Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe circular economy (CE) and bioeconomy (BE) are recognized as potential solutions for achieving sustainable development, yet little research has examined their potential contribution to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of 649 articles published between 2007 and 2022, as well as a systematic literature review of 81 articles, to assess the extent to which the CE and BE communities have addressed the SDGs. Our analysis identified 10 research gaps including the limited number of empirical quantitative papers, particularly in the context of BE, and the underrepresentation of developing regions such as Latin America and Africa in the literature. Our main finding reveals that the CE community primarily focuses on SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, followed by SDG 9, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; SDG 7, Affordable and Clean Energy; and SDG 6, Clean Water and Sanitation. The BE community, on the other hand, focuses primarily on SDG 7, followed by SDG 9 and SDG 12. However, both communities lack attention to social SDGs such as quality education, poverty, and gender equality. We propose that a combination of CE and BE, known as circular bioeconomy, could help countries achieve all SDGs. Further research is needed to develop and implement circular bioeconomy policies that address these gaps and promote sustainable development. In this sense, our study identified an important research gap that needs more attention in the future.

AbstractSeveral studies analyzed the importance of absorptive capacity (AC) to achieve economic development. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study compares the building blocks (BBs) of AC between developed and emergent economies. This paper aims to identify and analyze the impact of the BBs on AC under distinct levels of development (i.e., developed vs. emerging economies) using systematic literature review (SLR) and econometrics. Specifically, both linear and nonlinear analyses were employed. Our findings show that BBs in developed and emergent regions are different. For both groups, R&D, FDI (foreign direct investment), infrastructure, and HDI (human development index) variables are BBs of AC. For developed economies, BBs also contemplate secondary education enrollments, the higher education index, and the percentage of GDP spent on higher education. Moreover, the thresholds of BBs also differ between developed and emergent economies. This identification of BBs and possible AC thresholds is valuable, as it provides information to set goals and strategies before a foreign investment attraction policy. Thus, the results facilitate the development of more suitable strategies to enhance positive productivity spillovers and avoid negative spillovers whenever possible. These results show that policymakers cannot employ the same policies for the development of developed and emerging countries.

The ecosystem service (ES) concept is becoming mainstream in policy and planning, but operational influence on practice is seldom reported. Here, we report the practitioners' perspectives on the practical implementation of the ES concept in 27 case studies. A standardised anonymous survey (n = 246), was used, focusing on the science-practice interaction process, perceived impact and expected use of the case study assessments. Operationalisation of the concept was shown to achieve a gradual change in practices: 13% of the case studies reported a change in action (e.g. management or policy change), and a further 40% anticipated that a change would result from the work. To a large extent the impact was attributed to a well conducted science-practice interaction process (>70%). The main reported advantages of the concept included: increased concept awareness and communication; enhanced participation and collaboration; production of comprehensive science-based knowledge; and production of spatially referenced knowledge for input to planning (91% indicated they had acquired new knowledge). The limitations were mostly case-specific and centred on methodology, data, and challenges with result implementation. The survey highlighted the crucial role of communication, participation and collaboration across different stakeholders, to implement the ES concept and enhance the democratisation of nature and landscape planning.