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Sample records for sustainable development index

  1. A SES (sustainable energy security) index for developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Narula, Kapil; Reddy, B. Sudhakara

    2016-01-01

    Measuring the performance of the energy system of a country is a prerequisite for framing good energy polices. However, the existing indices which claim to measure energy security have limited applicability for developing countries. Energy sustainability is also increasingly gaining importance and countries are keen to measure it to tailor their energy policies. Therefore, the concept of SES (sustainable energy security) has been proposed as the goal for a developing country. This paper presents an analytical framework for the assessment of SES of an energy system and the methodology for constructing an SES index. A hierarchical structure has been proposed and the energy system has been divided into 'supply', 'conversion & distribution' and 'demand' sub-systems. Each subsystem is further divided into its components which are evaluated for four dimensions of SES, Availability, Affordability, Efficiency and (Environmental) Acceptability using quantitative metrics. Energy indices are constructed using 'scores' (objective values), and 'weights' (subjective values representing tradeoffs) which are then aggregated, bottom-up, to obtain an overall SES Index for a country. The proposed SES Index is multidimensional, quantitative, modular, systemic and flexible. Such a SES Index can be used to design policy interventions for transitioning to a sustainable and a secure energy future. - Highlights: • A SES (sustainable energy security) index is proposed for developing countries. • A hierarchical structure includes the entire energy system from supply to end use. • The performance of all energy sources, energy carriers and sectors is assessed. • Availability, affordability, efficiency and acceptability dimensions are evaluated. • The SES index is multidimensional, quantitative, modular, systemic and flexible.

  2. Corporate Sustainability Reporting in the BIST Sustainability Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burcu Demirel

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there is a growing focus on corporate operations especially since the publication of the first environmental reports in 1989. Companies have started to publish information about its environmental, social and sustainability policies. The study examines the sustainability reporting elements of Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index (BIST in Turkey and to evaluate which elements is most vital in this context. This study will begin with the sustainability reporting that will be examined under the roof of corporation sustainability and end with the examination of sustainability reports of 15 firms, which are included in the BIST Sustainability Index in Turkey, and a content analysis. The reports of companies under study were taken from special web site and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative database of companies. Being the first study in examining the sustainability report of companies in BIST Sustainability Index, it is expected to contribute in literature about sustainability reporting recently started to gain importance in Turkey. Overall our findings suggest that the sustainability index established in Turkey is still in development stage, but the enterprises in the endeavor are working day by day to develop the sustainability qualities.

  3. Sustainability index for Taipei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Y.-J.; Huang Chingming

    2007-01-01

    Sustainability indicators are an effective means of determining whether a city is moving towards sustainable development (SD). After considering the characteristics of Taipei, Taiwan, discussions with experts, scholars and government departments and an exhaustive literature review, this study selected 51 sustainability indicators corresponding to the socio-economic characteristic of Taipei City. Such indicators should be regarded as a basis for assessing SD in Taipei City. The 51 indicators are classified into economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions. Furthermore, statistical data is adopted to identify the trend of SD from 1994 to 2004. Moreover, the sustainability index is calculated for the four dimensions and for Taipei as a whole. Analysis results demonstrate that social and environmental indicators are moving towards SD, while economic and institutional dimensions are performing relatively poorly. However, since 2002, the economic sustainability index has gradually moved towards SD. Overall, the Taipei sustainability index indicates a gradual trend towards sustainable development during the past 11 years

  4. 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is a measure of overall progress towards environmental sustainability, developed for 146 countries. The index...

  5. Development and analysis of an index of energetic sustainability using fuzzy logic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Francisco Carlos Barbosa dos

    2010-01-01

    Sustainable Development is one the most frequently addressed issues nowadays and the search for its comprehension is a major challenge for researchers. Nevertheless, to reach its understanding and the relations comprised (economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions) is not the only challenge. To measure the route for a society development is an equally important matter, mainly due to intrinsic relations among environment, society and economy. This work presents a new approach in the construction of a synthetic index for sustainable development, under the point of view of energy sustainability. This methodology was based on mathematical archetypes structured in Fuzzy Logics, thus allowing the incorporation of new knowledge bases, even with vague definitions. The final result is the creation of an Energy Sustainability Index that may be accompanied along the time, allowing comparisons among countries, since it uses a database from the 'Guia de Indicadores Energeticos de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel' (Guide of Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development) from the IAEA. This guide presents an energy indicator methodology worldwide accepted and it was conceived to be similar to other indicators, such as the 'Indice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH)' (Human Development Index), developed by The United Nations Organization and which is of easy comprehension, since it is represented by a number between zero and one. (author)

  6. Review of sustainability indices and indicators: Towards a new City Sustainability Index (CSI)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mori, Koichiro, E-mail: kmori@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo (Japan); Christodoulou, Aris, E-mail: aris.christodoulou@ucl.ac.uk [Centre for Transport Studies, University College London (United Kingdom)

    2012-01-15

    The purpose of this paper is to discuss conceptual requirements for a City Sustainability Index (CSI) and to review existing major sustainability indices/indicators in terms of the requirements. The following indices are reviewed: Ecological Footprint (EF), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Dashboard of Sustainability (DS), Welfare Index, Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, City Development Index, emergy/exergy, Human Development Index (HDI), Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), Environmental Policy Index (EPI), Living Planet Index (LPI), Environmentally-adjusted Domestic Product (EDP), Genuine Saving (GS), and some applications of composite indices or/and multivariate indicators to local or regional context as case studies. The key conceptual requirements for an adequate CSI are: (i) to consider environmental, economic and social aspects (the triple bottom line of sustainability) from the viewpoint of strong sustainability; (ii) to capture external impacts (leakage effects) of city on other areas beyond the city boundaries particularly in terms of environmental aspects; (iii) to create indices/indicators originally for the purpose of assessing city sustainability; and (iv) to be able to assess world cities in both developed and developing countries using common axes of evaluation. Based on the review, we conclude that it is necessary to create a new CSI that enables us to assess and compare cities' sustainability performance in order to understand the global impact of cities on the environment and human life as compared with their economic contribution. In the future, the CSI will be able to provide local authorities with guidance toward sustainable paths. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We derive the four key requirements for a new City Sustainability Index (CSI) system. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer First, the triple bottom line must be considered in terms of strong sustainability. Black

  7. Review of sustainability indices and indicators: Towards a new City Sustainability Index (CSI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mori, Koichiro; Christodoulou, Aris

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to discuss conceptual requirements for a City Sustainability Index (CSI) and to review existing major sustainability indices/indicators in terms of the requirements. The following indices are reviewed: Ecological Footprint (EF), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Dashboard of Sustainability (DS), Welfare Index, Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, City Development Index, emergy/exergy, Human Development Index (HDI), Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), Environmental Policy Index (EPI), Living Planet Index (LPI), Environmentally-adjusted Domestic Product (EDP), Genuine Saving (GS), and some applications of composite indices or/and multivariate indicators to local or regional context as case studies. The key conceptual requirements for an adequate CSI are: (i) to consider environmental, economic and social aspects (the triple bottom line of sustainability) from the viewpoint of strong sustainability; (ii) to capture external impacts (leakage effects) of city on other areas beyond the city boundaries particularly in terms of environmental aspects; (iii) to create indices/indicators originally for the purpose of assessing city sustainability; and (iv) to be able to assess world cities in both developed and developing countries using common axes of evaluation. Based on the review, we conclude that it is necessary to create a new CSI that enables us to assess and compare cities' sustainability performance in order to understand the global impact of cities on the environment and human life as compared with their economic contribution. In the future, the CSI will be able to provide local authorities with guidance toward sustainable paths. - Highlights: ► We derive the four key requirements for a new City Sustainability Index (CSI) system. ► First, the triple bottom line must be considered in terms of strong sustainability. ► Second, environmental leakage effects beyond city boundaries should

  8. Constructing Indicators for Measuring Provincial Sustainable Development Index in Vietnam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truong, Van Canh; Lisowski, Andrzej

    2018-03-01

    Sustainable development is zeitgeist of our age. It is one kind of development that in this trajectory humanity can create a stable and developed socio-economic foundations, conserve environment and therefore able to continue for a long time. Using indicators is one of the best ways to monitor and measure the progress toward sustainable development. In this paper we have proposed the way to create indicators for measuring provincial sustainable development index in Vietnam. We firstly made a framework of elements for economic, social and environmental component and compiled a list of indicators of 20 national and international agencies in the world. We then applied the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-related) to choose indicators which will be relevant for Vietnam and put them back to the elements. We then have 39 relevant indicators with 12 indicators for economy, 17 indicators for social and 10 indicators for environmental component. Finally, we have established the way to determine the worst and best value for each indicator from available data for countries in the world.

  9. Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mathis Wackernagel

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”, and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.

  10. Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wackernagel, Mathis; Hanscom, Laurel; Lin, David

    2017-01-01

    The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”), and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.

  11. Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wackernagel, Mathis, E-mail: mathis.wackernagel@footprintnetwork.org; Hanscom, Laurel; Lin, David [Global Footprint Network, Oakland, CA (United States)

    2017-07-11

    The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”), and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.

  12. Measuring Baseline Agriculture-Related Sustainable Development Goals Index for Southern Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles Nhemachena

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development has become the main focus of the global development agenda as presented in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs. However, for countries to assess progress, they need to have reliable baseline indicators. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to develop a composite baseline index of the agriculture-related SDGs in Southern Africa to guide progress reporting. The paper identified eight of the SDG indicators related to the agriculture sector. The paper relies on data for indicators from five SDGs (SDGs 1, 2, 6, 7 and 15. Applying the arithmetic mean method of aggregation, an agriculture-related SDG composite index for Southern Africa between zero (0 = poor performance and 100 (best possible performance was computed for thirteen countries that had data on all identified indicators. The results show that the best performing countries (Botswana, Angola, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa in the assessment recorded high scores in SDGs 1, 2 and 7. The three countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Madagascar that performed poorly on both SDG 1 and 2 also had the least scores on the overall agriculture-related SDG composite index. The water stress indicator for SDG 6 recorded the worst performance among most countries in the region. Possible approaches to improve the contribution of agriculture to SDGs may include investing more resources in priority areas for each agriculture-related SDG depending on baseline country conditions. The implementation, monitoring and evaluation of regional and continental commitments in the agriculture sector and the SDGs are critical for achievement of the targets at the national and local levels. While the methods employed are well-grounded in literature, data unavailability for some of the SDGs in some countries presented a limitation to the study, and future efforts should focus on collecting data for the other SDGs in order to permit a wider application.

  13. Assessing Regional Sustainability Using a Model of Coordinated Development Index: A Case Study of Mainland China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qing Yang

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available From a holistic view, this paper addresses a perspective of coordinated development of economy, society, and environment for regional sustainability assessment. Firstly, a comprehensive indicator system for co-evaluating the level of economic, social, and environmental subsystems is presented based on a holistic understanding of regional sustainability. Then, a coordinated development index model focusing on the level of coordination among the subsystems as well as their comprehensive development level is established. Furthermore, an empirical study of all the provinces and municipalities is conducted by collecting the panel data from 2004 to 2010. The result shows that: (1 the coordinated developments of the most developed and the most underdeveloped regions stay stable while the regions with medium development level possess more fluctuant trends during the study years; (2 regional disparities are indicated according to the grading of CDI (the coordinated development index, which are further analyzed to be related to the local economic development patterns; (3 the conditions and causes of economic, social, and environmental development in real situations under different grades of CDI are discussed through detailed case studies of typical regions, which indicate specific suggestions of sustainable development for regions in the same pattern.

  14. Sustainability Index with Integrated Indicator Dependencies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabine Wagenhals

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability is a growing concern worldwide. While companies used to focus on financial performance, now the focus has shifted to considering envi- ronmental and social performance as well. This trend is not only based on ‘image’, but recent research has proven that a complex approach regarding sustainability could significantly increase a company’s performance. The selection of sustainability indicators as well as the development of sustainabil- ity frameworks has been analysed by researchers already. The authors argue that interdependencies exist between different sustainability indicators and concepts. To address this issue, the fuzzy set method has been used and integrated into as- sessment methods, making it possible to develop a sustainability index which is able to consider the dependencies of the integrated variables. The proposed method can prove that indicator dependencies have a significant influence on the sustain - ability performance of a company and therefore on its overall performance.

  15. 2002 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 2002 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) measures overall progress toward environmental sustainability for 142 countries based on environmental systems,...

  16. Corporate Sustainability Indexes: FTSE 4 Good Index Report on Nestle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gülay Keskin

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Corporate sustainability and economic business activities are focused on the social and environmental impacts. In this sense, the economic activity created by the businesses is to pursue social and environmental impacts, and producing information related to these effects is essential for the formation of structure for a sustainable business. Sustainability indices are structures edited on first generation sustainability indicators, which are structures constructed in order to share information with consumers and businesses. The most important benefits are improvements in transparency without the need for regulation of the sustainability index, better understanding of the social and environmental impact of companies and the guidance for arrangements to minimize the negative side effects of company activities. FTSE4Good is a responsible investment index designed to help investors identify companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards. It is the only index of its kind since it includes specific criteria on the responsible marketing of breast milk substitutes.

  17. 2001 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 2001 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) utilizes a refined methodology based on the 2000 Pilot ESI effort, to construct an index covering 122 countries...

  18. Measuring economic performance, social progress and sustainability using an index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    de Carvalho, Joaquim Francisco

    2011-01-01

    The energy crisis and a greater awareness among the general public regarding the issue of climate change have, between them, led to a notable increase in the interest shown by governments in relation to the problem of environmental sustainability. An example has been the initiative taken by the President of France to set up a commission, known as the Sarkozy Commission, named after the President, bringing together renowned economists to study and propose forms of economic performance measurement related to social progress. This article aims to propose a methodology to establish a quantitative definition of sustainability structured on the principles of minimum and maximum entropy production, and, based on this, outline a way of organizing the many sources of, and kinds of energy, we have available to us in order of the intensity of their respective environmental impacts. Based on this, we could produce an Environmental Sustainability Index, linked to existing statistical indicators of human development, and thereby arrive at a Sustainable Human Development Index, which would be positively or negatively influenced by parameters linked to environmental sustainability and quality of life. In order to ensure that this index can produce practical results, the WTO (World Trade Organization) would have to establish a scale of increments, to be applied to export tariffs on products originating in countries with different indexes. (author)

  19. Optimization of emergy sustainability index for biodiesel supply network design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ren, Jingzheng; Tan, Shiyu; Yang, Le; Goodsite, Michael Evan; Pang, Chengfang; Dong, Lichun

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A MINLP model for designing sustainable biodiesel supply network is developed. • Emergy sustainability index is used as the objective to be maximized. • Multiple alternatives in each stage of biodiesel supply network are considered. • Life cycle perspective is incorporated in the design of biodiesel supply network. - Abstract: Sustainability is an important and difficult consideration for the stakeholders/decision-makers when planning a biofuel supply network. In this paper, a Mixed-Integer Non-linear Programming (MINLP) model was developed with the aim to help the stakeholders/decision-maker to select the most sustainable design. In the proposed model, the emergy sustainability index of the whole biodiesel supply networks in a life cycle perspective is employed as the measure of the sustainability, and multiple feedstocks, multiple transport modes, multiple regions for biodiesel production and multiple distribution centers can be considered. After describing the process and mathematic framework of the model, an illustrative case was studied and demonstrated that the proposed methodology is feasible for finding the most sustainable design and planning of biodiesel supply chains

  20. A combined sustainability index for electricity efficiency measures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldrath, T.; Ayalon, O.; Shechter, M.

    2015-01-01

    One of the most substantial tools that serve decision makers in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions includes energy efficiency measures that in most cases benefit from governmental assistance for achieving electricity consumption reduction goals. This paper examines five energy efficiency measures, defining a combined sustainability index. A multi-criteria analysis of five predefined indices was developed (economic, environmental, technology, social and political), providing a combined index for each measure and a tool for identifying the preferred measure within a specific situation, based on its total sustainability score. In this research, a case study was conducted and the preferred measure was found to be municipal street lighting systems, based on its high political and social scores, and its relatively high installation potential. The second choice would be replacement of chillers in the industrial sector, and the least favorable measure is the replacement of water pumps in the water sector. The methodology described brings into account the technological specifications of the measure implemented, and the specific national conditions under which it is implemented. - Highlights: • A MCDA of five indices was developed to define a combined sustainability index. • Criteria defined were environment, technology, economy, social and political. • Five energy efficiency measures were rated, based on their total sustainability score. • Measures were in five main electricity consumption sectors. • The preferred measure found in the case study was municipal street lighting systems.

  1. Proposal of a Sustainability Index for the Automotive Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel F. Salvado

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available In a scenario of increasing globalization, sustainable development has emerged as an attractive and strategic issue for both countries and individual organizations and their supply chains. Companies have faced different challenges in seeking to combine the best economic performance with increased social and environmental responsibility. Monitoring sustainability is essential for decision-making and management of activities that comprise an organization’s system processes. Evaluation can be performed using indices or a set of indicators. In addition to increasing organizational effectiveness and improving competitiveness, customer service and profitability, it is also a crucial influence on the development of business sustainability. This paper proposes a sustainability index that provides companies with information about their level of economic, social and environmental sustainability, showing their performance at both individual and supply chain level. The importance of the indicators is assessed by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP methodology applied to a case study of a supply chain in the automotive industry. The various stages experienced during the construction of the index are also shown. The final results achieved are then presented and discussed in light of the objectives.

  2. The Global Sustainability Index: An Instrument For Assessing The Progress Towards The Sustainable Organization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grecu, Valentin

    2015-09-01

    There is rarely an optimal solution in sustainable development but most frequently a need to build compromises between conflicting aspects such as economic, social and environmental ones and different expectations of stakeholders. Moreover, information is rarely available and precise. This paper will focus on how to use indicators to monitor sustainable development, integrating the information provided by many of them into a complex general sustainability index. Having this general indicator is essential for decision makers as it is very complicated to evaluate the performance of the organization based on multiple indicators. The objective of this paper is to find mathematical algorithms for simplifying the decision-making process by offering an instrument for the evaluation of the sustainability progress.

  3. 2000 Pilot Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 2000 Pilot Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is an exploratory effort to construct an index that measures the ability of a nation's economy to achieve...

  4. Toward a sociology of the Brazilian Corporate Sustainability Index?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina de Souza Sartore

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available In order to collaborate with the academic debate about the social construction of economic tools, this article captures the social construction of the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE of Bovespa. From an economic approach, the index is the numeric representation of financial profitability of sustainable enterprises, however, from that of sociology, the ISE is the window to apprehend the symbolic struggles that constitute the Brazilian market of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI. This idea is demonstrated by the recovery of the chronological history of the development of ISE which shows the elements of the arbitrary political process searching for its economic neutrality. This article emphasizes the need to explore sociologically the financial indexes as well as other classification tools of the economic world.

  5. Compendium of Environmental Sustainability Indicator Collections: 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) portion of the Compendium of Environmental Sustainability Indicators Collection contains 103 variables for 146...

  6. “BRAINSTORM” OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDEXES AND INDICATORS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE VOLGA BASIN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. V. Kostina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim of the research – development of management strategies ensuring sustainable development of the territories of the Volga river basin and its administrative units.Methods. In the research we used various methods of mathematical statistics, systematic principles. We propose the conception of "brainstorming" for the assessment of the territory using indices and indicators of sustainable development.Results. We selected nine indicators and indices. We have conducted a correlation analysis of the selected indices and indicators of sustainable development, all of which reflect the state of social, ecological and economic systems. For an integrated assessment of the two objects one introduced the "critical" and the "reference" state and fixed values for each index and indicator under the review. Factor analysis in the space of two principal components is conducted as well as one carried out the calculation of generalized desirability function for each administrative unit of the Volga river basin. "Brainstorm", taking into consideration indices and indicators of sustainable development, showed similarities in the administrative units of the Volga river basin, which primarily reflects approximately the same socio-ecological-economic development, defined by a single policy and economic decisions.Conclusion. The analysis revealed different management strategies of sustainable development of regions. The first group (strategy A includes the Republic of Tatarstan, and Chuvashia, Moscow and Samara regions, which should pay special attention to investments in improving the "life quality" by stabilizing and reducing the degree of anthropogenic load on the territory. The second group (strategy B: Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kirov, Tver and Kostroma and Perm regions - it is advisable to do finance and investment of resources in public education, increase the average lifetime, increase the incomes of the population. For the remaining areas optimally

  7. Construction of the Classification and Grading Index System of Cultivated Land Based on the Viewpoint of Sustainable Development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2010-01-01

    In order to objectively and reasonably evaluate the actual and potential value of cultivated land, both social and ecological values are introduced into the classification and grading index system of cultivated land based on the viewpoint of sustainable development, after considering the natural and economic values of cultivated land. Index system construction of the sustainable utilization of cultivated land should follow the principles of economic viability, social acceptability, and ecological protection. Classification of cultivated land should take into account the soil fertility of cultivated land. Then, grading of cultivated land is carried out from the practical productivity (or potential productivity) of cultivated land. According to the existing classification index system of cultivated land, the soil, natural and environmental factors in plains, mountains and hills are mainly modified in the classification index system of cultivated land. And index systems for the cultivated land classification in plains, mountains and hills are set up. The grading index system of cultivated land is established based on the economic viability (economic value), social acceptability (social value) and protection of cultivated land (ecological value). Quantitative expression of cultivated land grading index is also carried out.

  8. Indicators analysis and objectives for the development sustainable and sustainability environmental

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Noboa-Romero

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The present article is product of a research qualitative, descriptive and analytical of the indicators and objectives aimed to the development sustainable. The main objective of this essay is to analyze sustainability indicators: index of human development (IDH, sustainable development goals (SDGS, objectives of the Millennium Goals (MDGS and the index of Multidimensional poverty (IPM; through a review of research and work on these issues, in order to establish progress and results that have been generated during the use of these indicators in the field of health education, technology, and environment. Demonstrate that there is inequality between Nations, the approach is oriented to a development in the short term, benefit exclusively to current generations, exhausting natural resources, regardless of a vision in the long term for the future generations.

  9. The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) as a tool in the sustainabledevelopment – Poland case

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Swiatkowska, Marta

    2008-01-01

    The research is based on the index of sustainable economic welfare (ISEW) as a tool in the sustainable development. The new index was developed to answer the growing number of critiques over the GDP indicator which measures only the economic activity of a

  10. A new productivity index to measure economic sustainability of the mining industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez, Xose A

    2010-01-01

    This document aims to introduce a total productivity index to measure the economic sustainability of the mining industry. This index will take into account any technical developments, means of use of productive factors (i.e. inefficiencies and scale effects) and the effects on the growth of the geological properties in the resources to be exploited (particularly the effects of resource reduction or reserves depletion). This new index will then be applied to the example of the Spanish mining industry, with some interesting findings regarding the configuration of sustainable mining policies.

  11. Choice of Index Determines the Relationship between Corruption and Environmental Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert M. Ewers

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI was recently used to investigate links between sustainability and corruption. Here, we show that the ESI contradicts another widely used index of environmental sustainability, the Ecological Footprint (EF, with the result that the most sustainable nations under the ESI are the least sustainable under the EF. Consequently, opposite conclusions can be drawn from investigations into the causes of environmental sustainability, depending on which index is used.

  12. Development and analysis of an index of energetic sustainability using fuzzy logic; Desenvolvimento e analise de um indice de sustentabilidade energetica utilizando logica fuzzy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, Francisco Carlos Barbosa dos

    2010-07-01

    Sustainable Development is one the most frequently addressed issues nowadays and the search for its comprehension is a major challenge for researchers. Nevertheless, to reach its understanding and the relations comprised (economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions) is not the only challenge. To measure the route for a society development is an equally important matter, mainly due to intrinsic relations among environment, society and economy. This work presents a new approach in the construction of a synthetic index for sustainable development, under the point of view of energy sustainability. This methodology was based on mathematical archetypes structured in Fuzzy Logics, thus allowing the incorporation of new knowledge bases, even with vague definitions. The final result is the creation of an Energy Sustainability Index that may be accompanied along the time, allowing comparisons among countries, since it uses a database from the 'Guia de Indicadores Energeticos de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel' (Guide of Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development) from the IAEA. This guide presents an energy indicator methodology worldwide accepted and it was conceived to be similar to other indicators, such as the 'Indice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH)' (Human Development Index), developed by The United Nations Organization and which is of easy comprehension, since it is represented by a number between zero and one. (author)

  13. National baselines for the Sustainable Development Goals assessed in the SDG Index and Dashboards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt-Traub, Guido; Kroll, Christian; Teksoz, Katerina; Durand-Delacre, David; Sachs, Jeffrey D.

    2017-08-01

    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -- agreed in 2015 by all 193 member states of the United Nations and complemented by commitments made in the Paris Agreement -- map out a broad spectrum of economic, social and environmental objectives to be achieved by 2030. Reaching these goals will require deep transformations in every country, as well as major efforts in monitoring and measuring progress. Here we introduce the SDG Index and Dashboards as analytical tools for assessing countries' baselines for the SDGs that can be applied by researchers in the cross-disciplinary analyses required for implementation. The Index and Dashboards synthesize available country-level data for all 17 goals, and for each country estimate the size of the gap towards achieving the SDGs. They will be updated annually. All 149 countries for which sufficient data is available face significant challenges in achieving the goals, and many countries' development strategies are imbalanced across the economic, social and environmental priorities. We illustrate the analytical value of the index by examining its relationship with other widely used development indices and by showing how it accounts for cross-national differences in subjective well-being. Given significant data gaps, scope and coverage of the Index and Dashboards are limited, but we suggest that these analyses represent a starting point for a comprehensive assessment of national SDG baselines and can help policymakers determine priorities for early action and monitor progress. The tools also identify data gaps that must be closed for SDG monitoring.

  14. Assessing sustainability of building materials in developing countries: the sustainable building materials index (SBMI)

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Gibberd, Jeremy T

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available performance. This paper reviews a selection of sustainability assessment and reporting methodologies in order understand the applicability of existing systems as a means of measuring sustainability of building materials in developing countries. The review...

  15. Un indice per lo sviluppo sostenibile (An Index for Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrico Casadio Tarabusi

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available As a possible improvement to the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI, we propose including in the set of individual variables some of an environmental or social nature. Thus, by rescaling all the variables non-linearly it is possible to mitigate the effect of outliers and synthesize by principal components, or alternatively by a different averaging method that takes sustainability into account and penalizes unbalances among different aspects of development. Both methods are easy to implement and calibrate. The ensuing effect on the ranking of world countries is compared to the HDI ranking. Come possibile miglioramento dell'Indice di Sviluppo Umano (ISU elaborato dall'Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite proponiamo di includere nell'insieme di variabili individuali alcune di natura ambientale o sociale, di riscalare opportunamente tutte le variabili non linearmente in modo da mitigare l'effetto deglioutliers, e di sintetizzare mediante le componenti principali, oppure attraverso un diverso metodo di media che, tenendo conto della sostenibilità, penalizza gli squilibri tra diversi aspetti dello sviluppo. Entrambi i metodi sono facili da implementare e da calibrare. Il loro effetto sulla graduatoria dei paesi mondiali viene raffrontata con quella dell'ISU.  JEL Codes: I31, O47Keywords: Development, Human Development, Indice

  16. A Quantitative Index of Forest Structural Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan A. Cale

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Forest health is a complex concept including many ecosystem functions, interactions and values. We develop a quantitative system applicable to many forest types to assess tree mortality with respect to stable forest structure and composition. We quantify impacts of observed tree mortality on structure by comparison to baseline mortality, and then develop a system that distinguishes between structurally stable and unstable forests. An empirical multivariate index of structural sustainability and a threshold value (70.6 derived from 22 nontropical tree species’ datasets differentiated structurally sustainable from unsustainable diameter distributions. Twelve of 22 species populations were sustainable with a mean score of 33.2 (median = 27.6. Ten species populations were unsustainable with a mean score of 142.6 (median = 130.1. Among them, Fagus grandifolia, Pinus lambertiana, P. ponderosa, and Nothofagus solandri were attributable to known disturbances; whereas the unsustainability of Abies balsamea, Acer rubrum, Calocedrus decurrens, Picea engelmannii, P. rubens, and Prunus serotina populations were not. This approach provides the ecological framework for rational management decisions using routine inventory data to objectively: determine scope and direction of change in structure and composition, assess excessive or insufficient mortality, compare disturbance impacts in time and space, and prioritize management needs and allocation of scarce resources.

  17. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ECOLOGICAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viktoria Krykun

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Today sustainable development is a widely used term, which has been increasingly influential in recent years. Debates about sustainability no longer consider sustainability solely as an environmental concern, but also incorporate economic and social dimensions. However, while a social and economic dimensions of sustainable development are widely discussed, environmental degradation becomes more and more crucial each year and is likely to reduce human well-being all across the world within the next few decades. The purpose of the paper is to analyse ecological ‘pillar’ of sustainable development, its historical background, main steps towards implementation of ‘new global environmental rules for society. Methodology. The paper is based on statistical information from public sources, reports of different international organizations and institutions, which are used to stress and underline main crucial points of research. Results of the survey show, that environmental quality, economic development and social well-being are interdependent and the main aim of international institutions, independent countries, businesses and society is to achieve environmentally sustainable development. Environmental issues make strong impact on modern economy. Responsible global strategy of development provides the whole society with rules, how ‘wise’ technological changes and economic policy can make industrial production processes less polluting and less resource intensive but yet more productive and profitable. Practical implications. Strategy of sustainable development and it’s three basic dimensions have found practical implication in one complex model, which illustrates the level of development of each country – the Human Development Index, which is focusing on three basic dimensions of human development: life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling and gross national income per capita. Another data, which is

  18. Practical appraisal of sustainable development-Methodologies for sustainability measurement at settlement level

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moles, Richard; Foley, Walter; Morrissey, John; O'Regan, Bernadette

    2008-01-01

    This paper investigates the relationships between settlement size, functionality, geographic location and sustainable development. Analysis was carried out on a sample of 79 Irish settlements, located in three regional clusters. Two methods were selected to model the level of sustainability achieved in settlements, namely, Metabolism Accounting and Modelling of Material and Energy Flows (MA) and Sustainable Development Index Modelling. MA is a systematic assessment of the flows and stocks of material within a system defined in space and time. The metabolism of most settlements is essentially linear, with resources flowing through the urban system. The objective of this research on material and energy flows was to provide information that might aid in the development of a more circular pattern of urban metabolism, vital to sustainable development. In addition to MA, a set of forty indicators were identified and developed. These target important aspects of sustainable development: transport, environmental quality, equity and quality of life issues. Sustainability indices were derived through aggregation of indicators to measure dimensions of sustainable development. Similar relationships between settlement attributes and sustainability were found following both methods, and these were subsequently integrated to provide a single measure. Analysis identified those attributes of settlements preventing, impeding or promoting progress towards sustainability

  19. Challenges of sustainable development in the mining and metallurgy sector in Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Bluszcz

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to present the degree of involvement of Polish companies from the mining and metallurgical industry in activities for sustainable development. Various initiatives, which aim to promote sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR are discussed. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR and it forms the basis for sustainable development. The paper also presents problems of integrated reporting of CSR activities and an index of socially responsible companies which is the Respect Index, introduced by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Two presented companies from the analysed sector are listed by the Respect Index.

  20. The Sustainable Process Index. A new dimension in ecological evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krotscheck, Christian; Narodoslawsky, Michael

    1996-01-01

    The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) is a measure developed to evaluate the viability of processes under sustainable economic conditions. Its advantages are its universal applicability, its scientific basis, the possibility of adoption in process analyses and syntheses, the high sensitivity for sustainable qualities, and the capability of aggregation to one measure. It has proved to be useful in industrial strategic planning. The concept of the SPI is based on the assumption that in a truly sustainable society the basis of economy is the sustainable flow of solar exergy. The conversion of the solar exergy to services needs area. Thus, area becomes the limiting factor of a sustainable economy. The SPI evaluates the areas needed to provide the raw materials and energy demands and to accommodate by-product flows from a process in a sustainable way. It relates these areas to the area available to a citizen in a given geographical (from regional to global) context. The data necessary to calculate the SPI are usually known at an early stage in process development. The result of the computation is the ratio between the area needed to supply a citizen with a given service and the area needed to supply a citizen with all possible services. Thus, it is a measure of the expense of this service in an economy oriented towards sustainability

  1. Spatio-Temporal Dynamic Analysis of Sustainable Development in China Based on the Footprint Family

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Caihong; Zhao, Xiangui; Wang, Xiaoyu

    2018-01-01

    The existing index systems on sustainable evaluation are mostly based on a multi index comprehensive evaluation method. The main disadvantage of this approach is that the selection and assignment of evaluation indexes are greatly influenced by subjective factors, which can result in poor comparability of results. By contrast, the Footprint Family (including ecological footprint, carbon footprint, and water footprint) is not affected by subjective factors. The Footprint Family also covers the basic tenets of sustainable development. This paper proposes use of a sustainable development evaluation index system based on the principle of the Footprint Family, and including the ecological pressure index (EPI), the ecological occupancy index (EOI), the ecological economic coordination index (EECI), the GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emission index (CEI), the water resources stress index (WSI), and the sustainable development index (SDI). Furthermore, a standard for grading the evaluated results based on global benchmarks is formulated. The results of an empirical study in China were the following. The development situation deteriorated from 1990 to 2015. The results showed that the SDI decreased from a medium level (grade 5) to a lower-medium level (grade 4). The results of this empirical study also showed that the method of evaluation can avoid the influence of subjective factors and can be used in the evaluation of sustainable development for various temporal and spatial conditions. PMID:29389886

  2. Spatio-Temporal Dynamic Analysis of Sustainable Development in China Based on the Footprint Family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jing; Ma, Caihong; Zhao, Xiangui; Wang, Xiaoyu

    2018-02-01

    The existing index systems on sustainable evaluation are mostly based on a multi index comprehensive evaluation method. The main disadvantage of this approach is that the selection and assignment of evaluation indexes are greatly influenced by subjective factors, which can result in poor comparability of results. By contrast, the Footprint Family (including ecological footprint, carbon footprint, and water footprint) is not affected by subjective factors. The Footprint Family also covers the basic tenets of sustainable development. This paper proposes use of a sustainable development evaluation index system based on the principle of the Footprint Family, and including the ecological pressure index ( EPI ), the ecological occupancy index ( EOI ), the ecological economic coordination index ( EECI ), the GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emission index ( CEI ), the water resources stress index ( WSI ), and the sustainable development index ( SDI ). Furthermore, a standard for grading the evaluated results based on global benchmarks is formulated. The results of an empirical study in China were the following. The development situation deteriorated from 1990 to 2015. The results showed that the SDI decreased from a medium level (grade 5) to a lower-medium level (grade 4). The results of this empirical study also showed that the method of evaluation can avoid the influence of subjective factors and can be used in the evaluation of sustainable development for various temporal and spatial conditions.

  3. BUSINESS VALUATION IN TERMS OF INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leontina Pavaloaia

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The indexes regarding the sustainable development have an important role in the decision-making process and that is why several bodies and institutions are concerned about their development. This fact happens not only at macro-level, but also at micro-level, the entities being encouraged to take into account the sustainable development principles and to relate its individual performances to the environment in which they operate (local, regional, global. The usage of the indexes regarding the sustainable development offers information regarding the evolution in time helps at identifying the possibilities of improving the activity and the weaknesses; they can be used in order to establish and achieve the objectives, the values being easily communicated both within and outside the company. A main disadvantage is the aggregation level, which hinders comparisons. This paper analyzes the information regarding the sustainable development published by the companies ranked at the Stock Exchange of Bucharest in the 1st category and the subsidiaries of 30 national companies.

  4. Organizational Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Firms Listed by the Corporate Sustainability Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alamo Alexandre da Silva Batista

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Organizational sustainability (OS has been guiding the decision-making process of managers in order to generate competitive advantage. This paper aims to identify the sustainable practices performed by large corporations in the implementation of OS. Reports with actions performed by large organizations and their reach in the three pillars of sustainability—environmental, economic, and social dimensions—are disclosed to their main stakeholders, based on short, medium and long-term sustainable goals. These reports often reflect the progress of OS or the progress made toward them. However, few studies investigate the sustainable practices adopted by firms and their reproducibility. A search was performed in reports selected from the firms listed by the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI from 2012–2016, belonging to the Brazilian stock market in services sector of the economy and employed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI methodology. The results showed the strategic planning involving infrastructure, environment, human resources, product innovation, organizational management and deadline setting acted as the baseline for the implementation of the practices found. The findings will guide the managers´ decisions in the development of their strategic planning, based on practical and objective results.

  5. Environmental evaluation for sustainable development of coal mining in Qijiang, Western China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Si, Hu; Bi, Haipu [College of Resource and Environment Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); Key Lab for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resource and the Environment Disaster Control Engineering, the Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China); Li, Xiaohong; Yang, Chunhe [Key Lab for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resource and the Environment Disaster Control Engineering, the Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030 (China)

    2010-03-01

    Environmental degradation associated with mining activities may seriously threaten the health of local people and the sustainable development of coal mining, which may need to be addressed by improved environmental evaluation system. Based on analyzing environmental pollution from coal mining and the increasing need for raw coal, this paper establishes an environmental evaluation system, covering environmental situation, resource protection and economic benefit, for sustainable development in coal mining. This paper proposes methods for calculating the weight of each index and the environmental sustainable capability taking into account the method of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Finally, the index system is used to evaluate the environmental sustainability of coal mining in the Qijiang area, Western China, which has demonstrated the validity of the index system. It may also be useful as a tool to assess the environmental impact of mining areas, as well as a measure to promote sustainable development in coal mining. (author)

  6. Index of tobacco control sustainability (ITCS): a tool to measure the sustainability of national tobacco control programmes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson-Morris, Angela; Latif, Ehsan

    2017-03-01

    To produce a tool to assess and guide sustainability of national tobacco control programmes. A two-stage process adapting the Delphi and Nominal group techniques. A series of indicators of tobacco control sustainability were identified in grantee/country advisor reports to The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease under the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Control (2007-2015). Focus groups and key informant interviews in seven low and middle-income countries (52 government and civil society participants) provided consensus ratings of the indicators' relative importance. Data were reviewed and the indicators were accorded relative weightings to produce the 'Index of Tobacco Control Sustainability' (ITCS). All 31 indicators were considered 'Critical' or 'Important' by the great majority of participants. There was consensus that a tool to measure progress towards tobacco control sustainability was important. The most critical indicators related to financial policies and allocations, a national law, a dedicated national tobacco control unit and civil society tobacco control network, a national policy against tobacco industry 'Corporate Social Responsibility' (CSR), national mortality and morbidity data, and national policy evaluation mechanisms. The 31 indicators were agreed to be 'critical' or 'important' factors for tobacco control sustainability. The Index comprises the weighted indicators as a tool to identify aspects of national tobacco control programmes requiring further development to augment their sustainability and to measure and compare progress over time. The next step is to apply the ITCS and produce tobacco control sustainability assessments. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  7. Sustainability Index Evaluation of the Rainwater Harvesting System in Six US Urban Cities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daeryong Park

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the sustainability of the rainwater harvesting system (RWHS by analyzing six urban city sites with different rainfall statistics in the United States. We developed a new RWHS performance model by modifying a spreadsheet-based storage, treatment, and overflow runoff model (SS STORM and verified its performance by comparing with another analytical RWHS model. The sustainability index (SI evaluation method was used for a reservoir system and applied to the RWHS, employing modified resilience and vulnerability evaluation methods due to the different characteristics of a reservoir and the RWHS. The performance of modified SS STORM is very similar to that of the analytical method, except in Los Angeles, which is characterized by long inter-event times and low rainfall event depths due to low annual rainfall. The sustainability indices were successfully evaluated depending on both RWHS size and water demand and vary over a wide range as annual rainfall increases. This study proposes a new RWHS performance model and sustainability index evaluation method. Further study should confirm the proposed approach in regions with widely different rainfall characteristics.

  8. Optimization of emergy sustainability index for biodiesel supply network design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ren, Jingzheng; Tan, Shiyu; Yang, Le

    2015-01-01

    sustainable design. In the proposed model, the emergy sustainability index of the whole biodiesel supply networks in a life cycle perspective is employed as the measure of the sustainability, and multiple feedstocks, multiple transport modes, multiple regions for biodiesel production and multiple distribution...... centers can be considered. After describing the process and mathematic framework of the model, an illustrative case was studied and demonstrated that the proposed methodology is feasible for finding the most sustainable design and planning of biodiesel supply chains....

  9. The relationship between settlement population size and sustainable development measured by two sustainability metrics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Regan, Bernadette; Morrissey, John; Foley, Walter; Moles, Richard

    2009-01-01

    This paper reports on a study of the relative sustainability of 79 Irish villages, towns and a small city (collectively called 'settlements') classified by population size. Quantitative data on more than 300 economic, social and environmental attributes of each settlement were assembled into a database. Two aggregated metrics were selected to model the relative sustainability of settlements: Ecological Footprint (EF) and Sustainable Development Index (SDI). Subsequently these were aggregated to create a single Combined Sustainable Development Index. Creation of this database meant that metric calculations did not rely on proxies, and were therefore considered to be robust. Methods employed provided values for indicators at various stages of the aggregation process. This allowed both the first reported empirical analysis of the relationship between settlement sustainability and population size, and the elucidation of information provided at different stages of aggregation. At the highest level of aggregation, settlement sustainability increased with population size, but important differences amongst individual settlements were masked by aggregation. EF and SDI metrics ranked settlements in differing orders of relative sustainability. Aggregation of indicators to provide Ecological Footprint values was found to be especially problematic, and this metric was inadequately sensitive to distinguish amongst the relative sustainability achieved by all settlements. Many authors have argued that, for policy makers to be able to inform planning decisions using sustainability indicators, it is necessary that they adopt a toolkit of aggregated indicators. Here it is argued that to interpret correctly each aggregated metric value, policy makers also require a hierarchy of disaggregated component indicator values, each explained fully. Possible implications for urban planning are briefly reviewed

  10. Emergy sustainability index of a milk producing unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edmar Eduardo Bassan Mendes

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Although small, the impacts caused by agriculture and livestock productive activities change the environment, which in turn reflects the stress conditions it is under. Some authors these environmental changes occur for countless reasons, many so-called natural while others are due to anthropogenic interventions. This study aims to assess milk production sustainability using the emergy analysis of indicators, considering the annual cycles of production to help decision making. A conceptual model of the milk production system using the Emergy flow chart was built at the Livestock and Agricultural Production Unit (UPA of the Alto da Arauna Farm, located in Guzolândia, SP. After data processing, the emergy calculation table was elaborated. Several emergy sustainability indices were calculated and analyzed (indicators Renewability of Emergy Used Total, Index of Environmental Load Ratio of Investment Ratio Emergia beyond the calculations Tranformidades among others including the Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI. The results showed that the UPA has a high impact per unit of energy source used to produce milk for the general public. The agricultural production systems with ESI value less than one (1 can be considered unsustainable in the long term. The studied UPA has good working conditions and soil conservation, but has a highly disproportionate use of economy inputs in relation to natural resources, which results in low ESI value. The analysis of this ratio indicated low system efficiency. Several management practices and interventions were proposed aiming at improving sustainability indicators of the production system.  Furthermore, strategies were formulated for more sustainable management of this UPA, thus reducing the impacts of the production system in use. The adoption of methods similar to organic production, agroecological systems, integration between farming and livestock, and/or adoption of silvopastoral system are recommended to improve

  11. Nature's role in sustaining economic development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dasgupta, Partha

    2010-01-12

    In this paper, I formalize the idea of sustainable development in terms of intergenerational well-being. I then sketch an argument that has recently been put forward formally to demonstrate that intergenerational well-being increases over time if and only if a comprehensive measure of wealth per capita increases. The measure of wealth includes not only manufactured capital, knowledge and human capital (education and health), but also natural capital (e.g. ecosystems). I show that a country's comprehensive wealth per capita can decline even while gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increases and the UN Human Development Index records an improvement. I then use some rough and ready data from the world's poorest countries and regions to show that during the period 1970-2000 wealth per capita declined in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, even though the Human Development Index (HDI) showed an improvement everywhere and GDP per capita increased in all places (except in sub-Saharan Africa, where there was a slight decline). I conclude that, as none of the development indicators currently in use is able to reveal whether development has been, or is expected to be, sustainable, national statistical offices and international organizations should now routinely estimate the (comprehensive) wealth of nations.

  12. Model of sustainable development of energy system, case of Hamedan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sahabmanesh, Aref; Saboohi, Yadollah

    2017-01-01

    Sustainable economic growth and improvement of the social welfare depend upon the sufficient supply of energy resources, while the utilization of energy resources is one of the main factors of environmental degradation. This research is involved with development of a sustainable energy system model and a new method for sustainability assessment. This model represents the flow of energy from primary resources through processing, conversion, and end-use technologies in an optimization framework where the useful energy demand in various social and economic sectors is met. The impact of energy supply and consumption chain on the environment at each level of energy system is also embedded in the model structure. A multi-criteria analysis of changes is then applied and sustainable development indices of the whole system are concluded. Finally, effects of the energy subsidy policy and high economic growth rate on sustainability of the energy system in three scenarios are analyzed. Results demonstrate that energy subsidy decelerates the improvement rate of the total sustainability index. Also, when a high economic growth is accompanied with the energy subsidy this index reduces considerably. Results show that how penetration of renewable energy potentials changes the sustainability situation of energy systems. - Highlights: • Developing a new model for sustainable energy systems. • Presenting a new method for sustainability assessment of energy systems. • Optimizing the energy flow and capacity expansion of Hamedan energy system. • Utilizing an MCDA approach to obtain sustainability indices of the whole system. • Analysis of energy subsidy and high economic growth on energy sustainability.

  13. An Index to Measure Sustainability of a Business Project in the Construction Industry: Lithuanian Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nomeda Dobrovolskienė

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The continuous growth of the world population, resource scarcity and the threat of climate change pose numerous environmental and social problems to the world. Therefore, much hope is put in the concept of sustainability. Companies are increasingly coming under strong global pressure to incorporate sustainability considerations into their project decision-making process. Business projects in the construction industry are among the most important, as this sector is one of the largest sectors and of major importance for the national economy and therefore has a huge impact on the environment and society. Thus, we have to explore ways to integrate sustainability into the management of those projects. This paper presents a composite sustainability index of a project (CSIP which has been created following a review of existing literature and a pilot research study. A pilot research study was conducted in the Lithuanian construction industry between January 2015 and June 2015. Sustainability criteria were chosen and grouped on the basis of the analysis of the literature and different standards relating to sustainability applicable in the construction industry. A survey was used to select and rank the most important sustainability criteria. The index was constructed using multi-criteria decision-making methods. The results of the pilot study revealed that practitioners in the Lithuanian construction sector attach most importance to 15 sustainability criteria. A composite sustainability index of a project combining all these criteria may be useful in assessing the sustainability of a business project and making decisions regarding project portfolio selection and financial resource allocation. When addressing the issue of financial resource allocation in a project portfolio, the decision-maker could take into account not only the project’s return and risk, but also its sustainability. The understanding of this study should enable companies to execute

  14. Environment and development in Latin America: the politics of sustainability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodman, David; Redclift, Michael

    1991-01-01

    The terms sustainability and sustainable development are used to refer to sustainable levels of both production and consumption taking environmental considerations into account. However, there are different interpretations of the terms, and the first chapter of this book considers these and looks at various aspects of sustainable development in Latin America. In this region sustainability has often been systematically devalued, missed altogether or simply lost. The remaining nine chapters of the book address debt, hunger, genetic resources, forestry management, acroecology and green issues of the Amazon. Costa Rica is the subject of one of the chapters and the environmental problems of Mexico City another. The chapter on nuclear energy and sustainability in Latin America is indexed separately. (UK)

  15. A Sustainability Index of potential co-location of offshore wind farms and open water aquaculture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bennassai, G.; Mariani, Patrizio; Stenberg, Claus

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents the definition of a Sustainability Index for the co-location in marine areas of offshore wind farms and aquaculture plans. The development of the index is focused on the application of MCE technique based on physical constraints and biological parameters that are directly linked...... to the primary production. The relevant physical factors considered are wind velocity and depth range (which directly governs the choice of the site for energy production and for offshore technology), the relevant biological parameters are SST, SST anomaly and CHL-a concentration (as a measurement...... the computation of the Sustainability Index (SI) was identified in the Danish portion of the Baltic Sea and in the western part of the Danish North Sea. Results on the spatial distribution of the SI underline different responses as a function of the physical and biological main influencing parameters...

  16. Land quality, sustainable development and environmental degradation in agricultural districts: A computational approach based on entropy indexes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zambon, Ilaria; Colantoni, Andrea; Carlucci, Margherita; Morrow, Nathan; Sateriano, Adele; Salvati, Luca

    2017-01-01

    Land Degradation (LD) in socio-environmental systems negatively impacts sustainable development paths. This study proposes a framework to LD evaluation based on indicators of diversification in the spatial distribution of sensitive land. We hypothesize that conditions for spatial heterogeneity in a composite index of land sensitivity are more frequently associated to areas prone to LD than spatial homogeneity. Spatial heterogeneity is supposed to be associated with degraded areas that act as hotspots for future degradation processes. A diachronic analysis (1960–2010) was performed at the Italian agricultural district scale to identify environmental factors associated with spatial heterogeneity in the degree of land sensitivity to degradation based on the Environmentally Sensitive Area Index (ESAI). In 1960, diversification in the level of land sensitivity measured using two common indexes of entropy (Shannon's diversity and Pielou's evenness) increased significantly with the ESAI, indicating a high level of land sensitivity to degradation. In 2010, surface area classified as “critical” to LD was the highest in districts with diversification in the spatial distribution of ESAI values, confirming the hypothesis formulated above. Entropy indexes, based on observed alignment with the concept of LD, constitute a valuable base to inform mitigation strategies against desertification. - Highlights: • Spatial heterogeneity is supposed to be associated with degraded areas. • Entropy indexes can inform mitigation strategies against desertification. • Assessing spatial diversification in the degree of land sensitivity to degradation. • Mediterranean rural areas have an evident diversity in agricultural systems. • A diachronic analysis carried out at the Italian agricultural district scale.

  17. Land quality, sustainable development and environmental degradation in agricultural districts: A computational approach based on entropy indexes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zambon, Ilaria, E-mail: ilaria.zambon@unitus.it [Department of Agricultural and Forestry scieNcEs (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via S. Camillo de Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo (Italy); Colantoni, Andrea [Department of Agricultural and Forestry scieNcEs (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via S. Camillo de Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo (Italy); Carlucci, Margherita [Department of Social and Economic Science, University of Rome La Sapienza, Piazzale A. Moro 5, I-00185 Rome (Italy); Morrow, Nathan [Tulane University, Payson Program in International Development at the School of Law, New Orleans (United States); Sateriano, Adele; Salvati, Luca [Italian Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA-RPS), Via della Navicella 2-4, I-00184 Rome (Italy)

    2017-05-15

    Land Degradation (LD) in socio-environmental systems negatively impacts sustainable development paths. This study proposes a framework to LD evaluation based on indicators of diversification in the spatial distribution of sensitive land. We hypothesize that conditions for spatial heterogeneity in a composite index of land sensitivity are more frequently associated to areas prone to LD than spatial homogeneity. Spatial heterogeneity is supposed to be associated with degraded areas that act as hotspots for future degradation processes. A diachronic analysis (1960–2010) was performed at the Italian agricultural district scale to identify environmental factors associated with spatial heterogeneity in the degree of land sensitivity to degradation based on the Environmentally Sensitive Area Index (ESAI). In 1960, diversification in the level of land sensitivity measured using two common indexes of entropy (Shannon's diversity and Pielou's evenness) increased significantly with the ESAI, indicating a high level of land sensitivity to degradation. In 2010, surface area classified as “critical” to LD was the highest in districts with diversification in the spatial distribution of ESAI values, confirming the hypothesis formulated above. Entropy indexes, based on observed alignment with the concept of LD, constitute a valuable base to inform mitigation strategies against desertification. - Highlights: • Spatial heterogeneity is supposed to be associated with degraded areas. • Entropy indexes can inform mitigation strategies against desertification. • Assessing spatial diversification in the degree of land sensitivity to degradation. • Mediterranean rural areas have an evident diversity in agricultural systems. • A diachronic analysis carried out at the Italian agricultural district scale.

  18. Visualization of a City Sustainability Index (CSI: Towards Transdisciplinary Approaches Involving Multiple Stakeholders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koichiro Mori

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available We have developed a visualized 3-D model of a City Sustainability Index (CSI based on our original concept of city sustainability in which a sustainable city is defined as one that maximizes socio-economic benefits while meeting constraint conditions of the environment and socio-economic equity on a permanent basis. The CSI is based on constraint and maximization indicators. Constraint indicators assess whether a city meets the necessary minimum conditions for city sustainability. Maximization indicators measure the benefits that a city generates in socio-economic aspects. When used in the policy-making process, the choice of constraint indicators should be implemented using a top-down approach. In contrast, a bottom-up approach is more suitable for defining maximization indicators because this technique involves multiple stakeholders (in a transdisciplinary approach. Using different materials of various colors, shapes, sizes, we designed and constructed the visualized physical model of the CSI to help people evaluate and compare the performance of different cities in terms of sustainability. The visualized model of the CSI can convey complicated information in a simple and straightforward manner to diverse stakeholders so that the sustainability analysis can be understood intuitively by ordinary citizens as well as experts. Thus, the CSI model helps stakeholders to develop critical thinking about city sustainability and enables policymakers to make informed decisions for sustainability through a transdisciplinary approach.

  19. Assessment of sustainable urban transport development based on entropy and unascertained measure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yancang; Yang, Jing; Shi, Huawang; Li, Yijie

    2017-01-01

    To find a more effective method for the assessment of sustainable urban transport development, the comprehensive assessment model of sustainable urban transport development was established based on the unascertained measure. On the basis of considering the factors influencing urban transport development, the comprehensive assessment indexes were selected, including urban economical development, transport demand, environment quality and energy consumption, and the assessment system of sustainable urban transport development was proposed. In view of different influencing factors of urban transport development, the index weight was calculated through the entropy weight coefficient method. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted according to the actual condition. Then, the grade was obtained by using the credible degree recognition criterion from which the urban transport development level can be determined. Finally, a comprehensive assessment method for urban transport development was introduced. The application practice showed that the method can be used reasonably and effectively for the comprehensive assessment of urban transport development.

  20. Measurement and evaluation of sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kondyli, Julia

    2010-01-01

    This paper develops a methodology to analyse, measure and evaluate sustainable development (SD). A holistic approach (systems analysis) is applied to operationalise the SD concept and an integrated approach (composite indicator construction) is adopted for the measurement of SD. The operationalisation of the SD concept is based on an in-depth systems analysis of issues associated with economic, social and environmental problems in a policy context. The composite indicator (overall sustainability index) is developed based on the three composite sub-indicators of the SD dimensions. The valuation of the SD is based both on the aggregated sub-indicators and the overall composite indicator. The methodology is used to evaluate the SD of the North Aegean islands between different temporal points. The assessment of the change in the islands' SD is based on a quartile grading scale of the overall SD composite scores.

  1. Can human resources induce sustainability in business?: Modeling, testing and correlating HR index and company's business results

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zubović Jovan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In this paper the authors analyze the impact of the composite human resource index on sustainable growth in a specific business sector in a transition country. Sustainability of country's economy is growingly relying on the knowledge economy which has been implemented in strategies of sustainable development throughout Europe. The knowledge economy is mostly based on human resources and the way they are organized and managed in the companies actively operating in competitive markets. In order to confirm importance of the human resources (HR index, results were tested by means of modeling, measuring and correlating the HR index with business results at micro level. The tests were conducted on the data from the survey in Serbian meat processing industry. The results were then compared with the results from the survey conducted in a financial industry. Moreover, a model was made that could be applicable in all countries that do not have available official statistic data on the level of investments in human resources. The focus was on determining the correlation direction, and hence creating a research model applicable in all business sectors. It has been found that a significant one-way correlation exists between business performance and increased HR index. In that way it has been confirmed that in Serbian economy that has recorded global decrease during transition, certain business sectors, and especially companies with high levels of investments in improving its HR index record above average and sustainable growth.

  2. RESULTS OF ANALYSIS OF BENCHMARKING METHODS OF INNOVATION SYSTEMS ASSESSMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH AIMS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Vylegzhanina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In this work, we introduce results of comparative analysis of international ratings indexes of innovation systems for their compliance with purposes of sustainable development. Purpose of this research is defining requirements to benchmarking methods of assessing national or regional innovation systems and compare them basing on assumption, that innovation system is aligned with sustainable development concept. Analysis of goal sets and concepts, which underlie observed international composite innovation indexes, comparison of their metrics and calculation techniques, allowed us to reveal opportunities and limitations of using these methods in frames of sustainable development concept. We formulated targets of innovation development on the base of innovation priorities of sustainable socio-economic development. Using comparative analysis of indexes with these targets, we revealed two methods of assessing innovation systems, maximally connected with goals of sustainable development. Nevertheless, today no any benchmarking method, which meets need of innovation systems assessing in compliance with sustainable development concept to a sufficient extent. We suggested practical directions of developing methods, assessing innovation systems in compliance with goals of societal sustainable development.

  3. The Sustainable Development Assessment of Reservoir Resettlement Based on a BP Neural Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Li; Huang, Jian; Wang, Wei

    2018-01-18

    Resettlement affects not only the resettlers' production activities and life but also, directly or indirectly, the normal operation of power stations, the sustainable development of the resettlers, and regional social stability. Therefore, a scientific evaluation index system for the sustainable development of reservoir resettlement must be established that fits Chinese national conditions and not only promotes reservoir resettlement research but also improves resettlement practice. This essay builds an evaluation index system for resettlers' sustainable development based on a back-propagation (BP) neural network, which can be adopted in China, taking the resettlement necessitated by step hydropower stations along the Wujiang River cascade as an example. The assessment results show that the resettlement caused by step power stations along the Wujiang River is sustainable, and this evaluation supports the conclusion that national policies and regulations, which are undergoing constant improvement, and resettlement has increasingly improved. The results provide a reference for hydropower reservoir resettlement in developing countries.

  4. The Sustainable Development Assessment of Reservoir Resettlement Based on a BP Neural Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Li; Huang, Jian

    2018-01-01

    Resettlement affects not only the resettlers’ production activities and life but also, directly or indirectly, the normal operation of power stations, the sustainable development of the resettlers, and regional social stability. Therefore, a scientific evaluation index system for the sustainable development of reservoir resettlement must be established that fits Chinese national conditions and not only promotes reservoir resettlement research but also improves resettlement practice. This essay builds an evaluation index system for resettlers’ sustainable development based on a back-propagation (BP) neural network, which can be adopted in China, taking the resettlement necessitated by step hydropower stations along the Wujiang River cascade as an example. The assessment results show that the resettlement caused by step power stations along the Wujiang River is sustainable, and this evaluation supports the conclusion that national policies and regulations, which are undergoing constant improvement, and resettlement has increasingly improved. The results provide a reference for hydropower reservoir resettlement in developing countries. PMID:29346305

  5. The Sustainable Development Assessment of Reservoir Resettlement Based on a BP Neural Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Huang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Resettlement affects not only the resettlers’ production activities and life but also, directly or indirectly, the normal operation of power stations, the sustainable development of the resettlers, and regional social stability. Therefore, a scientific evaluation index system for the sustainable development of reservoir resettlement must be established that fits Chinese national conditions and not only promotes reservoir resettlement research but also improves resettlement practice. This essay builds an evaluation index system for resettlers’ sustainable development based on a back-propagation (BP neural network, which can be adopted in China, taking the resettlement necessitated by step hydropower stations along the Wujiang River cascade as an example. The assessment results show that the resettlement caused by step power stations along the Wujiang River is sustainable, and this evaluation supports the conclusion that national policies and regulations, which are undergoing constant improvement, and resettlement has increasingly improved. The results provide a reference for hydropower reservoir resettlement in developing countries.

  6. Sustainability Assessment in Development Planning in Sub-National Territories: Regional Development Strategies in Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iván Franchi-Arzola

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In Chile, the increasing occurrence of socio-environmental conflicts demonstrates that Regional Development Strategies—Estrategia Regional de Desarrollo (ERD—as the main development policy of subnational territories (Regions, must consider sustainability as a central objective. The Taxonomy of Sustainability constitutes an assessment method that allows us to determine the correlation between the definitions of these public policies and the strategies for transition to sustainable development. The ERD of the Antofagasta and Aysén regions are the ones presenting the highest Taxonomic Index; this indicates a higher strategic content for the promotion of sustainability. It is also noted that the political will that conditions the principles and values on which the ERD are based is strongly determined by investment projects and socio-environmental conflicts, which represent the tension between environmental protection and the capacity and interests of regional society in the development project.

  7. Index of sustainability of the water resource for the definition of technological sustainable and competitives strategies in the Microbasin la Centella

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martha Constanza Daza; Aldemar Reyes Trujillo; Wilmar Loaiza Ceron; Martha Patricia Fajardo Vasquez

    2012-01-01

    The Index of Sustainable Water Resource Management in Agriculture (ISRHA) implemented in the watershed Centella (Dagua, Cauca Valley) assesses the sustainability of water resource management in agriculture, using pressure gauges, for State and Response factor analysis: biophysical, technological, socioeconomic and political-institutional. Each factor is composed of indicators which are evaluated based on parameters established by of ISRHA. The results of applying sustainability index shows a half the three study areas (watersheds La Virgen, Centella and Aguas Calientes), which were rated average to good in the proposed scale (1 to 5), identifying weaknesses and strengths in relation to the factors considered, which allows us to suggest some strategies for sustainability of and competitive for water resources in agricultural production systems in the watershed.

  8. Compendium of Environmental Sustainability Indicator Collections: 2004 Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 2004 Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) portion of the Compendium of Environmental Sustainability Indicator Collections contains 111 variables for 235...

  9. Interpreting sustainable development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    1998-01-01

    Over the past decade, the term" sustainable development"has emerged as the principal concept in the development field. The concept emerged in the 1970s and was first promoted in the international environmental and development communities with the publication of the " world conservation strategy"(1980). It was popularized by the Brundtland report, " Our common future"(1987). The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as " development which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the sustainability of future generation to meet their own needs". The Earth Summit(1992) established "sustainable development" as the most important policy of the 21st century. Since then, the relationship between development and environment has been widely discussed and sustainabale development is now an important part of the vocabulary of environmental policy research and analysis. In this paper, we begin by tracing the evolution of the concept of sustainable development. Definitions of sustainable development in ecology, economics and sociology are then explored and discussed. This paper also examine the contribution that a broadly-based concept of sustainable development can make: as a goal, an attitude and as a guiding principle for integrating economic development and environmental protection.

  10. Developing a multicriteria approach for the measurement of sustainable performance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ding, G.

    2005-02-01

    In Australia, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is one of the conventional tools used widely by the public and the private sectors in the appraisal of projects. It measures and compares the total costs and benefits of projects that are competing for scarce resources in monetary terms. Growing concerns that the values of environmental goods and services are often ignored or underestimated in the CBA approach have led to the overuse and depletion of environmental assets. A model of a sustainability index as an evaluation tool that combines economic, social and environmental criteria into an indexing algorithm is presented and described. The sustainability index uses monetary and non-monetary approaches to rank projects and facilities on their contribution to sustainability. This process enables the principle of trade-off to occur in the decision-making process and thereby allows environmental values to be considered when selecting a development option. This makes it possible to optimize financial return, maximize resource consumption and minimize detrimental effects to the natural and man-made world. A case study is used to demonstrate the model. (author)

  11. Policy efficiency in the field of food sustainability. The adjusted food agriculture and nutrition index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agovino, Massimiliano; Cerciello, Massimiliano; Gatto, Andrea

    2018-07-15

    This work introduces a revised version of the Food Sustainability Index, proposed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition in 2016. Our Adjusted Food Sustainability Index features two important advantages: 1) it employs the Mazziotta-Pareto method to compute weights, hence granting an objective aggregation criterion and 2) it does not take policy variables into account, thus focusing on the status quo. The policy variables are aggregated into the Policy Index, measuring the quality of the food sustainability policies. We compute the two indices for 25 countries worldwide, then we use the Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate policy efficiency. Our results show that country-level variation in policy efficiency is wide and policies affect food sustainability significantly, especially when they target nutritional challenges. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Evaluation index system of steel industry sustainable development based on entropy method and topsis method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ronglian, Yuan; Mingye, Ai; Qiaona, Jia; Yuxuan, Liu

    2018-03-01

    Sustainable development is the only way for the development of human society. As an important part of the national economy, the steel industry is an energy-intensive industry and needs to go further for sustainable development. In this paper, we use entropy method and Topsis method to evaluate the development of China’s steel industry during the “12th Five-Year Plan” from four aspects: resource utilization efficiency, main energy and material consumption, pollution status and resource reuse rate. And we also put forward some suggestions for the development of China’s steel industry.

  13. Sustainability assessment of cogeneration sector development in Croatia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liposcak, Marko; Afgan, Naim H.; Duic, Neven; Graca Carvalho, Maria da

    2006-01-01

    The effective and rational energy generation and supply is one of the main presumptions of sustainable development. Combined heat and power production, or co-generation, has clear environmental advantages by increasing energy efficiency and decreasing carbon emissions. However, higher investment cost and more complicated design and maintenance sometimes-present disadvantages from the economical viability point of view. As in the case of most of economies in transition in Central and Eastern Europe, Croatia has a strong but not very efficient co-generation sector, delivering 12% of the final energy consumption. District heating systems in the country's capital Zagreb and in city of Osijek represent the large share of the overall co-generation capacity. Besides district heating, co-generation in industry sector is also relatively well developed. The paper presents an attempt to assess the sustainability of Croatian co-generation sector future development. The sustainability assessment requires multi-criteria assessment of specific scenarios to be taken into consideration. In this respect three scenarios of Croatian co-generation sector future development are taken into consideration and for each of them environmental, social and economic sustainability indicators are defined and calculated. The assessment of complex relationships between environmental, social and economic aspects of the system is based on the multi-criteria decision-making procedure. The sustainability assessment is based on the General Sustainability Index rating for different cases reflecting different criteria and their priority. The method of sustainability assessment is applied to the Croatian co-generation sector contributing to the evaluation of different strategies and definition of a foundation for policy related to the sustainable future cogeneration sector development

  14. [Environmental health and inequalities: building indicators for sustainable development].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carneiro, Fernando Ferreira; Franco Netto, Guilherme; Corvalan, Carlos; de Freitas, Carlos Machado; Sales, Luiz Belino Ferreira

    2012-06-01

    Despite its progress in terms of socio-economic indicators, Brazil is still unequal, which is due to an unequal and exclusionary historical process. In this paper we selected the Human Development Index - HDI and other social, economic, environmental and health indicators to exemplify this situation. We selected the municipalities that had the lowest HDI in the country in 2000 comparing their evolution over time between 2000 and 2010 by means of indicators linked to the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainable development. These municipalities have an HDI classified as low (sustainable development with quality of life, the improvement of sanitation and education indicators should be a priority for Brazil.

  15. Lo sviluppo come fenomeno multidimensionale. Confronto tra l’ISU e un indice di sviluppo sostenibile (Development as Multi-dimensional Phenomenon: Comparison between the HDI and an Index of Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Palazzi

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of the UNDP data used to calculate the Human Development Index (HDI, the paper applies a methodology to determine a different development index able to show disequilibria between the different aspects of development (in this case income, life expectancy and education. The basic idea is that the concept of total substitutability between the variables utilized to calculate the HDI must be abandoned, and it is therefore important to take into account the unbalance between the various aspects characterizing the development level when calculating the index. The author utilizes the concept of the social sustainability of development over time, assuming that it will show a higher value with a more even balance between the various aspects of development. The concave average methodology proposed in Casadio Tarabusi ePalazzi (2004 is able to "penalize" development levels proportionally to the disequilibrium of the variables utilized to measure it. In the paper the new indicator is calculated for 162 countries for the years 1997-2001. Comparison between HDI and the new index shows notable differences not only in the ranking of the countries, but also in the time dynamics of the two indicators, now of the opposite sign for many countries. Finally, utilizing multivariate statistical analysis the presence of disequilibria in the various countries is evidenced together with their dynamics over time.

  16. Regional Sustainable Development Analysis Based on Information Entropy—Sichuan Province as an Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Xuedong; Si, Dongyang; Zhang, Xinli

    2017-01-01

    According to the implementation of a scientific development perspective, sustainable development needs to consider regional development, economic and social development, and the harmonious development of society and nature, but regional sustainable development is often difficult to quantify. Through an analysis of the structure and functions of a regional system, this paper establishes an evaluation index system, which includes an economic subsystem, an ecological environmental subsystem and a social subsystem, to study regional sustainable development capacity. A sustainable development capacity measure model for Sichuan Province was established by applying the information entropy calculation principle and the Brusselator principle. Each subsystem and entropy change in a calendar year in Sichuan Province were analyzed to evaluate Sichuan Province’s sustainable development capacity. It was found that the established model could effectively show actual changes in sustainable development levels through the entropy change reaction system, at the same time this model could clearly demonstrate how those forty-six indicators from the three subsystems impact on the regional sustainable development, which could make up for the lack of sustainable development research. PMID:29027982

  17. Regional Sustainable Development Analysis Based on Information Entropy-Sichuan Province as an Example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Xuedong; Si, Dongyang; Zhang, Xinli

    2017-10-13

    According to the implementation of a scientific development perspective, sustainable development needs to consider regional development, economic and social development, and the harmonious development of society and nature, but regional sustainable development is often difficult to quantify. Through an analysis of the structure and functions of a regional system, this paper establishes an evaluation index system, which includes an economic subsystem, an ecological environmental subsystem and a social subsystem, to study regional sustainable development capacity. A sustainable development capacity measure model for Sichuan Province was established by applying the information entropy calculation principle and the Brusselator principle. Each subsystem and entropy change in a calendar year in Sichuan Province were analyzed to evaluate Sichuan Province's sustainable development capacity. It was found that the established model could effectively show actual changes in sustainable development levels through the entropy change reaction system, at the same time this model could clearly demonstrate how those forty-six indicators from the three subsystems impact on the regional sustainable development, which could make up for the lack of sustainable development research.

  18. Exploration of sustainable development by applying green economy indicators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yungkun; Chen, Chia-Yon; Hsieh, Tsuifang

    2011-11-01

    Following the global trend of sustainable development, development of green economy is the best way of slowing the negative ecological and environmental impact. This research establishes the Taiwan's green economic indicators based on the ecological footprint and energy analysis. The results are as follows: Taiwan's ecological footprint in 2008 intensity index was at 4.364; ecological overshoot index was at 3.364, showing that Taiwan's ecological system is in overload state. Moreover, this study utilizes energy analysis model to study the sustainable development of Taiwan. Findings showed that total energy use in 2008 was 3.14 × 10(23) sej (solar energy joule, sej), energy of renewable resources was 1.30 × 10(22) sej, energy of nonrenewable resources was 2.26 × 10(23) sej, energy of products from renewable resources was 1.30 × 10(22)sej, energy of currency flow was 8.02 × 10(22) sej and energy of wastes flow was 6.55 × 10(22) sej. Taiwan's energy per capita and the utilization rate of energy is lower while the environmental loading rate is significantly higher comparing to some other countries. The foregoing findings indicate that Taiwan currently belongs to an economic development pattern based on high resource consumption. The economic development is mainly established on the exploitation and utilization of nonrenewable resources. Therefore, Taiwan should change the development pattern, regulate the industrial structure, promote the utilization rate of resources, develop green pollution-free products, and enhance the sustainable development of ecological economic system.

  19. Lo sviluppo come fenomeno multidimensionale. Confronto tra l’ISU e un indice di sviluppo sostenibile (Development as Multi-dimensional Phenomenon: Comparison between the HDI and an Index of Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Palazzi

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of the UNDP data used to calculate the Human Development Index (HDI, the paper applies a methodology to determine a different development index able to show disequilibria between the different aspects of development (in this case income, life expectancy and education. The basic idea is that the concept of total substitutability between the variables utilized to calculate the HDI must be abandoned, and it is therefore important to take into account the unbalance between the various aspects characterizing the development level when calculating the index. The author utilizes the concept of the social sustainability of development over time, assuming that it will show a higher value with a more even balance between the various aspects of development. The concave average methodology proposed in Casadio Tarabusi ePalazzi (2004 is able to "penalize" development levels proportionally to the disequilibrium of the variables utilized to measure it. In the paper the new indicator is calculated for 162 countries for the years 1997-2001. Comparison between HDI and the new index shows notable differences not only in the ranking of the countries, but also in the time dynamics of the two indicators, now of the opposite sign for many countries. Finally, utilizing multivariate statistical analysis the presence of disequilibria in the various countries is evidenced together with their dynamics over time.  JEL Codes: C43, O10, O15, Q01Keywords: Development, Education, Human Development, Indice

  20. The Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare for Flanders, Belgium, 1990-2009; De Index voor Duurzame Economische Welvaart (ISEW) voor Vlaanderen, 1990-2009

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bleys, B. [Geassocieerde Faculteit Handelswetenschappen en Bestuurskunde, Hogeschool Gent, Associatie Universiteit Gent, Gent (Belgium)

    2012-05-15

    In this report the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) is compiled for Flanders for the period 1990-2009. The index is a measure of economic welfare in that it measures the contribution of a country's or region's economy to the overall level of well-being of its citizens. In this regard, the ISEW can be regarded as an indicator for the economic dimension of well-being [Dutch] In deze studie wordt de Index voor Duurzame Economische Welvaart (ISEW - Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare) berekend voor Vlaanderen voor de periode 1990-2009. Deze index is een maatstaf voor economische welvaart en meet de bijdrage van het economische systeem van een land of regio tot het algemene welzijn van haar bevolking. De ISEW kan dus gezien worden als een indicator voor de economische dimensie van welzijn.

  1. Study of urban spatial utilization on socio-cultural and environment based on sustainability index (study in Denpasar city)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiryananda, N. G. A. K.; Hasibuan, H. S.; Madiasworo, T.

    2018-03-01

    The rapid development of tourism and population growth in Denpasar City stimulated the dynamic changes in the spatial utilization. This study aims to analyse the impact of spatial utilization on sociocultural and environment and formulate the sustainable spatial utilization that accommodate both social and environmental aspects. This research uses methods of spatial analysis and sustainability index. The results showed that during the period of 2011 to 2015 there was an increase of settlement and tourism land uses, meanwhile at the same period the paddy field decreased. The impact of spatial utilization on sociocultural leads to unsustainable, that showed by the decreasing of the sociocultural index from 1.038 in 2011 to 1.036 in 2015. The low of sociocultural index was stated by the increasing poverty, the obedience of traditional rules of purity radius of Temple and the height limit of the building. The impact of spatial utilization on environmental leads to unsustainable, with the environmental index of 1.065 in 2011 decreased to 1.056 in 2015. The decline of environmental index is due to reduced green open space and paddy field. The strategy formulation of sustainable spatial utilization is done by integrating traditional rules into spatial planning, plan the vertical building, strengthening implementation of traditional rules, implementation of perennial paddy field, and the establishment of traditional task control unit of spatial control.

  2. Development of Sustainability Assessment Framework in Hydropower sector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soliha Sahimi, Nur; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Johan, Kartina

    2017-08-01

    Nowadays, Malaysian demand in energy sector was drastically increase due to technological developments. Since, hydropower is one of potential renewable energy source in Malaysia. The largest electricity utility company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad was provide an electricity to more than seven million people via independent suppliers in peninsular Malaysia and Sabah by intended a potential sustainable hydropower system. In order to increasingly the power capacity from current use, 1882 MW to more than 3000 MW by years 2020. In this study, the environmental issues and also the penalty to the responsible company especially on Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) towards their project or business are one of the problems. Other than that, every project or business has to prepare a sustainability statement or sustainability report as vital to Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad under their listing requirements. Next, the sustainability performance on their project cannot be determined to achieve the key performance indicators (KPI) satisfaction from Government, stakeholder or any responsible agencies. This study presents an exhaustive review of these studies and suggests a direction for future developments. Sustainability Assessment framework or self-assessment is decidedly as a significant framework to assist towards sustainability reporting and to produce a Sustainability index for Hydropower sector using a mathematical model study. The results reveal that, the quantitative measurement from Sustainability Assessment framework to Systematic Sustainability Asssesment tool can be produce. In doing so, it is possible to improve the performance of the project especially in hydropower planner.

  3. Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment: Evaluating Residential Development Sustainability in a Developing Country Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tan Yigitcanlar

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Rapid urbanization, improved quality of life, and diversified lifestyle options have collectively led to an escalation in housing demand in our cities, where residential areas, as the largest portion of urban land use type, play a critical role in the formation of sustainable cities. To date there has been limited research to ascertain residential development layouts that provide a more sustainable urban outcome. This paper aims to evaluate and compare sustainability levels of residential types by focusing on their layouts. The paper scrutinizes three different development types in a developing country context—i.e., subdivision, piecemeal, and master-planned developments. This study develops a “Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment” tool and applies it to compare their sustainability levels in Ipoh, Malaysia. The analysis finds that the master-planned development, amongst the investigated case studies, possesses the potential to produce higher levels of sustainability outcomes. The results reveal insights and evidence for policymakers, planners, development agencies and researchers; advocate further studies on neighborhood-level sustainability analysis, and; emphasize the need for collective efforts and an effective process in achieving neighborhood sustainability and sustainable city formation.

  4. Interdependences between sustainable development and sustainable economy

    OpenAIRE

    Emilia Mioara CÂMPEANU; Carmen Valentina RĂDULESCU

    2014-01-01

    Sustainable development and sustainable economy are mostly used concepts. Understanding clearly their meaning allows their use in an appropriate context and, therefore, their boundaries in terms of theoretical and practical approaches on which occasion it can be given their interdependencies. The paper aim is to analyze the interdependences between sustainable development and sustainable economy.

  5. The sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    In the framework of the sustainable development week (june 2003), Actu Environnement published a complete document on the sustainable development to inform the public, recall the main steps of this notion (Rio conference and the following conferences) and the possible employments. It presents also the main organizations acting in the sustainable development domain. (A.L.B.)

  6. Education for sustainable development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breiting, Søren

    2009-01-01

     An introduction to the idea of sustainable development (SD) and education for sustainable development (ESD) with reference to the international Decade for Education for Sustainable Development . The chapter includes a focus on conflicting interests between present and future generations related ...... to the use of natural resources and other matters, and how that kind of issues can be dealt with in education as ESD....... An introduction to the idea of sustainable development (SD) and education for sustainable development (ESD) with reference to the international Decade for Education for Sustainable Development . The chapter includes a focus on conflicting interests between present and future generations related...

  7. Development of sustainable water treatment technology using scientifically based calculated indexes of source water quality indicators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    А. С. Трякина

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article describes selection process of sustainable technological process flow chart for water treatment procedure developed on scientifically based calculated indexes of quality indicators for water supplied to water treatment facilities. In accordance with the previously calculated values of the indicators of the source water quality, the main purification facilities are selected. A more sustainable flow chart for the modern water quality of the Seversky Donets-Donbass channel is a two-stage filtering with contact prefilters and high-rate filters. The article proposes a set of measures to reduce such an indicator of water quality as permanganate oxidation. The most suitable for these purposes is sorption purification using granular activated carbon for water filtering. The increased water hardness is also quite topical. The method of ion exchange on sodium cation filters was chosen to reduce the water hardness. We also evaluated the reagents for decontamination of water. As a result, sodium hypochlorite is selected for treatment of water, which has several advantages over chlorine and retains the necessary aftereffect, unlike ozone. A technological flow chart with two-stage purification on contact prefilters and two-layer high-rate filters (granular activated carbon - quartz sand with disinfection of sodium hypochlorite and softening of a part of water on sodium-cation exchangers filters is proposed. This technological flow chart of purification with any fluctuations in the quality of the source water is able to provide purified water that meets the requirements of the current sanitary-hygienic standards. In accordance with the developed flow chart, guidelines and activities for the reconstruction of the existing Makeevka Filtering Station were identified. The recommended flow chart uses more compact and less costly facilities, as well as additional measures to reduce those water quality indicators, the values of which previously were in

  8. World congress on sustainable development: engineering and technological challenges of 21st century. Technical V. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    Sustainable development as a concept came to force only after the developed nations started getting undesirable fallout of development on local and global environment due to indiscriminate resource exploitation. The concept of sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs. This volume contains some papers dealing with sustainable development in energy sector. The papers relevant to INIS is indexed separately

  9. Application of exergetic sustainability index to a nano-scale irreversible Brayton cycle operating with ideal Bose and Fermi gasses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Açıkkalp, Emin, E-mail: eacikkalp@gmail.com [Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Bilecik S.E. University, Bilecik (Turkey); Caner, Necmettin [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir (Turkey)

    2015-09-25

    Highlights: • An irreversible Brayton cycle operating quantum gasses is considered. • Exergetic sustainability index is derived for nano-scale cycles. • Nano-scale effects are considered. • Calculation are conducted for irreversible cycles. • Numerical results are presented and discussed. - Abstract: In this study, a nano-scale irreversible Brayton cycle operating with quantum gasses including Bose and Fermi gasses is researched. Developments in the nano-technology cause searching the nano-scale machines including thermal systems to be unavoidable. Thermodynamic analysis of a nano-scale irreversible Brayton cycle operating with Bose and Fermi gasses was performed (especially using exergetic sustainability index). In addition, thermodynamic analysis involving classical evaluation parameters such as work output, exergy output, entropy generation, energy and exergy efficiencies were conducted. Results are submitted numerically and finally some useful recommendations were conducted. Some important results are: entropy generation and exergetic sustainability index are affected mostly for Bose gas and power output and exergy output are affected mostly for the Fermi gas by x. At the high temperature conditions, work output and entropy generation have high values comparing with other degeneracy conditions.

  10. Comparative analysis of countries in the peer-group based on economic potential and components of sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergii VOITKO

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The authors study levels of sustainable development potential and determine the positions of Ukraine and other countries in the peer-groups [4], based on individual macroeconomic indicators. The research includes a comparative analysis of absolute and relative terms of GDP, industrial production and the index of competitiveness for the countries included to the peer-groups. The authors analyse the position of countries based on the GDP per capita and components of sustainable development (Quality of Life Index and Security of Life Index. In the article, the authors suggest the methodical approach of performing the comparative analysis of peer-group countries based on their indicators values. This approach gives the possibility to investigate the country’s potential in the limits of the chosen peer-group and propose the recommendations for increase of economic potential in purpose of sustainable development achievement.

  11. A Legitimate Freedom Approach to Sustainability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Crabtree, Andrew

    2012-01-01

    Although the capability approach has had a tremendous impact on the development debate, it has had little to say about sustainable development. As several Human Development Reports have maintained, the last twenty years' gains in human development are not sustainable. The failure to include...... Index should be combined with the Ecological Footprint to reflect sustainability, and that the Human Development Reports should give way to Sustainable Development Reports...... an integrate sustainability into the Human Development Index would thus give the wrong policy message. Drawing on the works of Amartya Sen and Thomas Scanlon, this article argues that sustainable development can be seen as a process of increasing legitimate freedoms, the freedoms that others cannot reasonably...

  12. Does Income Diversification Benefit the Sustainable Development of Chinese Listed Banks? Analysis Based on Entropy and the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huichen Jiang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available We collected data pertaining to Chinese listed commercial banks from 2008 to 2016 and found that the competition between banks is becoming increasingly fierce. Commercial banks have actively carried out diversification strategies for greater returns, and the financial reports show that profits are increasingly coming from the non-interest income benefits of diversification strategies. However, diversification comes with risk. We built a panel threshold model and investigated the effect of income diversification on a bank’s profitability and risk. Diversification was first measured by the Herfindahl–Hirschman index (HHI, and the results show that there is a nonlinear relationship between diversification and profitability or risk does exist. We introduced an interesting index based on the entropy to test the robustness of our model and found that a threshold effect exists in both our models, which is statistically significant. We believe the combination of the entropy index (ENTI and the HHI enables more efficient study of the relationship between diversification and profitability or risk more efficiently. Bankers and their customers have increasingly been interested in income diversification, and they value risk as well. We suggest that banks of different sizes should adopt the corresponding diversification strategy to achieve sustainable development.

  13. Smart Sustainable Islands VS Smart Sustainable Cities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pantazis, D. N.; Moussas, V. C.; Murgante, B.; Daverona, A. C.; Stratakis, P.; Vlissidis, N.; Kavadias, A.; Economou, D.; Santimpantakis, K.; Karathanasis, B.; Kyriakopoulou, V.; Gadolou, E.

    2017-09-01

    This paper has several aims: a) the presentation of a critical analysis of the terms "smart sustainable cities" and "smart sustainable islands" b) the presentation of a number of principles towards to the development methodological framework of concepts and actions, in a form of a manual and actions guide, for the smartification and sustainability of islands. This kind of master plan is divided in thematic sectors (key factors) which concern the insular municipalities c) the creation of an island's smartification and sustainability index d) the first steps towards the creation of a portal for the presentation of our smartification actions manual, together with relative resources, smart applications examples, and, in the near future the first results of our index application in a number of Greek islands and e) the presentation of some proposals of possible actions towards their sustainable development and smartification for the municipalities - islands of Paros and Antiparos in Greece, as case studies.

  14. SMART SUSTAINABLE ISLANDS VS SMART SUSTAINABLE CITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. N. Pantazis

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper has several aims: a the presentation of a critical analysis of the terms “smart sustainable cities” and “smart sustainable islands” b the presentation of a number of principles towards to the development methodological framework of concepts and actions, in a form of a manual and actions guide, for the smartification and sustainability of islands. This kind of master plan is divided in thematic sectors (key factors which concern the insular municipalities c the creation of an island’s smartification and sustainability index d the first steps towards the creation of a portal for the presentation of our smartification actions manual, together with relative resources, smart applications examples, and, in the near future the first results of our index application in a number of Greek islands and e the presentation of some proposals of possible actions towards their sustainable development and smartification for the municipalities - islands of Paros and Antiparos in Greece, as case studies.

  15. Critical success factors model developing for sustainable Kaizen implementation in manufactur-ing industry in Ethiopia

    OpenAIRE

    Haftu Hailu; Abdelkadir Kedir; Getachew Bassa; Kassu Jilcha

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the research is to identify critical success factors and model developing for sustaining kaizen implementation. Peacock shoe is one of the manufacturing industries in Ethiopia facing challenges on sustaining. The methodology followed is factor analysis and empirically testing hypothesis. A database was designed using SPSS version 20. The survey was validated using statistical validation using the Cronbach alpha index; the result is 0.908. The KMO index value was obtained for th...

  16. ROMANIA ON THE PATH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kardos Mihaela

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, the issues of sustainable development are of great interest and importance, as countries, organisations, institutions worldwide are still searching for the right solutions leading to human well-being and life quality in a society socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable, in an integrated vision between states and generations. Due to the difficulties of measuring such a complex, multi-dimensioned concept, one of the main questions refers to necessity and the possibility of determining countries’ progress towards sustainable development. In this respect, there are a very large number of initiatives and efforts to develop the appropri¬ate indicators; yet, there is no one agreed method. In this generous context of analysis, the paper aims to offer some answers regarding Romania’s progress towards sustainable development, based on a comparative analysis within the European Union, using data provided by three of the most widely used indicators for measuring sustainable development: Human Development Index, Environmental Performance Index and Ecological Footprint. The research methodology uses the comparative analysis and synthesis of data, followed by a dissemination of the results in order to express a personal opinion on the topic. The research results are far from being optimistic, highlighting a serious gap between Romania and the other member states in terms of progress towards sustainable development. Therefore, they call for immediate action and increased efforts, so that European Union’s objectives of real cohesion and of becoming one of the global leaders in supporting sustainable development can be reached. The merit of this study is its contribution with an original research to the efforts of assessing Romania’s progress on the path to sustainable development, which may be particularly important for both researchers and policy makers. Due to some limitations induced by

  17. The Methodological Background for Harmonizing Components of Sustainable Development of an Industrial City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prushkivskyj Volodymyr G.

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the article is to develop a methodological background for harmonizing components of sustainable development of an industrial city. The ways of harmonization of economic, environmental and social components are studied. It is proposed to use the rule of «golden ratio» to determine the «ideal» values of the components of sustainable development. On the basis of the index method the components of sustainable development are evaluated. The comparative analysis of the actual and harmonic distribution between the sub-indices of sustainable development is performed. Based on the rule of «golden ratio» it is proved that the harmonization allows to state the existence of differences as well as to carry out a quantitative analysis. It is justified that the existence of disharmony between the components of sustainable development requires elaboration of an appropriate mechanism on the basis of redistribution of investment resources as well as other economic instruments to support the components at a certain level.

  18. MODELING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCTIC REGION OF RUSSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. N. Kikkas

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The article describes a model of six econometric equations, designed for the analysis of the sustainability of development in the Arctic region of the Russian Federation - Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The article analyzes the spheres of human activity in the Chukchi Autonomous District: social, industrial, natural resources. Each sphere is estimated indicators. The theoretical views of various researchers on sustainable development and defi nes the concept of sustainable development of the spheres of human activity in the Arctic region. Under the sustainable development of the Arctic region of space refers to such changes in the indices of spheres of human activity in the region, which increase the potential for human development. The numerical value of the potential of human development is estimated Human Development Index. The article describes the methodological principles of constructing a model of six equations econometric analysis of the sustainable development of the Arctic region. Each of the six equations presented in the form of ADL-model, because it allows us to estimate the dependence of ADL values of the spheres of human activity in the region from the current and past values of the series of other indicators. Selected endogenous and exogenous variables for the model. We discuss the algorithm for fi nding the model parameters. On the basis of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug are six coeffi cients of econometric equations. The analysis of the results of the decision model. Methodological principles and results of the decision model can be used to develop strategies for sustainable development of the municipality, a separate Arctic, or a combination of all the Arctic regions of Russia.

  19. Assessment of the Sustainable Development Capacity with the Entropy Weight Coefficient Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qingsong Wang

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is widely accepted in the world. How to reflect the sustainable development capacity of a region is an important issue for enacting policies and plans. An index system for capacity assessment is established by employing the Entropy Weight Coefficient method. The results indicate that the sustainable development capacity of Shandong Province is improving in terms of its economy subsystem, resource subsystem, and society subsystem whilst degrading in its environment subsystem. Shandong Province has shown the general trend towards sustainable development. However, the sustainable development capacity can be constrained by the resources such as energy, land, water, as well as environmental protection. These issues are induced by the economy development model, the security of energy supply, the level of new energy development, the end-of-pipe control of pollution, and the level of science and technology commercialization. Efforts are required to accelerate the development of the tertiary industry, the commercialization of high technology, the development of new energy and renewable energy, and the structure optimization of energy mix. Long-term measures need to be established for the ecosystem and environment protection.

  20. Modeling Indicator Systems for Evaluating Environmental Sustainable Development Based on Factor Analysis

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    WU Hao; CHEN Xiaoling; HE Ying; HE Xiaorong; CAI Xiaobin; XU Keyan

    2006-01-01

    Indicator systems of environmental sustainable development in the Poyang Lake Basin are established from 51 elementary indexes by factor analysis, which is composed of four steps such as the factor model, the parameter estimation, the factor rotation and the factor score. Under the condition that the cumulative proportion is greater than 85%, 5 explicit factors of environmental sustainable development as well as its factor score by region are carried out. The result indicates some impact factors to the basin environmental in descending sort order are volume of water, volume of waste gas discharge, volume of solid wastes, the degree to comprehensive utilization of waste gas, waste water and solid wastes, the emission volume of waste gas, waste water and solid wastes. It is helpful and important to provide decision support for constituting sustainable development strategies and evaluate the sustainable development status of each city.

  1. The joint discourse 'reflexive sustainable development'. From weak towards strong sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nilsen, Heidi Rapp

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards moving the predominant situation of weak sustainable development (WSD) in the direction of strong sustainable development (SSD). More people - academics, politicians, bureaucrats and laymen alike - need to recognize SSD as an alternative to WSD. A joint discourse of WSD and SSD is suggested, called reflexive sustainable development. Here, advocates of WSD and SSD must argue for each specific case why their solution is better. This will expose, amongst other things, the ethical foundations which form part of resulting policy advice. Reflexive sustainable development is to be framed in discourse ethics, thereby remedying the power imbalance and allowing for substantial discussion. Reflexive sustainable development builds on a common theoretical base but will not lead to consensus in all matters. A family metaphor is introduced to inspire a discourse of both consensus and compromise. (author)

  2. Sustainability index approach as a selection criteria for energy storage system of an intermittent renewable energy source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raza, Syed Shabbar; Janajreh, Isam; Ghenai, Chaouki

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Three renewable energy storage options considered: lead acid and lithium polymer batteries and fuel cell. • Hydrogen fuel cell system is the most feasible energy storage option for the long term energy storage. • Sustainability index approach is a novel method used to quantify the qualitative properties of the system. - Abstract: The sustainability index is an adaptive, multicriteria and novel technique that is used to compare different energy storage systems for their sustainability. This innovative concept utilizes both qualitative and quantitative results to measure sustainability through an index based approach. This report aims to compare three different energy storage options for an intermittent renewable energy source. The three energy storage options are lead acid batteries, lithium polymer batteries and fuel cell systems, that are selected due to their availability and the geographical constrain of using other energy storage options. The renewable energy source used is solar photovoltaic (PV). Several technical, economic and environmental factors have been discussed elaborately which would help us to evaluate the merits of the energy storage system for long term storage. Finally, a novel sustainability index has been proposed which quantifies the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the factors discussed, and thus helps us choose the ideal energy storage system for our scenario. A weighted sum approach is used to quantify each factor according to their importance. After a detailed analysis of the three energy storage systems through the sustainability index approach, the most feasible energy storage option was found to be fuel cell systems which can provide a long term energy storage option and also environmental friendly

  3. The sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robreau, Y.; Porcher, P.

    2002-11-01

    This document aims to define the sustainable development concept with a special attention for France and Israel position. The first part recalls the history of the sustainable development from the ''Man and Biosphere'' program of the UNESCO to Rio protocol. Then are described the principles of the sustainable development, the France plans and the France position at Johannesburg conference. The last part is devoted to the Israel position and a short presentation of the consequences of the greenhouse gases on the human health and the environment. (A.L.B.)

  4. Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Truelsen, Thomas Clement; Christensen, Hanne Krarup

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND: In September, 2015, the UN General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. We provide an analysis of 33 health-related SDG indicators based on the Global Burden of Diseases......, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015). METHODS: We applied statistical methods to systematically compiled data to estimate the performance of 33 health-related SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. We rescaled each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed value between 1990...... and 2015) to 100 (best observed). Indices representing all 33 health-related SDG indicators (health-related SDG index), health-related SDG indicators included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG index), and health-related indicators not included in the MDGs (non-MDG index) were computed...

  5. Measuring environmental sustainability in agriculture: A composite environmental impact index approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabiha, Noor-E; Salim, Ruhul; Rahman, Sanzidur; Rola-Rubzen, Maria Fay

    2016-01-15

    The present study develops a composite environmental impact index (CEII) to evaluate the extent of environmental degradation in agriculture after successfully validating its flexibility, applicability and relevance as a tool. The CEII tool is then applied to empirically measure the extent of environmental impacts of High Yield Variety (HYV) rice cultivation in three districts of north-western Bangladesh for a single crop year (October, 2012-September, 2013). Results reveal that 27 to 69 per cent of the theoretical maximum level of environmental damage is created due to HYV rice cultivation with significant regional variations in the CEII scores, implying that policy interventions are required in environmentally critical areas in order to sustain agriculture in Bangladesh. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. The indicators of the sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The 132 selected indicators of the sustainable development are described. They are grouped into: (1) The social indicators of the sustainable development; (2) The economic indicators of the sustainable development; (3) The environmental indicators of the sustainable development. (4) The institutional indicators of the sustainable development

  7. Work activities within sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Duarte

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the main results of a Franco-Brazilian Research project entitled "Work, Innovation and Development". The aim is to conceptually consider work activity within sustainable development, and to contribute methodologically towards developing strategies for designing sustainable work systems. After a brief description of the factors and the dimensions that have contributed to the creation of ideas on sustainable development, we will put forward two main approaches for understanding work activity within the context of sustainability, these being: the durability of work activity and the development of work activities for sustainable development. Both approaches are presented and examples are given. This is followed by a discussion of the design of sustainable work systems that focuses particularly on the political and technical dimensions of project management.

  8. Energy and Sustainable Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2013-01-01

    None of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2000 directly addressed energy, although for nearly all of them - from eradicating poverty and hunger to improving education and health - progress has depended on greater access to modern energy. Thirteen years later, energy is being given more attention. The target date for the MDGs is 2015, and in 2012 the UN began deliberations to develop sustainable development goals to guide support for sustainable development beyond 2015. The Future We Want, the outcome document of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as Rio+20) gives energy a central role: ''We recognize the critical role that energy plays in the development process, as access to sustainable modern energy services contributes to poverty eradication, saves lives, improves health and helps provide for basic human needs''

  9. Investing in Saskatchewan, sustaining energy development: proceedings of the 8. Saskatchewan petroleum conference

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The theme of the 8. Saskatchewan Petroleum Conference 'Investing in Saskatchewan - Sustaining Energy Development' was explored in 33 papers presented in sessions on operations and facilities, reservoir engineering, exploration and development, improved oil recovery, fluid properties and phase behavior, well logging and completions and environmental concerns. Papers are indexed separately

  10. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TEODORESCU ANA MARIA

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development imposed itself as a corollary of economic term "development". Sustainable development is meant to be the summation of economic, environmental and social considerations for the present and especially for the future. The concept of sustainable development plays an important role in european and global meetings since 1972, the year it has been set for the first time. Strategies necessary to achieve the objectives of sustainable development have been developed, indicators meant to indicate the result of the implementation of policies have been created, national plans were oriented towards achieving the proposed targets. I wanted to highlight the multidimensional character of the concept of sustainable development. Thus, using specialized national and international literature, I have revealed different approaches of one pillar to the detriment of another pillar depending on the specific field. In the different concepts of sustainable development, the consensus is undoubtedly agreed on its components: economic, social, environmental. Based on this fact, the concept of sustainability has different connotations depending on the specific content of each discipline: biology, economics, sociology, environmental ethics. The multidimensional valence of sustainable development consists of three pillars ability to act together for the benefit of present and future generations. Being a multidimensional concept, importance attached to a pillar over another is directed according to the particularities of each field: in economy profit prevails, in ecology care of natural resources is the most important, the social aims improving human living conditions. The challenge of sustainable development is to combine all the economic, environmental and social benefits and the present generation to come. Ecological approach is reflected in acceptance of limited natural resources by preserving natural capital. In terms of the importance of

  11. The model of sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. A. Kalchenko

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available According to the new "National security strategy of the Russian Federation, sustainable socio-economic development is the basis of national economic security. UN conceptual model of sustainable development is considered. The “Club of Rome” founder’s Aurelio Peccei point of view that world could be presented by interrelated but sufficiently stable elements: Nature, Man, Society, science-based Technique is mentioned (early 1980s. Today, sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy is determined by: Nature, Man, Society, Technology, Economy and Infrastructure. To support this opinion, statements of leading scientists, politicians, business representatives are given: A. Aganbegian, M. Friedman, V. Sidorov, V. Inozemtsev, G. Gref. The author's model of sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy is presented. The position of Russia according to the “2016 Global R&D Funding Forecast”, compiled by well-known scientific periodical “R&DMagazine” is presented. Classification of indicators groups, taken from the Russian and foreign statistical data books (Russian Statistical Yearbook, IRI, R&D Magazine, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, CIA Factbook, OECD, according to the elements of an integrated system of sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy is given. Implementation aggregating partial indices into an integrated index for each group and their population as a whole is proposed. For each private indicator is proposed to develop three levels of threshold values (acceptable, marginal and critical for sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy and security. Since innovation is a key mechanism for the concept of sustainable socio-economic development of the national economy in a new tenor of technology, the need for innovative development of all elements of the proposed integrated system is required.

  12. Sustainable development - an entrepreneur's view

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fahrni, F.

    1995-01-01

    The following topics are dealt with in this paper: prizing the environment, inducing change, getting the right mix, energy and market place, financing sustainable development, trade and sustainable development, managing corporate change, the Sulzer strategy for sustainable development. (author)

  13. Business risk assessment of the companies on the Mexican Stock Exchange’s sustainable index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Antonio Morales Castro

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available (Received: 2014/10/27 - Accepted: 2014/12/15This work evaluated the business risk change of 20 companies included on the sustainable index of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV. The unlevered beta coefficient was used for this analysis. Two periods were compared: the one before, and the one after including the companies on the index. For each of the 20 companies it was used financial information, stocks closing prices and the stock market index value, over a period of 234 weeks. Then, considering the two periods, the statistical difference between the unlevered beta coefficient averages was calculated. Finally, a hypothesis proof was made to evaluate the business risk change. It was found that for 12 out of the 20 companies, the unlevered beta coefficient suffered a reduction. The findings suggest that it is not enough for the companies to certify as sustainable in order to reduce its business risk.

  14. Sustainable Development: The Challenge for Community Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamble, Dorothy N.; Weil, Marie O.

    1997-01-01

    Five areas of inquiry shape the sustainable development movement: environmental movement, women's movement, overpopulation concerns, critique of development models, and new indicators of social progress. Community development workers are challenged to prepare local development projects within a sustainable development framework. (SK)

  15. Education for Sustainable Development at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20-22 June 2012, marking the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the tenth anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. With more than…

  16. Sustainable development goals and inclusive development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gupta, J.; Vegelin, C.

    Achieving sustainable development has been hampered by trade-offs in favour of economic growth over social well-being and ecological viability, which may also affect the sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by the member states of the United Nations. In contrast, the concept of inclusive

  17. No-Self, Natural Sustainability and Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chia-Ling

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the significance of sustainability and several ways in which education for sustainable development (ESD) can be considered. It presents several issues related to the theories of sustainability and ESD, which are generated based on a firm concept of anthropocentrism. ESD has been used for developing a scientific understanding…

  18. Winning the sustainable development debate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ritch, John; Cornish, Emma

    2002-01-01

    Full text: This year - in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September - the world will witness what is expected to be the largest environmental gathering yet: the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Some 60,000 participants, including Heads of State, government officials, intergovernmental organizations, and environmental, business and scientific lobbies, will debate the world's progress in implementing 'Agenda 2 V - the sustainable development principles agreed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Some kind of deal, perhaps in the form of a declaration, will emerge from Johannesburg, reasserting international commitment to sustainable development. At this stage the content cannot be predicted. Experience warns us to expect a strong and virulent anti-nuclear lobby, not only as part of the 'environmental community', but within some of the governments themselves. Their role will be to achieve a text declaring nuclear an unsustainable energy source. The nuclear industry has six months to make its case, in the preparatory fora and elsewhere, that nuclear energy must be recognized - and at a minimum, not excluded - as a sustainable development technology. Twin goals of sustainable development: meeting human need and achieving environmental security. The principle of sustainable development aims at the long-term environmental protection of the planet - sparing our children and their children from living on a planet irredeemably spoilt through human action. An equally pressing issue is that of bridging the wealth gap between the North and South. In this vein, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recently published his priorities for attention at the World Summit. These include: - Poverty eradication and achieving sustainable livelihoods; - Promoting health through sustainable development; - Access to energy and energy efficiency; - Managing the world's freshwater resources; - Sustainable development initiatives for Africa. The central element of sustainable development: clean energy

  19. Assessing the Sustainable Development of Coastal Reclamation: A Case of Makassar Using GIS Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yurnita, A.; Trisutomo, S.; Ali, M.

    2017-07-01

    Reclamation has been made in many areas in Indonesia including Makassar, as a response to the present needs of land as the impact of human activity in urban area. This research aims to assess the sustainable development of coastal reclamation and focus on environmental dimension of sustainable urban development. Assessment will be done by reclamation sustainability index (RSI) and analysis by GIS as the tools. RSI was built from previous research that has simplified from many researches and analysis by Structure of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and expert choice. RSI uses 9 indices from three indicators of environment factor which are coastal resources, building and infrastructure.

  20. The Future of Sustainable Development: Welcome to the European Journal of Sustainable Development Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc A. Rosen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is an objective for humanity of crucial importance to how we develop and evolve. It is also a rapidly growing discipline that is becoming increasingly applied in numerous areas, reflecting humanity's desire to ensure its activities can be sustained into the future and do not adversely affect the ecology or environment. Sustainable development is often defined based on the 1987 statement of the World Commission on Environment and Development (i.e., the Brundtland Commission. In that milestone document, sustainable development was defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." But new definitions are being developed as the discipline expands and becomes more multidisciplinary and complex.

  1. Sustainable spatial development in higher education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maja Terlević

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is not only a great challenge for society as a whole, but also for higher education institutions, which have been rapidly including sustainable development in their educational process in the last two decades. Directly or indirectly, education for sustainable spatial development includes all aspects of sustainable development: environmental, economic, social and cultural. Space is a junction of various interests, which requires coordinating the entire process of spatial planning, taking into account the goal of sustainable spatial development. The existing values of space are insufficient for the rapid implementation of a sustainable spatial development paradigm. Suitable education is needed by both individuals and spatial planning professionals and at all levels of education. It is therefore necessary to transform some of the academic programs in the higher education curriculum by integrating teaching content and methods that include long-term knowledge and holistic thinking, taking into account the importance of interdisciplinary integration. This article reviews literature in sustainable development in higher education from 2002 to 2013. Topics discussed include students’ and teachers’ conceptions of sustainable development, the presence of sustainable development and sustainable spatial development in higher education and the reasons for the slow introduction of this material into the curriculum. Based on a literature analysis, the last section identifies important drivers that can contribute to a more rapid integration of a sustainable spatial development paradigm into higher education.

  2. Development of Sustainable Rural Tourism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Kantar

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a sociological view of possibilities for the development of sustainable rural tourism in Koprivnica-Krizevci county, which is located in the north-western part of Croatia. The possibilities for developing rural tourism within the concept of sustainable development have been researched through qualitative empirical research interview method. Research subjects were the owners of tourist farms, decision makers, experts and other stakeholders in the tourism development. Rural tourism represents an alternative to maritime tourism and is relatively undeveloped but important in terms of development of rural areas and family farms. This paper enables an insight into an integrated sustainability of rural tourism which consists of four dimensions: biologicalecological, economic, socio-cultural and political sustainability. In conclusion, integral sustainability in rural tourism is not achieved in all dimensions. Therefore, rural tourism could be a strategy for sustainable development for rural areas and also could be a tool for product differentiation for area that are at stagnation stage.

  3. Sustainable development strategy 2001-2003

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    The planned strategies and actions that Environment Canada (EC) will take to promote sustainable development with the goal to preserve and enhance the quality of the natural environment and its renewable resources were described. EC's challenge regarding sustainable development is to integrate environmental, economic and social considerations into their federal environmental policies and programs. This report described how EC plans to implement their agenda based on four major themes which include: (1) knowledge for decision making, (2) incentives, (3) partnerships and sustainable communities, and (4) managing for sustainable development. A federal framework on sustainable communities will be developed jointly with other government departments and partners with the objective of developing action plans. EC will measure and report on its performance in implementing its sustainable development strategy on an annual basis to identify any corrective measures during the three year period of the strategy. This report also included an issue scan, a consultation summary, and a review of the department's long term results against performance indicators. tab., figs

  4. Corporate Sustainable Development Assessment Base on the Corporate Social Responsibility

    OpenAIRE

    Sun Mei; Nagata Katsuya; Onoda Hiroshi

    2011-01-01

    With the resource exhaustion, bad affections of human activities and the awakening of the human rights, the corporate social responsibility became popular corporate strategy achieving sustainable development of both corporation and society. The issue of Guideline of Chinese Corporate Social Responsibility Report promotes greatly corporation to take social responsibility. This paper built the index system according to this guideline and takes the textile industry as an exa...

  5. Sustainable Biofuels Development Center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reardon, Kenneth F. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)

    2015-03-01

    The mission of the Sustainable Bioenergy Development Center (SBDC) is to enhance the capability of America’s bioenergy industry to produce transportation fuels and chemical feedstocks on a large scale, with significant energy yields, at competitive cost, through sustainable production techniques. Research within the SBDC is organized in five areas: (1) Development of Sustainable Crops and Agricultural Strategies, (2) Improvement of Biomass Processing Technologies, (3) Biofuel Characterization and Engine Adaptation, (4) Production of Byproducts for Sustainable Biorefining, and (5) Sustainability Assessment, including evaluation of the ecosystem/climate change implication of center research and evaluation of the policy implications of widespread production and utilization of bioenergy. The overall goal of this project is to develop new sustainable bioenergy-related technologies. To achieve that goal, three specific activities were supported with DOE funds: bioenergy-related research initiation projects, bioenergy research and education via support of undergraduate and graduate students, and Research Support Activities (equipment purchases, travel to attend bioenergy conferences, and seminars). Numerous research findings in diverse fields related to bioenergy were produced from these activities and are summarized in this report.

  6. Using Sustainability Engineering to Gain Universal Sustainability Efficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandras Vytautas Rutkauskas

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The present article is an attempt to perceive the universal sustainability observable in an individual country or region, where the religious, political, social-demographic, economic, environmental, creative, technological and investment subsystems are revealed not only through the vitality of spiritual and material existence media, but rather through the signs of the development of these subsystems as self-assembled units through the erosion of their interaction. The problem of optimal allocation of investment resources among the separate sustainability’s subsystems was addressed by means of expert methods and techniques of portfolio methodology which will enable the achievement of the enshrined universal sustainability standards. A country-specific index composition of sustainability subsystems’ indices was chosen as the universal sustainability index for the specific country. The index in its dynamics is perceived as a random process. While projecting its state and evaluating its power, i.e., the impact of the subsystem efficiency in a particular moment, this power is measured by the level of the index and the reliability or guarantee of an appropriate level. To solve the problem of investment resources allocation, the idea of Markowitz Random Field was invoked in order to reach the maximum power of sustainability index while applying the technical solution—the so-called “GoldSim” system. Engineering is a methodology that aspires to reveal the core attributes of complex systems and instruments in order to manage the possibility to influence these properties for the systems. Experimental expert evaluation and case study is performed on Lithuanian data.

  7. Sustainability in coastal tourism development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Ida Marie Visbech; Blichfeldt, Bodil Stilling; Liburd, Janne J.

    2018-01-01

    explicitly requested nominations for sustainable tourism projects. A comparison between academic sustainability discourse and the approved projects suggests that tourism actors do not address sustainable tourism development as a holistic concept. Long-term perspectives are largely absent, whereas economic...... benefits are emphasized. Key findings also indicate weak political leadership in the envisaged transfer towards sustainable tourism development....

  8. The System of Indicators for Monitoring the Achievement of the Goals of Sustainable Development in the Agrarian Sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chala Tеtyana G.

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article describes the results of statistical evaluation of the system of indicators for monitoring the achievement of the goals of sustainable development (GSD in the agrarian sector. It has been determined that, in order to achieve sustainable development, the following three pillars need to be reconciled: economic growth, social integration, and environmental protection. The objectives and indicators of the GSD 2 «Overcoming hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and facilitating sustainable development of agriculture» were considered in detail. It has been determined that the indicator, which illustrates vividly the status and perspective of development of the agrarian sector, is the indicator 2.a.1 «Index of orientation towards agriculture, defined by the public expenditure structure». Methods for calculation of the Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI were considered. The dynamics of the AOI for Ukraine and world-wide for 2004-2013 were analyzed. The values of the AOI index for Ukraine, the neighboring countries, and the EU Member States in 2013 have been provided. It has been determined that Ukraine has a low AOI among the EU countries and among the neighboring countries, which indicates a poor orientation towards agriculture.

  9. Does Sustainability Affect Corporate Performance and Economic Development? Evidence from the Asia-Pacific region and North America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyungbok Kim

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores how sustainability influences financial returns and economic development in the Asia-Pacific region and North America, utilizing real data empirically. It is controversial that sustainable activities are related to financial performance. For clarification, we tested hypotheses analyzing sustainability index, seven stock markets, financial data such as ROI, ROIC, and ROA from eleven companies, and GDP/GNI per capita, based on the Asia-Pacific region and North America. The results indicate that both financial return for companies and economic development in the two regions are positively germane to sustainable investment. Besides, we found evidence that sustainable investment impacts economic development based on variance decomposition analysis, depending on GDP per capita between the two regions. This implication will be interesting for both practitioners and researchers regarding the measurement of sustainable performance.

  10. 2010 World Expo and Urban Life Quality in Shanghai in Terms of Sustainable Development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Zhu Dajian; Peter P.Rogers

    2006-01-01

    Based on sustainable development theory and the UN's Human Development Index, this thesis puts forward what the quality of urban life implies,makes a study of the world Expo's potential influences on the urban life of Shanghai and advances the strategy and measures to strengthen the life-quality-facing urban management

  11. Sustainable development and energy indicators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pop-Jordanov, Jordan

    2002-01-01

    Starting from the basic definition of sustainable development and its four dimensions, the role of indicators for sustainable energy development is analysed. In particular, it is shown that important energy efficiency indicators belong in fact to energy supply efficiency, while the end-use energy efficiency could be more pertinently represented by energy intensity indicators. Furthermore, the negentropic effects of science and technology related sustainable energy scenarios are pointed out. Finally, the sustainable development is related to wisdom, interpreted as a sum of knowledge, morality and timing. (Author)

  12. 1. Dimensions of sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Repetto, R.

    1992-01-01

    This chapter discusses the following topics: the concept of sustainable development; envisioning sustainable development (economic dimensions, human dimensions, environmental dimensions, technological dimensions); policy implications (economic policies, people-oriented policies, environmental policies, creating sustainable systems); and global issues (effect of war on development and the environment and the debt burden). This chapter also introduces the case studies by discussing the levels of economic development and comparing key trends (economic growth, human development, population growth, and energy use)

  13. Who will have Sustainable Employment After a Back Injury? The Development of a Clinical Prediction Model in a Cohort of Injured Workers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shearer, Heather M.; Côté, Pierre; Boyle, Eleanor

    2017-01-01

    to develop the predictive models. We constructed receiver operator curves and used the c-index to measure predictive accuracy. Results Seventy-nine percent and 77 % of workers had sustainable employment at 1 and 6 months, respectively. Sustainable employment at 1 month was predicted by initial back pain...... intensity, mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). At 6 months, sustainable employment was predicted by physical and mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). Adding health-related and work......-related variables to models improved predictive accuracy by 8.5 and 10 % at 1 and 6 months respectively. Conclusion We developed clinically-relevant models to predict sustainable employment in injured workers who made a workers’ compensation claim for LBP. Inquiring about back pain intensity, physical and mental...

  14. Thermodynamics and sustainable development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cornelissen, Rene

    1997-01-01

    It is the objective of this thesis to demonstrate exergy analysis as a powerful instrument to obtain sustainable development. An important aspect of sustainable development is the minimisation of irreversibilities caused by the use of non-renewables. In order to limit the scope of this thesis

  15. Education for sustainable development. Just do it : guide to designing education for sustainable development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frijters, S.

    Sustainable development has become a crucial part of our modern society and our education. Sustainability is a complex concept. After all, what is considered sustainable to us now may not necessarily be so in the future. We need to continually review our judgments with regards to sustainability.

  16. Nuclear Power and Sustainable Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2016-09-01

    Transforming the energy system is at the core of the dedicated sustainable development goal on energy within the new United Nations development agenda. This publication explores the possible contribution of nuclear energy to addressing the issues of sustainable development through a large selection of indicators. It reviews the characteristics of nuclear power in comparison with alternative sources of electricity supply, according to economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. The findings summarized in this publication will help the reader to consider, or reconsider, the contribution that can be made by the development and operation of nuclear power plants in contributing to more sustainable energy systems.

  17. Sustainable development. First part

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Colombo, U.; Lanzavecchia, G.; Berrini, M; Zambrini, M.; Bologna, G.; Carraro, C.; Hinterberger, F.; Mastino, G.; Federico, A.; Gaudioso, D.; Luise, A.; Mauro, F.; Padovani, L.; Federico, A.

    1998-01-01

    This paper summarizes a collective effort and represents the second edition of: Environment, energy, economy: a sustainable future. In this work are reported various interventions on sustainable development problem [it

  18. ECO-SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ROMANIAN TOURISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MARIANA BĂLAN

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In a changing world, the development of eco-sustainable tourism is manifested in the form of interaction of elements compatible with each other in various dimensions: economic, environmental, human, technological, environmental, ethical, etc. Through eco-sustainable tourism aims to satisfy the present needs of tourists in favor and not in detrimental to the interests of future generations, along with educating them in the spirit of reducing negative environmental impacts. This paper provides a brief overview of the tourism - ecology - sustainable development relationship, by highlighting the evolutionary theoretical considerations regarding the concept of tourism, the need for sustainable tourism development, the ecology as a priority in the development and integration of tourism activities within the coordinates the eco-sustainable development. It also discusses the main indicators used to characterize the tourism activities in Romania in the context of eco-sustainable development.

  19. Dynamic Sustainability. Sustainability Window Analysis of Chinese Poverty-Environment Nexus Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyrki Luukkanen

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability Window is a new analysis tool for assessing the sustainability of development simultaneously in all of its three dimensions (environmental, economic, and social. The analysis method provides information of the maximum and minimum economic development that is required to maintain the direction of social and environmental development towards more sustainable targets. With the Sustainability Window method it is possible to easily analyze the sustainability using different indicators and different time periods making comparative analyses easy. The new method makes it also possible to analyze the dynamics of the sustainability and the changes over time in the width of the window. This provides a new perspective for analyzing the trends of sustainability and the impacts of underlying sustainability policies. As an illustration of the method, we have carried out an analysis of Chinese development using CO2 and SO2 emissions as indicators of the environmental dimension, number of non-poor people as an indicator of the social dimension and GDP as an indicator of the economic dimension.

  20. Nuclear and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Audebert, P.; Balle, St.; Barandas, Ch.; Basse-Cathalinat, B.; Bellefontaine, E.; Bernard, H.; Bouhand, M.H.; Bourg, D.; Bourgoignon, F.; Bourlat, Y.; Brunet, F.; Buclet, N.; Buquet, N.; Caron, P.; Cartier, M.; Chagneau, E.; Charles, D.; Chateau, G.; Collette, P.; Collignon, A.; Comtesse, Ch.; Crammer, B.; Dasnias, J.; Decroix, G.; Defoy, B.; Delafontaine, E.; Delcroix, V.; Delerue, X.; Demet, M.; Dimmers, G.; Dodivers, S.; Dubigeon, O.; Eimer, M.; Fadin, H.; Foos, J.; Ganiage, D.; Garraud, J.; Girod, J.P.; Gourod, A.; Goussot, D.; Guignard, C.; Heloury, J.; Hondermarck, B.; Hurel, S.; Jeandron, C.; Josse, A.; Lagon, Ch.; Lalleron, Ch.; Laurent, M.; Legrand, H.; Leveau, E.

    2006-01-01

    On September 15. and 16., 2004, at Rene Delcourt invitation, President of the C.L.I. of Paluel and Penly, took place the 4. colloquium of the A.N.C.L.I.. Jean Dasnias, new President of the C.L.I., welcomed the colloquium. Hundred of persons participated. The place of the nuclear power in the energy perspectives of tomorrow, its assets and its weaknesses in front of the other energies and within the framework of a sustainable development, are so many subjects which were discussed. The different tackled subjects are: the stakes in the sustainable development; energy perspectives; the reactors of the fourth generation; nuclear power and transparency; sustainable development and I.R.S.N. (N.C.)

  1. CONCEPTUAL DELIMITATIONS ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ienciu Ionel-Alin

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is a model for resource use meant to satisfy human needs, without polluting the environment, so that these needs can be satisfied not only in the present, but in the future as well. It is a concept of nowadays with no generally accepted definition, placing environment first and foremost, aiming at implementing the environmental policies in all structures and at all economic levels. Within the present study we have aimed at creating a conceptual delimitation on sustainable development, sustainability and socialresponsibility, concepts of present interest, that tend to become a mystery for the academic community and practitioners by their variety and complexity of approaches. During our scientific endeavor we believe that social responsibility is the foundation of sustainable development. Sustainable development is a concept used especially at macro-economic level, while social responsibility is used at entity level and incorporates the economic, environmental and social dimension, which has a voluntary character and tries to respond to the information needs of the society and other stakeholders. Sustainability at the entity\\'s level is the goal or final objective of sustainable development – satisfaction of present needs without compromising the possibility for future generations to satisfy their own needs, while social responsibility is an intermediate phase of sustainability wherein entities try to balance the economic, social and environmental dimension. Thus, we can state we include ourselves within social corporatism, slightly close to social institutionalism, which is characteristic to developed countries, giving a particular importance to social contract and relations between entity and society. We believe that in Romania, a POSDRU funded project should be regarded as a legal person with social values, which must be based on sustainable development and to promote, besides legal liability of automatically deriving

  2. Managing Sustainable Information Systems Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kautz, Karlheinz

    2013-01-01

    Sustainable information systems development (ISD) in the context of this paper is not about products that support sustainability at large with its environmental, economic and social dimensions and little about the development of sustainable products, which are both without doubt important topics....... This paper is about a prerequisite for such products, namely, a sustainable ISD process, a process which exhibits reasonable and responsible stewardship and utilisation of the existing resources for ISD—people and information in the context of scope, time/schedule, budget/cost, quality and risk....

  3. The SWPER index for women's empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewerling, Fernanda; Lynch, John W; Victora, Cesar G; van Eerdewijk, Anouka; Tyszler, Marcelo; Barros, Aluisio J D

    2017-09-01

    The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel women's empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on women's empowerment. We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 African countries, targeting currently partnered women. We identified items related to women's empowerment present in most surveys, and used principal component analysis to extract the components. We carried out a convergent validation process using coverage of three health interventions as outcomes; and an external validation process by analysing correlations with the Gender Development Index. 15 items related to women's empowerment were selected. We retained three components (50% of total variation) which, after rotation, were identified as three dimensions of empowerment: attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making. All dimensions had moderate to high correlation with the Gender Development Index. Social independence was associated with higher coverage of maternal and child interventions; attitude to violence and decision making were more consistently associated with the use of modern contraception. The index, named Survey-based Women's emPowERment index (SWPER), has potential to widen the research on women's empowerment and to give a better estimate of its effect on health interventions and outcomes. It allows within-country and between-country comparison, as well as time trend analysis, which no other survey-based index provides. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. Sustainable development: A HUD perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goldfarb, E.

    1994-12-31

    Sustainable development is the current term now being used to describe the environmental movement. The term`s popularity can be traced to publication of Our Common Future, the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission). Sustainable development means exactly what is implied; development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Commission). It is another way of conveying the basic premise of {open_quotes}Spaceship Earth{close_quotes}; that our species has been given this planet to live on and we must carefully balance resource utilization if we want to endure more than a few generations, because this is all we`ve got. It is a natural evolution of the conservation and environmental movements into a format that recognizes that environmental issues cannot be viewed in isolation, but must be evaluated in a context of economic development (Powledge). Sustainable development is thus a broad term that encompasses many elements, depending upon the context. Such elements can include: 1 energy, 2 economic development, 3 pollution prevention, 4 biodiversity, 5 historic preservation, 6 social equity, and 7 recycling and solid waste disposal. One of the cornerstones of sustainable development is energy policy, since energy use is perhaps the most defining element of contemporary civilization. In the energy discipline, sustainability can best be paraphrased as living off one`s income as opposed to depleting ones capital. In other words, using solar, wind and other renewables rather than fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are limited and will eventually be depleted, therefore they cannot be considered sustainable. Another element embraced by sustainable development is biodiversity. The biodiversity movement is most sharply distinguished from traditional conservationism for its commitment to the principle of preserving and managing entire ecosystems.

  5. Sustainable development: A HUD perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldfarb, E.

    1994-01-01

    Sustainable development is the current term now being used to describe the environmental movement. The term's popularity can be traced to publication of Our Common Future, the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission). Sustainable development means exactly what is implied; development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Commission). It is another way of conveying the basic premise of open-quotes Spaceship Earthclose quotes; that our species has been given this planet to live on and we must carefully balance resource utilization if we want to endure more than a few generations, because this is all we've got. It is a natural evolution of the conservation and environmental movements into a format that recognizes that environmental issues cannot be viewed in isolation, but must be evaluated in a context of economic development (Powledge). Sustainable development is thus a broad term that encompasses many elements, depending upon the context. Such elements can include: 1 energy, 2 economic development, 3 pollution prevention, 4 biodiversity, 5 historic preservation, 6 social equity, and 7 recycling and solid waste disposal. One of the cornerstones of sustainable development is energy policy, since energy use is perhaps the most defining element of contemporary civilization. In the energy discipline, sustainability can best be paraphrased as living off one's income as opposed to depleting ones capital. In other words, using solar, wind and other renewables rather than fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are limited and will eventually be depleted, therefore they cannot be considered sustainable. Another element embraced by sustainable development is biodiversity. The biodiversity movement is most sharply distinguished from traditional conservationism for its commitment to the principle of preserving and managing entire ecosystems

  6. Developing an Indicator System for Measuring the Social Sustainability of Offshore Wind Power Farms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tzay-An Shiau

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Taiwan’s government has promoted investment in an offshore wind power farm, and local fishermen have protested. A social impact assessment (SIA has examined the impact of the proposed offshore wind power farm on all stakeholders. The main objective of the present study was to develop an indicator system for measuring the social sustainability of offshore wind power farms; this study also reports on the particular case of Taiwan’s offshore wind power project. This study began by defining 35 social sustainability indicators and selecting 23 representative indicators by using rough set theory. Subsequently, 14 key indicators were constructed using the social construction of technology (SCOT method. Finally, we developed a social impact index for evaluating the social sustainability of offshore wind power farms by using the analytic network process and Dempster-Shafer theory. Our social impact index yields a total score of 0.149 for Taiwan’s pilot offshore wind power project; this result indicates that the pilot project is socially sustainable. A substantial contradiction exists between the fishermen’s protest and the results of the social impact assessment. The findings can assist the government in building a coordination platform for the investors and the fishermen. Government regulation is necessary to set boundaries for fishing areas that protect both the fishermen’s and investors’ rights.

  7. Assessing regional sustainability using a model of coordinated development index : a case study of mainland China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yang, Q.; Ding, Y.; Vries, de B.; Han, Q.; Ma, H.

    2014-01-01

    From a holistic view, this paper addresses a perspective of coordinated development of economy, society, and environment for regional sustainability assessment. Firstly, a comprehensive indicator system for co-evaluating the level of economic, social, and environmental subsystems is presented based

  8. The development of a sustainable development model framework

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hannoura, Alim P.; Cothren, Gianna M.; Khairy, Wael M.

    2006-01-01

    The emergence of the 'sustainable development' concept as a response to the mining of natural resources for the benefit of multinational corporations has advanced the cause of long-term environmental management. A sustainable development model (SDM) framework that is inclusive of the 'whole' natural environment is presented to illustrate the integration of the sustainable development of the 'whole' ecosystem. The ecosystem approach is an inclusive framework that covers the natural environment relevant futures and constraints. These are dynamically interconnected and constitute the determinates of resources development component of the SDM. The second component of the SDM framework is the resources development patterns, i.e., the use of land, water, and atmospheric resources. All of these patterns include practices that utilize environmental resources to achieve a predefined outcome producing waste and by-products that require disposal into the environment. The water quality management practices represent the third component of the framework. These practices are governed by standards, limitations and available disposal means subject to quantity and quality permits. These interconnected standards, practices and permits shape the resulting environmental quality of the ecosystem under consideration. A fourth component, environmental indicators, of the SDM framework provides a measure of the ecosystem productivity and status that may differ based on societal values and culture. The four components of the SDM are interwoven into an outcome assessment process to form the management and feedback models. The concept of Sustainable Development is expressed in the management model as an objective function subject to desired constraints imposing the required bounds for achieving ecosystem sustainability. The development of the objective function and constrains requires monetary values for ecosystem functions, resources development activities and environmental cost. The

  9. Is ‘Sustainable Development' the core of ‘Education for SustainableDevelopment'?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breiting, Søren

    2007-01-01

    What is the core of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and how to avoid that ESD becomes everything good in school and in reality not more than a new terminology without much innovative power for education?......What is the core of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and how to avoid that ESD becomes everything good in school and in reality not more than a new terminology without much innovative power for education?...

  10. TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gina Ionela Butnaru

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Tourism and sustainable development are the subject of many initiatives and public or private debates in Romania. The main problem to which these initiatives try to find an answer is mostly related to the income generation for the local communities by using rationally and efficiently the local potential, in agreement with the economic, social, natural, and cultural factors. Consequently, some measures should be taken, and the tourist sector as a whole needs all the methods of sustainable development: new technologies, change of social behaviour, change of environmental legislation, methods of environmental management, better planning and development of control procedures. In this article, we presented a model of tourism development which should be applied in all the regions of great tourist attraction, and we realised a synthesis of the socio-economic advantages of sustainable tourism.

  11. Sustainable development strategy : moving forward

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    This publication demonstrates the steps that Natural Resources Canada has taken to optimize the contribution of natural resources to sustainable development. Canada's forestry, minerals, metals and energy sectors are key components to Canada's overall economy and society. The Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) focuses on the development and use of Canada's resources in a responsible manner that will maintain the integrity of natural ecosystems and safeguard the quality of life for Canadians. All decision-making takes into account economic, environmental and social considerations. The challenges facing the natural resources sector include the management of forests, the development of clean energy options, and the recycling and reuse of minerals and metals resources. This publication outlines the specific goals and objectives set by Natural Resources Canada that will make the SDS possible through programs, policies, legislation, technology utilization and operations. It also describes Canada's progress in meeting the following 4 commitments: (1) Canadians make better decisions that advance sustainable development, (2) Canadians are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change, (3) Canada is recognized globally as a responsible steward of natural resources and a leader in advancing sustainable development, and (4) Natural Resources Canada demonstrates its commitment to sustainable development in its operations. tabs

  12. Progress towards sustainable development : 1997 sustainable development report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    The ways in which Shell Canada has been able to incorporate sustainable development concepts into the Company's business strategies were highlighted. The report describes Shell Canada's plans for protecting the air, water, wilderness, wildlife, soil and groundwater. Land reclamation of abandoned well sites, building a solid capability in emergency preparedness and a strong program to ensure health and safety, are also high on Shell Canada's priorities list. Achievements in 1997, led by the completion of environmental and socio-economic impact assessment of the Sable Offshore Energy Project and the announcement of plans for the construction of a mine and extraction plant north of Fort McMurray (Musked River Mine) Alberta, were reviewed. An ambitious list of objectives and targets for 1998 were also outlined. While in 1997 improvements in safety and sustainable development performance were impressive, financial results were also gratifying, with the Company reporting its best financial results ever. tabs., figs

  13. Engineering sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prendergast, J.

    1993-01-01

    This article discusses sustainable development, a policy which attempts to balance environmental preservation and economic growth, and promises a way to provide a decent life for Earth's human inhabitants without destroying the global ecosystem. Sustainable development is an effort to use technology to help clean up the mess it helped make, and engineers will be central players in its success or failure. Key aspects include more efficient energy use through conservation measures and switching to renewable sources, waste minimization, much greater recycling and reuse of materials, more comprehensive economic/environmental assessments employing life-cycle analyses, and better management of resources

  14. Marketing Sustainable Retail Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dragan Ilić

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available One of the primary benefits of sustainable retail over the long run has to be the marketing gain from having something other competitors do not: lower operating costs, a more socially responsible public profile, ease of gaining planning approval for new projects, better access to certain investment pools, higher rents (in the case of developers, ease of recruiting and retaining key people. Each of these benefits needs marketing and public relations support; each benefits from a clear and consistent corporate message that promotes sustainable retail. To date, there are very few retailers or developers who have championed sustainability long enough, consistently enough and with enough actual demonstration of changes in standard operations to gain the benefits of green marketing, but the very paucity of examples serves to underscore the point: the green marketing space is wide open for large retailers and developers. What would be the marketing steps that a company could take to benefit from its “sustainability focus?” The key to any marketing program is to differentiate a company’s actions from those of competitors and to do it along lines that its various stakeholders care about. This practice of differentiation is often expressed as “finding a difference that makes a difference, to someone who makes difference to you.” For retail developers, the first differentiator should be to attract more and better tenants to all of their centers, tenants who value lower operating costs and the developer’s program of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.

  15. Approaches to Sustainable Development in Poland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kostrzewa, Karina; ); Piasecki, Ryszard

    2009-01-01

    The sustainable development principle was introduced into the legal system of Poland when the Constitution of the Polish Republic was adopted in 1997. Paradoxically, in Poland - one of the few countries in the world which have introduced the concept of sustainable development at the level of the Constitution, it is difficult to find a reference to it in the political debate. The national sustainable development strategy Poland 2025 has met no response among society and today it seems to be hardly remembered by anybody. An average citizen does not know the concept of sustainable development, or has a vague notion of it, often identifying it exclusively with environmental protection. Solving social problems (the labour market, education, health protection, equality of the sexes, etc.) is not associated with sustainable development whatsoever, and neither is engagement into achieving these development targets on the global scale

  16. Strategies for Sustainable Energy Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meyer, Niels I

    2009-01-01

    The paper analyses international strategies for establishing a sustainable energy development. Proposals are given for mitigation of global warming.......The paper analyses international strategies for establishing a sustainable energy development. Proposals are given for mitigation of global warming....

  17. Developing Sustainable Life Support System Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Evan A.

    2010-01-01

    Sustainable spacecraft life support concepts may allow the development of more reliable technologies for long duration space missions. Currently, life support technologies at different levels of development are not well evaluated against each other, and evaluation methods do not account for long term reliability and sustainability of the hardware. This paper presents point-of-departure sustainability evaluation criteria for life support systems, that may allow more robust technology development, testing and comparison. An example sustainable water recovery system concept is presented.

  18. AN OVERVIEW OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristian CRISTU

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development requires better quality of life for present and future generations. Additional data is required to measure lasting progress, that tracks economic growth. The objectives that take these aspects into consideration should be accompanied by economic, social, environmental and demographic indicators. Thus, sustainable development indicators satisfy these requirements. The articles makes an analysis of the main indicators of sustainable development. Even though it is important to observe them at a macro, European level, it is necessary to take into consideration the specific situation existing at a local and regional level, as well. Equally important is the integration of objectives aimed at sustainable development into the national policies. Economic improvement can be achieved through jobs and sustainable consumption.

  19. The sustainable development; Le developpement durable

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2004-07-01

    In the framework of the sustainable development week (june 2003), Actu Environnement published a complete document on the sustainable development to inform the public, recall the main steps of this notion (Rio conference and the following conferences) and the possible employments. It presents also the main organizations acting in the sustainable development domain. (A.L.B.)

  20. Sustainable energy development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Afgan, N.; Al Gobaisi, D.; Carvalho, M.; Cumo, M.

    1998-01-01

    It is shown that present energy strategy requires adaptation of new criterions to be followed in the future energy system development. No doubt that there is a link between energy consumption and environment capacity reduction. This is an alarming sign, which recently has become the leading theme for our near and distant future. Modern engineering science has to be oriented to those areas which may directly assist in our future energy planning. In this respect, it is demanding need that our attention be oriented to the global aspect og the energy development. Modern technology will help to adopt essential principles of the sustainable energy development. With the appropriate renewable energy resources introduction in our energy future and with the increase of safety of nuclear energy, it will be possible to comply with the main principles to be adapted in the sustainable energy strategy. in order to promote the sustainable energy development the respective education system is required. It was recognized that the present energy education system can not meet future demand for the knowledge dissemination. It was shown that the potential option for the future education system is the distance learning with multimedia telematic system. (authors). 46 refs, 14 figs, 1 tab

  1. Vegetation, population and ecological track as sustainability indicators in Colombia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marquez Calle, German

    2000-01-01

    Biophysical sustainability, namely natural capabilities to sustain human development in Colombia, is explored through environmental indicators based on land cover and demographic variables. Remnant vegetation index (IVR in Spanish) uses cover as a measure of ecosystem functionality. Population pressure index (IPD) applies population density to environmental demand analysis. Footprint index (IHE) relates the inverse of density with sustainability. Environmental criticality index combines IVR and IPD to detect offer/demand unbalances. Results suggest Colombia is sustainable although many places in it could be in danger; this could be related with social and economical features of the country

  2. BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MONTENEGRO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bosiljka Vuković

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available There are many proofs confirming the importance of sustainable development for Montenegro. Shared international challenges, global economic crisis, and, particularly, the country's natural characteristics emphasize that sustainable development is the only way ahead. In 2002 Montenegro formed the National Council for Sustainable Development; in 2005 the Office for Sustainable Development was established, and the National Strategy of Sustainable Development was adopted in 2007. With these developments, Montenegro created the most advanced institutional basis for sustainable development in its region. After carefully observing the functioning of national sustainable development institutions, however, the Office for Sustainable Development embarked upon the process of their reform in 2008. As a result, the Council was fundamentally reformed, having its membership downsized and composition transformed. Two Annual Reports on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy have been completed and the process of defining sustainable development indicators commenced in co-operation with the United Nations. This paper critically examines the evolution of the set-up of the Montenegrin sustainable development system, presents the advantages and disadvantages of the government-anchored Council. Based on the lessons learnt, it presents recommendations for policy makers on promoting and enforcing sustainable development. The paper argues that only by effectively co-ordinating all segments of society and ensuring genuine participation of outside-government stakeholders, the countries can ensure that sustainable development principles are incorporated in national and local policies. The independence and pro-activeness in approach of sustainable development institutions is essential in ensuring the supremacy of sustainable practices in decision-making. Considering the similarities in historic, economic and social developments of the former socialist

  3. Problematising development in sustainability: epistemic justice ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The paper draws on the work of Wolfgang Sachs (1999) who asserts that the notion of sustainability has been consumed by development, presenting a view of sustainability which challenges the current and dominant economically driven hegemonic development discourse in which sustainability has become embedded.

  4. African Journal of Sustainable Development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Articles should be of sustainable development interest and include full- length reports of original research not previously published elsewhere; research notes which consist of brief reports of new findings, techniques and equipment of importance to sustainable development practice. Reviews or announcement of ...

  5. [Scenario analysis on sustainable development of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city based on emergy and system dynamics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chun-fa; Cao, Ying-ying; Yang, Jian-cho; Yang, Qi-qi

    2015-08-01

    Dynamic evaluation of sustainable development is one of the key fundamental parts of the success of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, which is the first eco-city in China constructed by international cooperation. Based on the analysis of nature and economy, function and structure, planning control indices and so on, we constructed a sustainable development evaluation index system and a system dynamics model of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city to explore dynamic trends of its population, material and currency by comprehensive utilization of emergy analysis and system dynamics method. Five scenarios were set up and simulated, including inertial scenario, scientific and technological scenario, economic scenario, environmental scenario and harmonious development scenario. Then, the sustainability of the 5 scenarios was evaluated and compared. The results showed that in the economy and environment sustainable development scenario, there was a steady growth trend of GDP, accumulation of both emergy and currency, and relatively lower values in emergy waste ratio, emergy ratio of waste, and emergy loading ratio. Although both sustainable evaluation indices, such as ESI and UEI, were relatively low, the economy and environment sustainable development scenario was still the best development scenario which was more active than others.

  6. SECURITY IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: COMPARING UNITED NATIONS 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITH MILLENNIUM DECLARATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet BARBAK

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to compare United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with Millennium Declaration in terms of their security conceptualizations to explore changes in security thinking and policy components (goals, targets, principles, priorities etc. over time. In doing so, it is envisaged that United Nations’ expectations from member states regarding their national security policies and organizations could be revealed. Security thinking has changed since late 1980’s with the introduction of sustainable development approach by the United Nations. This shift in security thinking encompasses human security and security-development nexus. Holding all member states responsible, Millennium Declaration and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development constitute the primary and the most recent outcome documents of United Nations’ sustainable development policy. Both documents have security components. This enables extracting security elements and comparing them with an analytical manner. Consequently, findings are compared and discussed in terms of public policy and organization at national level.

  7. Hydroelectricity and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubeau, D.

    1995-01-01

    From 1975 to 1992, hydroelectricity helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Quebec by 20%. For Hydro-Quebec, energy conservation and hydroelectric development are basic complementary tools for sustainable development. Recent studies show that developing only 50% of economically exploitable hydroelectric potential (30% of the gross theoretical potential) of different regions worldwide would considerably reduce greenhouse gas and SO 2 emissions. However, hydroelectric systems produce environmental and social impacts locally that require mitigative measures. To fulfill its mandate in a sustainable development context, Hydro-Quebec has adopted methods such as integrated resource planning, the assessment of externalities, multi criteria decision tools and public participations

  8. GIS-Based Synthetic Measurement of Sustainable Development in Loess Plateau Ecologically Fragile Area—Case of Qingyang, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chenyu Lu

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Synthetic measurement of regional sustainable development has been one of the key issues in the research field of sustainability. In this paper, Qingyang City located in the Loess Plateau ecologically fragile area of Northwest China is used for a case study, and the present study aims to investigate the degree of sustainable development by conducting temporal- and spatial-scale based analysis, with the assessment index system, assessment model and GIS approach well integrated. The results show that the development pattern of Qingyang generally fits the mode of unsustainable development, even in the presence of certain levels of spatial differences. The sustainable development state in ecologically fragile area of China’s Loess Plateau is non-optimistic, which is an uncoordinated status among subsystems of regional sustainable development. Although the level and tendency of regional sustainable development keeps increasing, such enhancement is abnormal. With the rapid deterioration of environmental and natural resources, their inhibitory effect on the economy and society would expand, eventually leading to the slow development rate or the recession of the entire system. The only solution is to change the traditional mode of economic development, to follow the guide of ecological economic conception so that the goal of achieving regional sustainable development strategies could be met ultimately. Meanwhile, the characteristics of different regions should be taken into account in order to achieve optimal spatial structure.

  9. Energy and sustainable development in Finland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-01-01

    The U.N. World Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 was the origin of the international framework for sustainable development. As a basis for joint, sustainable action by governments, organizations, industries, and the public, the participating countries signed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and drafted the associated action program, Agenda 21. Sustainable development comprises these three determinant factors: - Economy. - Ecology. - Social aspects. This is where entrepreneurial responsibility for society comes in. If industries want to generate overall positive effects, they must be efficient, competitive, and profitable on a long-term basis. Power supply systems meeting the criteria of sustainable development must be reliable, economically viable, socially acceptable, and environmentally compatible. The power supply in Finland is meeting these sustainability requirements in many ways. Finland's electricity supply is decentralized, using a variety of energy sources. Electricity can be generated and made available at low cost. The Finnish power industry is an important employer and a major factor in the economy. Moreover, electricity is generated in advanced types of power plants. In this way, the structure of the Finnish power supply system incorporates important factors of sustainable development. (orig.)

  10. From Corporate Social Responsibility to Corporate Sustainability: Features of Financing Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasylchuk Irуna P.

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The theoretical basis of the concepts of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development are studied. It is revealed that scientists mainly distinguish two main stages in the evolution of the concept of corporate social responsibility. There argued the expediency of singling out the third stage of the development of the concept (version CSR 2.0, which is characterized by the integration of the theoretical and practical foundations of the concepts of CSR and sustainable development as well as by their implementation into activities of corporations. The presence of the necessary prerequisites for singling out the new stage in the evolution of these concepts (version CSR 3.0, which is based on the provisions of the collaborative theory and provides for the cooperation of social enterprises and sustainable corporations in achieving the goals of sustainable development, is revealed, its expediency is justified. The determinant of the stage is the use of opportunities for sustainable development, the dominant is the social orientation, and its content is characterized by the slogan “doing common good to do common well”. Using generalization, there identified the features of the established models of sustainable development of corporations by key aspects (goals, principles, methods. On this basis, the features of approaches to financing sustainable development at the macro and micro levels are determined, and the principles for financing the activities of corporations in the new conditions are defined. It is concluded that achieving sustainability requires an effective system of financing corporate measures aimed at sustainable development, for the creation of which in Ukraine it is necessary to use the experience of “best practices” at the national, local and corporate levels.

  11. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ECO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vergina CHIRITESCU

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The issue of the relationship between humankind and the environment became scientific and economic concerns of the international community since the first UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972 and resulted in the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development, established in 1985. Report of the Commission presented in 1987 by GH Brundtland, entitled "Our Common Future" provided the first universally accepted definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the opportunities of future generations to meet their own needs". Brundtland Report, 1987, was reaffirmed by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development / Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil, 1992 which established the principles of Agenda 21, which was intended to be a guide implementation of sustainable development for the 21st century, a development that was required to be applied at national, regional and local level. [1] In the context of developing new eco-economic system adopted a number of international conventions that establish detailed obligations of the States and strict implementation deadlines climate change, biodiversity conservation, protection of forests and wetlands, limiting the use of certain chemicals, access information on the state of the environment and other international legal space outlining the practical application of the principles of sustainable economic development in ecological conditions.

  12. Energy for sustainable rural development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hulscher, W.S.; Hulscher, W.S.; Hommes, E.W.; Hommes, E.W.

    1992-01-01

    Rural energy in developing countries is discussed with a view to sustainable development. The project-oriented approach in rural energy which has often dominated in the past, is contrasted with an overall strategy for sustainable rural energy demand and supply. An outline for a demand-oriented

  13. Sustainable Development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Tsegai Berhane Ghebretekle

    Ethiopia is selected as a case study in light of its pace in economic growth ... Interrogating the Economy-First Paradigm in 'Sustainable Development' … 65 .... agreement, since such effective global cooperation on climate change ultimately ..... and foster innovation; reduce inequality within and among countries; make cities.

  14. Economic interpretation of sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birk Mortensen, J.

    1994-01-01

    The economic discussion of sustainable development show that it is possible to define the concept sufficiently precise to introduce it in economic models and to get some policy results. The concept of sustainable development does have meaning and practical implications for economic policy. The relation between sustainability as non-decreasing welfare over time and a non-declining stock of total capital including natural capital is very useful for implementing the concept for actual planning. Even rudimentary empirical measures and test of sustainability can be developed and applied and used in planning and evaluation of performance based on this idea. Weak or strong versions of the concept have been suggested and an interesting and clarifying debate within economics is going on. The debate also demonstrates that when the concept is defined more precisely - differences in opinions, standpoints and policy prescriptions show up. (EG)

  15. Sustainable development benefits of clean development mechanism projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsen, Karen Holm; Fenhann, Jorgen

    2008-01-01

    The clean development mechanism (CDM) is part of the global carbon market developing rapidly in response to global warming. It has the twin objective to achieve sustainable development (SD) in host countries and assist Annex-1 countries in achieving their emission reduction targets in a cost-efficient manner. However, research has shown that trade-offs between the two objectives exist in favour of cost-efficient emission reductions and that left to the market forces, the CDM does not significantly contribute to sustainable development. The main argument of the paper is the need for an international standard for sustainability assessment-additional to national definitions-to counter weaknesses in the existing system of sustainability approval by designated national authorities in host countries. The article develops a new methodology, i.e. a taxonomy for sustainability assessment based on text analysis of the 744 project design documents (PDDs) submitted for validation by 3 May 2006. Through analysis of the SD benefits of all CDM projects at aggregated levels, the strengths and limitations of the taxonomy are explored. The main policy implication of the research is to propose the taxonomy as the basis of an international verification protocol for designated operational entities (DOEs) for reporting, monitoring and verifying that potential SD benefits described in the PDDs are actually realized

  16. WP/072 Is the Clean Development Mechanism Promoting Sustainable Development?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Huang, Yongfu; He, Jingjing; Tarp, Finn

    One of the dual objectives of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is to promote sustainable development in the host countries. With different CDM indicators for 58 CDM host countries over 2005-10, this paper empirically assesses whether CDM project development fulfils...... this objective of sustainable development. Using a unique dynamic panel data method based on long-differences of the model, this research provides evidence in support of significant contribution to sustainable development of CDM projects in the host countries. It sheds light on the role of CDM projects...... in the process of sustainable development with clear policy implications for developing countries and the wider world....

  17. Cultural development and environment: a necessity to achieve sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azhari, A.

    2003-01-01

    This paper stresses on the important role of cultural development and protection of environment as the main pillars of sustainable development. one of the article's goals to make link among culture, protection of environment and sustainable development. according to the article, part of our commitment to sustainable development is to keep balance among different dimensions of development (cultural/ economic/ political/ social) considering environmental ethics

  18. 2016 GRI Index

    OpenAIRE

    World Bank

    2016-01-01

    This 2016 World Bank Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Index provides an overview of sustainability considerations within the World Bank’s lending and analytical services as well as its corporate activities. This index of sustainability indicators has been prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized standard for sustainability reporting GRI guidelines (https://www.globalrepo...

  19. Trade misinvoicing, external debt and sustainable development: A Nigerian example

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Collins C. Ngwakwe

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper evaluated how trade misinvoicing orchestrates external debt in Nigeria and its obstructive tendencies on Nigeria’s sustainable economic development. The paper is pertinent, given that Nigeria is among the top ten developing countries in the world who are victims of substantial illicit trade misinvoicing outflows. The methodological approach is a mix of descriptive analysis (using tables and graphs and a t-test of difference in means between trade misinvoicing outflow from Nigeria, external debt and official development assistance (OD in Nigeria for the period 2003 – 2012. Findings indicate that as trade misinvoicing outflow increased during the period 2003 -2012, Nigeria’s external debt increased yearly. Results from the statistical t-test showed that the mean difference in trade misinvoicing outflow is significantly greater than the mean differences in external debt and official development assistance received into Nigeria. This finding attests to the huge internal financial resources that Nigeria lost during the period 2003 - 2012 through illicit trade misinvoicing outflow. The analysis further disclosed that trade misinvoicing outflow has hampered Nigeria’s stride to sustainable economic development given the record increases in unemployment, poverty, lack of access to sanitation facilities, low percentage of qualified health staff to child birth and a widening income inequality as measured by GINI index. The paper concludes that the drainage of Nigeria’s internal financial resources through illicit trade misinvoicing has denied Nigeria the needed finance to enhance the actualisation of sustainable economic development. Recommendations are proffered to assist in halting trade misinvoicing outflow from Nigeria.

  20. Physics and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Emre, B.

    2005-01-01

    Is there a relationship with between physics and sustainable development? The answer of this question is yes since in the past to the health and welfare of people and nations physics has made tremendous contributions. Think of the contributions that physics has made to the world economy in areas such as electronics, materials, and computer technology, also to health x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine. However, many of these contributions have benefited people in the developed world more than those in the developing world. Moreover current physics curricula do not have vision of to offer the student a full perspective of sustainable development

  1. Transnational Markets for Sustainable Development Governance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gallemore, Caleb; Jespersen, Kristjan

    2016-01-01

    , which results in selection of projects based on the presence of transnational brokers or familiar partners or as part of a strategy of spatial specialization. Conceptualizing the choices made in this matching market as an affiliation network connecting donors to sponsored projects, we utilize......Transnational sustainable development—that is, sustainable development policy initiatives involving actors in multiple countries—often involves donor sponsorship of sustainable development projects, similar to matching markets like venture capital, employment searches, or college admissions....... These transaction systems, also known as matching markets, can be seen in a variety of phenomena in transnational development governance, including private aid, public–private sustainable development projects, and transnational polycentric governance initiatives. In this paper, we utilize the matching market...

  2. Sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boiteux, M.

    2004-01-01

    Marcel Boiteux evokes the results of the work on the sustainable development by the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. This is a vast political programme with the goal of allowing all humanity to live well in growing unity while protecting the environment and favouring economic growth. (author)

  3. Energy indicators for sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vera, Ivan; Langlois, Lucille

    2007-01-01

    Energy is an essential factor in overall efforts to achieve sustainable development. Countries striving to this end are seeking to reassess their energy systems with a view toward planning energy programmes and strategies in line with sustainable development goals and objectives. This paper summarizes the outcome of an international partnership initiative on indicators for sustainable energy development that aims to provide an analytical tool for assessing current energy production and use patterns at a national level. The proposed set of energy indicators represents a first step of a consensus reached on this subject by five international agencies-two from the United Nations system (the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the International Atomic Energy Agency), two from the European Union (Eurostat and the European Environment Agency) and one from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (the International Energy Agency). Energy and environmental experts including statisticians, analysts, policy makers and academics have started to implement general guidelines and methodologies in the development of national energy indicators for use in their efforts to monitor the effects of energy policies on the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development

  4. Comparative assessment of supervision and decision-making procedures regarding sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlevaro, F.; Garbely, M.; Genoud, S.

    2002-01-01

    This final report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) presents the results of a study made on the possibilities of establishing a system of indicators that allows the monitoring of sustainable development and its effects, as stipulated in the Agenda 21. The report presents the findings of the study on criteria and indicators for sustainability in the energy area. The challenge posed by the synthesis of information from a system of indicators is discussed and four general approaches are proposed, compared and tested for the monitoring of sustainability in the energy area. These include the calculation of a composite index from several indicators, a similar process that uses statistical methods of dimensional reduction, methods for the measurement of productivity loaned from economics and a method for decision-making using multiple criteria. Examples for the four approaches are given and experience gained in their use - partly in other countries and in United Nations agencies - is discussed

  5. A Review on the research and practice of city sustainable development indicators and indices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiang, Ning

    2017-10-01

    City sustainable development indicators and indices have become a hot issue in academic research and practical application, alongside the high-speed worldwide urbanization and driven by the actual managing demand. This article is aimed at a clear understanding of the progress in relevant research and practice. This is done by collecting common indicators and indices for city sustainable development and making comparison of the assessment process and contents, so as to find out main obstacles for the development of this research field and explore the direction for efforts to be made next step. The article divides these indicators and indices into two categories: ① indicators serving as single index which can provide an explicit description on the relationship between economic activities and environmental carrying capacity, but have a narrow scope of assessment and use complicated methods to collect and calculate data; ② indices based on indicator systems which can represent multiple processes, could reflect the view of strong sustainability and are easy to use, but can hardly depict the responding relationship between social, environmental and economic changes for city sustainable development or assure the scientific rigor of weight setting. Practices on indicators and indices for city sustainable development was summarized, and its problems were reviewed with China being representative of transitioning countries. According to the review, great progress has been achieved in the research and practice of indicators and indices for city sustainable development, but consistency of theories, rationality of indicators and scientific rigor of methodology are to be improved significantly.

  6. Do Forwarders Improve Sustainability Efficiency? Evidence from a European DEA Malmquist Index Calculation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Klumpp

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability performance and efficiency is an important topic in transportation and for forwarders. This is shown, for example, by the fact that major logistics service providers LSP publish sustainability reports, often within the annual legal business report. However, in depth research is missing regarding the efficiency of forwarders regarding the established triple bottom line approach for sustainability, including economic, social, and ecology performance areas. This is especially true for a dynamic time-series perspective, as usually only static analyses for one point in time are presented (in most cases single business years. Therefore, the operations research technique of a data envelopment analysis (DEA Malmquist index calculation is used in order to provide a longitudinal calculation of efficiency, incorporating multiple objectives regarding the triple bottom line approach for European forwarders. Several indicators are tested, including total revenues and assets as input types, profit (EBIT and dividend volume (economic dimension, employment and gender equality in management (social, and carbon-equivalent emissions (environmental as output types.

  7. Sustainable development, challenges and priorities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soltani Arabshahi, S.

    2003-01-01

    This article primarily introduces a general overview of the concept of sustainable development along with its formation and expansion process. After defining the concept, followed by an analysis of certain principles on how s ustainable development management h as so far been implemented, some arguments against those principles are presented. The article emphasize on the fact that ever since the concept of sustainable development has emerged, highly industrialized countries perceived it as o nging development m erely in its materialistic sense, with little respect to preserving the nature. while developing countries are held responsible to cooperate, coordinate and act in with international directives on environment protection, industrialized countries, in addition to changing their production and consumption patterns, must be committed to provided financial resources and transfer the needed environmentally sound technologies the developing world. The author finally suggests an number of guidelines as to how sustainable development may be achieved Iran

  8. Sustainable development. Uncertain futures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leveque, Ch.; Sciama, Y.

    2005-01-01

    The last 30 years show that the human being did not dominate the Nature. After an introduction on the historical relations between the human and the environment, the authors present the different research ways (irrigation with recovery, renewable energies, new agriculture,...). They show that science is not always the enemy of the sustainable development. The third part presents the constraints that the society puts on the way of the sustainable development, which explain the limitations of the progress. (A.L.B.)

  9. GRI Index 2017

    OpenAIRE

    World Bank

    2017-01-01

    This World Bank GRI Index 2017 provides an overview of sustainability considerations within the World Bank’s lending and analytical services as well as its corporate activities. This index of sustainability indicators has been prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized standard for sustainability reporting, the GRI Standards: Core option (https://www.globalreporting.org). T...

  10. Developing entrepreneurial leadership for sustainable organisations

    OpenAIRE

    Rae, David

    2018-01-01

    This chapter sets out to explore the field of leadership development and its emerging contribution to sustainable entrepreneurship; why there is a need to develop research and effective practices in this area, and how this might be achieved. It studies the questions of how organisations can generate entrepreneurial leadership for their longer-term sustainability; how they can develop a sustained culture of entrepreneurship, and how they can facilitate people into leadership roles, which enabl...

  11. Developing sustainable food supply chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, B Gail

    2008-02-27

    This paper reviews the opportunities available for food businesses to encourage consumers to eat healthier and more nutritious diets, to invest in more sustainable manufacturing and distribution systems and to develop procurement systems based on more sustainable forms of agriculture. The important factors in developing more sustainable supply chains are identified as the type of supply chain involved and the individual business attitude to extending responsibility for product quality into social and environmental performance within their own supply chains. Interpersonal trust and working to standards are both important to build more sustainable local and many conserved food supply chains, but inadequate to transform mainstream agriculture and raw material supplies to the manufactured and commodity food markets. Cooperation among food manufacturers, retailers, NGOs, governmental and farmers' organizations is vital in order to raise standards for some supply chains and to enable farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices.

  12. Driving change : sustainable development action plans Guidance

    OpenAIRE

    Sustainable Development Commission

    2008-01-01

    This guidance builds upon the Sustainable Development Commission’s previous guidance, Getting Started (August 2005), which set out the basic elements that the Sustainable Development Commission would expect to see in a good Sustainable Development Action Plan. Publisher PDF Original published August 2005.

  13. Educating Engineers for Sustainable Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Myrdal, Christina Grann; Holgaard, Jette Egelund

    In this paper, we explore the potentials of designing engineering education activities for sustainability development based on how environmental concerns are integrated into product development processes in a company context. First we draw on a case study from the Danish company Grundfos Management...... A/S and based on their experience with product development practise and competence development of product developers, we propose a set of competences to be addressed in engineering education for sustainable development (EESD). Furthermore, we use the problem based learning philosophy as a base...

  14. Sustainable Development and Handling of Uncertainties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vargas, C.

    1999-01-01

    It is insisted a lot in this article in the change of the scientist's attitude and of the technologist in order to evaluate in critic way of their own work taking into consideration the new mark of the sustainable development. Finally, I would like to indicate that in this article, there are only analyzed the uncertainties that are given at scientific and technological level. The uncertainty sources related to the social and political dimensions of the sustainable development are left aside. These other sources cannot separate the discussion on the sustainable development. In this article, we won't enter to discuss aspects related with the characteristics and dimensions of the sustainable development, or if it is an ideology or not. Regarding the first aspect we will take as a base the characterization of the sustainable development that is presented in the Program 21 of the United Nations. With regard to the second aspect, we will assume that it is a development model with which we should commit and to guide our efforts toward that development pattern to face some of the theoretical problems that arise. (Author) [es

  15. Civic Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohlmeier, Bernhard

    2015-01-01

    Education for sustainable development (ESD) often fails to consider the political dimension. To address this gap, this paper focuses on a specific political approach to ESD. The model presented is derived from the four sustainable growth targets of German Development Policy. Instead of relying on a neo-classical or neo-liberal economic paradigm,…

  16. Nuclear power and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandklef, S.

    2000-01-01

    Nuclear Power is a new, innovative technology for energy production, seen in the longer historic perspective. Nuclear technology has a large potential for further development and use in new applications. To achieve this potential the industry needs to develop the arguments to convince policy makers and the general public that nuclear power is a real alternative as part of a sustainable energy system. This paper examines the basic concept of sustainable development and gives a quality review of the most important factors and requirements, which have to be met to quality nuclear power as sustainable. This paper intends to demonstrate that it is not only in minimising greenhouse gas emissions that nuclear power is a sustainable technology, also with respect to land use, fuel availability waste disposal, recycling and use of limited economic resources arguments can be developed in favour of nuclear power as a long term sustainable technology. It is demonstrated that nuclear power is in all aspects a sustainable technology, which could serve in the long term with minimal environmental effects and at minimum costs to the society. And the challenge can be met. But to achieve need political leadership is needed, to support and develop the institutional and legal framework that is the basis for a stable and long-term energy policy. Industry leaders are needed as well to stand up for nuclear power, to create a new industry culture of openness and communication with the public that is necessary to get the public acceptance that we have failed to do so far. The basic facts are all in favour of nuclear power and they should be used

  17. Premises of Sustainable Development on Rural Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anca Turtureanu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the authors want to highlight the opportunity on rural areas and development in termsof durability. The content of sustainable development offers to local communities real and lasting solutions.In this sense for a community to be truly sustainable, it must adopt a holistic approach, taking into accountshort-term environmental and economic sustainability of natural and cultural resources. The authors believethat a sustainable community among its objectives to include their major environmental issues, povertyeradication, improvement of quality of life, developing and maintaining an effective and viable localeconomies, leading to a global vision of sustainable development of all sectors of the community.

  18. Eco industrial Development: As a Way of Enhancing Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Begum Sertyesilisik

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The world’s habitat is being deteriorated especially due to the unsustainable production. The need for sustainable development and reducing humanities’ environmental footprint have been addressed in various international frameworks, meetings and reports (e.g. Kyoto protocol, the Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production Program, the Ten Year Framework of Programs on Sustainable Consumption and Production, the UN Resource Panel, and the Green Economy Initiative, Rio+20, green building certificates, “UNEP Green Economy” in 2011, “Green New Deal” in 2012, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report etc.. EIDs (the eco industrial development can act as catalysts in sustainable development and in reducing environmental footprint of the production processes. Based on an in-depth literature review, this paper aims to analyze how EID can be supported so that environmental footprint of the production processes can be reduced contributing sustainable development. With this aim, the objectives include: analysis of the need for the EID; need for the sustainable development enhanced by sustainable production and sustainable products; key success factors for, barriers against and drivers for the EID. The policy makers, companies, and researchers are expected to get benefit from this paper.

  19. Sustainable rural development and communicative learning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Noe, Egon; Langvad, Anne-Mette

    2006-01-01

    Functional differentiation within society at large poses a major challenge to practising sustainable rural development. Multiplication of perspectives on sustainability calls for a theoretical position that is based on the integrity of each of the perspectives in play and for an approach that is ......Functional differentiation within society at large poses a major challenge to practising sustainable rural development. Multiplication of perspectives on sustainability calls for a theoretical position that is based on the integrity of each of the perspectives in play and for an approach...

  20. Niger Delta Development Commission and Sustainable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Niger Delta Development Commission and Sustainable Development of Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: The Case of Rivers State. Goddey Wilson. Abstract. The study is on Niger Delta Development Commission and sustainable development of Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the case of Rivers State. The main objective of the ...

  1. A Sustainability Education Academic Development Framework (SEAD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holdsworth, Sarah; Thomas, Ian

    2016-01-01

    Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programmes that will provide educators with the skills to engage students in the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. In order to determine…

  2. PSSD - Planning System for Sustainable Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    PSSD - Planning System for Sustainable Development - is a part of the Baltic Sea Region's INTERREG II C program. The current report describes some theories, methods and tools developed under the PSSD project. First, the theoretical foundation of the project is described. Secondly, the role...... of indicators in sustainable development is discussed and a Web-based indicator generator is described. Thirdly, we describe a number of methods and tools, which support planning for sustainable development. Finally, some technical interface tools - especially a Web-based interface to the methods and tools...

  3. The Assessment of Sustainability Indexes and Climate Change Impacts on Integrated Water Resource Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joel Hernández-Bedolla

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Integrated water resource management (IWRM is facing great challenges due to growing uncertainties caused by climate change (CC, rapid socio-economic and technological changes, and population growth. In the present study, we have developed different indices to assess the availability of water using an IWRM approach. These indices evaluate supply to demands, surface availability, groundwater availability, reservoirs, and environmental flow. Moreover, reliability, resilience, and vulnerability were determined. Sustainability index (SI and sustainability index by groups (SG were determined based on the five indices (all indices vary from 0 to 1. The impacts of climate change affect surface and groundwater availability, as do the agricultural, urban, and industrial requirements on the different supplies. We used the generalized AQUATOOL Decision Support System Shell (DSSS to evaluate the IWRM in the Rio Grande Basin (Morelia, México. Various emission scenarios from representative concentration pathways (RCPs were applied to the basin for the years 2015–2039 and 2075–2099. The results indicate increases in agricultural and urban demand, and decreases in surface runoff, as well as groundwater recharge. The proposed indices are useful for different approaches (decision-makers, water policy, and drought risks, among others. CC significantly affects the different proposed indices and indicates a decrease of the SI, SG1, and SG2 (i.e., less availability. For example, we found that SG2 decreased from 0.812 to 0.195 under the RCP 8.5 2075–2099 scenario, and SG2 equal to 0.252 and 0.326 for the RCP 6.0 2075–2099 and RCP 4.5 2070–2099 scenarios, respectively (values close to 0 indicate worst drought conditions.

  4. Sustainable Agricultural Development and Environment: Conflicts ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    user

    sustainable development in the context of Rwanda as the level of socio- political and ... envisaged by the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) includes the .... sustainable agriculture and agri-business development in Rwanda is.

  5. When Sustainable Development is Core Business

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Susanne Balslev; Galamba, Kirsten Ramskov

    2010-01-01

    . Originality/value: The paper presents suggestions on the role of facilities management in a sustainable transition of society by changing focus from a typically instrumental approach towards a more holistic management of its facilities. The research provides an insight into the context of FM in a local......Purpose: The purpose of the paper is an attempt to define sustainability in a Facilities Management context and to present a methodology for facilities managers to reflect on their role as system builders. Theory: Theory of transition of large socio-technical systems are used to show the complexity...... of reorganising public building administration into FM for sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: Understandings of the term Sustainable Facilities Management is identified through reviews of FM literature as well as literature on sustainable buildings and sustainable urban development...

  6. Climate change and marine fisheries: Least developed countries top global index of vulnerability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blasiak, Robert; Spijkers, Jessica; Tokunaga, Kanae; Pittman, Jeremy; Yagi, Nobuyuki; Österblom, Henrik

    2017-01-01

    Future impacts of climate change on marine fisheries have the potential to negatively influence a wide range of socio-economic factors, including food security, livelihoods and public health, and even to reshape development trajectories and spark transboundary conflict. Yet there is considerable variability in the vulnerability of countries around the world to these effects. We calculate a vulnerability index of 147 countries by drawing on the most recent data related to the impacts of climate change on marine fisheries. Building on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change framework for vulnerability, we first construct aggregate indices for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity using 12 primary variables. Seven out of the ten most vulnerable countries on the resulting index are Small Island Developing States, and the top quartile of the index includes countries located in Africa (17), Asia (7), North America and the Caribbean (4) and Oceania (8). More than 87% of least developed countries are found within the top half of the vulnerability index, while the bottom half includes all but one of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member states. This is primarily due to the tremendous variation in countries' adaptive capacity, as no such trends are evident from the exposure or sensitivity indices. A negative correlation exists between vulnerability and per capita carbon emissions, and the clustering of states at different levels of development across the vulnerability index suggests growing barriers to meeting global commitments to reducing inequality, promoting human well-being and ensuring sustainable cities and communities. The index provides a useful tool for prioritizing the allocation of climate finance, as well as activities aimed at capacity building and the transfer of marine technology.

  7. Environment, energy, economy. A sustainable future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luise, A.; Borrello, L.; Calef, D.; Cialani, C.; Di Majo, V.; Federio, A.; Lovisolo, G.; Musmeci, F.

    1998-01-01

    This paper is organized in five parts: 1. sustainable development from global point of view; 2. global problems and international instruments; 3. sustainable management of resources in economic systems; 4. forecasting and methods: models and index; 5. future urban areas [it

  8. Ecological assessment of integrated bioenergy systems using the Sustainable Process Index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krotscheck, C.; Konig, F.; Obernberger, I.

    2000-01-01

    Biomass utilisation for energy production presently faces an uphill battle against fossil fuels. The use of biomass must offer additional benefits to compensate for higher prices: on the basis of a life cycle assessment (using BEAM to evaluate a variety of integrated bioenergy systems in connection with the Sustainable Process Index as a highly aggregated environmental pressure index) it is shown that integrated bioenergy systems are superior to fossil fuel systems in terms of environmental compatibility. The implementation of sustainability measures provides additional valuable information that might help in constructing and optimising integrated bioenergy systems. For a set of reference processes, among them fast pyrolysis, atmospheric gasification, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), combustion and steam cycle (CS) and conventional hydrolysis, a detailed impact assessment is shown. Sensitivity analyses of the most important ecological parameters are calculated, giving an overview of the impacts of various stages in the total life cycle and showing 'what really matters'. Much of the ecological impact of integrated bioenergy systems is induced by feedstock production. It is mainly the use of fossil fuels in cultivation, harvesting and transportation as well as the use of fertilisers in short-rotation coppice production that impose considerable ecological pressure. Concerning electricity generation the most problematic pressures are due to gaseous emissions, most notably the release of NO x . Moreover, a rather complicated process (high amount of grey energy) and the use of fossil pilot fuel (co-combustion) leads to a rather weak ecological performance in contrast to other 100% biomass-based systems. (author)

  9. Climate Risk and Production Shocks: Using Index Insurance to Link Climate Science to Policy for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarney, G. R.; Osgood, D. E.

    2011-12-01

    Smallholder farmers in developing countries are often severely impacted by droughts and other climate related events. However, agricultural insurance programs are largely unavailable in lower-income countries because of limitations in traditional loss-based indemnity insurance. As a result, it is often the case that farmers who are the most vulnerable to climate shocks lack access to the insurance tools that could help to reduce their production risk. Index insurance, a recent financial innovation, has the potential to increase access to insurance for smallholder farmers (Barrett et al. 2007). Index insurance allows farmers to insure their production risk based on a weather index (such as total seasonal rainfall) rather than on crop yields. The use of a weather index addresses many of the perverse incentive problems found in traditional crop insurance, and greatly reduces the costs of insuring smallholder farmers. The trade-off in index insurance, however, is limited accuracy in calibrating payouts to actual losses, a phenomenon commonly known as basis risk. While index insurance has promise as a risk-smoothing instrument, many argue it has greater promise as a mechanism for improving access to credit for smallholder farmers in developing countries (e.g. Barnett, Barrett & Skees 2008). In these areas, farmers are often fully exposed to climate shocks, which greatly affect their willingness to borrow. By smoothing the uncertainty in climate shocks, insurance may allow farmers to take credit for productive risks. There has been much discussion as to the optimal strategy for combining index insurance with credit, specifically if the financial institutions or the individual farmers themselves should hold the insurance policy. Many existing insurance implementations insure the farmer directly. However, since a weather index is a proxy for yield loss based on regional data, there is basis risk due to uninsured idiosyncratic differences between farmers. As a response to

  10. Global Mental Health: sharing and synthesizing knowledge for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donnell, K; O'Donnell, M Lewis

    2016-01-01

    Global mental health (GMH) is a growing domain with an increasing capacity to positively impact the world community's efforts for sustainable development and wellbeing. Sharing and synthesizing GMH and multi-sectoral knowledge, the focus of this paper, is an important way to support these global efforts. This paper consolidates some of the most recent and relevant 'context resources' [global multi-sector (GMS) materials, emphasizing world reports on major issues] and 'core resources' (GMH materials, including newsletters, texts, conferences, training, etc.). In addition to offering a guided index of materials, it presents an orientation framework (global integration) to help make important information as accessible and useful as possible. Mental health colleagues are encouraged to stay current in GMH and global issues, to engage in the emerging agendas for sustainable development and wellbeing, and to intentionally connect and contribute across sectors. Colleagues in all sectors are encouraged to do likewise, and to take advantage of the wealth of shared and synthesized knowledge in the GMH domain, such as the materials featured in this paper.

  11. Methodology for Monitoring Sustainable Development of Isolated Microgrids in Rural Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Rahmann

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Microgrids are a rapidly evolving and increasingly common form of local power generation used to serve the needs of both rural and urban communities. In this paper, we present a methodology to evaluate the evolution of the sustainability of stand-alone microgrids projects. The proposed methodology considers a composite sustainability index (CSI that includes both positive and negative impacts of the operation of the microgrid in a given community. The CSI is constructed along environmental, social, economic and technical dimensions of the microgrid. The sub-indexes of each dimension are aggregated into the CSI via a set of adaptive weighting factors, which indicate the relative importance of the corresponding dimension in the sustainability goals. The proposed methodology aims to be a support instrument for policy makers especially when defining sound corrective measures to guarantee the sustainability of small, isolated microgrid projects. To validate the performance of the proposed methodology, a microgrid installed in the northern part of Chile (Huatacondo has been used as a benchmarking project.

  12. Utilities practices toward sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    The strategy toward a Sustainable Development is not standardised and it is useful to compare approaches of companies. WG C3.03 analysed a number of Sustainability Reports or Environmental Reports, published by Utilities, exposing their current approaches to the three 'Pillars': environmental aspects, society development and economical performances. Case studies, relevant to the three 'Pillars', show examples of practices

  13. Slovenian Mediterrananean and sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitja Bricelj

    2002-12-01

    Full Text Available Regional approach based on physical, social and economic characteristics of particular landscape what is basic input for sustainable development. The case Slovenian Mediterranean and sustainable development demonstrate public participation in the process of preparation of coastal management plan. For this process new forms of knowledge transfer to relevant public is needed to get their active position about different.

  14. CIRP Design 2012 Sustainable Product Development

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    During its life cycle, a product produces waste that is over 20 times its weight. As such it is critical to develop products that are sustainable. Currently product development processes lack high quality methods and tools that are empirically validated to support development of sustainable products. This book is a compilation of over forty cutting edge international research papers from the 22nd CIRP International Design Conference, written by eminent researchers from 15 countries, on engineering design process, methods and tools, broadly for supporting sustainable product development.   A variety of new insights into the product development process, as well as a host of methods and tools that are at the cutting edge of design research are discussed and explained covering a range of diverse topics. The areas covered include: ·Sustainable design and manufacturing, ·Design synthesis and creativity, ·Global product development and product life cycle management, ·Design for X (safety, reliability, manufactu...

  15. System theoretic approach to sustainable development problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Batanović Vladan

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper shows that the concepts and methodology contained in the system theory and operations research are suitable for application in the planning and control of the sustainable development. The sustainable development problems can be represented using the state space concepts, such as the transition of system, from the given initial state to the final state. It is shown that sustainable development represents a specific control problem. The peculiarity of the sustainable development is that the target is to keep the system in the prescribed feasible region of the state space. The analysis of planning and control problems of sustainable development has also shown that methods developed in the operations research area, such as multicriteria optimization, dynamic processes simulation, non-conventional treatment of uncertainty etc. are adequate, exact base, suitable for resolution of these problems.

  16. Philosophy of Sustainable Development, Polish Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zygmunt, Tomasz

    2016-01-01

    The aim of the present paper is to awake awareness of the term "sustainable development" and show that the very term is not understood in a unilateral way. A discrepancy of perception and thus understanding of the notion of sustainability blurs its meaning. Numerous scholars and researchers use the term sustainable or sustainability to…

  17. Specific character of sustainable innovative development of transport construction in self-regulation conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gumba, Khuta; Belyaeva, Svetlana

    2017-10-01

    The providing of sustainable development is impossible without activating the innovative activity of backbone economical sectors, in particular of transport construction. The system of self-regulation of activities is a specific feature of the transport industry development. The authors carried out the correlation analysis of innovative activity of construction enterprises, which proved the necessity of improving the normative and technical documents. The authors proposed and calculated the index of the legislation stability in the industry. The article suggests recommendations on the activation of innovative development in construction industry basing on the results of the modeling.

  18. THE JUDICIARY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    RAYAN_

    ABSTRACT. The approval of 17 goals and 169 targets for sustainable development by the ... commentary evaluates the role of the judiciary in promoting sustainable .... a healthy quality of life, imposing on the Public Power and the community.

  19. Who will have Sustainable Employment After a Back Injury? The Development of a Clinical Prediction Model in a Cohort of Injured Workers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shearer, Heather M; Côté, Pierre; Boyle, Eleanor; Hayden, Jill A; Frank, John; Johnson, William G

    2017-09-01

    Purpose Our objective was to develop a clinical prediction model to identify workers with sustainable employment following an episode of work-related low back pain (LBP). Methods We used data from a cohort study of injured workers with incident LBP claims in the USA to predict employment patterns 1 and 6 months following a workers' compensation claim. We developed three sequential models to determine the contribution of three domains of variables: (1) basic demographic/clinical variables; (2) health-related variables; and (3) work-related factors. Multivariable logistic regression was used to develop the predictive models. We constructed receiver operator curves and used the c-index to measure predictive accuracy. Results Seventy-nine percent and 77 % of workers had sustainable employment at 1 and 6 months, respectively. Sustainable employment at 1 month was predicted by initial back pain intensity, mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). At 6 months, sustainable employment was predicted by physical and mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type (c-index = 0.77). Adding health-related and work-related variables to models improved predictive accuracy by 8.5 and 10 % at 1 and 6 months respectively. Conclusion We developed clinically-relevant models to predict sustainable employment in injured workers who made a workers' compensation claim for LBP. Inquiring about back pain intensity, physical and mental health-related quality of life, claim litigation and employer type may be beneficial in developing programs of care. Our models need to be validated in other populations.

  20. Environmental law and sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Oliva Sirgo Álvarez

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the origin and birth of the human right to a safe and healthy environment in order to allow everyone to live a dignified and quality life. It also analyses the essential content of sustainable development, which must always guide the development of environmental law to ensure a healthy environment for human present and future generations, and a sustainable economic growth that contributes to the development of equal opportunities for all people.

  1. Environmentally sustainable economic development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jones, M.G.; Woodruffe, J.D.

    1991-01-01

    Shell Canada adopted Sustainable Development in 1990 as the approach to managing the environment. The corporation's president, representing the energy industry on the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, provided key direction on the development of the process. This paper reports on national concepts of Sustainable Development principles that were utilized as a starting point, but quickly a Shell specific policy was approved, followed by Corporate Principles and Targets and Undertakings. These are being further developed in both the upstream and downstream with leadership from Resources (E and P) Department. Cascading of Targets and Undertakings has occurred to E and P followed by operating complexes, the drilling sites and the seismic lines. Steps were carefully programmed to learn from specific application before expanding to all areas. All plans are expected to be in place by mid 1992. Place contain short and long term target but focus on a rolling 2 year identification of actions to meet those targets. The plans permit an annual appraisal of accomplishments as well as budgeting for successive years. The move to Sustainable Development planning is a significant shift in industry attitude and approach but demonstrates the ability for the coexistence of environmental and economic demands

  2. Sustainability in Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises: An Empirical Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Garbie

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this paper is to analyze and investigate sustainable practices in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs. A comprehensive analysis and a mathematical framework are used to assess the sustainability indexes (SDIs of each aspect/issue and pillar/dimension, and of the whole manufacturing enterprise. Sustainability in the whole manufacturing enterprise is represented by the sustainable development index (SDI. The results show that there is a significant difference in SDIs between aspects and dimensions, with economic sustainability representing the highest percentage in the SDI. Also, the results show that industrial companies are adopting sustainable practices and applying them to most of the issues/aspects of the dimensions, and they can direct manufacturing companies in the industrial sector to develop strategies for sustainability. This paper introduces a new understanding of the practices and implementation of sustainability/sustainable development by SMEs through assessing the SDIs.

  3. Key events in the history of sustainable development

    OpenAIRE

    Sustainable Development Commission

    2005-01-01

    This document is a table which summaries the key events in the history of sustainable development, adapted from International Institute for Sustainable Development's sustainable development timeline. Publisher PDF

  4. The Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development for Well-Being in Organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Fabio, Annamaria

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the contribution of the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development to well-being in organizations from a primary prevention perspective. It deals with sustainability not only in terms of the ecological, economic, and social environment but also in terms of improving the quality of life of every human being. The psychology of sustainability and sustainable development is seen as a primary prevention perspective that can foster well-being in organizations at all the different levels going from the worker, to the group, to the organization, and also to inter-organizational processes. The possibilities for further research and interventions are also discussed.

  5. Managing Transportation Infrastructure for Sustainable Development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Akinyemi, Edward O.; Zuidgeest, M.H.P.

    Major requirements for operationalization of the concept of sustainable development in urban transportation infrastructure operations management are presented. In addition, it is shown that the current approach to management is incompatible with the requirements for sustainable urban development.

  6. The sustainable development; Le developpement durable

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robreau, Y.; Porcher, P

    2002-11-01

    This document aims to define the sustainable development concept with a special attention for France and Israel position. The first part recalls the history of the sustainable development from the ''Man and Biosphere'' program of the UNESCO to Rio protocol. Then are described the principles of the sustainable development, the France plans and the France position at Johannesburg conference. The last part is devoted to the Israel position and a short presentation of the consequences of the greenhouse gases on the human health and the environment. (A.L.B.)

  7. Socio-cultural Issues for Sustainable Development in Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Socio-cultural Issues for Sustainable Development in Africa. ... focal areas of sustainable development – social, economic and environmental factors. ... that designed a Sustainable Integrated Rural Development in Africa (SIRDA) programme.

  8. CSR: Sustainability Development atau Greenwashing?

    OpenAIRE

    Bernadus, Yohanes Andri Putranto

    2013-01-01

    Abstrak: CSR: Sustainability Development atau Greenwashing? Dengan menggunakan ciri-ciri social bank, penelitian ini bertujuan menguji apakah perusahaan perbankan yang terdaftar di BEI pada tahun 2009-2011 melakukan aktivitas Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) untuk tujuan sustainability development atau hanya sebagai kegiatan greenwashing (strategi pemasaran). Fokus penelitian ini adalah pada akun-akun yang tersaji dalam laporan posisi untuk menilai aktivitas CSR dan bukan pada pernyataan...

  9. Energetic consumption levels and human development indexes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boa Nova, Antonio Carlos

    1999-01-01

    The article overviews the energetic consumption levels and human development indexes. The human development indexes are described based on the United Nations Development Programme. A comparison between the energetic consumption levels and human development indexes is also presented

  10. Dynamic Development of Regional Disparity in Mainland China: An Experimental Study Based on a Multidimensional Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Bin

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper stems from the previous wisdom to investigate the transitional dynamics of regional disparity in China during the period 1998–2010. This is the very first time that 30 Chinese regions have been benchmarked according to a multidimensional index based on a stochastic kernel density. The multidimensional index contains five domains to capture the socioeconomic development: macroeconomic conditions, science and innovation, environmental sustainability, human capital, and public facilities. This experimental study reveals the existence of a three-peak pattern of convergence during 1998–2010, and improves the understanding of the evolution of regional disparity in China in terms of the comprehensive socioeconomic development.

  11. EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. M. Alilova

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim. The aim is to consider the relationship of philosophy and education; the article also reviews the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD, a global model for a special educational activity. We also discuss the features of the philosophical approach to the issue of sustainable development. Discussion. In research, we use the method of socio-natural approach, a new educational paradigm that combines the theory and concept of training and education within the anthropocentric approach based on humanistic philosophical ideas which laid the basis for understanding the person as the subject of life, history and culture. We analyzed environmental and educational aspects of sustainable development in the current context. In order to address these challenges, philosophy produces new concepts, theories and paradigms. It is necessary to work on people's motivation and values, develop their cooperation skills, teach civic engagement and democratic by action rather than words. Only a highly educated society can generate environmental paradigm and implement the strategy of sustainable development. Conclusions. We recommend transferring research outcomes into practice in schools starting with elementary school, as well as in vocational schools and universities. Clarifying the essence of the concept of education for sustainable development is possible through philosophical understanding of its genesis and ideas.

  12. A new Era in Sustainable Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bass, Steve

    2007-03-15

    It is 20 years since the World Commission on Environment and Development — the Brundtland Commission — released its influential report on sustainable development. This is now the declared intention of most governments, many international organisations, and an increasing number of businesses and civil society groups. High profile 'intentions' have given rise to a bewildering array of sustainable development plans, tools and business models. But these have not yet triggered the pace, scale, scope and depth of change that is needed to make development sustainable. They leave the underlying causes of unsustainable development largely undisturbed. They include few means for anticipating non-linear changes – from climate change to economic cycles – and for building resilience to them. Consequently, most environmental and welfare measures continue to decline in almost all countries. Much energy has been spent crafting the sustainable development 'toolkit'. But that energy has been channelled largely through a narrow set of international processes and 'elite' national actors. The results are not yet integral to the machinery of government or business, or people's daily lives. This paper calls for energies to be directed in new ways, constructing a truly global endeavour informed by diverse local actors' evidence of 'what works', and focusing more keenly on long-term futures. The key drivers and challenges of a 'new era in sustainable development' are suggested, to elicit ideas and leadership from a richer vein of experience than has been embraced by the formal international endeavours to date. This paper is the first in a series on the sustainable development futures that face key sectors and stakeholder groups.

  13. Developing sustainable transportation performance measures for ALDOT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-01

    Sustainable transportation is generally used to refer to transportation that contributes to the sustainable development of the community that owns and uses the system. The Transportation Research Board defines sustainability as: Sustainability is ...

  14. A territorial understanding of sustainability in public development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peti, Marton, E-mail: mpeti@vati.hu

    2012-01-15

    Sustainability theories in European Union (EU) development policies are facing significant challenges: it is difficult to transmit context-specific, publicly communicable messages; the recent development policies strengthen the concurrent development paradigm of economic growth and competitiveness; 'climate change' became a more popular environmental integration term than sustainability in the last few years. However, due to the recent crises of the economic growth, there is a great chance to reintroduce a sustainability-based development. A territorial/regional understanding of sustainability can also be an answer for the current challenges, a platform for refreshing the concept with relevant, specific messages that are close to the everyday life. This paper summarises the 'territorial system'-based basic principles of territorial sustainability in a model called AUTHARSIIV (AUTonomy, HARmony, Solidarity, Innovation, Identity and Values). This is a supplementary sustainability content specified for the context of spatial/regional development or planning. The paper also examines the presence of 'general and territorial sustainability' in regional development programmes, and case studies on applying the territorial sustainability principles in planning, assessment, and implementation. According to the results, sustainability is rarely adapted to the conditions of a given sector or a region, and the territorial aspect of sustainability is underrepresented even in territorial programmes. Therefore, the paper proposes a new planning and assessment system that is based on a set of regionally legitimate sustainability values.

  15. Sustainable development and Estonian energetics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lausmaa, T.

    1997-01-01

    This conference was held 14 Nov 1997 in Tallinn, Estonia. The conference stressed the importance of the diminishing the negative impact of energy production on the environment. The Government and the Parliament should ensure the composing of short and long term master plans with the public participation for all sectors of the economy, based on the principles of sustainable development, the involved international treaties and the Sustainable Development Framework Act

  16. Appropriate architecture for sustainable development: The creation of ecological footprint and human development index capability

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Gibberd, Jeremy T

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available and human systems. The danger with a focus on carbon emissions is that limited resources and timeframes may be exhausted trying to achieve reductions and valuable opportunities to build long term sustainable solutions will be being lost. This paper argues...

  17. Risk forewarning of regional development sustainability based on a natural resources and environmental carrying index in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Jie; Wang, Yafei; Ouyang, Zhiyun; Li, Lijuan; Xu, Yong; Zhang, Wenzhong; Wang, Chuansheng; Xu, Weihua; Li, Jiuyi; Yu, Jianhui; Zhou, Kan

    2017-02-01

    It is a matter of public consensus that China's high growth rate has been achieved at the expense of natural resources and the environment, leading to serious risks to sustainability. This research, which proposes a theoretical model to forewarn of risks to regional developmental sustainability in China, constitutes the first empirical evaluation of this to be undertaken there. The results show that: (a) the areas at risk cover almost 43% of the land and 44% of the population of mainland China. In those areas, 83.56% of people at risk are threatened by the low carrying capacity of the environment and limited water resources. (b) With 70% of the total population living in "at risk" areas, urbanization zones remain as the primary category suffering from overload across China. Extensive industrialization has resulted in environmental pollution, which contributes the most to the forewarning status, while the secondary cause is found to be the special coupling of the scarcity of natural water resources and their inefficient use. In addition, most urban conglomerations suffer from pollution by industrial production and household consumption, which tends to extend to their surrounding agricultural areas. Extensive mineral exploitation in ecologically fragile areas has made them increasingly more vulnerable to disturbances from their neighboring resource-driven urban areas. The paper uses these findings to suggest how to intensify the special regulatory administration of resources and the environment, and to transform approaches to industrialization, in order to address sustainable development issues in developing countries.

  18. CEA sustainable development report 2007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2007-01-01

    The CEA, a prominent player in research development and innovation, is active in three main domains: energy, health care and information technology, defense and security. This annual report presents the CEA activities in the domain of the sustainable development. The first part is devoted to the environment preservation policy (energy, water, air, chemistry, wastes, transport, buildings). The second part shows the dynamic governance in the domain of the risks management. The last part presents the CEA activities of research for the sustainable development. (A.L.B.)

  19. Ruling Relationships in Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berryman, Tom; Sauvé, Lucie

    2016-01-01

    It is from historical perspectives on more than 40 years of environment related education theories, practices, and policies that we revisit what might otherwise become a tired conversation about environmental education and sustainable development. Our contemporary critical analysis of Stefan Bengtsson's research about policy making leads us to…

  20. A territorial understanding of sustainability in public development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Péti, Márton

    2012-01-01

    Sustainability theories in European Union (EU) development policies are facing significant challenges: it is difficult to transmit context-specific, publicly communicable messages; the recent development policies strengthen the concurrent development paradigm of economic growth and competitiveness; ‘climate change’ became a more popular environmental integration term than sustainability in the last few years. However, due to the recent crises of the economic growth, there is a great chance to reintroduce a sustainability-based development. A territorial/regional understanding of sustainability can also be an answer for the current challenges, a platform for refreshing the concept with relevant, specific messages that are close to the everyday life. This paper summarises the ‘territorial system’-based basic principles of territorial sustainability in a model called AUTHARSIIV (AUTonomy, HARmony, Solidarity, Innovation, Identity and Values). This is a supplementary sustainability content specified for the context of spatial/regional development or planning. The paper also examines the presence of ‘general and territorial sustainability’ in regional development programmes, and case studies on applying the territorial sustainability principles in planning, assessment, and implementation. According to the results, sustainability is rarely adapted to the conditions of a given sector or a region, and the territorial aspect of sustainability is underrepresented even in territorial programmes. Therefore, the paper proposes a new planning and assessment system that is based on a set of regionally legitimate sustainability values.

  1. Food Sustainable Model Development: An ANP Approach to Prioritize Sustainable Factors in the Romanian Natural Soft Drinks Industry Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Răzvan Cătalin Dobrea

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The latest developments in natural soft drinks in the Romanian market signal significant changes in consumers’ perceptions of the sustainability concept. While the necessity of preserving natural resources and ensuring a decent level of healthiness seem to be steadily embraced by the Romanian society, the lack of long enough time series to acknowledge this shift render impossible a traditional econometric validation of these recent trends in economic thinking. The large number of European-funded projects for upgrading technology in the Romanian sector of natural soft drinks raises the question whether the learning by doing effect dispersed into the Romanian managers’ investment decision making from the perspective of both economic and food sustainability. This paper presents the construction and the evaluation of an Analytical Network Process (ANP market share model, which emerged from extended in-depth interviews with 10 managers of the main Romanian natural soft drinks producers. This model differs from traditional market share ANP ones since concepts like either food of economic sustainability were considered as significant driving factors. The coincidence between the estimated market share and the actual one, expressed by Saaty’s compatibility index, validate this model and offer comparative numerical weights’ of importance for food or economic sustainability.

  2. Seizing Community Participation in Sustainable Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balslev Clausen, Helene; Gyimóthy, Szilvia

    2015-01-01

    and cultural sustainability defined in the Mexican national tourism program Pueblos Mágicos are put into practice. The analysis is focused on how citizenship, local participation and democracy are operationalized and what are the local consequences of this governmental program in the community of Álamos...... migrant community in shaping sustainable tourism development as cultural brokers, social entrepreneurs and mediators of market knowledge. The paper criticizes the notion of homogenous local communities as an instrumental condition of sustainable and participatory development....

  3. Participatory Research and Development for Sustainable Agriculture ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Participatory Research and Development for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management - A Sourcebook Volume 3 : Doing Participatory Research and Development. Couverture du livre Participatory Research and Development for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management : A.

  4. Sustainable Development: Natural and Scientific Principles. Summary

    OpenAIRE

    Kuznetsov Oleg; Bolshakov Boris

    2002-01-01

    The book contains a brief summary of "Sustainable Development: Natural and Scientific Principles" textbook. The connection of sustainable development with the fundamental laws of the nature - society - man system, the logic of the transfer to sustainable development in ecology, economics, finances, politics and education are principally new in the mentioned textbook. A special attention is paid to synthesis and comparison of interconnections and knowledge in the creative process of research a...

  5. SPIRITUAL DETERMINANTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. I. Bilalov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim. The aim of the research is to study the specific determinants, motivational factors, tools and approaches that make up the mechanism for the implementation of sustainable development (the region of Southern Russia.Material and methods. As the main methodological approach, the author used the civilizational method including philosophy and political science which effectively evaluate and analyze a concrete historical stage of development of a society, a short period of its history. At the same time, as a particularly important factor and determinant of social development, we put culture, mental and religious terms of spiritual life of the peoples of the South of Russia into to the forefront, which is seen as a local independent civilization. We see the methodological innovation in the understanding of sustainable development based on the principle of ecocentrism, the equality between generations, types and groups, with regard to the principle of universal evolutionism.Results. It is assumed that civilizations develop independently and realize its cultural potential in various areas, while ethnic groups, nations and peoples with their specific culture must respect the principle of equal moral functioning. The threat of a global catastrophe and attitude for sustainable development bring spiritual values of traditional civilizations to the forefront, which are collectivism, harmony between man and nature, self-limitation, reliance on national culture and other issues that have always been fundamental to Dagestan and the North Caucasus.Conclusions. Sustainable development of the South Russian regions, including Dagestan, is possible only on the basis of the given spiritual determinants in the direction of a global civil society.

  6. Sustained-release progesterone vaginal suppositories 1--development of sustained-release granule--.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Ayako; Sunada, Hisakazu; Okamoto, Hirokazu; Furuhashi, Kaoru; Ohno, Yukiko; Ito, Mikio

    2009-02-01

    Progesterone (P) is an important hormone for the establishment of pregnancy, and its administration is useful for luteal insufficiency. Considering the problems of commercially available oral and injection drugs, hospital-formulated vaginal suppositories are clinically used. However, since the half-life of P suppositories is short, it is difficult to maintain its constant blood concentration. To sustain drug efficacy and prevent side-effects, we are attempting to develop sustained-release suppositories by examining the degree of sustained-release of active ingredients. In this study, we examined the combinations of granulation methods and release systems for the preparation of sustained-release granules of P, and produced 13 types of sustained-release granules. We also examined the diameter, content, and dissolution of each type of granules, and confirmed that the sustained-release of all types of granules was satisfactory. Among the sustained-release granules, we selected granules with a content and a degree of sustained-release suitable for sustained-release suppositories.

  7. Water-energy-food nexus for adopting sustainable development goals in Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taniguchi, M.

    2016-12-01

    Water, energy, and food are the most essential and fundamental resources for human well-beings, a sustainable society, and global sustainability. These are inextricably linked, and there are complex synergies and tradeoffs among the three resources. More issues arise and attention must be paid when it comes to the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus. Lack of integrated research between a nexus and policy implementation is the most concerning. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all, and are scheduled to be achieved by 2030. Of the 17 SDGs, Goal 2, 6 and 7 are directly related to food, water, and energy sectors. However, there are no integrated SDGs related to the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. Two different directions of nexus research exist in developing and industrialized worlds, and synthesis of both are needed. Developing countries are striving to increase their Human Development Index (HDI) while keeping Ecological Footprints, including Nexus Footprint, low. On the other hand, industrialized countries are targeting to maintain their high HDI and reduce their Ecological Footprints. Both are challenging tasks under the restrictions of planetary boundaries (limited nature) and doughnut economy (limited society). In this study, WEF Nexus research in Asian countries, including developing and industrialized countries, demonstrates the different types of nexus approaches to achieve SDGs through renewable energy, agriculture and aquaculture as food, and water management in Monsoon and semi-arid Asia. Mutual learning between the two types of nexus approaches can be made in the Asian area.

  8. Impact of geohazards on sustainable development of society

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blistan, P.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper the authors analyze environmental risk factors in Slovakia in terms of sustainable development within environmental conditions and perspectives. Geological and geomorphological conditions affecting sustainable development are analyzed. Monitoring system of the environment and the need for sustainable development is presented.

  9. Using Sustainable Development as a Competitive Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spearman, Pat

    Sustainable development reduces construction waste by 43%, generating 50% cost savings. Residential construction executives lacking adequate knowledge regarding the benefits of sustainable development practices are at a competitive disadvantage. Drawing from the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore knowledge acquisition within the bounds of sustainable residential construction. The purposive sample size of 11 executive decision makers fulfilled the sample size requirements and enabled the extraction of meaningful data. Participants were members of the National Home Builders Association and had experience of a minimum of 5 years in residential construction. The research question addressed how to improve knowledge acquisition relating to the cost benefits of building green homes and increase the adoption rate of sustainable development among residential builders. Data were collected via semistructured telephone interviews, field observation, and document analysis. Transcribed data were validated via respondent validation, coded into 5 initial categories aligned to the focus of the research, then reduced to 3 interlocking themes of environment, competitive advantage, and marketing. Recommendations include developing comprehensive public policies, horizontal and vertical communications networks, and green banks to capitalize sustainable development programs to improve the diffusion of green innovation as a competitive advantage strategy. Business leaders could benefit from this data by integrating sustainable development practices into their business processes. Sustainable development reduces operational costs, increases competitive advantage for builders, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Implications for social change increase energy independence through conservation and developing a legislative policy template for comprehensive energy strategies. A comprehensive energy strategy promotes economic development

  10. Developing a comprehensive definition of sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Julia E; Mascarenhas, Alekhya; Bain, Julie; Straus, Sharon E

    2017-09-02

    Understanding sustainability is one of the significant implementation science challenges. One of the big challenges in researching sustainability is the lack of consistent definitions in the literature. Most implementation studies do not present a definition of sustainability, even when assessing sustainability. The aim of the current study was to systematically develop a comprehensive definition of sustainability based on definitions already used in the literature. We searched for knowledge syntheses of sustainability and abstracted sustainability definitions from the articles identified through any relevant systematic and scoping reviews. The constructs in the abstracted sustainability definitions were mapped to an existing definition. The comprehensive definition of sustainability was revised to include emerging constructs. We identified four knowledge syntheses of sustainability, which identified 209 original articles. Of the 209 articles, 24 (11.5%) included a definition of sustainability. These definitions were mapped to three constructs from an existing definition, and nine new constructs emerged. We reviewed all constructs and created a revised definition: (1) after a defined period of time, (2) a program, clinical intervention, and/or implementation strategies continue to be delivered and/or (3) individual behavior change (i.e., clinician, patient) is maintained; (4) the program and individual behavior change may evolve or adapt while (5) continuing to produce benefits for individuals/systems. All 24 definitions were remapped to the comprehensive definition (percent agreement among three coders was 94%). Of the 24 definitions, 17 described the continued delivery of a program (70.8%), 17 mentioned continued outcomes (70.8%), 13 mentioned time (54.2%), 8 addressed the individual maintenance of a behavior change (33.3%), and 6 described the evolution or adaptation (25.0%). We drew from over 200 studies to identify 24 existing definitions of sustainability

  11. Coal and sustainable development: utilities and activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-07-01

    Reflecting its continuing focus on coal and sustainable development, the CIAB surveyed its Members about their attitudes to sustainable development and to obtain information on sustainable development activities within their organisations. The survey revealed that awareness of the importance of sustainable development has increased significantly in the past three years, with a clear majority of respondents seeing it as aligning with their commercial objectives. Reducing emissions from coal use is seen as the key priority, although the importance of this relative to other priorities varies on a regional basis depending on local circumstances. While a large majority of respondents recognised the importance of sustainable development and its increasing influence on decision-making within the coal industry, there was a wide range in the extent of activities. Some organisations have embarked on broad initiatives to better align their practices to sustainable development priorities. The range of activities suggests an evolutionary process - one that commences with a sole internal focus on economic priorities for the business, and then broadens to include local environmental issues and the community. Leading organisations are now moving to look more at global issues, to recognise and share the responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of producing and using their products, and to better engage stakeholders. 4 figs.

  12. Tour operators, environment and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andriola, L.; Chirico, R.; Declich, P.

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to characterize the role of the tour operators in achieving sustainable development meaning a process of development which leaves at least the same amount of capital, natural and man-made, to future generations as current generations have access to. Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing global industries, creating significant employment and economic development, particularly in many developing countries. Tourism can also have negative environmental and social impact resulting from resource consumption, pollution, generation of wastes and from the compromise of local culture while introducing new activities. Most tour operators has started to recognised that a clean environment is critical to their success, but few tour operators have the management tools or experience to design and conduct tours that minimize their negative environmental and social impacts. A group of tour operators from different parts of the world have joined forces to create the Tour Operators' Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development. With this initiatives, tour operators are moving towards sustainable tourism by committing themselves to address the environmental, social, and cultural aspects of sustainable development within the tourism sector [it

  13. Capacity building for sustainable energy development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogner, Hans-Holger

    2006-01-01

    Capacity Building for Sustainable Energy Development - Mission: To build capacity in Member States (MS) for comprehensive energy system, economic and environmental analyses to assist in: - making informed policy decisions for sustainable energy development; - assessing the role of nuclear power; - understanding environmental and climate change issues related to energy production and use

  14. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS GIFTS ON CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY INDEX AS ISO 14001 IN BM&FBOVESPA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Ferreira Santos

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The data published by BM&FBOVESPA consist of an important source for the market, with its high number of trades, and also trading stocks of large companies, and based on that the aim of this paper is to make a relationship between two indices of this important institution for measure the level of concern for environmental issues. A survey was conducted in the Bovespa Index to identify how many companies are listed on the Bovespa Index have environmental certification ISO14001, and after this survey sought to discover which of those possessing such certification organizations were listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index. The methodology used was exploratory research, is also classified as descriptive and transversal with respect to the time dimension. Among the main results we found that the 66 companies listed on the Bovespa Index, 53 of them had the ISO14001 certification, and that this amount 29 of them were present at the ISE.

  15. National strategy for sustainable development: 5. report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    After an introduction on the assessment and perspectives of the French national strategy for a sustainable development, this report presents actions which are associated with different themes: social dimension of the sustainable development, the citizen as an actor of sustainable development, territories, economic activities, companies and consumers, climate change and energy, transports, agriculture and fishery, prevention of risks, pollutions and other hazards for health and the environment, an exemplary State, research and innovation, international action

  16. Giving sustainable agriculture really good odds through innovative rainfall index insurance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muneepeerakul, C. P.; Muneepeerakul, R.

    2017-12-01

    Population growth, increasing demands for food, and increasingly uncertain and limited water availability amidst competing demands for water by other users and the environment call for a novel approach to manage water in food production systems to be developed now. Tapping into broad popularity of crop insurance as a risk management intervention, we propose an innovative rainfall index insurance program as a novel systems approach that addresses water conservation in food production systems by exploiting two common currencies that tie the food production systems and others together, namely water and money. Our novel methodology allows for optimizing diverse farm and financial strategies together, revealing strategy portfolios that result in greater water use efficiency and higher incomes at a lower level of water use. Furthermore, it allows targeted interventions to achieve reduction in irrigation water, while providing financial protection to farmers against the increasing uncertainty in water availability. Not only would such a tool result in efficiently less use of water, it would also encourage diversification in farm practices, which reduces the farm's vulnerability against crop price volatility and pest or disease outbreaks and contributes to more sustainable agriculture.

  17. Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Mingjing; Gao, Qingjun; Wang, Nan; Yang, Xigen; Xu, Xin; Zhang, Lu

    2018-04-01

    The development of social science and technology economy, the international community more and more attention to environmental and development issues. So the main goal pursued by people is not only to meet the needs of social and natural resources, while at the same time being able to protect the needs of future generations. This is the path of sustainable development. Therefore, this paper is a detailed study of strategic environmental assessment and sustainable development.

  18. INSPIA project: European Index for Sustainable and Productive Agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triviño-Tarradas, Paula; Jesús González-Sánchez, Emilio; Gómez-Ariza, Manuel; Rass, Gerard; Gardette, Sophie; Whitmore, Gavin; Dyson, Jeremy

    2017-04-01

    The concept of sustainable development has evolved from a mere perception for the protection of the environment, to a holistic approach, seeking to preserve not only the environment, but also to achieve sustainability in economics and social wellbeing. Globally, there is a major challenge to face in the agricultural sector: to produce more food, feed and other raw materials to satisfy the increasing demand of a growing population, whilst also contributing to economic prosperity, climate change mitigation / adaptation, social wellbeing and preserving natural capital such as soil, water, biodiversity and other ecosystem services. Nowadays, conventional approaches to agriculture are under threat. A more productive and resource efficient agriculture that integrates natural resource protection into its approach will help to meet all these challenges, enabling us to have more of everything - more food, more feed, more non-food crops, more biodiversity and natural habitats - while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, INSPIA is an innovative approach that has worked since 2013 towards demonstration that sustainable productive agriculture is possible thanks to the implementation of a host of best management practices (BMPs) capable of delivering the above achievements. The purpose on INSPIA is to make visible with European decision makers that a sustainable and productive agricultural model exists in a small scale in Europe and that wider dissemination is possible with enabling legislation. INSPIA is demonstrating sustainable agriculture through the implementation of BMPs and the measurement and monitoring of a set of defined indicators (economic, social and environmental ones). INSPIA promotes sustainable practices that protect biodiversity, soils and water and contribute towards maintaining ecosystems services. This holistic sustainable system of productive agriculture is based on the combination of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Integrated Pest

  19. Sustainability Policy and Sustainability in Higher Education Curricula: The Educational Developer Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baughan, Patrick

    2015-01-01

    Various studies have investigated the views of higher education staff and students about sustainability, yet educational developer perspectives are under-represented in the research. This project gathered educational developer perspectives about sustainability in the curriculum. It sought to capture their views about a national sustainability…

  20. Sustainable Development of Africa's Water Resources

    OpenAIRE

    Narenda P. Sharma

    1996-01-01

    This study, African water resources: challenges and opportunities for sustainable management propose a long-term strategy for water resource management, emphasizing the socially sustainable development imperatives for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The message of this strategy is one of optimism - the groundwork already exists for the sustainable management of Africa's water resources. The stra...

  1. Roadmap to sustainable textiles and clothing regulatory aspects and sustainability standards of textiles and the clothing supply chain

    CERN Document Server

    2015-01-01

    This book covers the elements involved in achieving sustainability in textiles and clothing sector. The chapters covered in three volumes of this series title cover all the distinctive areas earmarked for achieving sustainable development in textiles and clothing industry. This third volume highlights the areas pertaining to the regulatory aspects and sustainability standards applicable to textiles and clothing supply chain. There are various standards earmarked for measuring the environmental impacts and sustainability of textile products. There are also plenty of certification schemes available along with the index systems applicable to textile sector. Brands and manufactures are also venturing into new developments to achieve sustainable development in textile sector. This third volume addresses all these important aspects.

  2. Sustainable development and construction industry in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suliman L. Kh. M.

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable construction is a way for the building and infrastructure industry to move towards achieving sustainable development, taking into account environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues. Differing approaches and differing economic markets lead to different priorities. This paper presents the construction scenario of Malaysia and the developments in sustainable construction taking place in this country. Barriers to the implementation of sustainable construction are discussed. A list of recommendation was proposed to drive sustainable construction in this country. In conclusion, the status of sustainable construction in Malaysia is still in its infancy. The lack of awareness, training and education, ineffective procurement systems, existing public policies and regulatory frameworks are among the major barriers for sustainable construction in Malaysia. Besides the needs for capacities, technologies and tools, total and ardent commitment by all players in the construction sectors including the governments and the public atlarge are required in order to achieve sustainable construction in Malaysia.

  3. Energy and sustainable development: issues and options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Appert, O.

    2001-01-01

    Future development needs to be sustainable in all of its dimensions if it is to continue to fully contribute to human welfare. In the achievement of this objective, the manner in which energy is produced and consumed is of crucial importance. In the wake of these insights, first attempts begin to provide concrete options for steps towards sustainability in the energy sector. Two criteria can be identified for developing sustainable development policies. First, such policies need to strike a balance between the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, environmental and social - acknowledging that all three are intrinsically linked. Second, policies in the energy sector need to reduce exposure to large-scale risks and improve the resilience of the energy system through active risk management and diversification. (authors)

  4. Electricity and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, D.

    2003-11-01

    The sustainable development is a political project. Its purpose is to erase the contradictions between the requirements of Environment and social development. the first article of the law of February 10, 2000 erects a sustainable electricity. For the first time. a law integrates the environmental requirements into the electrical industry. The starting point of this study is in the observation of the effects of this integration in a central sector for the developed countries. electricity is the motive of social development. However, it is carried by a Network. This network results from the confusion between the energy policy and the rules which aim at ensuring the construction and the management of structures of production and transport. Nevertheless, if the energy policy integrates the requirements of the environment, the structures subject them to a dominant social logic which aim is to satisfy an increasing demand for electricity. (author)

  5. Sustainable development of Russian regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. D. Kuz’menkova

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development of administrative-territorial units (ATU refers to the main directions of Russian Federation state policy to ensure the security of the national economy to meet the vital needs of people and the preservation of such a possibility for the future generations. The article describes and analyzes the factors that have the most significant impact on the level of ATE development. The dynamics of the gross output of agriculture in Russia and its critical evaluation are presents. It was revealed that the development of the region is the basis of the national economy security. At present, the concept of “sustainable development” in Russia is relevant and the role of regions in the sustainable development of the Russian Federation is constantly increasing. Stability of self-financing of the regional economy is achieved through conducting effective fiscal, financial, credit, tax and price policy, establishment of equal inter-budgetary relations with the federal center, the development of the securities market, increasing the volume of exports. Conducted research allowed: to identify the main factors influencing the sustainable development of Russia regions. The reasons for the backlog of economy of the Smolensk region of the nationwide growth rate and direction of their elimination are examined. Formation of the forecast of domestic agriculture development in the period up to 2020 should be based on the priority position of the industry in the agricultural sector, which is determined by its decisive role in meeting the population’s needs for basic food products. Prospective volumes of production of major agricultural products are based on the need to meet the challenges provided by the Russian Federation Government Decree.

  6. Staircase To Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doorasamy Mishelle

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article to provide a theoretical framework on the concepts of Sustainable Development and the process that companies need to follow in order to ensure the future sustainability of business operations. Various secondary sources and previous literature was reviewed to clearly identify why companies are finding it difficult to conduct their business operations in a sustainable manner. Stricter legislation and regulations, increased competition, depletion of natural resources and market pressures have placed organisations under increased pressure to improve environmental performance and achieve eco-efficiency. This paper provides comprehensive overview of how companies can achieve the ‘Triple bottom line’ by committing to continuous improvement and adhering to the regulations stipulated according to the International Standards of Organisations (ISO14001.

  7. Sustainability Metrics of a Small Scale Turbojet Engine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekici, Selcuk; Sohret, Yasin; Coban, Kahraman; Altuntas, Onder; Karakoc, T. Hikmet

    2018-05-01

    Over the last decade, sustainable energy consumption has attracted the attention of scientists and researchers. The current paper presents sustainability indicators of a small scale turbojet engine, operated on micro-aerial vehicles, for discussion of the sustainable development of the aviation industry from a different perspective. Experimental data was obtained from an engine at full power load and utilized to conduct an exergy-based sustainability analysis. Exergy efficiency, waste exergy ratio, recoverable exergy ratio, environmental effect factor, exergy destruction factor and exergetic sustainability index are evaluated as exergetic sustainability indicators of the turbojet engine under investigation in the current study. The exergy efficiency of the small scale turbojet engine is calculated as 27.25 % whereas the waste exergy ratio, the exergy destruction factor and the sustainability index of the engine are found to be 0.9756, 0.5466 and 0.2793, respectively.

  8. The China Development Bank and Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Levanchuk

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In this article, the author presents an empirical study of sustainable banking in China and examines the flagship China DevelopmentBank (CDB. The CDB is directly supervised by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and is one ofthe largest state-owned financial institutions in the country. Its overseas lending is growing rapidly; it increasingly acts as aglobal player, influenced by a variety of international actors. Using the mercantilist framework, the author investigates how the CDB’s social policies diverge from those set by the Chinese authorities. The analysis discusses CDB’s policy variations that are not in line with government interests or prescribed directly by governmental bodies. It concludes that the bank has been active in developing and establishing its own corporate strategy for implementing the concept of sustainable development to promote a balanced development of the economy, society and the environment. That strategy contains the norms and rules set by Chinese regulatory agencies with regard to social and environmental areas, as well as important elements ofthe international practice of corporate responsibility and sustainable funding. The CDB is most likely driven by its desire tobe considered internationally a good corporate citizen and often acts independently from governmental guidance, which insome sense undermines mercantilist perceptions.

  9. Ergonomics and sustainable development in the past two decades (1992-2011): Research trends and how ergonomics can contribute to sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radjiyev, Ayubkhon; Qiu, Hai; Xiong, Shuping; Nam, KyungHyun

    2015-01-01

    The need for sustainable development has been widely recognized and sustainable development has become a hot topic of various disciplines even though the role of ergonomics in it is seldom reported or considered. This study conducts a systematic survey of research publications in the fields of ergonomics and sustainable development over the past two decades (1992-2011), in order to identify their research trends and convergent areas where ergonomics can play an important role in sustainable development. The results show that 'methods and techniques', 'human characteristics', 'work design and organization', 'health and safety' and 'workplace and equipment design' are the top five frequently researched areas in ergonomics. Ergonomics has an opportunity to contribute its knowledge especially to 'industrial and product design', 'architecture', 'health and safety' and 'HCI' (especially for energy reduction issues) categories of sustainable development. Typical methodologies and general guidance on how to contribute the expertise of ergonomist to sustainable development are also discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  10. Community Health Global Network and Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebekah Young

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available With the achievements, failures and passing of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG, the world has turned its eyes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG, designed to foster sustainable social, economic and environmental development over the next 15 years.(1 Community-led initiatives are increasingly being recognised as playing a key role in realising sustainable community development and in the aspirations of universal healthcare.(2 In many parts of the world, faith-based organisations are some of the main players in community-led development and health care.(3 Community Health Global Network (CHGN creates links between organisations, with the purpose being to encourage communities to recognise their assets and abilities, identify shared concerns and discover solutions together, in order to define and lead their futures in sustainable ways.(4 CHGN has facilitated the development of collaborative groups of health and development initiatives called ‘Clusters’ in several countries including India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Myanmar. In March 2016 these Clusters met together in an International Forum, to share learnings, experiences, challenges, achievements and to encourage one another. Discussions held throughout the forum suggest that the CHGN model is helping to promote effective, sustainable development and health care provision on both a local and a global scale.

  11. Research on Sustainable Development Level Evaluation of Resource-based Cities Based on Shapely Entropy and Chouqet Integral

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hui; Qu, Weilu; Qiu, Weiting

    2018-03-01

    In order to evaluate sustainable development level of resource-based cities, an evaluation method with Shapely entropy and Choquet integral is proposed. First of all, a systematic index system is constructed, the importance of each attribute is calculated based on the maximum Shapely entropy principle, and then the Choquet integral is introduced to calculate the comprehensive evaluation value of each city from the bottom up, finally apply this method to 10 typical resource-based cities in China. The empirical results show that the evaluation method is scientific and reasonable, which provides theoretical support for the sustainable development path and reform direction of resource-based cities.

  12. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE PROBLEM OF A NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Condrea DRAGANESCU

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper aimed to approach the topic of a new strategy for the sustainable and competitive development of Romanian agriculture and especially for animal husbandry. In this purpose, a large variety of studies was investigated and the opinions of well-known personalities were used to present in a critical manner the history of sustainable development concept, principles, causes, reasons, moments, events, institutions involved at international, European and national level, achievements. The study is focused on Romania, starting from the actual situation of animal husbandry and learning from the country own and others experience. During the last centuries, the scientific studies noticed that the growth trends of the world population and resources utilization which could determine complications for survival of human society. The first Report of The Club of Rome (1972 concluded mathematically that " if the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resources depletion continue to remain unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime in the next hundred years",..that is in the 21 century. As a reply, the international and national bodies adopted recommendations for a sustainable development. This study analyzed the problems of sustainable development of animal production in Romania, taking into consideration that the conversion rate of energy provided by plants to animal products is about 20%, and this decrease of the number of population is supported by agricultural food production. Two production systems are proposed: (1. Intensive production systems, with high forage conversion, in favorable agricultural country area; (2. extensive (free-ranging, transhumance, pendulation, sustainable, biological production in not or less favorable agricultural area (mountain area, etc.

  13. [Letter to the] Environment & Rural Development Committee meeting on sustainable development

    OpenAIRE

    Sustainable Development Commission Scotland

    2006-01-01

    On December 13th 2006, the Sustainable Development Commission gave evidence as part of the Environment & Rural Development Committee's enquiry into sustainable development. This letter was sent as a written submission before the meeting. Publisher PDF

  14. 41 CFR 102-76.50 - What is sustainable development?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... and Construction Sustainable Development § 102-76.50 What is sustainable development? Sustainable... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What is sustainable development? 102-76.50 Section 102-76.50 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management...

  15. Engineering for Sustainable Development and the Common Good

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, William E.

    2006-01-01

    In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) updated its Code of Ethics to include specific statements on sustainable development and at about the same time, 1994, ASCE adopted its Policy 418 on sustainable development. Sustainable development as defined by ASCE "is the challenge of meeting human needs for natural resources, industrial…

  16. Analytical framework of 'atoms for sustainable development'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Tae Joon

    2010-01-01

    The term of 'Atoms for Sustainable Development' constantly pursues the increasing contribution of nuclear energy to the sustainable development which is providing an external kindling to the so-called nuclear renaissance. This paper explores a conceptual framework and a set of its elemental proxies to analyse the sustainable competitiveness of the nuclear energy system with a classification of the economic, environmental and social dimensions. (authors)

  17. Sprawl and sustainable urban development in Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maksin-Mićić Marija

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Over 50 years urban development in Europe has been affected by extensive urban sprawl. Environmental, economic and social impacts of long lasting sprawl are threatening urban identity, urban culture and cultural identity of European territory. Last two decades the main concept in European planning and governance system has been the sustainable development, namely sustainable urban development and its implementation. We ought to be realistic about the possibilities to counter sprawl. Realistic seams to steer sprawling tendencies in more suitable and sustainable manner, so called smart urban sprawl. This paper analyses the planning concepts and gives the brief review of current policies for steering the urban sprawl in EU, which are considered to be of importance in achieving more sustainable urban development and efficient urban management in Serbia.

  18. The Concept of Sustainable Development as a Paradigm of Development of Sosiety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khaustova Viktoriia Ye.

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The article is dedicated to studying the concept of sustainable development as a new paradigm of development of humanity. The genesis of the evolution of the views of scientists on the goals, essence, and problems of the introduction of this concept are considered. The interpretation of the concept of “sustainable development” by scientists and practitioners is analyzed, and the main approaches to understanding its essence are grouped. The basic principles of sustainable development are singled out. The main approaches to assessing sustainable development of socio-economic systems at different levels, their content, goals, and features of application are investigated. The views of scientists on the path to achieving sustainable development are considered, and the key discussion aspects in solving this problem are identified. It is shown that the concept of sustainable development has undergone a long evolution and continues to develop in accordance with new global challenges. Sustainable development is associated with the formation of a fundamentally new attitude towards man: on the one hand, as a subject of the ecological and economic system, on the other hand, as the main goal of its development. It is substantiated that the transition to sustainable development on a global scale is possible only with the obligatory condition of coherence of all objects and subjects of this process, which is systemic in nature and connects all levels of the socio-economic system (the global, national, regional, local one and various spheres of its functioning (the economic, social, ecological one.

  19. Sustainable development in a post-Brundtland world

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sneddon, Chris [Environmental Studies Program and Department of Geography, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States); Howarth, Richard B. [Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 (United States); Norgaard, Richard B. [Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

    2006-05-01

    Not yet two decades after the publication of Our Common Future, the world's political and environmental landscape has changed significantly. Nonetheless, we argue that the concept and practice of sustainable development (SD) - as guiding institutional principle, as concrete policy goal, and as focus of political struggle - remains salient in confronting the multiple challenges of this new global order. Yet how SD is conceptualized and practiced hinges crucially on: the willingness of scholars and practitioners to embrace a plurality of epistemological and normative perspectives on sustainability; the multiple interpretations and practices associated with the evolving concept of 'development'; and efforts to open up a continuum of local-to-global public spaces to debate and enact a politics of sustainability. Embracing pluralism provides a way out of the ideological and epistemological straightjackets that deter more cohesive and politically effective interpretations of SD. Using pluralism as a starting point for the analysis and normative construction of sustainable development, we pay particular attention to how an amalgam of ideas from recent work in ecological economics, political ecology and the 'development as freedom' literature might advance the SD debate beyond its post-Brundtland quagmire. Enhanced levels of ecological degradation, vast inequalities in economic opportunities both within and across societies, and a fractured set of institutional arrangements for global environmental governance all represent seemingly insurmountable obstacles to a move towards sustainability. While these obstacles are significant, we suggest how they might be overcome through a reinvigorated set of notions and practices associated with sustainable development, one that explicitly examines the linkages between sustainability policies and sustainability politics. (author)

  20. Learning challenges and sustainable development: A methodological perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seppänen, Laura

    2017-01-01

    Sustainable development requires learning, but the contents of learning are often complex and ambiguous. This requires new integrated approaches from research. It is argued that investigation of people's learning challenges in every-day work is beneficial for research on sustainable development. The aim of the paper is to describe a research method for examining learning challenges in promoting sustainable development. This method is illustrated with a case example from organic vegetable farming in Finland. The method, based on Activity Theory, combines historical analysis with qualitative analysis of need expressions in discourse data. The method linking local and subjective need expressions with general historical analysis is a promising way to overcome the gap between the individual and society, so much needed in research for sustainable development. Dialectically informed historical frameworks have practical value as tools in collaborative negotiations and participatory designs for sustainable development. The simultaneous use of systemic and subjective perspectives allows researchers to manage the complexity of practical work activities and to avoid too simplistic presumptions about sustainable development.

  1. Sustainable transportation initiatives in developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Figueroa, M.J.

    2000-01-01

    The primary goal of the workshop was to share experiences of sustainable transport practices from invited medium-sized cities in Latin America and Asia. The purpose was to learn how sustainable mechanisms have been incorporated into national planning and implementation systems. Emphasis was given to understand what concrete mechanism work to promote sustainable transport in the selected projects. The workshop included participation of transport economics and engineers, policy makers and policy-advisors, and key representatives from the transportation government and non-governmental sector in El Salvador. Among participants there were also members from academia, private consultants and international NGOs. The workshop provided a basis for outreach in terms of directly informing participants on the specific experiences brought in by the participating countries. The Workshop set out to address the following main objectives: To demonstrate successful examples of transportation initiatives that show positive sustainable economic, environmental and social benefits in selected developing countries; To provide a forum for discussion of sustainable transport paths; To develop a network for information exchange and capacity building; To gather information on concrete mechanisms to promote sustainable transportation; To demonstrate efficient mechanisms and tools for collection and analysis of data in transport; To create an inventory of success stories and alternative visions for the future. Several institutions collaborated in organising the event: the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG-Sri Lanka), The Peace and Development Research Group from Goeteborg University and institutions within El Salvador: Centro Salvadeoreno de Tecnologia Apropiada (CESTA), and the Climate Change Communication office of the Ministry of Environment in Salvador. This volume contains reports of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop in San Salvador. The agenda

  2. Sustainable transportation initiatives in developing countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Figueroa, M J [ed.

    2000-03-01

    The primary goal of the workshop was to share experiences of sustainable transport practices from invited medium-sized cities in Latin America and Asia. The purpose was to learn how sustainable mechanisms have been incorporated into national planning and implementation systems. Emphasis was given to understand what concrete mechanism work to promote sustainable transport in the selected projects. The workshop included participation of transport economics and engineers, policy makers and policy-advisors, and key representatives from the transportation government and non-governmental sector in El Salvador. Among participants there were also members from academia, private consultants and international NGOs. The workshop provided a basis for outreach in terms of directly informing participants on the specific experiences brought in by the participating countries. The Workshop set out to address the following main objectives: To demonstrate successful examples of transportation initiatives that show positive sustainable economic, environmental and social benefits in selected developing countries; To provide a forum for discussion of sustainable transport paths; To develop a network for information exchange and capacity building; To gather information on concrete mechanisms to promote sustainable transportation; To demonstrate efficient mechanisms and tools for collection and analysis of data in transport; To create an inventory of success stories and alternative visions for the future. Several institutions collaborated in organising the event: the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG-Sri Lanka), The Peace and Development Research Group from Goeteborg University and institutions within El Salvador: Centro Salvadeoreno de Tecnologia Apropiada (CESTA), and the Climate Change Communication office of the Ministry of Environment in Salvador. This volume contains reports of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop in San Salvador. The agenda

  3. Contradictions Between Risk Management and Sustainable Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsen, Odd Einar; Langhelle, Oluf; Engen, Ole A.

    2006-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to discuss how risk management as a methodology and mindset influence on priorities and decisions concerning sustainable development. Management of risks and hazards often rely on partial analysis with a limited time frame. This may lead to a paradoxical situation where risk management and extended use of risk analysis could hamper long term sustainable development. The question is: Does the use of risk and vulnerability analysis (RaV-analysis) hamper or contribute to sustainable development? Because risk management and assessment has a more narrow scope and a limited time perspective based on well established methodologies, the tangible impacts of risk reducing measures in a project is easier to calculate than long-term and intangible impacts on global development. Empirical evidence is still scarce, but our preliminary conclusion is that mainstream risk management and assessments is counterproductive to sustainable development

  4. Contradictions Between Risk Management and Sustainable Development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olsen, Odd Einar; Langhelle, Oluf; Engen, Ole A. [Univ. of Stavanger (Norway). Dept. of Media, Culture and Social Science

    2006-09-15

    The aim of this paper is to discuss how risk management as a methodology and mindset influence on priorities and decisions concerning sustainable development. Management of risks and hazards often rely on partial analysis with a limited time frame. This may lead to a paradoxical situation where risk management and extended use of risk analysis could hamper long term sustainable development. The question is: Does the use of risk and vulnerability analysis (RaV-analysis) hamper or contribute to sustainable development? Because risk management and assessment has a more narrow scope and a limited time perspective based on well established methodologies, the tangible impacts of risk reducing measures in a project is easier to calculate than long-term and intangible impacts on global development. Empirical evidence is still scarce, but our preliminary conclusion is that mainstream risk management and assessments is counterproductive to sustainable development.

  5. Sustainable development and energy supply

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levi, H.W.

    1997-01-01

    'Sustainable' is an old established term which has made a political career in the past ten years. The roots of this career extend back into the 18th century, when an economic concept of forest management was developed to replace yield maximization achieved by means of complete deforestation by yield optimization attained by conservative forest management. This latter type of forest management was termed 'sustainable'. The language used in today's sustainability debate was based on the idea of preserving the capital provided by nature and living on the interest. As a consequence, the term 'sustainable' became one of the key points in environmental policy and economic policy after the Brundtland report had been published (V. Hauff, 1987), which also constitutes the background to this article. (orig.) [de

  6. Nuclear energy and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arts, F.; De Ruiter, W.; Turkenburg, W.C.

    1994-01-01

    The purposes of the title workshop were to exchange ideas on the possible impact of nuclear energy on the sustainable development of the society, to outline the marginal conditions that have to be fulfilled by nuclear energy technology to fit in into sustainable development, to asses and determine the differences or agreements of the workshop participants and their argumentations, and to determine the part that the Netherlands could or should play with respect to a further development and application of nuclear energy. 35 Dutch experts in the field of energy and environment attended the workshop which is considered to be a success. It is recommended to organize a follow-up workshop

  7. Sustainable development: four post-2015 priorities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Demailly, Damien; Spinazze, Lena; Treyer, Sebastien

    2016-06-01

    This Policy Brief provides a political agenda for actors engaged in the transformation. It identifies four priority drivers of action to build on the successes of 2015 and to support the progress towards sustainable development: adapting and implementing international commitments in countries; organizing the monitoring of commitments at the international level; encouraging the convergence of signals to bring about a massive investment shift; anticipating social impacts and placing social justice at the center of the transition. This brief is based on analytical work carried out over several months by a committee of practitioners and sustainable development experts, and on discussions involving 150 participants at the international conference 'Sustainable Development: it's time' organized in Paris by IDDRI on May 10-11, 2016

  8. THE ROLE OF THE PREVENTIVE MEDICINE IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. A STUDY CASE ON THE PRIVATE MEDICINE SECTOR IN ORADEA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Unita Lucian

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The concerns with respect to healthy life styles, preventive medical approaches, safe environment, and early warning systems represents the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations Organization's so called Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, the European Union's sustainability strategy, the Global Environmental Outlook of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP and the ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, all aiming to attain the sustainable global health, which is possible only through collective multilevel efforts for the sake of human wellbeing, equity, livelihood, and worldwide sustainable development and stability. Romania, as an EU Member States, have to take into consideration the fact that health is a precondition for economic growth and sustainable development, and this way, it has to promote the EU common approaches to health policy. Between these approaches, the prevention plays a key role when addressing to the global health challenges such as the pandemics control, and the rising tide of non-communicable diseases. For these purposes, preventive strategies need to include promoting polices that foster a healthy environment, healthy life styles and equitable access to health care and information, so, it is necessary to meet the requests towards sustainable global health. From this perspective, for the empirical research pursued in this paper, we have considered the Global Challenge Index, which focuses on seven global challenges of the new millennium, and on this basis, we have compared Romania with the other EU Member States. Then, we have computed the index for Oradea and its neighbour region, including the framework of a comprehensive analysis of political, economic and social target system. The key issues we have considered in this context were referring to lifestyles, life care and education for lifelong well-being, partnerships for health, institutions and related policy areas, alternative

  9. Accounting engineering for sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sidornya A.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the sustainable development of industrial enterprises in Russia, accounting for sustainable industrial growth of the national economy, tools of accounting engineering aimed at creating an information basis of transformation the Russian economic model to knowledge based economy. The proposed mechanism of ownership control of industrial enterprises in the context of long-term planning of the national economy. Theoretical bases of accounting engineering, its tools are defined. A brief review of the literature on the problem of accounting engineering is provided. A practical example of the application of the accounting engineering logic for the industrial enterprise is reviewed. It describes the research results obtained during the last 25 years of Russian scientific school of accounting engineering. Conclusions and recommendations on the use of accounting engineering to sustainable development of the Russian economy are formulated.

  10. Areva and sustainable development 2003 summary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    This document is a summary of the 2003 report on the sustainable development of the world nuclear industry leader, Areva. The 2002 report helped establish the status of Areva entities sustainable development performance and identity areas for improvement. The 2003 report presents the continuous improvement process, including accomplishments and projects initiated as well as difficulties encountered and ground yet to be covered. Two new tools support this process. The Areva Way self assessment model allows each unit to assess its own performance against the sustainable development commitments and the Areva values charter lays down ethical principles of action and rules of conduct. Over the coming months, the Group will devote considerable effort to extending the sustainable development initiative to the activities resulting from the acquisition of Alstom Transmission and Distribution operations in early 2004. (A.L.B.)

  11. TTI Phase 2 Institutional Support: Sustainable Development Policy ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    TTI Phase 2 Institutional Support: Sustainable Development Policy Institute. This funding will strengthen the Sustainable Development Policy Institute's (SDPI) role as a credible public policy institution in Pakistan by enhancing its ability to provide high-quality, influential, and policy-relevant research. About the Sustainable ...

  12. Responsible and sustainable business in the context of sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe Săvoiu

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Businesses in the contemporary world, detached from the classic entrepreneurial paradigm in keeping with which a business appears, grows and matures, are undergoing a process of adjustment to the new concept of sustainability, focusing on reconciling global, regional, national and local economic development and the quality of the environment. The practical organization of a responsible and sustainable business, the results of which are ever new products and services, which creates new jobs, and contributes, by aggregating systematically, to assessing new macroeconomic results, from GDP or NDP to import and export, and especially to sustainable economic development, requires the presence of both the three classical factors, i.e., capital, labour and location (land, and the other three essential new factors, which are called technology, information and the specific skills of the business owner, or simply of the entrepreneur.

  13. Sustainable Development Policy for the Environomy: Population, Land-use, and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravago, M.; Roumasset, J.

    2009-12-01

    Despite its inertia and avowed purpose of being practical and feasible, sustainability science has yet to embrace the policy sciences. The existing sustainability science agenda emphasizes the importance of taking a systems approach and stresses capturing many interactions between natural and human systems. In order to incorporate policy analysis, we first trace the history of thought of sustainable development, including its definition and operationalization. After rejecting the popular Venn diagram approach to sustainable development (environment, economy, society) as non-operational and unfettered preservationism as counterproductive, two promising approaches to sustainable growth are contrasted. Negative sustainability is an injunction not to deplete the total value of natural and produced capital, leaving all other questions of economic and environmental management unanswered. To fill the void, we offer positive sustainability, which maximizes intertemporal welfare while incorporating interlinkages within the total environomy. This provides an operational framework for sustainable growth, including the efficiency values of produced and natural capital. In addition, sustainable development must include the optimal patterns of production, consumption, and trade. We illustrate particular patterns of unsustainable development by drawing on lessons from cultivation patterns in the Philippines. In the province of Bukidnon, Philippines the traditional drivers of agricultural expansion were logging and forest fires. In recent decades, intense vegetable cultivation coupled with access to roads and lack of well-defined property rights drive intensification and environmental degradation. Population in the province has risen and grew more than the national average. The high population growth, combined with distorted economic policies, has resulted in extreme population pressure in the province, which decreased the fallow period and caused erosion, falling yields, and

  14. Sustainability Assessment Model in Product Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turan, Faiz Mohd; Johan, Kartina; Nor, Nik Hisyamudin Muhd; Omar, Badrul

    2017-08-01

    Faster and more efficient development of innovative and sustainable products has become the focus for manufacturing companies in order to remain competitive in today’s technologically driven world. Design concept evaluation which is the end of conceptual design is one of the most critical decision points. It relates to the final success of product development, because poor criteria assessment in design concept evaluation can rarely compensated at the later stages. Furthermore, consumers, investors, shareholders and even competitors are basing their decisions on what to buy or invest in, from whom, and also on what company report, and sustainability is one of a critical component. In this research, a new methodology of sustainability assessment in product development for Malaysian industry has been developed using integration of green project management, new scale of “Weighting criteria” and Rough-Grey Analysis. This method will help design engineers to improve the effectiveness and objectivity of the sustainable design concept evaluation, enable them to make better-informed decisions before finalising their choice and consequently create value to the company or industry. The new framework is expected to provide an alternative to existing methods.

  15. The national strategy for a sustainable development 2009-2013

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-01-01

    This document first presents the content of the French national strategy for a sustainable development, and notably its nine strategic challenges: climate change and energy, sustainable transport and mobility, sustainable consumption and production, sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources, public health, prevention and risk management, international challenges in terms of sustainable development and struggle against poverty, knowledge society, and governance. While discussing these challenges, the report outlines the need to make this strategy more constraining for public authorities, to structure this strategy about transitions towards a sustainable development, and to give room to dialogue

  16. Sustainable development in a developing economy: Challenges ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Sustainable development implies development which ensures maximization of human well being for today's generation which does not lead to declines in future well being. Attaining this path requires eliminating those negative externalities that are responsible for natural resource depletion and environmental degradation.

  17. Conceptualizing the Effectiveness of Sustainability Assessment in Development Cooperation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean Hugé

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability assessment has emerged as a key decision-support process in development cooperation in response to the growing acknowledgement of the impacts of global change. This paper aims at conceptualizing the effectiveness of sustainability assessment as applied in development cooperation, by focusing on the sustainability assessment practice by actors of the official Belgian Development Cooperation. The conceptualization of the effectiveness of sustainability assessment is synthesized in a set of issues and concerns, based on semi-structured interviews. The paper highlights the specificity of sustainability assessment in the development cooperation sector (e.g., through the cultural and discursive compatibility dimensions of assessment in a North-South context. Effectiveness is inherently linked to the expected functions of sustainability assessment in the decision-making process, which include fostering organizational change, shaping contextually adapted framings of sustainability and operationalizing the sustainability transition. These findings highlight the relevance of a discourse-sensitive approach to sustainability assessment if one is to strengthen its credibility and legitimacy.

  18. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CONNECTIONS IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANDREEA CONSTANTINESCU

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Following the distancing of current policy from economic rigors and ethical demands aimed at redistribution of wealth, modern societies are parasitized by post-truth of actual facts. It distorts the shape and content of general interest data, for example political distortion of scientific evidence proving anthropogenic climate change. Under these circumstances, the question "to what extent economist’s truth stating what you cannot measure you cannot manage is sustained?" becomes absolutely legitimate. Regarding sustainable development management, monitoring the degree of achievement of Sustainable Development Goals is no longer sufficient to track progress in this area. Therefore, experts propose to introduce as much as possible qualitative data which, combined with quantitative data, will enhance their relevance and make them harder to be diverted for political purposes. This paper follows this direction, trying to prove that protection of data’s real meaning can be achieved by systemic analysis of all data originating from monitoring certain processes, which can be aggregated, with applicability in sustainable development. Thus, analyzing together data on sustainable development and those that indicates the state of human development emphasizes on one hand, the intrinsic link between these concepts and, on the other, maintain the sense of sustainability even in the post-truth era.

  19. A new framework for sustainable hydropower development project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johan, Kartina; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Gani, Nur Syazwani Abdul

    2018-03-01

    This project studies on the establishment of a new framework for sustainable hydropower development. A hydropower development is listed as one of the prescribed activities under the Environmental Quality Order 1987. Thus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines must be referred to comply with the Department of Environment (DoE) requirements. In order to execute EIA, an assessment tool that will be utilized in the final evaluation phase must be determined. The selected assessment tool that will be used is Systematic Sustainability Assessment(SSA) which is a new integrated tool to evaluate the sustainability performance. A pilot run is conducted in five different departments within the Energy Company to validate the efficiency of the SSA tool. The parameters to be evaluated are constructed aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to maintain the sustainability features. Consequently, the performance level of the sustainability with respect to People, Planet and Profit (3P’s) is able to be discovered during evaluation phase in the hydropower development for continuous improvement.

  20. Sustainable development education, practice, and research: an indigenous model of sustainable development at the College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, WI, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael J. Dockry; Katherine Hall; William Van Lopik; Christopher M. Caldwell

    2015-01-01

    The College of Menominee Nation Sustainable Development Institute's theoretical model (SDI model) conceptualizes sustainable development as the process of maintaining the balance and reconciling the inherent tensions among six dimensions of sustainability: land and sovereignty; natural environment #including human beings); institutions; technology; economy; and...

  1. The sustainable development thematic in the research groups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Cristina Comunian Ferraz

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available The technological innovation brought for the debate the question of the sustainable technological development. The article presents an entirety of theoretical reflections on the science, technology and sustainable development themes and to aim the contributions of the Information Science, while interdisciplinary science, with respect to the understanding of the sustainable development. With basis in this reference it was carried through the investigation of descriptive exploratory nature with quanti-qualitative boarding, having as main objective to identify the presence of the sustainable development thematic in research groups of the UFSCar registered in cadastre in the National Directory of Research Groups of the CNPq. The results had shown that the sustainable development thematic is present in eleven researchgroups of the UFSCar distributed in different knowledge areas. Comparing the data gotten with the research groups of the country that had participated of 2004 Census of the National Directory of Research Groups of the CNPq it was verified that it has similarity between both the data. In accordance with scientific literature, confirms that the sustainable development thematic is interdisciplinar and that the knowledge production of the research groups is result to know articulated in some of the knowledge areas.

  2. Urban landscape architecture design under the view of sustainable development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, WeiLin

    2017-08-01

    The concept of sustainable development in modern city landscape design advocates landscape architecture, which is the main development direction in the field of landscape design. They are also effective measures to promote the sustainable development of city garden. Based on this, combined with the connotation of sustainable development and sustainable design, this paper analyzes and discusses the design of urban landscape under the concept of sustainable development.

  3. Process framework for identifying sustainability aspects in university curricula and integrating education for sustainable development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Tove; Sammalisto, Kaisu; Grindsted, Thomas Skou

    2015-01-01

    Sustainability aspects in higher education must be enhanced with more concrete actions. Universities are globally required to have quality assurance to secure and improve teaching and learning, and they use management systems to this aim. Integrating education for sustainable development...... and management systems are alike in that they are based on continuous improvement and systematic thinking; for both processes all stakeholders need to be involved. Although quality assurance is compulsory for higher education, education for sustainable development has barely been examined or integrated...... in this context. This article examines how voluntary integration of education for sustainable development into management systems at universities could facilitate a scheme to overcome the challenges to integrating education for sustainable development that were identified in previous research. For this, a process...

  4. Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals at University Level

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albareda-Tiana, Silvia; Vidal-Raméntol, Salvador; Fernández-Morilla, Mónica

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this case study is to explore the principles and practices of sustainable development (SD) in the university curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: To explore the principles linked with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the learning and teaching practices in sustainability at the International University of…

  5. Effects of economics and demographics on global fisheries sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Qi; Wang, Yali; Chen, Xinjun; Chen, Yong

    2017-08-01

    A good understanding of social factors that lead to marine ecological change is important to developing sustainable global fisheries. We used balanced panel models and conducted cross-national time-series analyses (1970-2010) of 122 nations to examine how economic prosperity and population growth affected the sustainability of marine ecosystems. We used catches in economic exclusive zone (EEZ); mean trophic level of fishery landings (MTL); primary production required to sustain catches (expressed as percentage of local primary production [%PPR]); and an index of ecosystem overfishing (i.e., the loss in secondary production index [L index]) as indicators of ecological change in marine ecosystems. The EEZ catch, %PPR, and L index declined gradually after gross domestic product (GDP) per capita reached $15,000, $14,000, and $19,000, respectively, and MTL increased steadily once GDP per capita exceeded $20,000. These relationships suggest that economic growth and biodiversity conservation are compatible goals. However, increasing human populations would degrade marine ecosystems. Specifically, a doubling of human population caused an increase in the %PPR of 17.1% and in the L index of 0.0254 and a decline in the MTL of 0.176. A 1% increase in human population resulted in a 0.744% increase in EEZ catch. These results highlight the importance of considering social and economic factors in developing sustainable fisheries management policy. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

  6. Assessing the built environment’s contribution to sustainable development: the sustainable building assessment tool

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Gibberd, Jeremy T

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses how the built environment can support sustainable development. It identifies the key characteristics of built environment that can be used to support sustainable development and shows how this can be developed into a set...

  7. Role of Flexibility in Sustainable Port Development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Taneja, P.; Vellinga, T.; Ros, R.

    2012-01-01

    Sustainability has become a high profile objective in all aspects of our lives, including the development of our infrastructures. Flexibility can enhance sustainability endeavors, yet its contribution is not clear to most. In this paper we investigate the role of flexibility in sustainable port

  8. Education for Sustainable development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ESD (education for sustainable development) planning and implementation, and regular ... between the environment and socio-economic issues of poverty and ..... capacity to make informed decisions (T7) and a sense of responsibility (T9), ...

  9. The Influence of Participation in Sustainability Index (ISE in the Financial Performance of Business

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Tatiane Vital

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to compare the performance, through certain financial indicators, including companies in the guide of the 500 biggest and best companies of Exame Magazine, forming part of the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE and companies who do not. The primary purpose of ISE is to see the return of a portfolio composed of shares of companies committed to social responsibility and corporate sustainability. This research is classified as being descriptive and largely qualitative. The financial indicators examined in this study were: sales (value and growth, Net Income, Profitability, Net Working Capital, Liquidity, General Debt, Long Term Debt, EBITA and Indicators of export. After the analysis we can conclude that the companies participating in the ISE have greater potential for sales and exports. Companies that are not part of the ISE have better financial performance.

  10. Business progress towards sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stigson, Bjorn

    1998-01-01

    The executive director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development described the organisation, its membership and its objectives. The organisation believes nuclear energy is needed in support of the goal of eradicating poverty, but it must also make all-round financial sense. If the risks are perceived to be high then investors expect a high financial return. The argument is supported by discussions on: (i) industry and sustainable development; (ii) the driving process;(iii) the way ahead; (iv) the environment and shareholder value; (v) conclusions for business in general and (vi) conclusions for the nuclear industry.(UK)

  11. Application of Environmental Change Efficiency to the Sustainability of Urban Development at the Neighborhood Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsing-Fu Kuo

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This study describes a new assessment model framework, termed the driving forces-pressure-state-impact-policy and pattern (DPSIP model, for environmental change efficiency in urban land development, based on urban sustainable development and the theory of economic efficiency evaluation. A spatial and measurable efficiency value is defined for environmental changes in urban land development, which provides a comprehensive evaluation index for the efficiency of urban development and its environmental impact. This type of urban interior sustainability is considered new within the context of global environmental changes. We identify nine important indicators to evaluate the relative efficiency of 233 neighborhoods in Tainan, Taiwan. The results indicate that the average environmental change efficiency is 89.44%, which shows clear spatial differentiation. The key indicators affecting the efficiency score are area, population density, location, mixed land uses, the floor area ratio, and the impervious ratio. In the future, urban design can reduce environmental impacts and enhance efficiency values.

  12. Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Realizing the Opportunity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, John; Bradley, Mike; Busby, Peter; Connor, Denis; Murray, Anne

    2006-01-01

    Manifold linkages exist between climate change and sustainable development. Although these are starting to receive attention in the climate exchange literature, the focus has typically been on examining sustainable development through a climate change lens, rather than vice versa. And there has been little systematic examination of how these linkages may be fostered in practice. This paper examines climate change through a sustainable development lens. To illustrate how this might change the approach to climate change issues, it reports on the findings of a panel of business, local government, and academic representatives in British Columbia, Canada, who were appointed to advise the provincial government on climate change policy. The panel found that sustainable development may offer a significantly more fruitful way to pursue climate policy goals than climate policy itself. The paper discusses subsequent climate change developments in the province and makes suggestions as how best to pursue such a sustainability approach in British Columbia and other jurisdictions

  13. Transport Canada's sustainable development action plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-09-30

    Transport Canada's sustainable development strategy, tabled in the House of Commons in December 1997, sets out the direction for the Department to integrate environmental concerns with safety and efficiency in developing policies and programs and in carrying out its day-to-day activities. While recognizing that moving towards sustainable development is a long-term undertaking, the department is determined to turn 'words' into 'work'. The action plan outlined in this document is organized according to the challenges laid out in the original Sustainable Development Strategy document. Accordingly, the department shall endeavour to minimize risk of environmental damage from transportation accidents; promote greening of operations in the transportation sector; reduce emissions of hazardous substances from transportation sources; promote education and awareness on sustainable transportation; refine sustainable performance indicators; and develop and promote the application of cleaner transportation systems and transportation technologies. The bulk of the report is devoted to brief summaries of progress achieved in each of these areas to date.

  14. Capacity Development for Sustainable Urban Transportation in Developing Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Senbil, Metin; Fujiwara, Akimasa; Zhang, Junyi

    2008-01-01

    To make urban transport sustainable, effective and efficient, first and foremost, there is a need for capacity development-capacity is defined as the ability to deal with problems in efficient and effective ways-in developing countries. Apart from many important capacity related problems such as lack of adequate infrastructure, older vehicle population, etc., policy makers in developing countries have to consider changing individual behavior to realize sustainable urban transportation policie...

  15. Sustainable nuclear energy dilemma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Afgan Naim H.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable energy development implies the need for the emerging potential energy sources which are not producing adverse effect to the environment. In this respect nuclear energy has gained the complimentary favor to be considered as the potential energy source without degradation of the environment. The sustainability evaluation of the nuclear energy systems has required the special attention to the criteria for the assessment of nuclear energy system before we can make firm justification of the sustainability of nuclear energy systems. In order to demonstrate the sustainability assessment of nuclear energy system this exercise has been devoted to the potential options of nuclear energy development, namely: short term option, medium term option, long term option and classical thermal system option. Criteria with following indicators are introduced in this analysis: nuclear indicator, economic indicator, environment indicator, social indicator... The Sustainability Index is used as the merit for the priority assessment among options under consideration.

  16. Towards sustainable nuclear power development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andrianov, Andrei A.; Murogov, Victor M.; Kuptsov, Ilya S.

    2014-01-01

    The review of the current situation in the nuclear energy sector carried out in this article brings to light key problems and contradictions, development trends and prospects, which finally determine the role and significance of nuclear power as a factor ensuring a sustainable energy development. Authors perspectives on the most appropriate developments of nuclear power, which should be based on a balanced use of proven innovative nuclear technologies and comprehensive multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle are expressed. The problems of wording appropriate and essential requirements for new countries with respect to their preparedness to develop nuclear programs, taking into account their development level of industry and infrastructure as well as national heritages and peculiarities, are explained. It is also indicated that one of the major components of sustainability in the development of nuclear power, which legitimates its public image as a power technology, is the necessity of developing and promoting the concepts of nuclear culture, nuclear education, and professional nuclear ethics. (orig.)

  17. Towards sustainable nuclear power development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andrianov, Andrei A.; Murogov, Victor M.; Kuptsov, Ilya S. [Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering of NNRU MEPhl, Obninsk, Kaluga Region (Russian Federation)

    2014-05-15

    The review of the current situation in the nuclear energy sector carried out in this article brings to light key problems and contradictions, development trends and prospects, which finally determine the role and significance of nuclear power as a factor ensuring a sustainable energy development. Authors perspectives on the most appropriate developments of nuclear power, which should be based on a balanced use of proven innovative nuclear technologies and comprehensive multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle are expressed. The problems of wording appropriate and essential requirements for new countries with respect to their preparedness to develop nuclear programs, taking into account their development level of industry and infrastructure as well as national heritages and peculiarities, are explained. It is also indicated that one of the major components of sustainability in the development of nuclear power, which legitimates its public image as a power technology, is the necessity of developing and promoting the concepts of nuclear culture, nuclear education, and professional nuclear ethics. (orig.)

  18. Sustainable Biomass Resource Development and Use | Energy Analysis | NREL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sustainable Biomass Resource Development and Use Sustainable Biomass Resource Development and Use A sustainability analysis includes biomass resource use and impact assessment. This analysis examines how we can biomass resource development. They look at whether there is available land to support bioenergy. They also

  19. The Sustainable Development Goals: An Experience on Higher Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bárbara Crespo

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is acquiring high attendance in higher education. In fact, one of the targets for the Sustainable Development Goals announced by the United Nations in September 2015 aims to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, thorough education on sustainable development. The current study focuses on the evaluation of individual works based on the sustainable development suggested to students in a subject of the Master’s of Thermal Engineering at the University of Vigo. In addition, a sustainable holistic rubric is presented, which was used to analyze the ability of the students to incorporate sustainability principles in their work. The rubric was based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the associated targets of the United Nations, more specifically on the Goals 7, 8, 12, and 13. A total of 10 works were evaluated. As a general conclusion, it was found that the students generally do not consider or consider to a lower extent the economic criteria opposite to the environmental, technical, and social dimensions. The environmental sub-criterion were applied to a greater extent in the development of the works. However, the technical and social dimensions were included to a greater or lesser extent depending on the type of work developed.

  20. Sustainable development and the mineral industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cain, D.

    2000-01-01

    There is a perception in some quarters that the continued development of the coal and minerals industries is incompatible with sustainability. Yet a future without mining is clearly a very long way off. This article outlines some of the initiatives being taken by the coal industry to overcome the adverse perceptions and demonstrate that coal has an important future to play. Industries in the future will be assessed not only on their economic performance, as in the past, but also on their environmental and social performance - that is, their contribution to sustainable development. In this context, sustainable development is now part of mainstream business thinking in many major corporations. Apart from identifying improvement opportunities, the process should also result in a better understanding of mining industry role by non-mining stake holders. Copyright (2000) CSIRO Energy Technology and Exploration and Mining

  1. Networks as Tools for Sustainable Urban Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jesper Ole; Tollin, Nicola

    will be discussed through a case study of a Danish municipal network on Sustainable Development, Dogme 20001. This network has become quite successful in terms of learning and innovation, committing actors, and influencing local policies, to a larger extent than other SUD-networks the municipalities are involved in....... By applying the GREMI2-theories of “innovative milieux” (Aydalot, 1986; Camagni, 1991) to the case study, we will suggest some reasons for the benefits achieved by the Dogme-network, compared to other networks. This analysis will point to the existence of an “innovative milieu” on sustainability within......Due to the increasing number of networks related to sustainable development (SUD) the paper focuses on understanding in which way networks can be considered useful tools for sustainable urban development, taking particularly into consideration the networks potential of spreading innovative policies...

  2. Growth, Development and Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irina-Virginia Dragulanescu

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Describing the relationship of interdependence through the materials balance, will be argued how the economy is a subset of the environment and the environment the natural limit to any economic initiative, or the limits imposed by the laws of thermodynamics. The theoretical debate moves, then, from the concept of growth to that of development, understood this in its three dimensions: economic, social, environmental. Bring the different environmental positions in four versions of sustainability, with the gained awareness that it’s “a spectrum of overlapping sustainability positions from very weak to very strong”.

  3. Managing for Sustainable Development Impact

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kusters, C.S.L.; Batjes, Karen; Wigboldus, S.A.; Brouwers, J.H.A.M.; Dickson Baguma, Sylvester

    2017-01-01

    This guide is about managing development initiatives and organizations towardssustainable development impact. It builds on the work of Guijt and Woodhill inthe 2002 IFAD publication Managing for Impact in Rural Development: A Guide for Project M&E. Since then, the managing for sustainable

  4. AREVA and sustainable development - 2003 report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lauvergeon, A.

    2003-01-01

    The first report helped establish the status of Areva entities sustainable development performance and identify areas for improvement. This second report will report on the continuous improvement process, including accomplishments and projects initiated as well as difficulties encountered and ground yet to be covered. It includes, the Areva role in key sustainable development issues, the commitments and the governance, the risk management, the economic responsibility, the social responsibility and the environmental responsibility. (A.L.B.)

  5. Stakes and Challenges for Sustainable Development

    OpenAIRE

    COLONNA, Paul

    2015-01-01

    How can we ensure the sustainability of biological resources? The development of new industries using biomass as raw material to produce a broad range of products, through a large number of different transformation processes, raises new questions on the associated environmental impacts. The current situation, mainly due to the significant development of the bio-fuel industries, is characterized by strong demand for sustainability criteria to apply to these new industries, particularly from a...

  6. Sustainable housing as part of sustainable development - visions and experiences from Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

    2010-01-01

    The paper discusses different approaches to sustainable development with main focus on sustainable housing, but also local climate activities with focus on transportation, food and local businesses are discussed. The focus in the paper is mainly on experiences from Denmark. The paper starts out...... with a short introduction to theoretical approaches to analyses of sustainable housing and other sustainability initiatives as innovation processes. Afterwards some social and political characteristics of Denmark are presented and one of the recent sustainability initiatives in Denmark, the climate plan from...... the Danish Society of Engineers is described. The second part of the paper discusses Danish sustainable housing strategies focusing on new houses and refurbishment of existing houses. Finally some recent experiences from a local climate cooperation between a technical university, a municipal administration...

  7. Sustainable development in agriculture: is it really sustainable?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, S.R.K.; Srinivas, K.; Kumar, L.R.; Gupta, H.S.

    2005-01-01

    Indian agriculture has achieved remarkable success in the food grain production due to inception of 'rainbow revolution', which made the country self-sufficient in food production. Sustainable agriculture (SA) is an ongoing process, in which people take actions leading to development of agriculture that meets their current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It advocates avoiding all those actions, which reduce the ability of future generations to meet out the present generations. It is based on the optimal interaction between clean environment, healthy economy, and vital society by avoiding trade-off of problems to other regions on to the future. Moreover, sustainable agriculture is the function of people's progress and nature's capacity. In fact, SA commits us to considering the long-term effect and to recognize our place within the ecosystem. It encourages a continuous reflection on the implications of human activity on the ecosystem. Empirical evidences shows that in the race of self-sufficiency in food grain production, we compromised a lot on social and environmental fronts. The aftermath of green revolution is not so sustainable as it showed reverse side too, in the form of environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. Such threats have led to the need for promoting sustainable development in agriculture. Due to several unsustainable activities which resulted in resource degradation in the form of top soil loss, ground water depletion and forest degradation. The average soil loss is estimated to be over 16 tonnes/ha/year. The ground water depletion resulted in several blocks as 'grey blocks' and 'dark blocks'. This happened mainly due to increase in number of tube-wells and free supply of electricity making the cost of pumping water very low. Rate of human induced land degradation is very high. Out of total geographical area of 329.0 million ha, 187 million ha (57.0 %) are reported to have degraded, of

  8. Ethnic identity, territory and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carmona Maya, Sergio Ivan

    1998-01-01

    This article explores, within the relationship between territory and society, the various points concerning cultural, social and ethnic identity through which the social contract on sustainable development must confront its greatest contradictions. The political position taken as regards sustainable development seeks cultural unity as a necessary condition for establishing modern forms of behavior to deal with styles of development and the management of the environment, for which to reconcile cultural diversity and the permanent social interaction between different ethnic groups, which is both imperative and of the utmost urgency

  9. Sustainable rural development and cross-border cooperation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojanović Žaklina

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The concept of sustainable rural development comprises three aspects - social, economical and ecological. They are supposed to act in synergy, but, at the same time, these aspects are supposed to be competitive. Agriculture, as a traditional activity of rural economy, contributes to the sustainable development of rural areas only if there is an adequate resources management. If not, there will be a significant degradation of rural environment. These are the reasons why sustainable agriculture development is emphasized since it maximizes productivity and minimizes negative effects on nature and human resources. In this context, one should observe the connection between agriculture and tourism existing in the EU, where the application of sustainable agricultural development concept produces external effects connected to biodiversity protection and environment in rural areas. These become a good foundation for the development of rural and ecotourism. EU enlargement induced diversification of support programmes that EU gives to the candidate countries, as well as to those who are just entering the process of stabilization and association to the EU. Through cross-border cooperation projects, many goals can be accomplished, among which aspiration for promotion of sustainable economical and social development in border regions is one of the leading. Knowing that these regions are usually passive and underdeveloped, the projects of cross-border cooperation could induce development of those activities in local economy, which could bring better living conditions and economic prosperity on the one hand, and protection of environment on the other. Examples of this kind of projects in Serbia can usually be found in rural and ecotourism development.

  10. Gaz de France 2006 sustainable development report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    A major European energy utility, the Gaz de France Group produces, purchases, transports, distributes and sells natural gas, electricity and related services for its residential, corporate and local government customers. this report presents the actions implemented by the group to incorporate sustainable development into its strategy. From the point of view of risks and opportunities, the group analyzes what it takes to ensure development that respects people and the environment, and it implements them in all its business lines and management systems. Content: Gaz de France, portrait of a major energy utility, highlights of 2006, challenges and strategy (defining strategy and sustainable development policy, specific risks and opportunities, activities of the Gaz de France group: challenges, impact for stakeholders, transparency and independence in governing), ranking and implementing (defining sustainable development policy: reviewing priorities, meeting all the challenges, publicizing and defending positions, increasing awareness, overseeing and monitoring results), results of the 2004-2006 sustainable development action plan, dialogue and action with stakeholders, performance assessment, performance in response to challenges: energy challenges (guaranteeing regular supplies, controlling atmospheric emissions, promoting energy conservation, developing renewable energy), industrial challenges (ensuring health and safety, limiting the overall environmental impact of group activities), social responsibility challenges (advocating corporate social responsibility, promoting human rights and fighting corruption, encouraging commitment to solidarity, promoting regional development through local initiatives, reconciling acquisitions, procurement and sustainable development, ensuring transparency in natural gas rates, providing shareholders with quality information, promoting diversity, a source of enrichment, making working conditions a performance factor), indicators and

  11. Environmental management and sustainable development in Yugoslavia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simic, J.

    2002-01-01

    All problems have happened in Yugoslavia in last decade have not destroyed wishes to work, to invent and create in field of the environmental protection. This statement gives short survey of experiences in field of the environmental protection and sustainable development in Yugoslavia. The main objective is to emphasize the importance of sustainable development with its four components - economic, environmental, social and cultural. Having in mind that environmental protection is not job taker but a job maker that activity must take priority in near and further future. We wish to point very important role of international cooperation on the way of sustainable development on the Balkan. (author)

  12. Cultural heritage and sustainable development in SUIT

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Algreen-Ussing, Gregers; Hassler, Uta; Kohler, Niklaus

    2002-01-01

    The position paper is composed of 18 thesis, which are presented in four groups: Cultural Heritage, Momuments and Public Space, Active Conservation and Sustainable Development.......The position paper is composed of 18 thesis, which are presented in four groups: Cultural Heritage, Momuments and Public Space, Active Conservation and Sustainable Development....

  13. Economic development and foreign direct investment: How to create sustainable development an analysis of the potential for sustainable development on the Indian subcontinent

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Homlong Nathalie

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Focusing critically on the effects of the conditions for foreign direct investment on sustainable growth in the recipient country, this paper analyzes the potential for investments in environmental innovations in India. The definition of sustainability applied in this paper incorporates economic development and investment which promotes environmentally and socially friendly production and innovation. As the Indian economy experienced strong growth in GDP in recent years, but is still lagging behind in providing the basic needs of clean water, clean air and proper waste management for households and companies, the necessity for sustainable development exists. From a methodological point of view this paper uses macroeconomic data to evaluate quantitatively the potentials and needs of Indian states. This results in a state ranking showing the potential for sustainable development in selected Indian states, based on economic and environmental indicators.

  14. EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PÉTER BAGOLY-SIMÓ

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Over the last three decades, the concept of sustainable development has enjoyed growing attention. Transporting sustainable development into all forms of education is connected to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD. Due to its role in society, formal education plays a special part in the process of ESD implementation. This paper takes a closer look at the interconnectedness between sustainable development, ESD, and formal education by focusing on school geography, a subject with special affinity to both concepts and topics of ESD.

  15. Sustainable Development of Geothermal Industry in China: An Overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xu Bang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available With a wide distribution, large reserves, low cost, sustainable energy use and environmental protection and other unparalleled advantages, geothermal energy resources is important for China’s energy structure adjustment, energy conservation and environment improvement. Currently, geothermal utilization in China is still in its infancy, and Sustainable Development of the geothermal industry is also having a lot of problems. In this paper, the current research on sustainable development of geothermal industry focuses on two aspects: 1. the current situation of geothermal industry development and existing problems, 2. the current situation of sustainable development of the geothermal industry. On the basis of the review, some suggestions for further study on the sustainable development of geothermal industry are put forward.

  16. Measurement Method and Empirical Research on the Sustainable Development Capability of a Regional Industrial System Based on Ecological Niche Theory in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hang Yin

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available From the analytical view of a recycling economy, the regional system achieves the goal of sustainable development through improving resource utilization efficiency, reducing energy consumption and ameliorating the quality of water and air. The regional economic system’s potential for sustainable development is significantly influenced by regional industrial operational efficiency, which measures the cost of ecology, environment, energy and resources accompanying the economic growth. It is vital for national and regional governments to accelerate harmonious development between products of industrial department, consumption of energy and pollutants discharged. Under the guidance of ecological niche theory and recycling economy theory, the theoretical analysis on efficient relations between regional industrial growth, energy consumption, resources utilization and environmental carrying capacity has been carried out from horizontal and vertical respects. Industrial operational efficiency and the sensitivity coefficient in response to the change of every input and output index can be calculated and critical factors, which restrict sustainable development capability, can be found out so that quantitative references could be provided for administrative decisions. As for the measurement method, a super efficiency mixed data envelopment analysis model, which wipes off self-limited condition and either contains both meeting cone characteristic indexes or not, has been established and applied. Statistics from 1993 to 2012 in China are collected to carry out empirical research. On the basis of further analysis, an adjustment strategy can be constituted to improve the capability for sustainable development.

  17. CLUSTERING OF THE COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX AND EVALUATING WITH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seda BAĞDATLI KALKAN

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Consumer confidence index is a national indicator that suggest about current and future expectations of the economic conditions. With consumer confidence index, it is aimed to determine the trends and expectations of consumers according to their general economic situation, employment opportunities, their financial situations and developments in the markets. Another parameter is also the Human Development Index (HDI. This index is an indicator that examines the development of countries both economically and socially. Countries are sorted by these two indices and are considered as basic parameters in international platforms. The purpose of this study is to group the selected countries according to the consumer confidence index and reveal the features of the groups and then determine the position of the grouped countries with the Human Development Index. According to the results of cluster analysis, it is shown that India, China, Sweden and USA have the highest total consumer confidence index, employment, expectation and investment index

  18. From Indicators to Policies: Open Sustainability Assessment in the Water and Sanitation Sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martín Alejandro Iribarnegaray

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available A water and sanitation sustainability index (WASSI was developed and estimated in four cities of the province of Salta, in northern Argentina. The index was built with nine descriptors and fifteen indicators that covered all essential aspects of the sustainability of local water and sanitation management systems. Only one of the cities studied obtained a sustainability value above the acceptability threshold adopted (50 of 100 points. Results indicate that the water company needs to address some environmental and social issues to enhance the sustainability of the systems studied. The WASSI was conceptually robust and operationally simple, and could be easily adapted to the case studies. The index can be followed and updated online on a web site specially developed for this project. This website could be useful to promote participatory processes, assist decision makers, and facilitate academic research. According to local stakeholders, a more open sustainability assessment based on sustainability indices and supported by virtual tools would be relevant and highly feasible. It would help decision makers improve the sustainability and transparency of water and sanitation management systems, and promote more sustainable water policies in the region and beyond.

  19. SUSTAINABLE URBAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AGENDA 21

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zainal Md Zan

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The much-talked about issues such as the rising of heavy crime cases, problems in solid waste management, air and water pollution as well as traffic congestion detering the quality of life among urban community members. Urgent and proactive measure is highly desireable in order to preserve and maintain the integral parts of urban’s higher quality of life. All parties should take part in ongoing efforts to achieve sustainable development through various means. Local Agenda 21 (LA21 serves as one of the efforts in achieveing the ultimate goal of sustainable development through better collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders including local government, non-governmental organisations and the community at large. The core principle of the LA21 program lies in the spirit of cooperation among community members, local authorities and the private sectors. This could be achieved through various activities including from the beginning such as through a comprehensive planning for the local area to achieve the sustainable development. Community members should be involved in brainstorming of the ideas and expressing their views so that authorities would be able to identify the real and arising issues in the community. Through this way a sustainable town and municipal planning could be developed and initiated. This paper discusses the importance of urbancommunity participation in achieving sustainable development as practicedthrough LA21 in Seberang Perai Municipal Council, Penang.

  20. Sustainable Product Indexing: Navigating the Challenge of Ecolabeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jay S. Golden

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available There is growing scientific evidence that improving the sustainability of consumer products can lead to significant gains in global sustainability. Historically, environmental policy has been managed by bureaucracies and institutions in a mechanistic manner; this had led to many early successes. However, we believe that if policy concerning product sustainability is also managed in this way, negative unintended consequences are likely to occur. Thus, we propose a social-ecological systems approach to policy making concerning product sustainability that will lead to more rapid and meaningful progress toward improving the environmental and social impacts of consumer products.

  1. Measurement of sustainability index among paper manufacturing plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharathkumar Reddy, V.; Jayakrishna, K.; Lal, Babu

    2017-11-01

    The paper manufacturing companies are facing challenges to implement sustainable manufacturing into their products and processes. Paper manufacturing has remarked as an intensive consumer of natural raw materials, energy and a major source of multiple pollutants. Thus, evaluating the sustainable manufacturing in these companies has become a necessity. This paper proposes a set of Performance Indicators (PIs) for evaluating the sustainable manufacturing appropriate to the paper manufacturing companies based on the triple bottom line of sustainability. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), a multi-criteria decision analysis method is applied to prioritize the performance indicators by summarizing the opinions of stakeholders. It is hoped that the proposed PIs enables and assists the paper manufacturing companies to achieve the higher performance in sustainable manufacturing and so as to increase their competitiveness.

  2. Making technological innovation work for sustainable development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anadon, Laura Diaz; Harley, Alicia G.; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset. PMID:27519800

  3. Making technological innovation work for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anadon, Laura Diaz; Chan, Gabriel; Harley, Alicia G; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L; Clark, William C

    2016-08-30

    This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset.

  4. Sustainable Development in Engineering Education: A Pedagogical Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahrens, A.; Zascerinska, J.

    2012-01-01

    Engineering education is facing a challenge of the development of student engineers' social responsibility in the context of sustainable development. The aim of the research is to analyze efficiency of engineering curriculum in the context of sustainable development underpinning elaboration of pedagogical guidelines on the development of students'…

  5. A SHORT CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CEAUSESCU IONUT

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The popularity created the concept of sustainable development has determined the conviction that tourism can develop in compliance with the philosophy of sustainability. For example, if we compare with other activities such as agriculture, forestry or in other sectors of the economy, tourism has a development relatively recent to human evolution. Tourism place in sustainable development is given the role of this economic activity that "sells" the physical and human environment as a product of his own. Tourism is one of the industries that should be involved in sustainable development, as industry resources, dependency on natural and human potential of cultural heritage in an efficient manner. Tourism "sell" these resources as some parts of his product, but at the same time shares certain resources with other users (local communities, the structure of the central administration. It is essential that tourism to be active in issues of sustainable development and to cooperate with other industries in ensuring the quality and longevity of the resources on which rests the whole tourist activity. Sustainable development in tourism is a necessity, and the connection between tourism and environment is much stronger than in the case of other industries. This paper presents the most important aspects of the rural turism and the contribution which it can bring to the wellbeing of a nation. The author like to stress some elements related to the concept of rural tourism which has nowadays become very important around the world. The rural tourism can revitalise the conventional concepts and views on tourism, and bring in a new dim ension to the sustainable development of tourism. It has been realised that tourism can play a major role in many countries economies, especially in developing ones, where it can substantially contribute to the increase of the national income..

  6. Literature Review ForSustainable Development of Tourism%旅游可持续发展文献综述

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    卢晓龙; 周志宏

    2015-01-01

    本研究通过对比国内及国外关于旅游可持续发展的相关研究，并重点回顾在旅游可持续发展的含义与特征、旅游可持续发展评价指标体系、环境承载力、利益相关者理论四个方面的国内外研究成果，总结出国内外研究视角上的差异以及带来的启示。%In this paper, by comparing the domestic and foreignresearches on the sustainable development of tourism, and Laying emphasis on reviewing the meaning and characteristics of sustainable development, the evaluation index sys-tem of sustainable development of tourism, environmental carrying capacity, the theory of stakeholders, the differences on perspectivebetween domestic and foreign researches andthe enlightenmentwere summarized .

  7. Sustainable development indicators for territories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moreau; Sylvain; Bottin, Anne; Bovar, Odile; Nirascou, Francoise; Albecker, Marie-Fleur; Bardou, Magali; Barret, Christophe; Berger, Emmanuel; Blanc, Christophe; Bovar, Odile; Briquel, Vincent; Chery, Jean-Pierre; Deshayes, Michel; Firdion, Laetitia; Fluxa, Christine; Girault, Maurice; Guerrero, David; Hassaine, Zahida; Hilal, Mohamed; Imbert, Frederic; Kerouanton, Marie-Helene; Lacroix, Steve; Magnier, Celine; Moreau, Jacques; Nirascou, Francoise; Pageaud, Dorothee; Schaeffer, Yves; Thienard, Helene; Vinet, Loic; Wemelbeke, Guillaume; Wichmann, Martine; Boitard, Corinne; Bird, Geoffrey

    2011-11-01

    For different themes (Sustainable consumption and production, Knowledge and social and economic development society, governance, climate change and energy management, sustainable transport and modality, conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources, public health, risk prevention and management, social and territorial cohesion), this study proposes a set of axis, and several indicators for each axis. Indicators correspond to different geographical scale and are determined from different sources. These indicators are for example: production of aggregates, proportion of organic agriculture in usable agricultural area, evolution in quantity of household waste collected per inhabitant, employment rate, research spending in relation to GDP, coverage of population by local Agenda 21, and so on. Thus, each indicator is discussed, commented and analysed

  8. Medical libraries and achieving sustainable development goals in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Medical libraries and achieving sustainable development goals in Nigeria. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... United Nations 2015 Sustainable Development Goal 3 is designed to achieve good health and well - being for ...

  9. Clean energy for sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piro, P.

    2002-01-01

    The question of energy in developing countries is now taking an increasingly significant place on the agenda of the major international forums. It is to be a central issue at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg next August. (author)

  10. Energy indicators for tracking sustainability in developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kemmler, Andreas; Spreng, Daniel

    2007-01-01

    Due to the fact that human activities and most sustainability issues are closely related to energy use, the energy system is a sound framework for providing lead indicators for sustainable development. Common energy-economic models enable the estimation of future states of the energy system. An energy system-based lead indicator set can be used to develop consistent and coherent future indicator estimates and to track sustainability, a clear advantage over existing sets. In developed countries, the sustainability discussion is focused on environmental topics, while in developing countries the issues of poverty and equity are equally important. Consequently, for measuring sustainable development in a developing country, the inclusion of a poverty indicator in a set of lead indicators is essential. By correlation and descriptive analysis, it is shown that reliable energy-based indicators of poverty can be created. Although no one-dimensional indicator is a comprehensive measure of poverty, the explanatory power of energy poverty indicators is comparable to that of other poverty indicators. Thus, the use of energy indicators is not restricted to environmental and economic issues but is also relevant for social issues

  11. Short lecture series in sustainable product development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McAloone, Tim C.

    2005-01-01

    Three lectures in sustainable product development models, methods and mindsets should give insight into the way of thinking about the environment when developing products. The first two lectures will guide you through: . Environmental problems in industry & life-cycle thinking . Professional...... methods for analysing and changing products’ environmental profiles . Sustainability as a driver for innovation...

  12. Sustainable development - the ICC business charter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santaholma, J.

    1992-01-01

    The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) prepared and approved, in November 1990, the ''Business Charter for Sustainable Development; a set of principles for environmental management''. Environmental protection is a necessary part of sustainable development but, too often, the performance of business is seen by society as inadequate. Improved environmental performance is essential if business is to regain public trust, reduce the pressures on governments to over-legislate, and strengthen the business voice in debate on public policy. The Charter has been prepared as a major pro-active business initiative by enterprises around the world. This is timely in view of the extensive international debate on environmental issues and the widespread acceptance of the ''Sustainable Development'' concept. Sustainable development involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Although the objective of the Charter is that the widest range of enterprises as organizations commit themselves to improving their environmental performance in accordance with the Principles of the Charter, an individual branch of industry may also meet the goals of the Charter. The paper evaluates how the practices implemented in the field of nuclear energy are in harmony with the principles. The conclusion is that nuclear is in the avant garde within the wide spectrum of industrial activities. This conclusion should assist nuclear energy to improve its public acceptance. (author)

  13. Sustainable development strategy formation for business corporations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. A. Zaporozhtseva

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article explains the concept of the company sustainable development strategy based on its economic security level, which includes the economic security concept loss threat control; and the concept of company sustainable development based on the fact, that the company in a developed market should not only "defend", but also ensure its development. After it implementation of decomposition is applied to the system of strategic economic security through a balanced scorecard, which allows translating the mission and vision into a set of operational goals and targets. The main components of strategic economic security provision are: business processes, finance, contractors and staff; based on the state which economic security level is determined as: high, normal, low or critical. After that, the strategic prospects are set, i.e. transition from the lowest to the highest economic security level takes place, passing the economic security fields. In order to do this, certain company development strategy is selected, the mechanism for its implementation is being worked out. At the same time, company sustainable development strategy is identified in the case of a growth strategy use, which implies a transition from endogenous development strategy to introductive or introspective development strategy with further access to multi-integral development strategy. If there is inverse relationship, one can not speak of any sustainable development strategy. Besides, development, implementation and use of monitoring for the design process of the company's development strategy taking into account its economic security level acquires great importance.

  14. The EU Sustainable Development Discourse - An Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boissiere, Bruno

    2009-01-01

    Sustainable development seems now clearly defined, as a concept and for its policies implications. Its use in political discourse has developed over the years to such an extent that some do not hesitate to abuse the word 'sustainable', without giving up the productivist dogma. The analysis of significant discourses of the institutions of the European Union on sustainable development shows that the evolution of the concept itself has changed the decision-making process of the European institutions, since the?rst strategy defined at the Gothenburg European Council (June 2001). However, if the concept is well introduced into the discourses of the institutions, its operationalisation and the adaptation of organisational structures appear extremely slow and often incomplete. It is far from an overhaul of the general functioning in accordance with what was announced as a political priority, including the 3 main areas: economic, social and environmental. But the coherence between discourses and practice appears at the level of the Commission, where coordination and supervision of sustainable development have been entrusted to the General Secretariat in direct contact with the President of the Commission

  15. Dynamic simulation of sustainable farm development scenarios using cognitive modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tuzhyk Kateryna

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Dynamic simulation of sustainable farm development scenarios using cognitive modeling. The paper presents a dynamic simulation system of sustainable development scenarios on farms using cognitive modeling. The system incorporates relevant variables which affect the sustainable development of farms. Its user provides answers to strategic issues connected with the level of farm sustainability over a long-term perspective of dynamic development. The work contains a description of the model structure as well as the results of simulations carried out on 16 farms in northern Ukraine. The results show that the process of sustainability is based mainly on the potential for innovation in agricultural production and biodiversity. The user is able to simulate various scenarios for the sustainable development of a farm and visualize the influence of factors on the economic and social situation, as well as on environmental aspects. Upon carrying out a series of simulations, it was determined that the development of farms characterized by sustainable development is based on additional profit, which serves as the main motivation for transforming a conventional farm into a sustainable one. Nevertheless, additional profit is not the only driving force in the system of sustainable development. The standard of living, market condition, and legal regulations as well as government support also play a significant motivational role.

  16. Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning for Sustainable Development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cörvers, Ron; Wiek, Arnim; de Kraker, Joop; Lang, Daniel; Martens, Pim; Heinrichs, Harald; Martens, Pim; Michelsen, Gerd

    2016-01-01

    Universities hold a crucial responsibility and role to contribute to sustainable development, alson in their education task. The concept of competencies for sustainable development and the idea of using real-world sustainability issues in education are promising approaches to transform

  17. Implementing Sustainable Development

    OpenAIRE

    Rydin, Y.

    2002-01-01

    This paper highlights the scope for making progress towards sustainable development through changes in current practices and decision-making processes that do not need international agreements. It outlines seven key areas for improving implementation, including: using monitoring and evaluation (and the information these produce) to change attitudes and behaviour; participation that involves the public constructively; better use of “soft” instruments of persuasion and communication; and ensuri...

  18. A short course in sustainable product development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McAloone, Tim C.

    2005-01-01

    This short course in sustainable product development models, methods and mindsets is designed to fit into the Unical course on Engineering Design Methods. Three modules (called “seminars”) will guide you through . The demands for sustainable development . Professional methods for analysing and ch...... and changing products’ environmental profiles . A new approach to product service system development, where the physical product becomes an incidental aspect in the final offering to the customer...

  19. Sustainable tourism development: the case study of Antalya, Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latif Gurkan Kaya; Richard Smardon

    2001-01-01

    This paper discuss ideas about how tourism can be made base for sustainable tourism development in Antalya, Turkey. The introduction is a general overview of sustainable tourism development in coastal areas. The paper also addresses the role of NGOs in the course of development. Information is given about coastal tourism facilities in Turkey. Finally, sustainable...

  20. Integrated co-operative governance in the context of sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Nealer

    2011-07-01

    Keywords:Sustainable development, governance, co-operative governance, integrated,organising, and communication. Disciplines:Public Administration, Public Management, Social Welfare, Environmental Management, Municipal public service delivery, Social Development, Organisational Behaviour, Co-operative Governance, Communication, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Organisational Development

  1. Environmental management as a pillar for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikulčić, Hrvoje; Duić, Neven; Dewil, Raf

    2017-12-01

    There is a growing concern about how to minimize the impact of human activities on the environment. Already nowadays, in some places adaptation efforts are needed in order to avoid the irreversibility of negative human activities. Due to climate changes, and corresponding environmental and social changes, there is a great need for a more sustainable development of mankind. Over the years, research studies that analyzed the sustainable development of different communities with a multi-disciplinary approach, stressed the necessity of preserving the environment for next generations. Therefore, responsible and conscientious management of the environment is a pillar of the sustainable development concept. This review introduction article provides an overview of the recent top scientific publications related to sustainable development that mostly originated from previous SDEWES conferences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Sustainable development and climate change: Lessons from country studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halsnæs, Kirsten; Shukla, P.; Garg, A.

    2008-01-01

    Sustainable development has been suggested as a framework for integrating development and climate change policies in developing countries. Mainstreaming climate change into sustainable development policies would allow these countries to achieve their development goals while addressing climate...... change. A number of research programmes have investigated how potential synergies could be achieved at national level and what kind of trade-offs between the various aspects of sustainable development have to be faced. An overview of these studies is provided, focusing on national case studies....... The energy and transportation sectors are covered in many studies, but some attention is also given to the infrastructure sector and water supply. Most existing development policies will not lead to a sustainable development pattern, since they insufficiently address climate change. However, good...

  3. Collaborative procurement for developing a sustainable campus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nifa, Faizatul Akmar Abdul; Rahim, Syukran Abdul; Rani, Wan Nurul Mardiah Wan Mohd; Ismail, Mohd. Noorizhar

    2016-08-01

    It is particularly challenging to achieve sustainability in campus universities, where a high volume of users and activities has made it more imperative to promote green buildings that reduce energy and water consumption while having a minimal carbon footprint. At present, the frameworks for sustainable campus have seldom focused on the project procurement method which would improve construction team integration in developing the physical aspect of campus development. Therefore, in response to that challenge, this paper investigates how the delivery team, responsible for the design and construction of a project, can be integrated to work together more efficiently and more using the collaborative procurement method known as partnering. This paper reports part of a previous research and sets the base for ongoing research on the critical factors in partnering for sustainable campus development. The outcome or result of this study will meet and support the requirement for construction, maintenance, and operation process for universities towards sustainable building/campus in the future.

  4. Comprehensive evaluation of global energy interconnection development index

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lin; Zhang, Yi

    2018-04-01

    Under the background of building global energy interconnection and realizing green and low-carbon development, this article constructed the global energy interconnection development index system which based on the current situation of global energy interconnection development. Through using the entropy method for the weight analysis of global energy interconnection development index, and then using gray correlation method to analyze the selected countries, this article got the global energy interconnection development index ranking and level classification.

  5. A code of mines for the sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez Serna, Carmen Lucia

    2000-01-01

    In accordance with the article 80 of the political constitution of Colombia, the state will plan the handling and use of the natural resources, to guarantee its sustainable development, its conservation, restoration or substitution. When developing this constitutional norm for the renewable natural resources, the law 99 of 1993 in their first article determined that the process of economic and social development of the country will be guided according to the universal principles and of the sustainable development, contents in the declaration of Rio de Janeiro of June of 1992 on environment and development and in the third article defined the concept of sustainable development as that that drives to the economic growth, to the elevation of the quality of life and the social well-being, without draining the base of renewable natural resources in that it is sustained. The author includes antecedents, modification to the mining and law legislation among others

  6. Knowledge Governance for Sustainable Development: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorrae van Kerkhoff

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development is a knowledge intensive process, but plagued by persistent concerns over our apparent inability to connect what we know with more sustainable practices and outcomes. While considerable attention has been given to ways we may better understand and enhance the knowledge-based processes that support the governance of social-­ecological systems, relatively few have examined the governance of knowledge itself. The institutions—rules and norms—that govern knowledge may shed light on the persistence of 'gaps' between knowledge and action. In this review I seek to answer the question: can interdisciplinary knowledge governance literature contribute to understanding and analysing the institutional knowledge-based dimensions of sustainable development? I present and analyse the concept of knowledge governance as it is emerging in a range of disciplines and practice areas, including private sector management literature and public regulation theory and practice. I then integrate the findings from this review into a model of sustainable development proposed by Nilsson et al. [1]. I show that knowledge governance (as a scale above knowledge management can inform Nilsson et al.'s three "nested" dimensions of sustainability: human wellbeing (through access to knowledge and freedom to exercise informed choice; resource-base management (though enhancing regulation and innovation and transitions from exclusive to inclusive knowledge systems; and global public goods (by balancing public and private interests and fostering global innovation systems. This review concludes by presenting a framework that places sustainable development in the context of broader socio-political struggles towards more open, inclusive knowledge systems.

  7. Green energy strategies for sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Midilli, Adnan; Dincer, Ibrahim; Ay, Murat

    2006-01-01

    In this study we propose some green energy strategies for sustainable development. In this regard, seven green energy strategies are taken into consideration to determine the sectoral, technological, and application impact ratios. Based on these ratios, we derive a new parameter as the green energy impact ratio. In addition, the green energy-based sustainability ratio is obtained by depending upon the green energy impact ratio, and the green energy utilization ratio that is calculated using actual energy data taken from literature. In order to verify these parameters, three cases are considered. Consequently, it can be considered that the sectoral impact ratio is more important and should be kept constant as much as possible in a green energy policy implementation. Moreover, the green energy-based sustainability ratio increases with an increase of technological, sectoral, and application impact ratios. This means that all negative effects on the industrial, technological, sectoral and social developments partially and/or completely decrease throughout the transition and utilization to and of green energy and technologies when possible sustainable energy strategies are preferred and applied. Thus, the sustainable energy strategies can make an important contribution to the economies of the countries where green energy (e.g., wind, solar, tidal, biomass) is abundantly produced. Therefore, the investment in green energy supply and progress should be encouraged by governments and other authorities for a green energy replacement of fossil fuels for more environmentally benign and sustainable future

  8. Towards a systems approach to sustainable developments | Kutua ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    “Sustainable development” as a concept was popularised by a 1987 report of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. The report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own ...

  9. Banking Activity for Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion Stancu

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available he corporations gain a power of influence, unthinkable years ago; they have acquired more and more rights and, in some way, govern the life of billions of peoples and of the earth in general. With every right, comes though the responsibility of the conservation and development of the environment in which the corporations act. The banking system has a major role to play in the evolution of the international framework, given its position on the economic stage. Some important banking groups realized this fact and made important steps in the area. The case study of the Holland banking group ABN AMRO proves the complexity of the introduction of sustainable development in the core of the financial business. The implementation is neither easy nor cheap. It implies essential changes in the bank management, in the way to determine the financial policies, in how to choose the clients, the employees, the suppliers etc. Led in an efficient way, sustainable banking implies innovation, creativity and, implicitly, new gains, through creating new products and opening new markets. The international banking community proved, through leading examples (ABN AMRO Bank, HSBC Group, Rabobank Group, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup etc. that it understands the importance, the necessity and also the viability of the sustainable development.

  10. Sustainable Development in the EU: Redefining and Operationalizing the Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sander R.W. van Hees

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Although sustainable development plays an important role in EU law, neither EU law nor EU policy clearly explains what the concept means and how it must be put into practice. Policy-makers, NGOs, politicians and businesses do, however, need guidance on sustainable development for the purpose of good policy-making, for effectively holding the EU accountable, and for the design of CSR programmes. To that end, this article will first explain the guidance which EU law and policy already offer on sustainable development. Subsequently, this article will propose (I a more workable definition of sustainable development than the one (the Brundtland definition which is currently used, and (II a framework of application for sustainable development. This framework of application (which will have the form of a sustainability impact assessment provides practical guidance for policy-makers, politicians, NGOs and businesses when dealing with sustainable development in their day-to-day work.

  11. The Earth at a glance 2009: the sustainable development governance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacquet, P.; Pachauri, R.; Tubiana, L.

    2009-01-01

    How to implement the sustainable development? More than 15 years after the Rio conference, the question is still pending, renewed by the intense mobilization of non-governmental actors, organizations, companies, or local communities. Observing the inadequacy of the present day governance system is not sufficient and it is advisable to identify among the numerous dynamics in progress, the beginnings of a new governance. The sustainable development governance is the theme of the 2009 issue of 'the Earth at a glance' book with the ambition to contribute to the reflexion about the present day governance system and its desirable evolutions. Content: the 2008 events status and the schedule of the main 2009 meetings; the 2009 world sustainable development governance: a system to the sustainable development test, dynamics of a changing world, sustainably managing complexity; the sustainable development benchmarks: maps, tables, chronologies, economic, social and environmental syntheses for an original mapping of sustainable development in the world. (J.S.)

  12. Proceedings from the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Workshop

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halsnæs, Kirsten; Olhoff, Anne

    national examples of sustainable development policies with large impacts on climate change were given at the workshop. These include: 1) The ethanol programme of Brazil. 2) Energy efficiency programmes in China that are part of general economic development strategies. 3) Development of natural gas supply......The specific objectives of the workshop were: 1) To consider how longer-term development priorities link with climate change concerns. 2) To identify options for meeting developing countries needs and priorities while contributing to sustainable development both locally and globally. 3) To discuss...... possible longer term action at domestic and international levels by countries to further the sustainable development and climate change discussion. First of all, it was recognised that there has been a strong support, endorsement, and agreement among all participants on using sustainable development...

  13. Urban development in Freiburg, Germany – sustainable and neoliberal?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mössner, Samuel

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, sustainable urban development has emerged as a relevant but contested field in urban studies. A broad and diverse literature has discussed sustainable development from various perspectives. Some authors have researched urban sustainability from a technocratic perspective, looking for technical and managerial solutions. Others have shed light on the political dimension of urban sustainable development in our times of urban neoliberalization. This branch of literature focuses on the problematic relationship between market-oriented growth on the one hand and aspects of equality and justice on the other hand, which come along with the idea of sustainability. This article argues that the professionalization and new forms of urban management, as well as a shift towards urban governance and citizens’ participation have intensified consensual practices of urban regulation. Sustainable politics that have occurred in many cities around the world place emphasis on justice, tolerance and participation as the principal drivers for urban development. Empirical evidence shows, however, that these goals are subjugated to economic growth. Drawing on empirical work carried out in Freiburg, Germany – a city long hailed as a forerunner of urban sustainable development – this article promotes the opinion that the idea of ‘sustainable development’ in its current form is nothing more than an oxymoron, aimed and invented as a fuzzy concept in order to disguise the fundamentalist believe in growth that lies beyond such development.

  14. Children between Sustainable Development and Commercials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Péter, Lilla; Balázs, Szilvia

    2009-01-01

    Our paper deals with the relationship between sustainability, media advertisements and their effect on children. This topic is highly actual today, as the children of today, who grow up in front of the TV will be the consumers of tomorrow. The perpetual growth of consuming and gathering material goods is not serving the sustainable development.…

  15. Integrated policy analysis of sustainable urban and transportation development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhang, J.; Feng, T.; Fujiwara, A.; Fujiwara, A.; Zhang, Junyi

    2013-01-01

    Sustainable urban and transportation development needs to balance economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social equity. This study conducts integrated policy analyses by explicitly incorporating these sustainability goals and optimizing the performance of transportation networks.

  16. Sustaining NGOs in the developing world: a perspective from the developing world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damodaran, A

    1993-01-01

    The issue of sustainable development is attracting a lot of attention in the 1990s in the developing world. The author therefore draws upon experience from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh to consider the related issue of sustaining nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in developing countries. Vision, credibility and trust, stable management, pragmatic leadership, good staff, team work, and public accountability are called for to develop and maintain a successful NGO. Further, pre-project studies, realistic budgeting, time frame, relationship between funding agency and NGO, multi-source funding, flexibility, scaling up, and resource mobilization are issues with which NGOs reckon throughout the world. Some criteria for financial sustainability, however, are strongly influenced by conditions and experiences particular to developing countries. In closing, the author stresses that NGOs working with the very poor must strive to sustain any process of social change leading toward community empowerment and social justice.

  17. Implications for a Green Curriculum Application toward Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahin, Elvan; Ertepinar, Hamide; Teksoz, Gaye

    2009-01-01

    The aim of present study was two-fold: (1) to determine university students' familiarity and understandings of "sustainable development", (2) to examine their attitudes toward sustainable development, environmental values, and their behaviors toward sustainable life styles. The data collected by on-line administration of a questionnaire…

  18. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN CHINA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Udo Braendle

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability reports contain important information for the stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of recent developments in the area of sustainability reporting in China. The paper presents useful insights into sustainability reporting in China and helps to better navigate the future trends in sustainability reporting practices. The sustainability reporting rules in China should not rely on a basis of broad standards but on legally enforced binding rules.

  19. Literacy Education and Sustainable Development in Developing Societies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oghenekohwo, Jonathan E.; Frank-Oputu, Ekima A.

    2017-01-01

    The development of a literate society is a pre-requisite for the emergence of a knowledge economy. The thesis advanced in this paper is that, without massive investment and promotion of literacy education, development that is targeted at the 17-point sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be bereft of citizen's empowerment, engagement,…

  20. The sustainable development of nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Huifang

    2012-01-01

    The wide use of nuclear energy has promoted the development of China's economy and the improvement of people's living standards. To some extent, the exploitation of nuclear power plants will solve the energy crisis faced with human society. Before the utilization of nuclear fusion energy, nuclear fission energy will be greatly needed for the purpose of alleviating energy crisis for a long period of time. Compared with fossil fuel, on the one hand, nuclear fission energy is more cost-efficient and cleaner, but on the other hand it will bring about many problems hard to deal with, such as the reprocessing and disposal of nuclear spent fuel, the contradiction between nuclear deficiency and nuclear development. This paper will illustrate the future and prospect of nuclear energy from the perspective of the difficulty of nuclear development, the present reprocessing way of spent fuel, and the measures taken to ensure the sustainable development of nuclear energy. By the means of data quoting and comparison, the feasibility of sustainable development of nuclear energy will be analyzed and the conclusion that as long as the nuclear fuel cycling system is established the sustainable development of nuclear energy could be a reality will be drawn. (author)

  1. Strategic Networks for Sustainable Tourism Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivelyna Krasteva Yoveva

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an innovative approach towards introduction of an up-to-date sustainable development philosophy founded on the principles of combination and balance of common and individual interests on multilateral perspective, i.e. individuals vs. organizations, public groups vs. governmental authorities, industry vs. macroeconomic development, nation states vs. international regional development etc. The optimal implementation of such an approach is imminently dependent on an authentic self-awareness of own identity, values, purposes and motivation for positive contribution to the common well-being. The author’s arguments are based on the conviction that when more individuals and organizations harness deeper understanding of the mutual benefits within their operations area and undertake collaborative efforts to solve common problem their steadfast long-term development may be secured even in times of social-economic-political-eco-etc. crises and within a dynamically changing environment.Main purpose of current article is the concentration of the research on looking for and applying the principles of consistency, exchange of good collaborative practices and consequently strategic and operational utilization of the synergy effect, systems thinking and the holistic approach. Collaborative efforts would lead to greater effectiveness and optimization that satisfies individual and common interests in multiple environmental dimensions. The study aims to analyze the potential of a new network paradigm for provision of effectively applied strategies within the contemporary sustainable development context.Some good practices within the area of joint development of sustainable strategic networks in tourism industry in Bulgaria are presented. A case study of a culinary and hospitality cluster recently established in the Dobrudzha region is about to demonstrates the strategic network viability and sustainability in a contemporary agricultural

  2. The sustainability transition. Beyond conventional development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Raskin, P; Chadwick, M; Jackson, T; Leach, G

    1996-10-01

    This paper synthesizes findings of the first phase in SEI`s PoleStar Project - a project aimed at developing long-term strategies and policies for sustainable development. Taking a global and long-range perspective, the paper aims to describe a theoretical framework for addressing sustainability, to identify emerging issues and outline directions for future action. The paper begins by setting today`s development and environmental challenges in historical context, and describing the scenario method for envisioning and evaluating alternative futures, and identifying propitious areas for policy and action. It next summarizes a detailed scenario based on conventional development assumptions, and discusses the implications of this scenario for demographic and economic patterns, energy and water resources, land resources and agriculture, and pollution loads and the environment to the year 2050. The conventional scenario relies in part on the sectorally-oriented work discussed in Papers 3 through 6 of the PoleStar Project report series, and makes use of the PoleStar System, software designed for integrated resource, environment and socio-economic accounting and scenario analysis (described in Paper 2). The paper then examines the critical risks to social, resource and environmental systems lying ahead on the conventional development path. Finally, the paper surveys the requirements for sustainability across a number of policy dimensions, and raises key questions for the future. The PoleStar Project is proceeding to examine a range of alternative development scenarios, in the context of the work of the regionally-diverse Global Scenario Group, convened by SEI. The hope remains to offer wise counsel for a transition to an equitable, humane and sustainable future for the global community. 144 refs, 30 figs, 9 tabs

  3. The sustainability transition. Beyond conventional development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raskin, P.; Chadwick, M.; Jackson, T.; Leach, G.

    1996-01-01

    This paper synthesizes findings of the first phase in SEI's PoleStar Project - a project aimed at developing long-term strategies and policies for sustainable development. Taking a global and long-range perspective, the paper aims to describe a theoretical framework for addressing sustainability, to identify emerging issues and outline directions for future action. The paper begins by setting today's development and environmental challenges in historical context, and describing the scenario method for envisioning and evaluating alternative futures, and identifying propitious areas for policy and action. It next summarizes a detailed scenario based on conventional development assumptions, and discusses the implications of this scenario for demographic and economic patterns, energy and water resources, land resources and agriculture, and pollution loads and the environment to the year 2050. The conventional scenario relies in part on the sectorally-oriented work discussed in Papers 3 through 6 of the PoleStar Project report series, and makes use of the PoleStar System, software designed for integrated resource, environment and socio-economic accounting and scenario analysis (described in Paper 2). The paper then examines the critical risks to social, resource and environmental systems lying ahead on the conventional development path. Finally, the paper surveys the requirements for sustainability across a number of policy dimensions, and raises key questions for the future. The PoleStar Project is proceeding to examine a range of alternative development scenarios, in the context of the work of the regionally-diverse Global Scenario Group, convened by SEI. The hope remains to offer wise counsel for a transition to an equitable, humane and sustainable future for the global community. 144 refs, 30 figs, 9 tabs

  4. Sustainable Development of Sewage Sludge-to-Energy in China

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ren, Jingzheng; Liang, Hanwei; Dong, Liang

    2017-01-01

    ) to identify the critical barriers that hinder the sustainable development of sludge-to-energy industry in China and to investigate the cause-effect relationships among these barriers. Accordingly, some policy implications for promoting the sustainable development of sludge-to-energy industry in China were......In order to promote the sustainable development of sludge-to-energy industry and help the decision-makers/stakeholders to select the most sustainable technology for achieving the sludge-to-energy target, this study aims at using grey Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL...

  5. Nuclear energy in a sustainable development perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    The concept of sustainable development, which emerged from the report of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland report), is of increasing interest to policy makers and the public. In the energy sector, sustainable development policies need to rely on a comparative assessment of alternative options, taking into account their economic, health, environmental and social aspects, at local, regional and global levels. This publication by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency investigates nuclear energy from a sustainable development perspective, and highlights the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in this respect. It provides data and analyses that may help in making trades-off and choices in the energy and electricity sectors at the national level, taking into account country-specific circumstances and priorities. It will be of special interest to policy makers in the nuclear and energy fields

  6. INEQUALITY IN CHINA IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Чжан Чжань

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The research object is the sociopolitical foundations of sustainable development in China. Research subject is the problem of inequality as one of the obstacles to sustainable development in China. In the article, different aspects of the issue are reviewed in the context of sustainable development, especially through the requirements of the UN Agenda 2030. These aspects include income inequality, inequality in education and health care, gender inequality. It is shown that despite the improvement trend in some specific aspects, the inequality gap in China is still large, further reduction of the inequality level remains one of the main tasks for achieving sustainable development goals in China.

  7. Advancing sustainable development in Canada : policy issues and research needs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eliadis, P.; Slayen, S.

    2003-11-01

    This paper defined 7 policy-relevant issues that advance sustainable development in Canada. These were; (1) urban redesign, (2) freshwater management, (3) eco-region sustainability, (4) impacts of globalization on sustainable development in Canada, (5) designing signals and incentives that promote sustainable behaviour among citizens, (6) reducing the ecological burden of unsustainable lifestyles, and (7) international engagement in sustainable development. The authors questioned why these issues have not made greater progress, given that they have been on national and international agendas since 1972. They also questioned why it is so difficult to integrate environmental and economic signals. Finally, they examined whether enough ecological and political space can be provided to developing countries to achieve sustainable development while enhancing the standard of living in Canada and not threatening critical global systems. 173 refs

  8. If Development, Then Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bóna Péter

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to explore how the effects of components belonging to the concept of strategic management system influence outstanding achievement and success in the processing industry in Hungary as well as the sustainability success component within that. In order to do that, the study defines the factors having an influence. Thereafter, it explains the successful operation of companies with the help of factors emerging via path analysis using regression models. It uses the balanced scorecard as a tool for success criteria describing success. This is a non-market aspect that has an impact on the whole system, making it of crucial importance. Via the exploration of effects, it can be shown the deliberate use of those factors that generate outstanding results and success from the point of view of sustainability, and thus internal development, customer appreciation, and financial success. By taking the results of the research into consideration, it will also be revealed that success factors in the processing industry in Hungary have the most direct and the largest impact on outstanding sustainability performance.

  9. Nuclear power and sustainable development: a vision from a developing country

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sbaffoni, Monica; Harriague, Santiago

    2008-01-01

    From the understanding of sustainable development as 'growing assets and opening options - not foreclosing them' (IAEA, 2006a), an analysis is made on sustainability conditions for nuclear power in a developing country, based on Argentinean experience. The necessity of developing an autonomous decision-making capability and a technological-industrial infrastructure is stressed. As an example, a brief history of nuclear power in Argentina is summarized, focusing in key elements that contributed to sustainability and also pointing out some draw-backs that may have affected it. Finally, some lessons learned are presented, with the aim of sharing the experience and offering a contribution to the present debate on nuclear energy deployment in the periphery. (authors)

  10. Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    We welcome submissions that focus on any aspect of sustainable development law and policy ranging from the economic, social and environmental dimensions. Consequently, papers that explore broad themes of sustainable development such as agriculture, banking, e-commerce, environment, natural resources, public ...

  11. Curriculum Analysis and Education for Sustainable Development in Iceland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johannesson, Ingolfur Asgeir; Norodahl, Kristin; Oskarsdottir, Gunnhildur; Palsdottir, Auour; Petursdottir, Bjorg

    2011-01-01

    The article explores how the Icelandic public school curriculum for early childhood, compulsory and upper secondary school deals with education for sustainable development. As the curriculum does not often mention the term sustainability, a key with which to investigate signs of education for sustainable development in the three curricula was…

  12. Measuring Sustainable Competitiveness in Contemporary Economies—Insights from European Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe H. Popescu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The recent transformation of the national economies has raised numerous theoretical and practical aspects in measuring economic growth, welfare, environmental performance, and competitiveness, representing a challenging research topic within the context of economic paradigm transformation. Despite its importance, a fully operational model to be used in any context has not yet been designed. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate and analyze the macroeconomic dimension of the three determinants of sustainable competitiveness: the economic environment, the social environment, and the natural environment, at both the European and Romanian levels. This paper used the Hierarchical Clustering methodology, aiming at evaluating the global competitiveness in terms of a sustainable development model, using four indices: Human Development Index, Environmental Performance Index, Global Competitiveness Index, and GDP per capita. The clusters were designed on the basis of the role of the indices in assessment of the sustainable performances of the countries and also of the possible convergences between them. The results could sustain the conclusion that these indices are not able to offer an exhaustive image of the sustainable performances assessment. A new complex indicator could be considered in order to design a convergence model for the EU member states.

  13. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL HAPPINESS IN TRANSDISCIPLINARY ASPECT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. I. Munin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim. The aim of the study is to substantiate the measurement of the transition state of the territorial community to the sustainable development by the multiplicative demographic index (MDI of the social happiness. Methods. There is the authorial concept of a geocentric approach to solving the problem of transdisciplinarity in the synthesis of the information stored in a variety of disciplines and fields of knowledge, including demography. The basis for this decision is the relation between the intangible intervals and frequencies, which measure the qualitative changes of matter and energy flows, that is, the information that permeates the Earth's geosphere. Results. As a result of the interpretation of transdisciplinarity we found an attractor of social happiness in the form of a "square" pyramid of the population in the selected area. By calculating the corresponding values of MDI we estimated the degree of closeness to the attractor of the current state of social happiness in the world, in some of the key countries and CIS countries. Conclusion. Within the meaning of the calculation, the MDI is also an assessment of the variety of the informational links, both within the community and the environment. The "rectangular" community has the maximum diversity of a given population. Since the resource costs to meet the needs of community members by tangible matter and energy is determined by its number, then for an equal number of members, the attractive should be recognized as the most effective. Consequently, social happiness, in the transdisciplinary aspect, can serve as a measure of the state of transition of the territorial community to sustainable development.

  14. Knowledge-based Economy, an Appropriate Response to Organizational Change Pressures, with a View to Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Mihaela Lazar

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The sustainable development of organizations within knowledge-based economy, in which knowledge represents the main priority, should focus on finding solutions for the intelligent management of the limited resources, especially through organizational change and its constant assessment as a long-term impact solution. The transition of organizations to the principles of knowledge-based economy involves a major change in organizational culture. The dynamism and complexity of the new type of society, which implies a higher and more diverse level of training, together with a continuous superior training of the workforce, increasing investment in research and development and, not least, a growing volume and a diversification of information, all these represent, chained together, an element of well-being for the future generations. The introductory section summarizes the concept of sustainability and places the development of companies and economies they aggregate, in a contemporary context of organizational change pressures, on the principles of the knowledge-based economy as the only resource, virtually inexhaustible in the long-term, and which leads to a sustainable development. There follows a methodological section, consisting in the instrumental description of the method of work and in reference to the database, thus providing the theoretical and practical foundation for the confrontation between the sustainable development index (SDI in Romania and in the European Union (EU. The results and discussion section of the paper includes a confrontation between the sustainable development of Romania and that of the European Union, drawing on the SDI for each case. This statistical tool was calculated starting from the values of several statistical indicators (available in EUROSTAT statistics, issued from four information subsystems (an economic one, a social one and an environment one as major subsystems of sustainable development, to which was added

  15. Sustainability, glocal development and planetary citizenship. References for a Pedagogy towards Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.ª Ángeles MURGA-MENOYO

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability approaches advise adopting a glocal development model that links local possibilities and practices to global needs and constraints. The complexity of this phenomenon, taken to the political plane, leads to a model of planetary citizenship where humanity’s commitment to nature and the necessary social equity amongst human beings are emphasized. This has clear implications for pedagogy, which this paper aims to highlight. This work starts from the sustainable development scenarios and concludes with a proposal of a planetary citizenship rooted locally. Glocality and planetary citizenship, a concept close to that of cosmopolitan citizenship –once stripped of its anthropocentric connotations–, both lead to significant missions of education in this framework: the formation of a holistic worldview, based on a complex-system thinking, and building a planetary citizenship. In both cases, the consideration of the human as an eco-dependent being, attributes nature an essential position in the educational processes.

  16. Contribution Index Based on Green Building Certification Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuting Sun

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Green Building Certification Systems (GBCS are carried out in many countries due to the rising awareness of the importance of sustainability in the building industry. The intention should have motivated participants to construct and operate buildings sustainably, however, there is not yet a method developed to investigate the motivation of the participants. Based on the GBCS, this paper proposes the contribution index as a standard global method to analyze the performance of participants in the green building industry. Three contribution indices, namely Frequency Contribution Index (FCI, Intensity Contribution Index (ICI and Comprehensive Contribution Index (CCI that concern each different category of participant, have been formulated. Three further analyses based on the index were undertaken to investigate some features of the industry. A case study of Singapore was conducted to show how the contribution index could be used to extract industry patterns and trends and assess the participants’ performance in the green building industry. Interviews with experts provide some suggested applications and support for the findings.

  17. Development of multi-functional streetscape green infrastructure using a performance index approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tiwary, A.; Williams, I.D.; Heidrich, O.; Namdeo, A.; Bandaru, V.; Calfapietra, C.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a performance evaluation framework for streetscape vegetation. A performance index (PI) is conceived using the following seven traits, specific to the street environments – Pollution Flux Potential (PFP), Carbon Sequestration Potential (CSP), Thermal Comfort Potential (TCP), Noise Attenuation Potential (NAP), Biomass Energy Potential (BEP), Environmental Stress Tolerance (EST) and Crown Projection Factor (CPF). Its application is demonstrated through a case study using fifteen street vegetation species from the UK, utilising a combination of direct field measurements and inventoried literature data. Our results indicate greater preference to small-to-medium size trees and evergreen shrubs over larger trees for streetscaping. The proposed PI approach can be potentially applied two-fold: one, for evaluation of the performance of the existing street vegetation, facilitating the prospects for further improving them through management strategies and better species selection; two, for planning new streetscapes and multi-functional biomass as part of extending the green urban infrastructure. - Highlights: • A performance evaluation framework for streetscape vegetation is presented. • Seven traits, relevant to street vegetation, are included in a performance index (PI). • The PI approach is applied to quantify and rank fifteen street vegetation species. • Medium size trees and evergreen shrubs are found more favourable for streetscapes. • The PI offers a metric for developing sustainable streetscape green infrastructure. - A performance index is developed and applied to fifteen vegetation species indicating greater preference to medium size trees and evergreen shrubs for streetscaping.

  18. Environmental ethics and regional sustainable development

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHENG Du; DAI Erfu

    2012-01-01

    The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human-environment interactions.Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior.The development of environmental ethics theory,as well as its application in reality,determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics.Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter-generation responsibility,with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population,resources,environment and development,so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations.The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics.The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature,care for the individual human race,and respect for the development of future generations,which means giving consideration to natural values,individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations.The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition,criticism,education,inspiration,adjusting,legislation and promoting environmental regulations.The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration,fast population growth,irrational industrial structure,unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development.The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development,can not only harmonize the relationship of population,resource,environment and economic development,but also guide behavior selection,push social and political system transformation,strengthen the legal system,and raise environmental awareness of the public.

  19. Hydropower and Sustainable Development: A Journey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schumann, Kristin; Saili, Lau; Taylor, Richard; Abdel-Malek, Refaat

    2010-09-15

    Hydropower produces 16% of our electricity; it is one of the world's major renewable energy resources. It is playing an important role in enabling communities around the world to meet their power and water needs. The pace of hydropower growth has been rapid but sometimes with little guidance to ensure development is based on sustainability principles. Some of the most promising initiatives to fill the void, such as the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol, have been driven by the hydropower sector itself. Efforts focus on carrying forward this momentum to obtain a tool for hydropower sustainability agreed across sectors and stakeholders.

  20. United Nations: preparing to examine energy and sustainable development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Radka, Mark [United Nations Environment Programme, Paris (France)

    2000-08-01

    This article examines the progress on sustainable development at the international level, and discusses the forthcoming meeting of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD-9) and the review of the progress of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. Details are given of the anticipated Third Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is expected to increase pressure to reduce emissions of greenhouses gases, the link between policies of sustainable development and renewable energy, the challenge of the growing demand for energy in the developing countries and the need to mitigate against environmental damage, and the setting up of the Sustainable Energy Advisory Facility (SEAF) by the United Nations Environment Programme to aid developing countries to participate in the CSD-9 process.

  1. United Nations: preparing to examine energy and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radka, Mark

    2000-01-01

    This article examines the progress on sustainable development at the international level, and discusses the forthcoming meeting of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD-9) and the review of the progress of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. Details are given of the anticipated Third Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is expected to increase pressure to reduce emissions of greenhouses gases, the link between policies of sustainable development and renewable energy, the challenge of the growing demand for energy in the developing countries and the need to mitigate against environmental damage, and the setting up of the Sustainable Energy Advisory Facility (SEAF) by the United Nations Environment Programme to aid developing countries to participate in the CSD-9 process

  2. Introduction: Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Clerck, Goedele A. M.

    2017-01-01

    This article has been excerpted from "Introduction: Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities" (De Clerck) in "Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities: Envisioning the Future for Deaf Students" (G. A. M. De Clerck & P. V. Paul (Eds.) 2016). The idea of exploring various…

  3. Security: A Catalyst for Sustainable Development | Solomon | African ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper explores intricate nexus between security, and the challenges of promoting sustainable development in a volatile environment. It conceptualises security, sustainable development, and volatile environment. The paper argues that the volatile environment in the country has led to security breaches and slowed ...

  4. The Role of Local Government in Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klodiana Gorica

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Depending where one looks you will find various definitions aimed at describing ‘sustainability’. In lasts years the notion of sustainable tourism must be regarded as one of the great success stories of tourism research and knowledge transfer. It has become the first topic discourse in academic research, business fields and governance. The government takes responsibility for the social and economic development of the country. The government through the lows, programs, plans, and strategies oriented people to choose the tools in economy’s branches and to walk in sustainable development without afraid for the future. One of the economic branches, that is qualified as friend of sustainable development is tourism. But tourism cannot develop in chaos by self without a strategy or a plan confirmed by specialist, who works in different sectors of public administrate in government. While, big or central government is occupied with macro-problem and macro-policies, local government is nearest community and it know better than anyone, their human and natural resources. The purpose of this article is to analyze the role of local governance systems for sustainable tourism. So, local government can be the first promoting and encouraging tourism development, and helping the community for sustainable tourism.

  5. Legal perspectives on the role of culture in sustainable development ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... and sub-regionally to depict how issues of culture have been infiltrating the sustainable development discourse and to distil some of the substantive benchmarks for good cultural governance. Keywords: sustainable development; role of culture in sustainable development; culture; definition of culture; environmental law; ...

  6. The effect of natural resources on a sustainable development policy: The approach of non-sustainable externalities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schilling, Markus; Chiang Lichun

    2011-01-01

    The debate about the importance of non-renewable resources for economic development between optimists and pessimists shows that the extensive depletion of non-renewable resources, particularly oil, along with a higher level of consumption could have a significant impact on the economic development of future generations. Based on this debate, this paper proposes criteria under which the depletion of non-renewable resources would create excess costs for future generations. Therefore, this paper aims to answer the question 'What will be the impact of the depletion of non-renewable resources on sustainable economic development?' Accordingly, a sustainable development policy appears feasible by minimizing non-sustainable externalities which derive from future externalities that weigh the benefits from a previous employment of natural resources. The research based on qualitative analysis clarifies the reasons for and the extents of taking sustainability into account as well as points to difficulties of implementing policies to time the transition towards a sustainable economic development. Finally, the research shows the implications of this approach for environmental degradation, the depletion of non-renewable resources and energy production. - Research Highlights: →Economic development will more or less smoothly switch to the use of renewable substitutes. →The transition towards a sustainable use of resources may inherit costs for future generations. →Non-sustainable externalities show the future costs of excessive resource depletion. →The approach aims to take the long-term global effects of resource substitution into account.

  7. The Atom, the Environment and Sustainable Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-09-01

    The IAEA has a broad mandate to facilitate nuclear applications in a number of areas and scientific disciplines. A fundamental component of the Agency's mandate is to enhance the peaceful contribution of nuclear science and technology to the specific development needs of its Member States in areas such as industry, human health, agriculture and nutrition. Nuclear techniques play an important role in addressing these development challenges. By facilitating their use, the IAEA is contributing to sustainable development. Well known examples include helping to advance treatment methods for fighting diseases, improving access to electricity, and increasing food security. A major underlying challenge in development for many Member States is environmental degradation. Environmental issues affect local, national, regional and global communities and threaten to undermine human well-being. Addressing these issues in a timely and efficient manner is essential. As with the other areas mentioned above, nuclear science and technology can make a particularly valuable contribution to assisting with efforts to better understand and protect the natural environment. Through The Atom, the Environment and Sustainable Development, the IAEA aims to raise and widen awareness of the unique contributions nuclear science and technology can make to the environmental dimension of sustainable development. Through this publication and other reports, it is expected that the readers acquire a better and more precise understanding of the significant role of science and technology, including nuclear-related technology, in the global development agenda. This publication also highlights the IAEA's role in supporting developing countries to realize their sustainable development aspirations through technology transfer and capacity-building

  8. Commentary: the judiciary and sustainable development ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The approval of 17 goals and 169 targets for sustainable development by the United Nations Conference on Post-2015 Development Agenda is unquestionably an advancement for humanity. Economic development alone is however unsatisfactory: it must be paired with human development, respect for the environment ...

  9. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGRI-FOOD SPHERE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Samofatova

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article highlights the historical preconditions and principles of sustainable development of theagri-food sphere. The analysis of the evolution of the categorical content of sustainable development iscarried out. It has been noted that the main ideology of sustainable development is the integration andharmonization of the ecological, economic and social spheres of society. It is shown that the concept ofsustainable development has an interdisciplinary character, so it should be considered in many aspects andstudied from different angles. The basic advantages of sustainable development for the agri-food sphere areoutlined.

  10. In Search of a Sustainable Economic Development Agenda in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In Search of a Sustainable Economic Development Agenda in Ghana since ... for a sustainable economic development agenda to better the lives of her citizens. ... that could surpass all interests to guide the country‟s development course.

  11. Critical success factors model developing for sustainable Kaizen implementation in manufactur-ing industry in Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haftu Hailu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the research is to identify critical success factors and model developing for sustaining kaizen implementation. Peacock shoe is one of the manufacturing industries in Ethiopia facing challenges on sustaining. The methodology followed is factor analysis and empirically testing hypothesis. A database was designed using SPSS version 20. The survey was validated using statistical validation using the Cronbach alpha index; the result is 0.908. The KMO index value was obtained for the 32 items and had a value of 0.642 with Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 4503.007, degree of freedom 496 and significance value 0.000. A factor analysis by principal components and varimax rotation was applied for finding the critical success factors. Finding designates that 32 items were merged into eight critical success factors. All the eight factors together explain for 76.941 % of the variance. Multiple regression model analysis has indicated that some of the critical success factors had relationship with success indicators. Due to constraint of time, the researcher focused only at peacock shoe manufacturing industry. Other limitation also includes the absence of any local research that shows the critical success factors at the moment.

  12. the legal status of sustainable development in the nigerian

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    RAYAN_

    implementing and enforcing sustainable development in environmental governance ..... the principles of state responsibility for extra-territorial environmental harm and ..... sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.53.

  13. Communities in Action: Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noguchi, Fumiko; Guevara, Jose Roberto; Yorozu, Rika

    2015-01-01

    This handbook identifies principles and policy mechanisms to advance community-based learning for sustainable development based on the commitments endorsed by the participants of the "Kominkan-CLC International Conference on Education for Sustainable Development," which took place in Okayama City, Japan, in October 2014. To inform…

  14. Towards a pedagogy for education for sustainable development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The paper explores how one teaches and learns for sustainable development primarily through analysing education for sustainable development (ESD) initiatives in the Caribbean within the framework of service learning. The paper proposes that a pedagogy for ESD will require positioning education in the centre of ...

  15. The impact of corruption on the sustainable development of human capital

    Science.gov (United States)

    Absalyamova, Svetlana; Absalyamov, Timur; Khusnullova, Asiya; Mukhametgalieva, Chulpan

    2016-08-01

    The article explains the use of the human capital sustainable development index (HCSDI) to assess the quality of the reproduction of human capital. The paper provides the algorithm for calculating HCSDI and its components. Authors estimated cross-country differences of HCSDI and developed econometric model of the impact of corruption on HCSDI. The use of this model has allowed to reveal the mechanism and assess the impact of corruption on HCSDI and its components. The results of econometric analysis revealed a negative multiplier effect: an increase in the corruption of the socio-economic system of the state by 1% caused HCSDI reduce by more than 1%. The results and conclusions may be proxy-assessments of the socio-economic consequences of violations of the stability of reproduction of human capital in the conditions of the growth of corruption in the country

  16. [Political ecology, ecological economics, and public health: interfaces for the sustainability of development and health promotion].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porto, Marcelo Firpo; Martinez-Alier, Joan

    2007-01-01

    This article proposes to focus contributions from political ecology and ecological economics to the field of collective health with a view towards integrating the discussions around health promotion, socio-environmental sustainability, and development. Ecological economics is a recent interdisciplinary field that combines economists and other professionals from the social, human, and life sciences. The field has developed new concepts and methodologies that seek to grasp the relationship between the economy and ecological and social processes such as social metabolism and metabolic profile, thereby interrelating economic, material, and energy flows and producing indicators and indexes for (un)sustainability. Meanwhile, political ecology approaches ecological issues and socio-environmental conflicts based on the economic and power dynamics characterizing modern societies. Collective health and the discussions on health promotion can expand our understanding of territory, communities, and the role of science and institutions based on the contributions of political ecology and ecological economics in analyzing development models and the distributive and socio-environmental conflicts generated by them.

  17. Developing an Environmental Performance Index (EPI: a focus on impacts of information and communication technology use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C Mbohwa

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing need for environmental performance measures that can be used by all stakeholders like surrounding communities, customers, suppliers and shareholders to gauge the environmental performance of organizations. The environmental performance measures that are used worldwide are normally not suitable for benchmarking organizations. This paper develops an environmental performance index using indicator and weight matrices of the full life cycle phases of an organization’s energy use for environmental management system activities. This work is transdisciplinary in nature and applies mathematical matrices and environmental productivity approaches, and borrows from the development of quality indices to consider a variety of impacts that cut across various phases of a product life cycle and different functions within an organization. The focus is on information and communication technology use in these systems. The model is applied to the Japanese automotive industry and the findings show that it is feasible and effective for comparing the environmental performance of companies in the same sector using the same weight matrices and indicators agreed to. The work informs decision making on the development of environmental performance measures that have worldwide applications, across many disciplines, in situations where suitable data are recorded. It also contributes to efforts on economic and social sustainability. Research efforts in similar areas in Southern Africa can benefit from the development and improvement of the proposed methodology. Keywords: Environmental performance index, indicator and weight matrices, benchmarking Disciplines: Information and Communications Technology Studies (ICT, Environmental Studies, Economics, Sustainability Studies

  18. Why 'Sustainable Development' Is Often Neither: A Constructive Critique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Lautensach

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Efforts and programs toward aiding sustainable development in less affluent countries are primarily driven by the moral imperative to relieve and to prevent suffering. This utilitarian principle has provided the moral basis for humanitarian intervention and development aid initiatives worldwide for the past decades. It takes a short term perspective which shapes the initiatives in characteristic ways. While most development aid programs succeed in their goals to relieve hunger and poverty in ad hoc situations, their success in the long term seems increasingly questionable, which throws doubt on the claims that such efforts qualify as sustainable development. This paper aims to test such shortfall and to find some explanations for it. We assessed the economic development in the world’s ten least affluent countries by comparing their ecological footprints with their biocapacities. This ratio, and how it changes over time, indicates how sustainable the development of a country or region is, and whether it risks ecological overshoot. Our results confirm our earlier findings on South-East Asia, namely that poor countries tend to have the advantage of greater sustainability. We also examined the impact that the major development aid programs in those countries are likely to have on the ratio of footprint over capacity. Most development aid tends to increase that ratio, by boosting footprints without adequately increasing biocapacity. One conceptual explanation for this shortfall on sustainability lies in the Conventional Development Paradigm, an ideological construct that provides the rationales for most development aid programs. According to the literature, it rests on unjustified assumptions about economic growth and on the externalisation of losses in natural capital. It also rests on a simplistic version of utilitarianism, usually summed up in the principle of  ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’. We suggest that a more realistic

  19. INEQUALITY IN CHINA IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

    OpenAIRE

    Чжан Чжань

    2017-01-01

    The research object is the sociopolitical foundations of sustainable development in China. Research subject is the problem of inequality as one of the obstacles to sustainable development in China. In the article, different aspects of the issue are reviewed in the context of sustainable development, especially through the requirements of the UN Agenda 2030. These aspects include income inequality, inequality in education and health care, gender inequality. It is shown that despite the improve...

  20. Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility: Linking Goals to Standards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radostina Bakardjieva

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Corporate social responsibility (CSR is the core of sustainable development of companies. On one hand, the corporate social responsibility of companies is a prerequisite for sustainable business, on the other - sustainable development sets specific requirements for the development of businesses in the context of increasing requirements to the degree of quality and reliability of financial information. In recent years, sustainable development has become a strategic issue for companies and this trend applies to Bulgarian companies too. Development of non-financial reporting is a very dynamic process, whose peak is the establishment of an integrated system of accountability. Current paper makes analyses of advantages of CSR linking it to the implementation of sustainable development goals through the integrated reporting following the requirements of the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI.

  1. Technology assessment HTR. Part 8. Nuclear energy and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turkenburg, W.C.

    1996-06-01

    The small social acceptance of nuclear power for power generation suggests that in the present situation nuclear technology does not meet certain sustainable criteria. First, the concept of sustainable development is explained and which dimensions can be distinguished. Next, the sustainable development with regard to the development of the energy supply is outlined and the energy policy to obtain this situation is discussed. Subsequently, the impact of the sustainable development and the policy used to realize this on the nuclear technology are dealt with. As a result, criteria are formulated that can be used to verify how nuclear technology will meet this criteria and which demands should be used to fit this technology so it can be used in a sustainable development of the society. 55 refs

  2. UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development: Learning Today for a Sustainable Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) will be co-organised in 2014 by UNESCO and the Government of Japan on the occasion of the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It has the following objectives: (1) Celebrating a decade of action; (2) Reorienting education to build a better future…

  3. Rights-Based Approach: The Hub of Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choondassery, Yesudas

    2017-01-01

    A rights-based approach to the environmental issues has been gaining momentum since the United Nations' Environmental Agency proposed a new rights-based agenda for sustainable development in the document, "Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" (UN, 2015). Our moral responsibility toward the environment is…

  4. Education for Sustainable Development: A Framework for Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oni, Adesoji A.; Adetoro, J. A.

    2012-01-01

    This paper proposed a framework for conceptualizing, planning for and implementing an education agenda for sustainable development within the Nigerian context. The strategic questions informing this framework are: What is the context within which sustainable development is being proposed? What are the educational needs that arise within the given…

  5. Hope and Fear in Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlbeck, Johan

    2014-01-01

    Education for sustainable development represents a politically prioritized area of knowledge in contemporary Swedish education and as such it has acquired a prominent position among the governing values of educational policy. Insofar as education for sustainable development is directed at securing the future of human well-being, this article…

  6. Inventions for future sustainable development in agriculture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobsen, E.; Beers, P.J.; Fischer, A.R.H.

    2011-01-01

    This chapter is directed to the importance of different inventions as driver for sustainable development of agriculture. Inventions are defined as radical new ideas, perspectives and technologies that hold the potential to trigger a change in sustainable agriculture. Innovation is based on one or

  7. E-waste: A Challenge for Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md. Sahadat Hossain

    2015-01-01

    Conclusions. Sustainability is being prioritized for all development activities by integrating societal, economic, environmental, technological, cultural, and gender perspectives. Considering the adverse potential eco-toxicological impacts and diverse health effects of e-waste, an urgent global multilateral agreement is needed addressing its management (i.e., handling, storage, transportation, recycling, and final disposal, whether by land filling or incineration. Due to the global nature of the issue and the difficulty of establishing sustainable and environmentally sound processing of e-waste in low-income countries, multinational negotiation and collaboration is the only realistic solution. Furthermore, comprehensive global e-waste management and policies could help to off-set the hazards of e-waste and are the best approach for achieving sustainable development.

  8. Keeping options open. Energy, technology and sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogner, Hans-Holger; Langlois, Lucille; McDonald, Alan

    2001-01-01

    The Ninth Session of the the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD-9) in April 2001 provided an excellent opportunity for a full debate on the role of nuclear power in sustainable development, as part of its over-all discussion of energy, transport and the atmospheric change issues. On nuclear power, there were two important conclusions. First, countries agreed to disagree on the role of nuclear power in sustainable development. CSD-9's final text recognizes that some countries view nuclear power as incompatible with sustainable development while others believe it is an important contributor to sustainable development. For each case, the reasoning is presented in the text. The second conclusion, on which there was consensus agreement, is that 'the choice of nuclear energy rests with countries'. The arguments in favor of an important role for nuclear power role in sustainable development are that it broadens the resource base by putting uranium to productive use; it reduces harmful emissions; it expands electricity supplies and it increases the world's stock of technological and human capital. It is ahead of other energy technologies in internalizing all externalities, from safety to waste disposal to decommissioning - the costs of all of these are already included in the price of nuclear electricity in most countries. The complete nuclear power chain, from resource extraction to waste disposal including reactor and facility construction, emits only two to kilowatt-hour -- about the same as wind and solar power and two orders of magnitude below coal, oil, and even natural gas. In addition, nuclear power avoids the emission of many other air pollutants, such as SO 2 , NO x and particulates

  9. Operationalising the Sustainable Knowledge Society Concept through a Multi-dimensional Scorecard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dragomirescu, Horatiu; Sharma, Ravi S.

    Since the early 21st Century, building a Knowledge Society represents an aspiration not only for the developed countries, but for the developing ones too. There is an increasing concern worldwide for rendering this process manageable towards a sustainable, equitable and ethically sound societal system. As proper management, including at the societal level, requires both wisdom and measurement, the operationalisation of the Knowledge Society concept encompasses a qualitative side, related to vision-building, and a quantitative one, pertaining to designing and using dedicated metrics. The endeavour of enabling policy-makers mapping, steering and monitoring the sustainable development of the Knowledge Society at national level, in a world increasingly based on creativity, learning and open communication, led researchers to devising a wide range of composite indexes. However, as such indexes are generated through weighting and aggregation, their usefulness is limited to retrospectively assessing and comparing levels and states already attained; therefore, to better serve policy-making purposes, composite indexes should be complemented by other instruments. Complexification, inspired by the systemic paradigm, allows obtaining "rich pictures" of the Knowledge Society; to this end, a multi-dimensional scorecard of the Knowledge Society development is hereby suggested, that seeks a more contextual orientation towards sustainability. It is assumed that, in the case of the Knowledge Society, the sustainability condition goes well beyond the "greening" desideratum and should be of a higher order, relying upon the conversion of natural and productive life-cycles into virtuous circles of self-sustainability.

  10. The Development of a Tool for Sustainable Building Design:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tine Ring Hansen, Hanne; Knudstrup, Mary-Ann

    2009-01-01

    for sustainable buildings, as well as, an analysis of the relationship between the different approaches (e.g. low-energy, environmental, green building, solar architecture, bio-climatic architecture etc.) to sustainable building design and these indicators. The paper furthermore discusses how sustainable......The understanding of sustainable building has changed over time along with the architectural interpretation of sustainability. The paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of the indicators found in different internationally acclaimed and Danish certification schemes and standards...... architecture will gain more focus in the coming years, thus, establishing the need for the development of a new tool and methodology, The paper furthermore describes the background and considerations involved in the development of a design support tool for sustainable building design. A tool which considers...

  11. Sustaining the Entrepreneurship in Rural Tourism Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norhafiza Md Sharif

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Entrepreneurs play an important role in sustaining rural tourism and formulation of sustainable strategies being the initiators of the tourism business and the engine of the local development. Therefore, it is necessary to stimulate the development of entrepreneurial activities for the recovery of rural tourism potential and regional traditions, maintaining local employment growth and increase living standards in line with identifies needs and priorities of regional human resources development. This article aims to discuss the involvement of local communities in development of rural tourism entrepreneurship as well as addressing the issue of entrepreneurship in rural tourism.

  12. Sustainable development and public health: rating European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seke Kristina

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sustainable development and public health quite strongly correlate, being connected and conditioned by one another. This paper therein attempts to offer a representation of Europe’s current situation of sustainable development in the area of public health. Methods A dataset on sustainable development in the area of public health consisting of 31 European countries (formally proposed by the European Union Commission and EUROSTAT has been used in this paper in order to evaluate said issue for the countries listed thereof. A statistical method which synthesizes several indicators into one quantitative indicator has also been utilized. Furthermore, the applied method offers the possibility to obtain an optimal set of variables for future studies of the problem, as well as for the possible development of indicators. Results According to the results obtained, Norway and Iceland are the two foremost European countries regarding sustainable development in the area of public health, whereas Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, some of the European Union’s newest Member States, rank lowest. The results also demonstrate that the most significant variables (more than 80% in rating countries are found to be “healthy life years at birth, females” (r2 = 0.880, “healthy life years at birth, males” (r2 = 0.864, “death rate due to chronic diseases, males” (r2 = 0.850, and “healthy life years, 65, females” (r2 = 0.844. Conclusions Based on the results of this paper, public health represents a precondition for sustainable development, which should be continuously invested in and improved. After the assessment of the dataset, proposed by EUROSTAT in order to evaluate progress towards the agreed goals of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS, this paper offers an improved set of variables, which it is hoped, may initiate further studies concerning this problem.

  13. Sustainable development and public health: rating European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seke, Kristina; Petrovic, Natasa; Jeremic, Veljko; Vukmirovic, Jovanka; Kilibarda, Biljana; Martic, Milan

    2013-01-28

    Sustainable development and public health quite strongly correlate, being connected and conditioned by one another. This paper therein attempts to offer a representation of Europe's current situation of sustainable development in the area of public health. A dataset on sustainable development in the area of public health consisting of 31 European countries (formally proposed by the European Union Commission and EUROSTAT) has been used in this paper in order to evaluate said issue for the countries listed thereof. A statistical method which synthesizes several indicators into one quantitative indicator has also been utilized. Furthermore, the applied method offers the possibility to obtain an optimal set of variables for future studies of the problem, as well as for the possible development of indicators. According to the results obtained, Norway and Iceland are the two foremost European countries regarding sustainable development in the area of public health, whereas Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, some of the European Union's newest Member States, rank lowest. The results also demonstrate that the most significant variables (more than 80%) in rating countries are found to be "healthy life years at birth, females" (r2 = 0.880), "healthy life years at birth, males" (r2 = 0.864), "death rate due to chronic diseases, males" (r2 = 0.850), and "healthy life years, 65, females" (r2 = 0.844). Based on the results of this paper, public health represents a precondition for sustainable development, which should be continuously invested in and improved.After the assessment of the dataset, proposed by EUROSTAT in order to evaluate progress towards the agreed goals of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), this paper offers an improved set of variables, which it is hoped, may initiate further studies concerning this problem.

  14. Assessment of nuclear energy sustainability index using fuzzy logic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abouelnaga, Ayah E.; Metwally, Abdelmohsen; Aly, Naguib; Nagy, Mohammad; Agamy, Saeed

    2010-01-01

    Nuclear energy is increasingly perceived as an attractive mature energy generation technology that can deliver an answer to the worldwide increasing energy demand while respecting environmental concerns as well as contributing to a reduced dependence on fossil fuel. Advancing nuclear energy deployment demands an assessment of nuclear energy with respect to all sustainability dimensions. In this paper, the nuclear energy, whose sustainability will be assessed, is governed by the dynamics of three subsystems: environmental, economic, and sociopolitical. The overall sustainability is then a non-linear function of the individual sustainabilities. Each subsystem is evaluated by means of many components (pressure, status, and response). The combination of each group of indicators by means of fuzzy logic provides a measurement of sustainability for each subsystem.

  15. The Adolescent Dip in Students' Sustainability Consciousness--Implications for Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsson, Daniel; Gericke, Niklas

    2016-01-01

    Previous research has shown that interest in and concern about environmental issues tends to decrease in adolescence, but less is known about adolescents' broader consciousness of sustainable development, also including economic and social issues. This study investigates students' sustainability consciousness in the transition to adolescence. This…

  16. City Sustainable Development Evaluation Based on Hesitant Multiplicative Fuzzy Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaorong He

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable development evaluation is the basis of city sustainable development research, and effective evaluation is the foundation for guiding the formulation and implementation of sustainable development strategy. In this paper, we provided a new city sustainable development evaluation method called hesitant multiplicative fuzzy TODIM (HMF-TODIM. The main advantage of this method is that it can deal with the subjective preference information of the decision-makers. The comparison study of existing methods and HMF-TODIM is also carried out. Additionally, real case analysis is presented to show the validity and superiority of the proposed method. Research results in this paper can provide useful information for the construction of sustainable cities.

  17. Palm Oil Milling Wastes and Sustainable Development

    OpenAIRE

    A. C. Er; Abd. R.M. Nor; Katiman Rostam

    2011-01-01

    Problem statement: Palm oil milling generates solid wastes, effluent and gaseous emissions. The aim of this study is to assess the progress made in waste management by the Malaysian palm oil milling sector towards the path of sustainable development. Sustainable development is defined as the utilization of renewable resources in harmony with ecological systems. Inclusive in this definition is the transition from low value-added to higher value-added transformation of waste...

  18. On the roles of science and culture in sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eriksson, K.E.

    1999-01-01

    Sustainable development not only involves relations between the global society ant its resource base, the ecosphere, but also relations within the global society itself. It may useful to think of sustainable development as a process with two phases. The first is transitional and involves a transition to a sustainable situation in several essential respects: population; use of natural systems, in particular atmosphere, water, productive land; supply and use of water, food, energy; international order; democracy and human development. The second phase then involves continued development within the restrictions set by the sustainable requirements

  19. Transforming Our World: Literacy for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanemann, Ulrike, Ed.

    2015-01-01

    This compilation offers global examples of innovative and promising literacy and numeracy programmes that link the teaching and learning of literacy to sustainable development challenges such as health, social equality, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. This publication is a timely contribution to the 2030 Agenda for…

  20. Monitoring soil for sustainable development and land degradation neutrality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tóth, Gergely; Hermann, Tamás; da Silva, Manuela Ravina; Montanarella, Luca

    2018-01-04

    The adoption of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) listed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations urged the scientific community to generate information for planning and monitoring socioeconomic development and the underlying environmental compartments. SDGs 2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 14, and 15 have targets which commend direct consideration of soil resources. There are five groups of SDGs and assigned SDG indicators where soil plays a central role. Frameworks of soil-related sustainable development goals and related indicators which can be monitored in current monitoring schemes are proposed.

  1. The Cogema Group and the sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    This document presents the COGEMA Group commitment to sustainable development. Through this commitment, COGEMA is pursuing a policy of ''global performance'' allying economic progress, social progress and protection of the environment, in all its activities. This report points out the many contributions that COGEMA activities make to sustainable development: monitoring of the environment and of releases from its facilities; progress in Research and Development (treatment of liquid and gas effluents, optimized recycling of spent nuclear materials and reduction of their volume, etc.); certification; support for local economic development in the areas around the Group sites, not only in France, but also abroad, as at the mines in Canada and Niger; a strong policy of openness and transparency in its nuclear activities and ongoing dialogue with NGO. The document lays the bases for a number of indicators that can be used as of next year to measure the Group contribution to meeting the challenges of sustainable development. More-detailed statistical data are also presented in the annual environmental reports from the industrial sites in the COGEMA Group. (A.L.B.)

  2. Sustainable development, a summit for the future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dessus, B.

    2002-01-01

    The Johannesburg summit, which took place at the end of the summer of 2002, was the opportunity to spread out to the large public worldwide the notion of sustainable development, a notion that remained confidential so far. It was also a good opportunity to show that the share of energy resources is a vital point for the future. The institute of energy and environment of the French-speaking world has published a huge dossier which takes stock of the overall questions raised by the summit and answered by French-speaking experts. This article reprints some large extracts of two contributions devoted to the energy and its key role in the sustainable development. The first contribution deals with the four energy stakes of the sustainable development: the energy and the fight against poverty, the mastery of energy demand, the development of renewable energy sources, and the nuclear question. The second contribution treats of the five points of the action plan of the world energy council (CME) for the implementation of a durable energy policy in developing countries. (J.S.)

  3. German Chemistry Teachers' Understanding of Sustainability and Education for Sustainable Development--An Interview Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burmeister, Mareike; Schmidt-Jacob, Sabine; Eilks, Ingo

    2013-01-01

    Sustainability became a regulatory idea of national and international policies worldwide with the advent of the Agenda 21. One part of these policies includes promoting sustainability through educational reform. With the United Nations World Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), spanning the years 2005 to 2014, all school…

  4. The indicators of the national strategy for sustainable development 2010-2013 - 2012 issue

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-02-01

    The French national strategy for sustainable development has been adopted within the context of the Grenelle de l'Environnement. Fifteen key indicators (raw materials, early exits from the education system, research and development, women participation to governance bodies, aggregated emissions of six greenhouse gases, carbon print, renewable energies, energy consumption in transports and GDP, abundance index of common bird populations, soil artificialization, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, monetary poverty rate after social transfers, senior employment rate, share of young people out of work and out of education, public aid to development) and four indicators of economic and social context (gross domestic income and GDP per inhabitant, unemployment and under-employment rates, income distribution, total fertility rate) have been defined. These indicators are presented and discussed with respect with nine different challenges

  5. Evaluating climate variables, indexes and thresholds governing Arctic urban sustainability: case study of Russian permafrost regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anisimov, O. A.; Kokorev, V.

    2013-12-01

    Addressing Arctic urban sustainability today forces planners to deal with the complex interplay of multiple factors, including governance and economic development, demography and migration, environmental changes and land use, changes in the ecosystems and their services, and climate change. While the latter can be seen as a factor that exacerbates the existing vulnerabilities to other stressors, changes in temperature, precipitation, snow, river and lake ice, and the hydrological regime also have direct implications for the cities in the North. Climate change leads to reduced demand for heating energy, on one hand, and heightened concerns about the fate of the infrastructure built upon thawing permafrost, on the other. Changes in snowfall are particularly important and have direct implications for the urban economy, as together with heating costs, expenses for snow removal from streets, airport runways, roofs and ventilation corridors underneath buildings erected on pile foundations on permafrost constitute the bulk of the city's maintenance budget. Many cities are located in river valleys and are prone to flooding that leads to enormous economic losses and casualties, including human deaths. The severity of the northern climate has direct implications for demographic changes governed by regional migration and labor flows. Climate could thus be viewed as an inexhaustible public resource that creates opportunities for sustainable urban development. Long-term trends show that climate as a resource is becoming more readily available in the Russian North, notwithstanding the general perception that globally climate change is one of the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. In this study we explore the sustainability of the Arctic urban environment under changing climatic conditions. We identify key governing variables and indexes and study the thresholds beyond which changes in the governing climatic parameters have significant impact on the economy

  6. How the nursing profession can contribute to sustainable development goals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benton, David; Shaffer, Franklin

    2016-11-01

    As of 1 January 2016, the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) became the focus of global efforts on a wide range of development agenda. The SDGs have subsumed the work of the UN millennium development goals (MDGs), so it is timely to reflect on the contribution made by nurses and midwives, so that we can optimise the profession's contribution to the 17 SDGs. This article reports the results of a scientometrics analysis of the published literature related to the MDGs and SDGs indexed in CINAHL, which identified the underlying themes addressed by nurses and midwives. It shows how analysis demonstrates that although nursing was slow to engage with the MDG agenda, it has made some progress in contributing to SDG scholarship. So far this contribution has been narrowly focused, but the profession could contribute to all 17 of the SDG goals. Routine updates of the analysis described here could help monitor progress, identify gaps in nursing's contributions to the goals, and provide further impetus to its engagement in this major global policy initiative.

  7. Developing an Assessment Framework for Affordable and Sustainable Housing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Pullen

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable housing has been subject to research, practice and policy making for some considerable time. More recently attention has been drawn to the separate problem of declining affordability in housing. This paper describes research aimed at developing an assessment framework for both affordability and sustainability as part of the effort to incorporate both of these features into new housing projects. The research has a particular focus on developments aimed at urban densification. Background literature on both affordability and sustainability is reviewed as well as emerging schemes aimed at dealing with both aspects of housing developments. Performance indicators are identified and these are incorporated in an interim assessment framework which is tested using a group of industry experts. The research has highlighted areas where further development is required to attain quantitative assessments of affordable and sustainable housing developments

  8. Sustainable Housing in the Urban Context: International Sustainable Development Indicator Sets and Housing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winston, Nessa; Pareja Eastaway, Montserrat

    2008-01-01

    Housing, an essential aspect of quality of life, is also significant for sustainable development (SD). All of the major international statements on SD refer to housing or settlement strategies. However, indicator sets derived from these statements often fail to include good indicators of sustainable housing. This article outlines the…

  9. Organizational Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Firms Listed by the Corporate Sustainability Index

    OpenAIRE

    Alamo Alexandre da Silva Batista; Antonio Carlos de Francisco

    2018-01-01

    Organizational sustainability (OS) has been guiding the decision-making process of managers in order to generate competitive advantage. This paper aims to identify the sustainable practices performed by large corporations in the implementation of OS. Reports with actions performed by large organizations and their reach in the three pillars of sustainability—environmental, economic, and social dimensions—are disclosed to their main stakeholders, based on short, medium and long-term sustainable...

  10. Policy Model of Sustainable Infrastructure Development (Case Study : Bandarlampung City, Indonesia)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persada, C.; Sitorus, S. R. P.; Marimin; Djakapermana, R. D.

    2018-03-01

    Infrastructure development does not only affect the economic aspect, but also social and environmental, those are the main dimensions of sustainable development. Many aspects and actors involved in urban infrastructure development requires a comprehensive and integrated policy towards sustainability. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate an infrastructure development policy that considers various dimensions of sustainable development. The main objective of this research is to formulate policy of sustainable infrastructure development. In this research, urban infrastructure covers transportation, water systems (drinking water, storm water, wastewater), green open spaces and solid waste. This research was conducted in Bandarlampung City. This study use a comprehensive modeling, namely the Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS) with Rapid Appraisal of Infrastructure (Rapinfra), it uses of Analytic Network Process (ANP) and it uses system dynamics model. The findings of the MDS analysis showed that the status of Bandarlampung City infrastructure sustainability is less sustainable. The ANP analysis produces 8 main indicators of the most influential in the development of sustainable infrastructure. The system dynamics model offered 4 scenarios of sustainable urban infrastructure policy model. The best scenario was implemented into 3 policies consist of: the integrated infrastructure management, the population control, and the local economy development.

  11. Towards Sustainable Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Silva, Victor

    2010-01-01

    GHG emissions can be reduced by shifting travel to a more efficient mode, which can be achieved by offering high quality public transport integrated to land use and density policies. However, there is a scarcity of efficient and low-cost alternatives to improve urban transport and tackle GHG emis......). The review highlights empirical evidence of the development and implementation of creative solutions, which integrate transport infrastructure, land use policies and street design strategies for fostering sustainable mobility and GHG emission reduction....

  12. Does the Sustainable PPI Investments Promote Financial Market’s Sustainable Development?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tong Fu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Since the late 1980s, most developing countries adopt a policy of attracting investments for Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI projects. With a perspective of sustainability, this paper offers a first attempt to examine whether the sustainable PPI investments promote financial market development. First, we demonstrate how the PPI policy enlargers the size of financial markets and then fosters the liquidity of financial markets in the static and dynamic conditions. Using the data from 33 developing countries during 1997–2012, we discover the significant promotion effect of PPI investments on the development of financial markets in the dimensions of size and liquidity. Additionally, we confirm the significant mediator effect of financial market size for the positive relationship between PPI investments and financial market liquidity. Both the promotion effect and mediation effect are robust to different control variables and estimation techniques used.

  13. Exergy energy, environment and sustainable development

    CERN Document Server

    Dincer, Ibrahim; Rosen, Marc A

    2007-01-01

    This book deals with exergy and its applications to various energy systems and applications as a potential tool for design, analysis and optimization, and its role in minimizing and/or eliminating environmental impacts and providing sustainable development. In this regard, several key topics ranging from the basics of the thermodynamic concepts to advanced exergy analysis techniques in a wide range of applications are covered as outlined in the contents. - Comprehensive coverage of exergy and its applications - Connects exergy with three essential areas in terms of energy, environment and sustainable development - Presents the most up-to-date information in the area with recent developments - Provides a number of illustrative examples, practical applications, and case studies - Easy to follow style, starting from the basics to the advanced systems.

  14. Empirical Study on the Indicators of Sustainable Performance – the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard, Effect of Strategic Organizational Change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Radu

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The sustainable organizational change has an ever increasing importance, leading to the rethinking of the management and systems of performance measurement and monitoring within the companies. As a reaction to current economic phenomena, in the first section of this work we tried to bring out the need for using the couple Balanced Scorecard - Corporate Social Responsibility by companies. Thus, companies involved in sustainable actions must grant a great importance to the impact of environmental, social and economic factors in providing added value, informing the interested parties and reflecting the reporting of sustainable performance. As a consequence, in the second part of the work we present the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard for the implementation of efficient strategies which cumulate the economic, social and environmental aspects as integrating system for sustainable performance and as a new challenge for organizational change. The key performance indicators included in the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard are quantified by the indicators of sustainable development, based on which the empirical research described in the third section of the work was achieved. Through the quantitative analysis of the economic and ecological indicators (Gross Domestic Product per capita, respective, Environmental Performance Index in correlation with the social indicator (Global Competitive Index, we conclude that the implementation of green strategies by companies leads to sustainable economic growth.

  15. Problematising Development in Sustainability: Epistemic Justice ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. ... justice in education for sustainable development (ESD) and presents alternative ... that global definitions of development cement the dominant hegemonic discourse .... constituted by collective community and ecological components, social responsibility becomes.

  16. National report on sustainable development of the Slovak Republic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klinda, J.; Kapustova, B.; Grofova, R.; Bognarova, S.; Fabricius, A.; Kapusta, P.; Parobok, M.; Havlikova, J.

    2002-01-01

    The National Report on sustainable development of the Slovak Republic is presented. This report on the Slovak Republic after the UNO Conference of Environment and development - Rio de Janeiro, 1992 was prepared for the Johannesburg World Summit on sustainable development (26 August - 4 September 2002)

  17. Nuclear energy in a sustainable development perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertel, E.; Wilmer, P.

    2001-01-01

    The characteristics of nuclear energy are reviewed and assessed from a sustainable development perspective highlighting key economic, environmental and social issues, challenges and opportunities relevant for energy policy making.. The analysis covers the potential role of nuclear energy in increasing the human and man-made capital assets of the world while preserving its natural and environmental resource assets as well as issues to be addressed in order to enhance the contribution of nuclear energy to sustainable development goals. (author)

  18. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development in Costa Rica

    OpenAIRE

    Buchsbaum, Bernardo Duha

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of the current issues facing ecotourism in Costa Rica; critically examine the impacts and challenges of ecotourism; analyze the potential of ecotourism as a strategy for sustainable development; look at ways in which ecotourism and sustainable development can be evaluated; and suggest ways to improve current ecotourism practices and policies for Costa Rica. What are the impacts and challenges of ecotourism? What are the possible benefits that...

  19. A revision of the revaluation index of Spanish pensions

    OpenAIRE

    Roch, Oriol; Bosch Príncep, Manuela; Morillo, Isabel; Vilalta de Miguel, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    This article reviews the methodological aspects of the revaluation index of Spanish pensions developed following Law 23/2013 which regulates the sustainability factor and revaluation index of the Social Security pension system. From a gradual breakdown of the elements that make up the revaluation index, an exposition is given of the formal and implementation problems it involves. Finally, an alternative model based on dynamic optimization techniques is proposed and its use is illustrated with...

  20. Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The): About ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The): About this journal. Journal Home > Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The): About this journal. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  1. Transnational multistakeholder partnerships for sustainable development: Conditions for success

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pattberg, P.H.; Widerberg, O.E.

    2016-01-01

    This perspective discusses nine conditions for enhancing the performance of multistakeholder partnerships for sustainable development. Such partnerships have become mainstream implementation mechanisms for attaining international sustainable development goals and are also frequently used in other

  2. Green materials for sustainable development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purwasasmita, B. S.

    2017-03-01

    Sustainable development is an integrity of multidiscipline concept combining ecological, social and economic aspects to construct a liveable human living system. The sustainable development can be support through the development of green materials. Green materials offers a unique characteristic and properties including abundant in nature, less toxic, economically affordable and versatility in term of physical and chemical properties. Green materials can be applied for a numerous field in science and technology applications including for energy, building, construction and infrastructures, materials science and engineering applications and pollution management and technology. For instance, green materials can be developed as a source for energy production. Green materials including biomass-based source can be developed as a source for biodiesel and bioethanol production. Biomass-based materials also can be transformed into advanced functionalized materials for advanced bio-applications such as the transformation of chitin into chitosan which further used for biomedicine, biomaterials and tissue engineering applications. Recently, cellulose-based material and lignocellulose-based materials as a source for the developing functional materials attracted the potential prospect for biomaterials, reinforcing materials and nanotechnology. Furthermore, the development of pigment materials has gaining interest by using the green materials as a source due to their unique properties. Eventually, Indonesia as a large country with a large biodiversity can enhance the development of green material to strengthen our nation competitiveness and develop the materials technology for the future.

  3. Sustainability assessment of turbofan engine with mixed exhaust through exergetic approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saadon, S.; Redzuan, M. S. Mohd

    2017-12-01

    In this study, the theory, methods and example application are described for a CF6 high-bypass turbofan engine with mixed exhaust flow based on exergo-sustainable point of view. To determine exergetic sustainability index, the turbofan engine has to undergo detailed exergy analysis. The sustainability indicators reviewed here are the overall exergy efficiency of the system, waste exergy ratio, exergy destruction factor, environmental effect factor and the exergetic sustainability index. The results obtained for these parameters are 26.9%, 73.1%, 38.6%, 2.72 and 0.37, respectively, for the maximum take-off condition of the engine. These results would be useful to better understand the connection between the propulsion system parameters and their impact to the environment in order to make it more sustainable for future development.

  4. National strategy of ecological transition towards sustainable development 2015-2020

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2014-05-01

    In 2015, the energy transition law for green growth is creating a momentum which removes obstacles, boosts initiatives and enables everyone to act. All stakeholders, local authorities, NGO's, businesses and citizens are gradually building a new social model that combines economic, ecological and human progress. Building on that momentum, the national strategy of ecological transition towards sustainable development (SNTEDD) 2015-2020 replaces the national sustainable development strategy 2010-2013 by setting us on a new path to sustainable development. The national strategy of ecological transition towards sustainable development ensures the consistency of public policies and facilitates people's ownership

  5. Sustainable Development of Food Safety

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fabech, B.; Georgsson, F.; Gry, Jørn

    to food safety - Strengthen efforts against zoonoses and pathogenic microorganisms - Strengthen safe food handling and food production in industry and with consumers - Restrict the occurrence of chemical contaminants and ensure that only well-examined production aids, food additives and flavours are used...... - Strengthen scientific knowledge of food safety - Strengthen consumer knowledge The goals for sustainable development of food safety are listed from farm to fork". All of the steps and areas are important for food safety and consumer protection. Initiatives are needed in all areas. Many of the goals...... in other areas. It should be emphasized that an indicator will be an excellent tool to assess the efficacy of initiatives started to achieve a goal. Conclusions from the project are: - Sustainable development in food safety is important for humanity - Focus on the crucial goals would optimize the efforts...

  6. Nuclear Power and Sustainable Development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-04-01

    Any discussion of 21st century energy trends must take into account the global energy imbalance. Roughly 1.6 billion people still lack access to modern energy services, and few aspects of development - whether related to living standards, health care or industrial productivity - can take place without the requisite supply of energy. As we look to the century before us, the growth in energy demand will be substantial, and 'connecting the unconnected' will be a key to progress. Another challenge will be sustainability. How can we meet these growing energy needs without creating negative side effects that could compromise the living environment of future generations? Nuclear power is not a 'fix-all' option. It is a choice that has a place among the mix of solutions, and expectations for the expanding use of nuclear power are rising. In addition to the growth in demand, these expectations are driven by energy security concerns, nuclear power's low greenhouse gas emissions, and the sustained strong performance of nuclear plants. Each country must make its own energy choices; one size does not fit all. But for those countries interested in making nuclear power part of their sustainable development strategies, it is important that the nuclear power option be kept open and accessible

  7. [Socioenvironmental dilemmas of sustainable development].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, H D

    1992-01-01

    The literature on sustainable development published in advance of the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro, focuses on the social politics of the environment and the problems of the correlation of population and the environment. There is an intense preoccupation with the Brazilian environmental agenda and excessive treatment of topics related to the natural environment and the tropical forest of the Amazon. The fact that 75% of the Brazilian population lives in urban areas is ignored. Some works maintain that there is profound division between the conservators of the contemporary predatory and wasteful civilization and those progressive forces that point to the direction of a socially just and ecologically sustainable civilization. Issues that cannot be reduced to environmental questions have come into the forefront in recent years: race, gender, human rights, and pacifism. The question of population growth and pressure on the finite resources have also forcefully featured in debates. The sociology of environment submits that the contemporary civilization cannot be sustained in the medium or long term because of exponential population growth, spatial concentration of the population, depletion of natural resources, systems of production that utilized polluting technologies and low energy efficiency, and values that encourage unlimited material consumption.

  8. Nuclear and sustainable development; Nucleaire et developpement durable

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Audebert, P.; Balle, St.; Barandas, Ch.; Basse-Cathalinat, B.; Bellefontaine, E.; Bernard, H.; Bouhand, M.H.; Bourg, D.; Bourgoignon, F.; Bourlat, Y.; Brunet, F.; Buclet, N.; Buquet, N.; Caron, P.; Cartier, M.; Chagneau, E.; Charles, D.; Chateau, G.; Collette, P.; Collignon, A.; Comtesse, Ch.; Crammer, B.; Dasnias, J.; Decroix, G.; Defoy, B.; Delafontaine, E.; Delcroix, V.; Delerue, X.; Demet, M.; Dimmers, G.; Dodivers, S.; Dubigeon, O.; Eimer, M.; Fadin, H.; Foos, J.; Ganiage, D.; Garraud, J.; Girod, J.P.; Gourod, A.; Goussot, D.; Guignard, C.; Heloury, J.; Hondermarck, B.; Hurel, S.; Jeandron, C.; Josse, A.; Lagon, Ch.; Lalleron, Ch.; Laurent, M.; Legrand, H.; Leveau, E

    2006-07-01

    On September 15. and 16., 2004, at Rene Delcourt invitation, President of the C.L.I. of Paluel and Penly, took place the 4. colloquium of the A.N.C.L.I.. Jean Dasnias, new President of the C.L.I., welcomed the colloquium. Hundred of persons participated. The place of the nuclear power in the energy perspectives of tomorrow, its assets and its weaknesses in front of the other energies and within the framework of a sustainable development, are so many subjects which were discussed. The different tackled subjects are: the stakes in the sustainable development; energy perspectives; the reactors of the fourth generation; nuclear power and transparency; sustainable development and I.R.S.N. (N.C.)

  9. Research and development portfolio of the sustainability science team national sustainable operations USDA Forest Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trista Patterson; David Nicholls; Jonathan Long

    2015-01-01

    The Sustainability Science Team (SST) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Sustainable Operations Initiative is a 18-member virtual research and development team, located across five regions and four research stations of the USDA Forest Service. The team provides research, publication, systems analysis, and decision support to the Sustainable...

  10. Assessing the global sustainability of different electricity generation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cartelle Barros, Juan José; Lara Coira, Manuel; Cruz López, María Pilar de la; Caño Gochi, Alfredo del

    2015-01-01

    A model is presented for assessing the global sustainability of power plants. It uses requirement trees, value functions and the analytic hierarchy process. The model consists of 27 parameters and makes it possible to obtain a sustainability index for each conventional or renewable energy plant, throughout its life-cycle. Here the aim is to make society aware of the sustainability level for each type of power system. As a result, decision making can be done with greater objectivity in both the public and private sectors. The model can be useful for engineers, researchers and, in general, decision makers in the energy policy field. With the exception of biomass fuels, the results obtained reinforce the idea that renewable energies make a greater contribution to sustainable development than their conventional counterparts. Renewable energies have a sustainability index that varies between 0.39 and 0.80; 0 and 1 being the lowest and highest contribution to sustainability, respectively. On the other hand, conventional power plants obtained results that fall between 0.29 and 0.57. High temperature solar-thermal plants, wind farms, photovoltaic solar plants and mini-hydroelectric power plants occupy the first four places, in this order. - Highlights: • A model for assessing the integral sustainability of power plants is proposed. • Different energy alternatives are ordered according to sustainability criteria. • Except for biomass, renewable energies contribute more to sustainable development. • The model aids the decision making process in the energy policy field

  11. Sustainable Industrial Development Programmes of International ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    However, more insightful corporate entrepreneurship programmes with improved infrastructural and electric power facilities should be encouraged. Increasing support to firms through diverse channels would boost rapid economic development of the sub region. Key words: Sustainable programmes, economic development, ...

  12. Sustainable Development and High Level Waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jensen, Mikael [Swedish Radiation Protection Inst., Stockholm (Sweden)

    2001-07-01

    Sustainable development, defined by the BrundtIand Commission as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs', relates to a number of issues such as population, health, food, species and ecosystems, energy, industrial development, urbanization, societal issues and economy, and how these global challenges could be met within a long term strategy. It is not obvious how the principle may be applied to final disposal of radioactive waste, but the global scope of the principle suggests that no sector in society should be exempted from scrutinizing its practices in the light of the challenge presented by sustainable development. Waste management, as pointed out by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP, cannot be seen as a free standing practice in need of its own justification. The produced waste cannot be seen separately from the other components of nuclear production. However, the existence of very long-lived radioactive nuclei in the spent fuel warrants a careful examination of this subpractice. Health based post-closure criteria or standards for long-lived waste, usually make use of the concept of partitioning dose limit. ICRP recommends that individuals in the public do not receive a yearly dose in excess of 1 mSv as a result of releases in connection with activities involving the use of ionising radiation, and that any single facility does not generate a dose burden to individuals in excess of a fraction of this value. For an operating facility, this fraction is normally at least a factor of three. By definition, operational changes are not possible for a closed repository. It follows from this that the partitioning has another function. One interpretation is that it can allow for the simultaneous use and burdens of future generation's activities. Both the Swedish and the proposed US criteria and from EPA and NRC, as well as standards from

  13. Sustainable Development and High Level Waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jensen, Mikael

    2001-01-01

    Sustainable development, defined by the BrundtIand Commission as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs', relates to a number of issues such as population, health, food, species and ecosystems, energy, industrial development, urbanization, societal issues and economy, and how these global challenges could be met within a long term strategy. It is not obvious how the principle may be applied to final disposal of radioactive waste, but the global scope of the principle suggests that no sector in society should be exempted from scrutinizing its practices in the light of the challenge presented by sustainable development. Waste management, as pointed out by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP, cannot be seen as a free standing practice in need of its own justification. The produced waste cannot be seen separately from the other components of nuclear production. However, the existence of very long-lived radioactive nuclei in the spent fuel warrants a careful examination of this subpractice. Health based post-closure criteria or standards for long-lived waste, usually make use of the concept of partitioning dose limit. ICRP recommends that individuals in the public do not receive a yearly dose in excess of 1 mSv as a result of releases in connection with activities involving the use of ionising radiation, and that any single facility does not generate a dose burden to individuals in excess of a fraction of this value. For an operating facility, this fraction is normally at least a factor of three. By definition, operational changes are not possible for a closed repository. It follows from this that the partitioning has another function. One interpretation is that it can allow for the simultaneous use and burdens of future generation's activities. Both the Swedish and the proposed US criteria and from EPA and NRC, as well as standards from Canada, UK and

  14. Sustainable development - the potential contribution of nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bourdier, Jean-Pierre; Barre, Bertrand; Durret, Louis-Francois

    1998-01-01

    Sustainable development combines development, durability and sustainability. Energy is crucial for development: it brings work, nutrition, health, security, community, etc. Electrical energy offers the most possibilities for the consumer, particularly as regards the problems of pollution on the site of consumption. Nuclear generation is one of the best ways of producing electricity. Midway between stock energies and flow energies, it has several advantages: low consumption of resources, safety, compactness and cleanliness. Waste is not a specifically nuclear problem: it should be considered in terms of a life cycle analysis; construction, dismantling and functioning have to be assessed. The size of certain energies' contribution to the greenhouse effect is therefore made clear. Reprocessing represents a saving of energy, without environmental or health damage. It contributes to energy control, and therefore to sustainable development

  15. Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education Institutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    César Tapia-Fonllem

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The role that higher education plays in the promotion of sustainable development outstands in the declarations on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD, besides being a research priority in higher education. However, few studies exist that evaluate sustainable lifestyles among university students. The aim of this study was to analyze the mission and vision, processes and actions undertaken to promote sustainability in higher education institutions, and to compare the pro-sustainability orientation (PSO reported by 360 students coursing first or last semesters at college. The study was intended to evaluate the influence that four higher education institutions in Sonora, Mexico, have on students’ PSO. Results of the study indicate that a coherent PSO factor emerges from the interrelations among pro-environmental dispositional and behavioral variables reported by students. However, university programs and actions do not produce statistically significant differences between freshmen and senior students. Possible reasons explaining the lack of positive influence of those universities on students’ PSO are discussed.

  16. PENERAPAN PRINSIP SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PADA PERANCANGAN PONDOK PESANTREN ENTERPRENEUR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Achmad Siddiq Annur

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Unhealthy competition among economic actors, and exploitation of natural resources without preservation,caused a complicated problem in the community. Poor-quality education, especially in moral and religiouseducation, to be one of the causes of these problems. Therefore, the existence of boarding school as aneducational institution based on Islam is expected to be a solution to decline moral values and religion in thisnation. Through a combination of formal and religious education at a boarding school will provide a strongmental training for the formation of individual intelligent and noble. In addition, a boarding school with speechentrepreneurship curriculum in the education system, can provide an added value to the institution.Prospective employers are responsible for each other and the environment, and economic actors are honestand committed. Entrepreneur Boarding can be part of an effort to maintain the sustainability of resources,both natural and human resources. Sustainable development, as the purpose of the object, is a theme thatdescribes every aspect of the design object. Sustainable development has three principles of sustainability; thenatural environment sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. Starting from the planningof design, the building process, until the use of the building, always accompanied by the consideration of thethree aspects of sustainability. Through the application of sustainable development as the design theme of theboarding school entrepreneurs will produce buildings that are environmentally and socially friendly, in additionto continue to provide investment for owners, users, and the surrounding community.

  17. Sustainable Development of Geothermal Industry in China: An Overview

    OpenAIRE

    Xu Bang; Li Menggang; Pi Xiyu

    2016-01-01

    With a wide distribution, large reserves, low cost, sustainable energy use and environmental protection and other unparalleled advantages, geothermal energy resources is important for China’s energy structure adjustment, energy conservation and environment improvement. Currently, geothermal utilization in China is still in its infancy, and Sustainable Development of the geothermal industry is also having a lot of problems. In this paper, the current research on sustainable development of geot...

  18. Business models for sustainable energy development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kolk, A.; van den Buuse, D.

    2013-01-01

    Business-led approaches to accessing energy in development countries are becoming key factors to sustainable market development. Given the major challenges in this market, companies will blend commercial and donor-funded activities, while simultaneously finding innovative ways to bring renewable

  19. Biodiversity Change and Sustainable Development: New Perspectives

    OpenAIRE

    Tisdell, Clement A.

    2012-01-01

    Biodiversity is usually regarded as an asset or resource, the stock of which is partly natural and partly determined by humans. Humans both subtract from and add to this stock and consequently, the change in the stock is heterogeneous. This heterogeneity is not taken account of by some authors who focus only on the loss aspect. Frequently, the conservation of this stock is seen as important for the achievement of sustainable development; sustainable development being defined (but not always a...

  20. FOREN 2004. Sustainable Energy Development and European Integration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iancu Iulian

    2004-01-01

    The 7th Regional Energy Forum- FOREN 2004 with the main topic 'Sustainable Energy Development and European Integration' took place in Neptun-Olimp, on 13th to 17th June 2004. The event was organized by WEC Romanian National Committee, under the auspices of the World Energy Council (WEC). The event was accompanied by several related manifestation as: An up to date Technical Programme designed to explore key issues concerning the ability of the Romanian energy industry to integrate in the European Union; An Exhibition providing first hand access to service and equipment providers; A Partnership Programme, to present the achievements and developments of power companies in round tables, film projections, technical visits and advertising; Social events giving to participants the opportunity to establish direct connections with the Romanian colleagues. The Forum was open to members of the World Energy Council, energy industry leaders, government ministers and officials, heads of international organizations like: UNECE, EC, IEA, Eurelectric, IGU, EUROgas, USAID, academics, media, individual and corporate members interested in sustainable energy development. For further details concerning the agenda and registration. Forum 2004 was structured on five sections each containing a key issue a panel session, communication session and poster presentation on the following items: 1. Energy legislation and institutional framework; 2. The technological dimension of sustainable energy; 3. The ecological dimension of sustainable development; 4. The social dimension of sustainable development; 5. The power equipment manufacturing industry

  1. The United Nations development programme initiative for sustainable energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hurry, S.

    1997-12-01

    Energy is central to current concerns about sustainable human development, affecting economic and social development; economic growth, the local, national, regional, and global environment; the global climate; a host of social concerns, including poverty, population, and health, the balance of payments, and the prospects for peace. Energy is not an end in itself, but rather the means to achieve the goals of sustainable human development. The energy systems of most developing countries are in serious crisis involving insufficient levels of energy services, environmental degradation, inequity, poor technical and financial performance, and capital scarcity. Approximately 2.5 billion people in the developing countries have little access to commercial energy supplies. Yet the global demand for energy continues to grow: total primary energy is projected to grow from 378 exajoules (EJ) per year in 1990 to 571 EJ in 2020, and 832 EJ in 2050. If this increase occurs using conventional approaches and energy sources, already serious local (e.g., indoor and urban air pollution), regional (eg., acidification and land degradation), and global (e.g., climate change) environmental problems will be critically aggravated. There is likely to be inadequate capital available for the needed investments in conventional energy sources. Current approaches to energy are thus not sustainable and will, in fact, make energy a barrier to socio-economic development. What is needed now is a new approach in which energy becomes an instrument for sustainable development. The two major components of a sustainable energy strategy are (1) more efficient energy use, especially at the point of end-use, and (2) increased use of renewable sources of energy. The UNDP Initiative for Sustainable Energy (UNISE) is designed to harness opportunities in these areas to build upon UNDP`s existing energy activities to help move the world toward a more sustainable energy strategy by helping program countries.

  2. A case study for sustainable development action using financial gradients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bose, Arnab; Ramji, Aditya; Singh, Jarnail; Dholakia, Dhairya

    2012-01-01

    Energy access is critical for sustainable development and therefore financing energy access is a necessity. The key is whether to focus on grants or public finance for sustainable development projects or move to a more diffused financing mechanism, involving investment grade financing sources like debt and equity. In other words, financing sustainable development action via grants is becoming a constraint. To address this constraint, it is important to consider the relationship between the nature and sources of financial flows. The concept of ‘financial gradients’ emerged while analysing the financial and business strategy developed for Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) campaign. This paper espouses the idea of ‘financial gradients’ which is a potential financial mechanism for sustainable development action. Financial gradients, can contribute in three different ways—first, as an approach to analyse financial flows in projects; second, as a tool to generate a single, long term and stable inflow of finance; third, as a financial mechanism to help in creating long term strategies to sustain projects. This paper will concentrate on financial gradients as a potential approach to analyse financial flows in a sustainable development programme. - Highlights: ► Financial stability is a key challenge for sustainable development programmes. ► Development action via public funds is limited, need for investment grade finance. ► Need to understand financial flows with relation to nature and sources of finance. ► Financial gradients is an innovative tool for ensuring health of programmes.

  3. Empowering Women in Agricultural Education for Sustainable Rural Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ugbomeh, George M. M.

    2001-01-01

    Discusses the concepts of agricultural education, women empowerment, and sustainable rural development. Suggests that, because women make up more than half of Nigeria's population, their empowerment would assist the efforts for sustainable rural development. (Contains 48 references.) (JOW)

  4. Can the Clean Development Mechanism attain both cost-effectiveness and sustainable development objectives?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolshus, Hans H; Vevatne, Jonas; Torvanger, Asbjoern; Aunan, Kristin

    2001-06-01

    The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), as defined in the Kyoto Protocol, has two objectives: to promote sustainable development in host developing countries, and to improve global cost-effectiveness by assisting developed countries in meeting their Kyoto targets. The aim of this paper is to explore the background of the CDM and discuss to what extent its current design allows it to achieve its dual objective. The first part of the paper is a literature review that includes descriptions of the flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol; the CDM's market potential, and the issues of cost-effectiveness and sustainable development. In the second part of the paper, we discuss to what extent there is a conflict between cost-effectiveness and sustain ability, and whether the two objectives of the CDM can be achieved simultaneously. We develop a set of indicators to evaluate non-carbon benefits of CDM projects on the environment, development, and. equity, and show how these indicators can be used in practice by looking at case studies of CDM project candidates in the energy sector from Brazil and China. We demonstrate that for some CDM projects there is a trade-off between cost-effectiveness, in terms of a low quota price, and a high score on sustain ability indicators. We have reason to believe that the size of the CDM market in some studies is over-estimated since transaction costs and the challenge of promoting sustainable development are not fully accounted for. Also, we find that the proposed set of indicators can be a necessary tool to assure that sustain ability impacts of CDM projects are taken into consideration. (author)

  5. Can the Clean Development Mechanism attain both cost-effectiveness and sustainable development objectives?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kolshus, Hans H; Vevatne, Jonas; Torvanger, Asbjoern; Aunan, Kristin

    2001-06-01

    The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), as defined in the Kyoto Protocol, has two objectives: to promote sustainable development in host developing countries, and to improve global cost-effectiveness by assisting developed countries in meeting their Kyoto targets. The aim of this paper is to explore the background of the CDM and discuss to what extent its current design allows it to achieve its dual objective. The first part of the paper is a literature review that includes descriptions of the flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol; the CDM's market potential, and the issues of cost-effectiveness and sustainable development. In the second part of the paper, we discuss to what extent there is a conflict between cost-effectiveness and sustain ability, and whether the two objectives of the CDM can be achieved simultaneously. We develop a set of indicators to evaluate non-carbon benefits of CDM projects on the environment, development, and. equity, and show how these indicators can be used in practice by looking at case studies of CDM project candidates in the energy sector from Brazil and China. We demonstrate that for some CDM projects there is a trade-off between cost-effectiveness, in terms of a low quota price, and a high score on sustain ability indicators. We have reason to believe that the size of the CDM market in some studies is over-estimated since transaction costs and the challenge of promoting sustainable development are not fully accounted for. Also, we find that the proposed set of indicators can be a necessary tool to assure that sustain ability impacts of CDM projects are taken into consideration. (author)

  6. Coaching bioethically with the purpose of achieving sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Striedinger-Meléndez, Martha Patricia

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The present article analyzes the problematic of teaching and learning bioethics in the context of higher education, with an emphasis in medicine and aiming towards sustainable development. The objective is to expose that one of the alternatives to get to know bioethics in higher education institutions, is to coach each community bioethically. This means that the educator must be a role model for the students: not only teaching, but, living bioethically. In the beginning, it makes reference to the general aspects of bioethics and sustainable development to explain the evolution of these concepts, its situation in the present and the challenges of the future. Further, it focuses on the methodological strategies in the process of educating bio ethically, directed in leading students of higher education institutions with the purpose of achieving sustainable development. Yet, not achieving it in a traditional manner, since sustainable development also refers to wellbeing. Thus, coaching bioethically, which improves the way society functions. The conclusion is that institutions must give educators and students the tools for problem solving the priorities of humanity, such sustainable development. This can be achieved through bioethics.

  7. Sustaining China's electricity market development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Yang; Yu, Zichao; Ngan, H.W.; Tan, Zhongfu

    2014-01-01

    China's 12th Five-Year Plan addresses new challenges and sets new goals in the country's power sector. The structure of power generation development is to be optimised to properly balance coal transportation and power transmission. The controversy over the direction of grid transmission and distribution is also to be reconciled. The Plan puts forward specific requirements for energy conservation, developing clean energy, optimising the production of coal-fired electricity, rationalising the allocation of peak power, developing distributed energy and constructing a strong smart grid. It also strongly advocates renewable and other forms of clean energy resources. Considering all the above goals and requirements, it is necessary for China to adjust its blueprint for electricity market development by fine-tuning the original market-oriented reform momentum. This paper aims to design a policy framework for this and discusses how China should develop policies and strategies to meet these requirements and achieve these goals. Examples of compatible international experiences illustrate how China can secure a sustainable energy future. - Highlights: • This paper analyses the electricity market development in China. • Sustainable electricity market development strategies are identified in the paper. • A five-goal policy framework is established for sustaining China's EMD

  8. Environmental Disclosure of Electric Power Companies Listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clésia Ana Gubiani

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The study aimed to verify the level of disclosure of environmental information in the administration reports of the energy companies listed in the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI. A descriptive and quantitative research was done, using the content analysis technique on the administration reports from 2006 to 2008. The sample consisted of 11 electric power companies listed in the CSI. For quantitative analysis of the disclosure index, the data collection instrument was based on the study of Rover, Murcia and Borba (2008, which proposes eight environmental categories and 36 subcategories. For the whole analysis of the data were elaborated networks of the items disclosed in each company, using the software UNICET ®. The survey results showed that there is satisfactory disclosure in the categories of environmental policies and education, training and research environment. However, it was found that there is need for greater disclosure of categories of products impacts and processes in the environment, power polices and financial environmental information. It was concluded that the information disclosed in the administration reports of the companies surveyed about the environmental information do not respect the principle of full disclosure.

  9. A Mathematical Programming Approach to the Optimal Sustainable Product Mix for the Process Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noha M. Galal

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The increasing concerns about the environment and the depletion of natural resources are the main drivers for the growing interest in sustainability. Manufacturing operations are frequently considered to have an adverse effect on the environment. Hence, the sustainable operation of manufacturing facilities is a vital practice to ensure sustainability. The aim of this paper is to find the optimum product mix of a manufacturing facility to maximize its sustainability. A mixed integer non-linear programming model is developed to specify the product mix in order to maximize a proposed sustainability index (SI of a manufacturing facility. The sustainability index comprises the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainability in a weighted form using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP. The model results allow the identification of the prospective improvements of manufacturing sustainability.

  10. Wind energy for a sustainable development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karagali, Ioanna; Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Sempreviva, Anna Maria

    2014-01-01

    of both the wind energy related research activities and the wind energy industry, as installed capacity has been increasing in most of the developed and developing countries. The DTU Wind Energy department carries the heritage of the Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy by leading the research......Wind energy is on the forefront of sustainable technologies related to the production of electricity from green sources that combine the efficiency of meeting the demand for growth and the ethical responsibility for environmental protection. The last decades have seen an unprecedented growth...... developments in all sectors related to planning, installing and operating modern wind farms at land and offshore. With as many as 8 sections the department combines specialists at different thematic categories, ranging from meteorology, aeroelastic design and composite materials to electrical grids and test...

  11. SUSTAINABILITY AS A STRATEGY OF RESPONSIBLE AND COMPETITIVE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José G. Vargas-Hernández

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to analyze a competitiveness strategy based on sustainability to lead the way to a model of responsible and competitive development. The analysis takes as its starting point the assumption that the maturity of a sustainable business strategy positively affects competitiveness. The used method is the critical analysis. Among other results of this analysis concludes that the current business strategy seeks a system ecologically appropriate, economically viable and socially fair to reach sustainable equilibrium. This strategy based on sustainability must be promoted by the institutions and strengthened by the capabilities and resources that each company counts on to develop advantages to foster the overall development and achieve the maximization of benefits from the tangible and intangible perspectives

  12. Implementation of sustainable energy programs in developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spitalnik, J.

    2001-01-01

    Energy, a major contributor to development, is an essential element for increasing quality of life. During the next decades, the developing world will experience an explosive increase of energy demand, requiring enormous efforts and ingenuity to be fully satisfied. Delays may create public frustration for not achieving paradigm levels of quality of life, giving eventually rise to serious pressures on governments. The concept of sustainable energy options for development cannot be analyzed under the same prism in developed and developing countries. The relative degree of a country development should be introduced when setting up the path to sustainable development. (author)

  13. Ensuring Sustainable Development through Urban Planning in Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Qasim

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Urban planning includes land use management and environmental change. It makes arrangement for community facilities and services. Since, sustainable development has been included as a vital end product of all planning goals it also provides for balanced use of land, housing and transportation and better quality of life. Present urban planning in Pakistan is not ensuring sustainable development in Pakistan. This is tested through the case study of master planning in Rawalpindi and its implementation through housing schemes in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Large portions of provisions of master plans are not implemented. This paper explains how the urban planning will be made enabled to ensure sustainable development in Pakistan. Six numbers of housing schemes and two squatter settlements have been surveyed through questionnaires, secondary data, the opinions of the experts from related fields and site observations. Amenities and social services at far distance, very less green area, Less quantity and bad quality of water, absence of comprehensive solid waste management and sewage disposal system and nontreatment of solid waste, effluent and sewage, prevalent unhygienic conditions and air and water pollution are the existing factors effecting the sustainability. There is a need to revisit the urban planning and a comprehensive Urban and Environment Planning Law at national level and at provincial level is recommended to enable the urban planning to ensure the sustainable development in Pakistan

  14. Ensuring sustainable development through urban planing in pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qasim, M.; Zaidi, S.S.U.

    2013-01-01

    Urban planning includes land use management and environmental change. It makes arrangement for community facilities and services. Since, sustainable development has been included as a vital end product of all planning goals it also provides for balanced use of land, housing and transportation and better quality of life. Present urban planning in Pakistan is not ensuring sustainable development in Pakistan. This is tested through the case study of master planning in Rawalpindi and its implementation through housing schemes in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Large portions of provisions of master plans are not implemented. This paper explains how the urban planning will be made enabled to ensure sustainable development in Pakistan. Six numbers of housing schemes and two squatter settlements have been surveyed through questionnaires, secondary data, the opinions of the experts from related fields and site observations. Amenities and social services at far distance, very less green area, Less quantity and bad quality of water, absence of comprehensive solid waste management and sewage disposal system and non- treatment of solid waste, effluent and sewage, prevalent unhygienic conditions and air and water pollution are the existing factors effecting the sustainability. There is a need to revisit the urban planning and a comprehensive Urban and Environment Planning Law at national level and at provincial level is recommended to enable the urban planning to ensure the sustainable development in Pakistan. (author)

  15. Developing a Decision Model of Sustainable Product Design and Development from Product Servicizing in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yu-Chen; Tu, Jui-Che; Hung, So-Jeng

    2016-01-01

    In response to the global trend of low carbon and the concept of sustainable development, enterprises need to develop R&D for the manufacturing of energy-saving and sustainable products and low carbon products. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to construct a decision model for sustainable product design and development from product…

  16. Indicator report. Danmark's national strategy for sustainable development: a shared future - balanced development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-08-01

    The Danish vision of sustainable development is based on eight objectives and principles: 1) The welfare society must be developed and economic growth must be decoupled from environmental impacts. 2) There must be a safe and healthy environment for everyone, and we must maintain a high level of protection. 3) We must secure a high degree of bio-diversity and protect ecosystems. 4) Resources must be used more efficiently. 5) We must take action at an international level 6) Environmental considerations must be taken into account in all sectors. 7) The market must support sustainable development. 8) Sustainable development is a shared responsibility and we must measure progress. (au)

  17. Cities in the global South and the Sustainable Development Goals

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Sustainable development recently topped the global agenda again when, on 25 September 2015, the UN adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including SDG 11 on cities: 'Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.' Though heralded with pomp and pageantry, in reality the relevance of cities to ...

  18. Creating Sustainable Societies: Developing Emerging Professionals through Transforming Current Mindsets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griswold, Wendy

    2017-01-01

    Future professionals will bear the brunt of creating sustainable societies. Equipping them for the task is the challenge of current educators. Educational experiences facilitating the development of sustainable habits of mind are needed. This research reports on the experiences of developing scientists and engineers engaged in a sustainable energy…

  19. An Integrated Sustainable Business and Development System: Thoughts and Opinions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel J. C. Chen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Companies understand the importance of monitoring and managing their environmental impacts and aim to integrate, with consistent quality control, effective reduce-reuse-recycle programs and risk preventions. By building an integrated sustainable business and development system to meet certain environmental standards, many companies are eligible to be “green” certified. Companies may consider recognizing global visions on sustainability while implementing local best practices. An integrated sustainable business and development system includes talent management, sustainable supply chain, practicing strategies of leveraging resources effectively, implementing social responsibilities, initiating innovative programs of recycling, reducing, and reusing, advancing leaders’ perceptions towards sustainability, reducing innovation barriers, and engaging sustainable practices strategically.

  20. Scenario analysis for sustainable development of Chongming Island: water resources sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Xiong; Wu, Yanqing; Wu, Jun; Lu, Jian; Wilson, P Chris

    2012-11-15

    With the socioeconomic and urban development of Chongming Island (the largest alluvial island in the world), water demand is rapidly growing. To make adjustments to the water utilization structure of each industry, allocate limited water resources, and increase local water use efficiency, this study performed a scenario analysis for the water sustainability of Chongming Island. Four different scenarios were performed to assess the water resource availability by 2020. The growth rate for water demand will be much higher than that of water supply under a serious situation prediction. The water supply growth volume will be 2.22 × 10(8)m(3) from 2010 to 2020 under Scenario I and Scenario II while the corresponding water demand growth volume will be 2.74 × 10(8)m(3) and 2.64 × 10(8)m(3), respectively. There will be a rapid growth in water use benefit under both high and low development modes. The water use benefit will be about 50 CNY/m(3) under Scenarios I and II in 2020. The production structure will need to be adjusted for sustainable utilization of water resources. Sewage drainage but not the forest and grass coverage rate will be a major obstacle to future development and environmental quality. According to a multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, Scenario II is finally deemed to be the most desirable plan, suggesting that the policy of rapid socioeconomic development and better environmental protection may achieve the most sustainable development of Chongming Island in the future. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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