Suchergebnisse

This paper uses a model of an inland fishery in Bangladesh to investigate the relationship between poverty and resource sustainability in a specific case. It makes use of detailed fieldwork to build a numerical model of fishery decision making, which incorporates extensions to standard fisheries models. In particular, it includes fish migration between lease units and models the choice of fishing gear, as well as fishing effort, over the year. The modelling of fishing gear choice allows an analysis of the effect of management policies on employment in the fishery, a major factor that influences poverty in the locality. The numerical results show that while some simple policies to improve sustainability are likely to increase poverty, it is possible to design policies which affect gear choice and lead to reduced poverty without harming the sustainability of the resource.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to posit that a key sustainability tool can help provide a needed guide for the many forms of new curricula for academic, public and professional learning communities. The authors demonstrate that key sustainability competency (KSC) research can highlight and provide an array of learning outcomes that can be back cast to co-design flexible, detailed curriculum, pedagogy, practice and assessment structures. They also briefly outline the connection of KSC to education for sustainability (EfS) to provide the educational basis for designing and facilitating classrooms that contribute directly to the sustainability movement.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a review of literature with a specific focus on Glasser's (2018b) promising use of the tree as an analogy and metaphor for KSCs.


Findings
Some, for example, Glasser and Hirsh (2016) claim significant progress in identifying a KSC framework (Wiek et al., 2011) However, the authors raise concerns about the impasse that the literature has demonstrated because these stand in the way of the co-creation of sustainable societies by adjusting how we learn and interact with the world. The authors argue that we must realize and disrupt the destructive actions that form their usual approach and replace them with sustainable habits (Glasser, 2018a), and this requires the emergence of a new class of sustainability practitioners with the skills, attitudes and dispositions that are consistent with being wise, future-oriented, interdisciplinary and global decision-makers (Biasutti, 2015; Biasutti and Frate, 2016; Corney and Reid, 2007; McNaughton, 2012; Scoullos, 2013).


Research limitations/implications
Using Glasser's metaphor, the authors assert a process through which the future sustainability practitioner might shift their values and understanding such that their habits and norms shift to create a new, sustainable way of being. The practitioner might demonstrate the competencies of implementing transformative change, modelling sustainable behaviour and wise decision-making. The competency of "empathy, mindfulness and social learning" implies critical reflection on one's actions in comparison to their social context. Thus, reflection at this stage (tree branches and fruits) could create transformation that shifts one's values and commitments (tree roots); the cyclical process could potentially begin again.


Practical implications
An adaptive and flexible framework of KSC could provide learning benefits by building the capacity for learners to think critically and tackle complex sustainability problems in novel ways (Brown, 2017; Glasser and Hirsh, 2016; Sterling et al., 2017; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2017; Vare and Scott, 2007). Innovation and knowledge generation are possible since the KSC could teach "students how to think, rather than what to think, while letting [them] apply this thinking to real-world sustainability problems" (Wiek and Kay, 2015, p. 29). Through the KSC, people could also learn how to transform knowledge into action in their communities (Sterling et al., 2017, p. 160) and create real-world change. This is important, since unsustainable habits that comprise the "business-as-usual" case must be replaced with life-affirming actions and facilitate a new way of being in the world. After all, "[g]ood ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas" (Scott, 2013, p. 275).


Social implications
The authors have asserted that the implementation of the KSC could have social benefits because its associated pedagogies aim to actively involve learners in transforming society. The sequence sees the individuals' reflecting upon and evaluating one's growth vis-à-vis KSC and promotes the development of learning and other habits that betters ones' competencies (Rieckmann, 2012). Such reflection and empathy are more likely to be inherent to people who contribute to their own learning about the need to be truly compassionate for each other and the planet (Glasser and Hirsh, 2016). In achieving this level of empathy, it is a relatively simple matter then to understand that technology and policy alone are not adequately able to facilitate large-scale and positive change; unsustainability is a problem created by human action and therefore must be counteracted with theories of and solutions to unsustainable behaviours. Integrating a responsive KSC tool into higher education could help build the capacities, capabilities, competencies and eventually mastery and habits of mind and body that give rise to sustainable well-being societies.


Originality/value
The authors summarize and critique the KSC literature with an eye to creating a flexible and adaptive tool for individuals to chart their own path towards being a sustainability practitioner. The conceptual work herein is the first of its kind, and it will assist program who wish to accentuate contextual factors and individual learning objectives into their design.

ABSTRACTSustainability is a topic of growing importance today in all aspects of organizational life. Businesses and managers are increasingly considering ways to incorporate a balance among economic, ecological, social, and cultural value creation into their business models. At the same time, the world is becoming exponentially more complex. Indeed, complexity theory and thinking are now apparent in academic and practice accounts of sustainability in business, as scholars and practitioners recognize the limitations of traditional reductionist approaches to systemic problems. To date, however, a more theoretical framing of sustainability lags behind accumulating practical evidence. The purpose of this article is to address this gap by developing a complexity‐based framework for understanding and managing sustainability in complex adaptive systems. We aim for simplicity, wholeness, and practicality in our approach, taking a qualitative rather than quantitative perspective on complex systems. Using several contemporary case examples, the article describes the important qualities of complex systems and develops them into a working framework that integrates principles and parameters of sustainability. In doing so, we create an approach to sustainability issues and dilemmas called "sustainability thinking." The article concludes with more generalized sustainability action strategies for managers and recommendations for future researchers.

Key Features:Looks at real world experience in a critical wayProvokes as well as informs readers of the complexities involved with incorporating assessment of sustainability into urban development thinkingConsiders all aspects of development and its environmental sustainability, from housing to transport and environmental policies.

Assessing and Measuring Environmental Impact and Sustainability answers the question "what are the available methodologies to assess the environmental sustainability of a product, system or process? Multiple well-known authors share their expertise in order to give a broad perspective of this issue from a chemical and environmental engineering perspective. This mathematical, quantitative book includes many case studies to assist with the practical application of environmental and sustainability methods. Readers learn how to efficiently assess and use these methods. This book summarizes all relevant environmental methodologies to assess the sustainability of a product and tools, in order to develop more green products or processes. With life cycle assessment as its main methodology, this book speaks to engineers interested in environmental impact and sustainability

This article explores the contribution a pedagogical approach based in critical theory can make to education for sustainability in business schools. In addition to the regular business and environmental management curriculum that provides tools for incremental improvement, we advocate introducing a radical change perspective aligned more with the "strong" sustainability paradigm. Concepts from critical theory can be usefully employed to bridge weak and strong sustainability paradigms. A critical skillset incorporating reflexivity, critique, and social action/engagement is elaborated and illustrated through the incorporation of these skills in the framing of an environmental management/sustainability elective and through exercises.

In 2002 Germany adopted an ambitious national sustainability strategy, covering all three sustainability spheres and circling around 21 key indicators. The strategy stands out because of its relative stability over five consecutive government constellations, its high status and increasingly coercive nature. This article analyses the strategy's role in the policy process, focusing on the use and influence of indicators as a central steering tool. Contrasting rationalist and constructivist perspectives on the role of knowledge in policy, two factors, namely the level of consensus about policy goals and the institutional setting of the indicators, are found to explain differences in use and influence both across indicators and over time. Moreover, the study argues that the indicators have been part of a continuous process of 'structuring' in which conceptual and instrumental use together help structure the sustainability challenge in such a way that it becomes more manageable for government policy.

Intro -- Foreword -- Table of contents -- Acronyms -- Executive summary -- Overall assessment and recommendations -- A framework for analysing policies for innovation, productivity and sustainability in the food and agricultural sector -- Challenges to increase agricultural productivity and competitiveness -- Moving towards a supportive overall policy framework is the main challenge to fostering innovation -- Agricultural policy can be better targeted to productivity and sustainability outcomes -- The agricultural innovation system is an effective provider of innovation, but adoption could be faster and more widespread -- References -- Overview of the food and agriculture situation in Brazil -- Challenges and opportunities: The need for innovation -- Importance of agriculture in the economy -- Characteristics of agriculture and the agri-food sector -- Productivity and sustainability performance of agriculture -- References -- Economic stability and trust in institutions in Brazil -- Macroeconomic policy environment -- Governance and quality of public institutions -- References -- Investment in the Brazilian food and agriculture system -- Regulatory environment -- Trade and investment policy -- Finance policy -- Tax policy -- Notes -- References -- Capacity building and services for the Brazilian food and agriculture system -- Infrastructure and rural development policies -- Labour market policy -- Education and skills policy -- Notes -- References -- Brazilian agricultural policy: Structural change, sustainability and innovation -- Agricultural policy objectives and instruments -- Agricultural trade policy -- Level and composition of agricultural support from the perspective of innovation -- Notes -- References -- Annex 6.A. Brazil's main investment credit programmes in agriculture -- The Brazilian Agricultural Innovation System.

Abstract Current definitions of sustainability and sustainable development are problematic. They reinforce the dominant capitalist paradigm of economic growth as a goal—a system which has contributed in no uncertain terms to the current state of the planet—and they exclude animals as moral entities. We propose that sustainability is primarily an ethical issue which connects people, the planet on which we live, and the animals and other organisms which inhabit it. Our definition of sustainability states that in all decisions and actions on any scale, from the individual to the institutional, we should minimise our immediate and future negative impact on humans, other animals, and the planet, while simultaneously maximising our positive impacts on these domains. We take an interdisciplinary approach in discussing trade-offs between these three broad interests, providing a rationale for adopting this more inclusive definition at every level of society. Our definition calls for a normative shift in discussions around sustainability, one of which is more inclusive of the animals and other organisms with which we share the planet. We believe that the paper forms a strong and coherent foundation for policy and communication about sustainability going forward.

The demand for access to electricity in developing countries is rapidly increasing as intergovernmental organisations, national governments, and business leaders recognise the social and economic value of infrastructure investment. The institutions that govern energy investment and planning recognise a 'trilemma' of system development: low-carbon energy sources are needed to meet global climate change mitigation goals, while also meeting service reliability demands and energy security measures alongside maintaining service affordability, particularly for residents on the lowest incomes in rural, urban, and peri-urban communities. Integrating traditional, centralised grid networks based upon large-scale generation technologies (in the case of Mozambique, this includes hydropower from the Cahora Bassa Dam) with decentralised off-grid renewables such as solar projects in rural communities is a significant technical and governance challenge. Energy providers are tasked with a social mandate to deliver good quality electricity at an affordable price to consumers while widening access to underserved populations. Providing access to clean and reliable energy sources is embodied in Sustainable Development Goal 7 as one of the preconditions for socioeconomic development, poverty reduction, and human wellbeing (Pueyo and Maestre, 2019; UN Energy, 2005). International development practitioners and policy networks recognise the tangible benefits of electricity as a form of energy service provision. These tangible benefits include lighting and powering appliances at domestic, private, and institutional levels and increased telecommunications coverage, which collectively provide new personal and business development opportunities, healthcare and food safety benefits, and improved leisure and night-time education prospects (UN Energy, 2005). They also minimise the health risks and ecological impacts associated with black-carbon fuels such as charcoal, which diminish air quality within residential buildings (Anenberg, 2017) and lead to deforestation (Sedano et al., 2016). In order to enhance electricity sector performance, many sub-Saharan African countries have implemented significant governance reforms. It is necessary, however, to evaluate whether such reforms facilitate expanded social access to electricity, whether they improve service quality, public utility, and financial stability, and whether they lead to broader social and environmental sustainability goals. In this policy brief, we assess these dimensions related to the case of Mozambique, a country where major progress has been made to increase population-wide access to electricity from around 6% in 2004 (Chambal, 2010) to 32% in 2019 (EDM, 2020a). Though policy progress is significant, challenges remain, particularly in rural areas, where only around 6% of the population have electricity access (EDM, 2018a).