of the history of resilience thinking because resilience thinking provides a working context upon which more effective, synergistic, and systems‐based conservation action can be taken in light of rapid and unpredictable change. Together, resilience science, AM, and EPD bridge the gaps between systems analysis, ecology, and resource management to provide an interdisciplinary approach to solving wicked problems. Fundamentos del Pensamiento sobre Resiliencia     

基于足迹家族和行星边界的主要国家环境可持续性多维评价

足迹家族和行星边界都是国际可持续发展研究领域新近出现的热点概念。系统回顾了足迹家族和行星边界的概念缘起,首次提出了基于足迹家族和行星边界的环境可持续性概念及其评价框架。其中,足迹家族定义为：人类在自然资源消费和废弃物排放过程中占用的地球生态系统的再生和消纳能力;行星边界定义为：可供人类安全占用的地球生态系统的最大再生和消纳能力。由此,将环境可持续性定量描述为人类环境足迹小于或等于对应行星边界的情形,反之则为环境不可持续性。分析了该环境可持续性概念的6项基本特征：系统性、选择性、交互性、不确定性、尺度依赖性、赤字可权衡性。在此基础上,以全球30个主要国家为例,对提出的足迹家族-行星边界整合框架进行了实证应用。从与人类社会关系重大的环境问题入手,对各国在气候变化（碳排放）、水资源利用和土地利用3方面的环境可持续性进行了多维测度。结果显示：22国的碳排放呈现不可持续性,人均碳赤字最高为美国的26.1 t·a-1（以CO2当量计）;17国的水资源利用呈现不可持续性,人均水赤字最高为西班牙的1497.8 m3·a-1;15国的土地利用呈现不可持续性,人均土地赤字最高为荷兰的2.3 hm2·a-1。研究表明,碳排放的可持续性与社会经济发展水平关系密切,发达国家对气候变化的贡献明显大于发展中国家;水资源利用和土地利用的可持续性则更多地受各国人均资源禀赋制约。本研究对科学量化和比较不同国家的环境可持续性具有参考价值,该评价方法也适用于其他环境问题或国家以下尺度的核算分析。