This book examines the mechanisms and strategies farmers in North Australia adopt to manage the setbacks and challenges they face. This social research is based on farmers' experiences, but also draws on the author's own experience after his tropical fruit farm was destroyed by two Category 5 cyclones in five years. Through historical analysis, the book compares historic and contemporary aspirations for northern development, and discusses the influence of the built environment on individuals as well as access to health and other social services. Exploring the implications of individual resilience strategies for policy development within the broader context of northern development and evolving environmental governance, the book also highlights the fact that this is occurring in a new geological epoch - the Anthropocene. The book will provide a unique perspective and understanding to government, individuals and industries interested in northern Australia and its relationship to the world

This first volume on detox fashion discusses various interesting topics including a Toxic-Free Supply Chain for Textiles and Clothing; Environmental Issues in Textiles; Global Regulations, Restrictions & Research; Making the Change: Consumer Adoption of Sustainable Fashion; and Strategies for Detoxing Your Wardrobe. It provides an overview of the chemical-related issues confronting the fashion sector, summarizes global regulations, and discusses how to make the change by changing consumers' attitude towards adopting sustainable fashion, as well as the best strategies for detoxing our wardrobes.

The book presents a broad overview of emerging smart grid technologies and communication systems, offering a helpful guide for future research in the field of electrical engineering and communication engineering. It explores recent advances in several computing technologies and their performance evaluation, and addresses a wide range of topics, such as the essentials of smart grids for fifth generation (5G) communication systems. It also elaborates the role of emerging communication systems such as 5G, internet of things (IoT), IEEE 802.15.4 and cognitive radio networks in smart grids. The book includes detailed surveys and case studies on current trends in smart grid systems and communications for smart metering and monitoring, smart grid energy storage systems, modulations and waveforms for 5G networks. As such, it will be of interest to practitioners and researchers in the field of smart grid and communication infrastructures alike.

The book focuses on food security highlighting the role of indigenous knowledge and scientific research in addressing the plight of poor small-scale agricultural producers. Rapidly growing global population and global policies and management governing sustainability, hunger, food security and poverty alleviation are discussed. Additionally, impacts of probable climate change, research on land productivity and performance of dependable food crops i.e. cassava and pearl millet are discussed. Analyzed in great detail are roles of small stock, urban/peri-urban agriculture and advantages of climate-smart agriculture and participatory research in enhancing food security of the small-scale agricultural producers in Southern Africa.

This book discusses the connection between fast fashion brands and customer-centric sustainability. It highlights what consumers can do with fast fashion and the important aspects that need to be addressed to make fast fashion sustainable. Fast fashion is an inevitable element in today's fashion business cycle and its adverse impacts on sustainable fashion are a major issue.

This book describes approaches, opinions, and concepts for new and emerging solutions and technologies that could be successfully applied in the configuration, optimization and management of supply networks in the highly volatile environment of today's global economy. It features numerous case studies and quantitative research from different sectors and different countries. The authors, which include academics and managers alike, present tips on technical, organizational, financial and social aspects of implementing the new SMART solution. Dynamic and changing market conditions have made it necessary for companies to act in networks to maintain their competitive position. Accordingly, they have to adapt their own actions to those of other market players, which requires a SMART attitude: today's supply networks need to be Sustainable, Modern, Adaptive, Robust and innovative Technology-oriented. For example, this concerns making decisions about the extent to which a business model should be green or lean. In turn, these decisions impact logistics, IT, environmental issues and co-operation between suppliers, customers, competitors, and complementors.

This book pursues a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach in order to analyze the relationship between water and food security. It demonstrates that most of the world's economies lack sufficient water resources to secure their populations' food requirements and are thus virtual importers of water. One of the most inspiring cases, which this book is rooted in, is Italy: the third largest net virtual water importer on earth. The book also shows that the sustainability of water depends on the extent to which societies recognize and take into account its value and contribution to agricultural production. Due to the large volumes of water required for food production, water and food security are in fact inextricably linked. Contributions from leading international experts and scholars in the field use the concepts of virtual water and water footprints to explain this relationship, with an eye to the empirical examples of wine, tomato and pasta production in Italy. This book provides a valuable resource for all researchers, professionals, policymakers and everyone else interested in water and food security.

Fungal nanobionics has great prospects for developing new products with industrial, agriculture, medicine and consumer applications in a wide range of sectors. The fields of chemical engineering, agri-food, biochemical, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical device development all employ fungal products, with fungal nanomaterials currently used in a wide range of applications, ranging from drug development to food industry and agricultural sector. The fungal agents emerge as an environmentally friendly, clean, non-toxic agent for the biogenic metal nanoparticles and employs both intracellular and extracellular methods. The simplicity of scaling up and downstream processing and the presence of fungal mycelia affording an increased surface area provide key advantages. In addition, the larger spectrum of synthesized nanoparticle morphologies and the substantially faster biosynthesis rate in cell-free filtrate (due to the higher amount of proteins secreted in fungi) make this a particularly enticing route. Understanding the diversity of fungi in assorted ecosystems, as well as their interactions with other microorganisms, animals and plants, is essential to underpin real and innovative technological developments and the applications of metal nanoparticles in many disciplines including agriculture, catalysis, and biomedical biosensors. Importantly, biogenic fungal nanoparticles show significant synergistic characteristics when combined with antibiotics and fungicides to offer substantially greater resistance to microbial growth and applications in nanomedicine ranging from topical ointments and bandages for wound healing to coated stents.

This book proposes an integrated approach to sustainability reporting, the goal being to overcome certain limitations of the well-established additive approach, where the reporting of environmental, social and economic issues is sequential, but separate. It argues that, in order to successfully communicate its commitment to sustainability, a company should report on how environmental and social issues impact its way of doing business, namely its business model, contributing to value creation. Thus, a reporting framework for business models that encompasses sustainability is presented. In turn, a number of illustrative examples are examined to show how business model reporting could be optimally used to provide effective and integrated sustainability reporting. The book also offers a broad analysis of corporate sustainability reporting, which includes a discussion of the theoretical background, an explanation of why companies provide sustainability reporting, a description of the current regulatory framework for sustainability disclosure, and a review of sustainability reporting literature that shows the main characteristics of sustainability disclosure practices. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to all researchers and practitioners working for companies or organizations that aim to support, implement and improve their sustainability reporting, by adopting a more integrated approach that interconnects environmental and social aspects with the economic and financial results via the business model. The book also offers a valuable reference guide for social science researchers, including PhD students, interested in a discussion of the latest literature on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and the communication of business models.

This book addresses space science and communication - one of the main pillars of space science sustainability, an area that has recently become of great importance. In this regard, research and development play a crucial role in sustainability development. However, obtaining essential data in the physical world to interpret the universe and to predict what could happen in the future is a challenging undertaking. Accordingly, providing valid information to understand trends, evaluate needs, and create sustainable development policies and programs in the best interest of all the people is indispensable. This book was prepared in conjunction with the fifth meeting of the 2017 International Conference on Space Science and Communication (IconSpace2017), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 3-5 May 2017 to introduce graduate stuandents, researchers, lecturers, engineers, geospatialists, meteorologists, climatologists, astronomers and practitioners to the latest applications of space science, telecommunications, meteorology, remote sensing and related fields. The individual papers discuss a broad range of space science and technology applications, e.g. the formation of global warming from space, environmental and remote sensing, communication systems, and smart materials for space applications.

This book covers the multi-faceted incentives, trade-offs, and challenges associated with the economics and politics of resource efficiency investments. By contributing a wide range of empirical evidence, practitioners' insights, and policy perspectives, this book carefully examines the role of resource efficiency in reconciling environmental and economic considerations. It also discusses the critical role of resource efficiency investments in mitigating climate change and enabling sustainable development. Featuring expert insights from academia, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, this book provides a policy oriented guide, reference, and toolbox for unlocking the potential of resource efficiency. To this end, it identifies practical measures for overcoming barriers and creating smart incentives for leveraging resource efficiency investments. Overall, this book brings together evidence to develop innovative ideas and strategies for improving the efficient use of resources and advancing clean and sustainable development. "This book is an important and timely contribution", Angel Gurria, Secretary General, OECD

This book aims to identify the challenges presented by current urban environmental governance practices in fast growing Indian cities, to propose changes to the current governance implementation strategies, and to explore the best practices to achieve sustainable urban models through Indian and global perspectives. With a focus on the city of Bengaluru, the book draws on extensive reviews of literature and data to present current trends and statuses of environmental resource use in growing urban centres of India.The book analyzes the situations that impact urban environmental governance decisions and outcomes and proposes solutions to address these issues for long-term sustainability. Policy makers, researchers, academics and development practitioners in environmental politics and urban governance will find this work of great interest. The book starts by examining different urban environmental threats on global and domestic levels, and provides evidence for the effectiveness of sustainable efforts to curb the impact of crisis-like scenarios. Then the book discusses the role of institutional regimes in influencing urban environmental outcomes through policies, and analyzes the role of various actors in the evolution of urban environmental governance from a legal perspective at global and local scales. In the final chapters, the book explores the trends and status of environmental resource management in Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMA), and examines the dynamics of local institutions and governance structures for regulating environmental governance for promoting effective sustainable environmental governance in Bengaluru.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Indian corporations following the 2013 legal mandate on corporate spending of profits for CSR. Bringing together authors hailing from diverse walks of life, the book pursues a 'hands-on' approach, with real-world case studies and examples that help the reader feel the dynamic pulse of India immediately after the ratification of the CSR mandate in the Companies Act, 2013. The Act is expected to affect over 16,300 companies with an estimated flow of approximately 200 billion Indian rupees into the economy every year, thus shaking the foundations of business and society and impacting the country at multiple stakeholder levels. As a result, India is likely to become the birthplace of social, economic, and environmental transformation through financial investments in CSR! In order to insightfully reflect on this transition, this book has been divided into three parts. The first part presents the CSR mandate and its implications, while the second focuses on its implementation and the third part provides a view on the way forward. The book helps to reveal the various layers of CSR in an emerging economy like India and is expected to spark debate, discussion and research among policy-makers, consultants, academics, practitioners and other stakeholders the world over, which will further expand its contribution to CSR literature and open up new vistas in CSR research. "This is indeed a first of its kind book and marks a watershed in the journey of CSR. It is an extremely important contribution to the body of knowledge in the area of CSR and Corporate Governance in emerging economies that is driven by a completely different set of challenges, opportunities and requirements from that of developed economies." Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs

This book comprehensively describes social responsibility and sustainable development, with contributions from scientists and representatives from industry working in the field. The papers are innovative, cross-cutting and many share practice-based experiences, some of which may be replicable elsewhere. Prepared by the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and the World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre (WSD-RTC), it reiterates the current need to promote social responsibility. Social responsibility and sustainable development are two different concepts, whose integration over the years has led to significant advances in the way enterprises see and perceive their operations. It is not only about policies or steps taken to meet legal requirements, but is also about social equality and environmental accountability, also bearing in mind the links with eco-efficiency, innovation, and the health and wellbeing of workers. According to ISO 26000, social responsibility is the responsibility of an organisation for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behaviour that: a) contributes to sustainable development, including health and the welfare of society b) takes into account the expectations of stakeholders c) is in compliance with applicable law and consistent with international norms of behaviour d) is integrated throughout the organisation and practised in its relationships. But even though the relations between social responsibility and sustainability are strong, it is still necessary to encourage organisations to adhere to, or at least follow the principles of sustainable development in their operations, giving something back to the community. As such, there is a need for a better understanding of how social responsibility is related to sustainable development, and of the identification of processes, methods and tools that may help the integration of these two important elements. There is also a real need to showcase successful examples of how to structure behaviour and institutional practice in line with the sustainability challenges we face today. Chapter [Reviewing the Stakeholder Value Creation Literature: Towards a Sustainability Approach] is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This multi-disciplinary volume presents information on the state-of-the-art in sustainable energy technologies key to tackling the world s energy challenges and achieving environmentally benign solutions. Its unique amalgamation of the latest technical information, research findings and examples of successfully applied new developments in the area of sustainable energy will be of keen interest to engineers, students, practitioners, scientists and researchers working with sustainable energy technologies. Problem statements, projections, new concepts, models, experiments, measurements and simulations from not only engineering and science, but disciplines as diverse as ecology, education, economics and information technology are included, in order to create a truly holistic vision of the sustainable energy field. The contributionsfeature coverage of topicsincluding solar and wind energy, biomass and biofuels, waste-to-energy, renewable fuels, geothermal and hydrogen power, efficiency gains in fossil fuels and energy storage technologies including batteries and fuel cells.
"

This book comprehensively covers the topic of sustainability in the clothing and fashion sector. Sustainability is applied under different industrial sectors and there has to be a distinction in every industrial sector when it comes to sustainability in its application. Though the definition is common for sustainability, sustainability in the clothing sector has its unique objectives, principles, and limitations, which this book highlights.

This book analyses the importance of consumer behaviour in sustainable fashion and consumption. Consumer behaviour plays a major role in sustainability, and when it comes to textile products, a number of studies have shown that for certain product categories, consumer behaviour during use and disposal stages influences the entire life cycle impacts of the product more than the raw material and manufacturing stages. However green the production, the overall sustainability of a product depends on the consumers who use and dispose of it.

This book uses case studies to discuss consumer awareness of and education on sustainable fashion. It highlights how some textile brands have started using consumer awareness tags to educate consumers on the use of their products (e.g. which machine cycle and temperature they should use to wash their products, as well as the best drying conditions in terms of environmental sustainability). Consumer awareness of and knowledge on sustainable fashion is the crux of customer-centric sustainability, and several NGOs and even brands have started taking essential steps to promote this.

Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project is a case study that aims to profile best practices for sustainable development, indigenous human rights, and conflict resolution. In 2003, a joint project was developed between the United Nations University of Peace and the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at Arcadia University to study the Boruca hydroelectrical conflict in Costa Rica. The aim was to bring together theory and practice and to reveal the link between peace and conflict resolution and sustainable development. Through partnerships with the Kan Tan Ecological Project and the indigenous communities in the region, and field studies to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and local Civil Society Organizations, faculty and students utilized the mediation framework to identify the needs and interests of the primary conflict stakeholders. Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project represents the culmination of this fieldwork and tests the mediation framework as suitable model for the resolution of environmental conflicts in Latin America. The Boruca project, proposed in the 1970s by the state-run corporation Instituto Costarricense De Electridad (ICE), will build a dam in the Boruca Canyon, changing the flow of the Terraba River and creating an artificial lake of 25.000 hectares. The largest of its kind in Central America, this project will generate approximately 1,500 megawatts and increase Costa Rica's energy production capability by as much as 50%. For ICE, not only will the project satisfy national electrical demand, it will also stimulate economic growth, assist in the development of new technological corridors and new tourism projects, increase employment opportunities, and improve the quality of life for indigenous peoples living in Boruca area. For the indigenous population, however, the project represents a violation of their fundamental human rights since it will force the relocation of 2,000 to 3,000 indigenous peoples, flood areas of archeological and cultural significance to them, and affect their livelihood due to the resulting changes in the biodiversity. They also fear the social and environmental impacts of more tourism in the area. The increasingly dysfunctional communication between the Boruca people and ICE over the past 30 years has led to a breakdown of trust and a stalling of the project's development. Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project follows these conflicts and the process by which the government-owned utility tried to find common ground between all stakeholders. Ultimately, it tests the mediation framework as an appropriate approach to the resolution of development conflicts, exploring the transferability of this approach to other countries in Latin America. This case study provides unique insights into Latin American environmental and development politics and will be of interest to any student, faculty, or policymaker looking to assess the mediation framework.

This exhaustive survey assesses the performance of the United Nations and its member states in all key areas, at the same time as laying down a road map for sustainable development in the future. Deploying the Human Green Development Index as a new metric for an era in which human survival is intimately dependent on the viability of the Earth as a clean and sustainable habitat, the report showcases a vast array of data, including HGDI indicators for more than 120 nations. It provides a detailed and comparative rationale for the selection of data for the 12 goals and 54 HGDI targets, which cover human and global needs into the future. The index measures 12 Sustainable Development Goals, based on but also extending the eight Millennium Development Goals defined in 2000. The SDGs, proposed by a high-level UN panel, will supersede MDGs in 2015. They focus on ending poverty, achieving gender equality, providing quality education for all, helping people live healthy lives, securing sustainable energy use, and creating jobs offering sustainable livelihoods. They also work towards equitable growth, stable and peaceful societies, greater efficiency in governance, and closer international cooperation. With indicators covering everything from air particulates to percentage of threatened animal species in a nation's total, and informed by the latest research (with inequality-adjusted metrics for amenities such as education and healthcare), this comprehensive study offers readers not only a wealth of valuable core data, but also a well-argued rationale for using the HGDI. In today's world, we cannot view our development as being distinct from, and unaffected by, that of the Earth we inhabit, or that of our planetary cohabitees.

This book provides an innovative approach to sustainable development, one based on insights gleaned from the Industrial Revolution to the present, and which highlights the importance of aligning economic interests with sustainable development considerations. It investigates how a broad-based systematic approach can be used to develop societies sustainably by integrating environmental issues into the capitalist system without value-laden approaches, which produce little more than politics and inaction as we are witnessing today. The proposed approach focuses on realigning the financial markets to providing capital at reasonable cost to fuel innovation towards sustainable development across the entire economy. This requires government policies that level the playing field and also intervene strategically in cases where the playing field is weak or missing . Intended for researchers, policy-makers and graduate students, the book will also benefit non-governmental organizations, economists and the general public.

This book provides a business-oriented analysis of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In order to assess their impact on businesses and corporations, the book addresses all 17 goals and a broad range of industries. Gathering contributions from Africa, Europe and Asia, it presents both critical reviews and case studies. In turn, the book seeks to predict likely developments during the next decade. To do so, it examines evidence from today's business world and how companies and corporations have been adopting the SDGs since their release. In this regard, it discusses the changes that will be required and how the agenda will affect the continent's development path. An underlying theme throughout the book is the role of monetary value and investment for sustainable development: whether through financing, enhanced turnaround resulting from a more educated population, or more socially innovative entrepreneurs.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become the recognized instrument to assess the ecological burdens and human health impacts connected with the complete life cycle (creation, use, end-of-life) of products, processes and activities, enabling the assessor to model the entire system from which products are derived or in which processes and activities operate. This volume introduces the major new book series "LCA Compendium - The Complete World of Life Cycle Assessment." In this volume, the main drivers in the development of LCA are explored. The volume also discusses strengths and limitations in LCA as well as challenges and gaps, thus offering an unbiased picture of the state-of-the-art and future of LCA.

The book focuses on four broad topics related to trapping of agriculturally important tephritid fruit flies, namely i) lures and traps, ii) invasion biology and detection of infestations, iii) attract and kill systems, and iv) trade regulations and risk assessment. This comprehensive structure progresses from the biological interaction between insect and lures/traps to the area-wide use of trapping systems to the utilization and impact of trapping data on international trade. The chapters include accounts of earlier research but are not simply compendia and instead evaluate past and current work as a tool for critical analysis and proposal of productive avenues for future work. At present there is no book available that deals with fruit fly trapping in such a broad context. Our book fills this gap and serves as a global reference for both those interested in fruit flies specifically as well as anyone dealing with the threat of invasive agricultural insects in general.

Many hydrological, geochemical, and biological processes associated with water reclamation and reuse are poorly understood. In particular, the occurrence and effects of trace organic and inorganic contaminants commonly found in reclaimed water necessitates careful analysis and treatment prior to safe reuse. "Water Reclamation and Sustainability "is a practical guide to the latest water reclamation, recycling, and reuse theory and practice. From water quality criteria and regulations to advanced techniques and implementation issues, this book offers scientists a toolkit for developing safe and successful reuse strategies. With a focus on specific contaminant removal techniques, this book comprehensively covers the full range of potential inorganic/organic contaminating compounds and highlights proven remediation methods. Socioeconomic implications related to current and future water shortages are also addressed, underscoring the many positive benefits of sustainable water resource management.
Offers pragmatic solutions to global water shortagesProvides an overview of the latest analytical techniques for water monitoringReviews current remediation effortsCovers innovative technologies for green, gray, brown and black water reclamation and reuse