In today's global economy, the role of public policy in managing and ensuring sustainability is an emerging area of research considering modern day issues such as climate change and the depletion of energy resources. The impact that these environmental concerns have on human life has brought to light a new era of economic theories and initiatives to promote a better lifestyle. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Public Policy and Sustainability is an essential reference source that discusses the role of public policy in managing sustainability within a wide variety of professional industries such as health, education, and business. Featuring research on topics such as sustainable finance, environmental regulation, and information economics, this book is ideally designed for environmental and policy scientists, researchers, conservationists, policymakers, government officials, lawmakers, academicians, and students seeking coverage on the practices of sustainability pertaining to economic development.

Demands for sustainability policies have set new challenges for business both on the individual firm level and on the level of organized business interests. This edited volume brings together economic, social, environmental, and cultural dimensions of sustainability that comprise different challenges for business processes and activities. The aim is to develop an overarching framework to the study of sustainability and business and to advance an interdisciplinary analytical perspective. The book establishes a balanced account that equally represents business as problem causers as well as problem solvers, and therefore responds to the urgent need to investigate the intersection between sustainability issues and business participation.

by Elisabeth Mann Borgese Founder and Honorary President International Ocean Institute Adalberto Vallega has been, for decades, a master and great teacher of integrated coastal management and Mediterranean cooperation. This new book, of an almost en cyclopaedic scope, is a most original contribution to the rapidly growing literature on the subject, of equal value to the academic community which will greatly appreciate the theoretical, historic and philosophical underpinning of the work, and to the practi tioner, the planner, regulator and manager, who will find in these pages most useful "checklists" for his duties and responsibilities. Vallega perceives the need for Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) in the broader context of the ongoing third industrial revolution, which he calls the trans-industrial stage, in its interaction with climate change. There have been profound changes in the economies of the industrialized coun tries. The development of the new High Technologies, including micro-electronics, genetic engineering, new materials, has accelerated the transition from an economic system based primarily on production to one based very largely on services. This, in turn, has facilitated "globalization" of production systems and services, including the financial system, as well as the migration of people The ongoing global "Great Peo ple's Migration" is, generally, from the hinterland to the coasts where, already today, over 60 percent of the human population resides, exercising unprecedented pressures on the coastal and marine environment. Clearly, this justifies the current emphasis, at global, regional and national levels, on the need for coastal management."

This book focuses primarily on the advantages and implications of sustainable bioenergy production in terms of ensuring a more sustainable world despite its growing energy demands. It addresses a new concept that focuses on the interactions between different uses of agricultural land (for example, agriculture for food, forage or energy and nature conservation) and their ecological, economic and societal impacts. This research concept provides new insights into the competition for resources and the synergies between different land uses. This book seeks to improve people's understanding of bioenergy's potentials for the future. It will be of interest not only to those involved in sustainable energy, but also to environmental planners, agriculture and soil specialists, and environmental policy-makers.

How might literary scholarship engage with the sustainability debate? Aimed at research scholars and advanced students in literary and environmental studies, this collection brings together twelve essays by leading and up-coming scholars on the theme of literature and sustainability. In today's sociopolitical world, sustainability has become a ubiquitous term, yet one potentially driven to near meaninglessness by the extent of its usage. While much has been written on sustainability in various domains, this volume sets out to foreground the contributions literary scholarship might make to notions of sustainability, both as an idea with a particular history and as an attempt to reconceptualise the way we live. Essays in this volume take a range of approaches, using the tools of literary analysis to interrogate sustainability's various paradoxes and to examine how literature in its various forms might envisage notions of sustainability. -- .

This book provides an overview of recent advances in Integrated Community-Managed Development (ICMD) as an innovative strategy for the community-based development of local institutions in order to achieve lasting poverty reduction and empowerment. The original approach presented here to improving the lives and livelihoods of the poor takes a critical stance on the failing concept of conventional community development, as it is based on the shifting paradigm of 'bottom-up' cooperation and development, where recent regional autonomy policies are enabling national services to successfully integrate with local institutions at the community level. Based on recent experiences in South-East Asia, where the implementation of an alternative approach to integrating financial, medical, educational, communication and socio-cultural services has led to increased community participation and impressive poverty reduction, the book highlights the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of this innovative strategy. The potential offered by applying the newly developed 'ICMD formula' worldwide as a function of themes, principles and services is reflected in the book's diverse range of contributions, written by respected researchers and practitioners in the fields of development economics and financial management.

We live in unprecedented times. Climate change and ecosystem collapse are altering our world beyond recognition, and a growing global population is exacerbating the pressure on the resources that power our economies. How should the private sector respond to the new risks and uncertainties of our Crowded Planet? Frugal Value contests the notion that companies can rise to the great challenges of our time by adopting so-called 'sustainable business' practices. Instead, the acute ecological crisis requires an all-round rethink of what business does, and how it does it. This book explores what business responsibility looks like today, and how it could be put into practice through far-reaching changes to companies, ranging from new approaches to product design and business models to reconfiguration of operations and innovative ownership structures. Frugal Value provides practitioners and scholars with the perspective and tools they need to design companies that help drive the socio-economic changes so urgently required for a sustainable and just world.

Since the mid-1970s, the tropical savanna, known as Cerrado, has been transformed into one of the world's largest grain-growing regions. This book explores how and by what Brazil achieved inclusive and sustainable growth in the Cerrado.

This book reports on the first empirical validation of "AccuRate," Australia's national benchmark software tool for house energy ratings. The validation was conducted by the University of Tasmania in collaboration with Forest and Wood Products Australia, the Australian Government, the CSIRO and industry partners. The study presented here describes the results of graphical and statistical analysis of variations observed between the measured and simulated data from three different test buildings in Launceston, Tasmania. It shows that, while the AccuRate software is well suited to modeling energy flows, there are discrepancies between the simulated and measured temperatures of the test buildings. Moreover, it highlights possible connections between the discrepancies in all zones and the outside air temperature, wind speed, global and diffuse solar radiation, and possibly the ground model. Beyond its contribution to further investigations into the ongoing improvement and calibration of the Australian NatHERS-supported AccuRate software, this book also meticulously describes the methodology used in conducting the research, which is expected to pave the way for further studies of this type.

Governing for the Environment explores one of the dimensions of the value-knowledge system needed in any movement towards humane governance for the planet: the ecological sustainability and integrity of the Earth's environment. The book begins from the premise that while environmental knowledge and values have developed rapidly, their development must not overwhelm consideration of other core 'humane' values: peace, social justice, and human rights. The book's contributors explore a variety of ethical issues that must inform future global regulation of the Earth's environment.

Sustainability is a topic of great interest today, particularly for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which have witnessed very rapid economic and demographic growth over the past decade. The observed growth has led to unsustainable consumption patterns of vital resources such as water, energy, and food, highlighting the need for an urgent shift towards green growth and sustainable development strategies. Sustainability in the Gulf covers the region's contemporary development challenges through the lens of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which place sustainability at the centre of the solution to the current environmental, economic, and social imbalances facing GCC countries. The book presents multiple analyses of Gulf-specific sustainability topics, examining the current status, challenges, and opportunities, as well as identifying key lessons learned. Innovative and practical policy recommendations are provided, as well as new conceptual angles to the evolving academic debates on the post-oil era in the Gulf. Through chapters covering sector-related studies, as well as the socio-economic dimensions of the sustainability paradigm, this volume offers valuable insights into current research efforts made by the GCC states, proposing a way forward based on lessons learned. This is a valuable resource for students, academics, and researchers in the areas of Environmental Studies, Political Economy, and Economics of the GCC states.

In a world increasingly faced with, and divided by, regional and global crises, resilience has emerged as a key concept with significant relevance for tourism. A paradigmatic shift is taking place in the long-term planning of tourism development, in which the prevailing focus on sustainability is being enhanced with the practical application of resilience planning. This book provides a critical appraisal of sustainability and resilience, and the relationship between the two. Contributions highlight the complexity of addressing social change with resilience planning in a range of tourism contexts, from islands to mountains, from urban to remote environments, and in a range of international settings. Case studies articulate how tourism is both an agent of social change and a victim of larger change processes, and provide important lessons on how to deal with increasingly unstable economic, social and environmental systems. This is the first book to specifically examine social change and sustainability in tourism through a resilience lens. This much-needed contribution to the literature will be a key resource for those working in tourism studies, tourism planning and management, social geography, and development studies, among others.

Portland is a young city founded on a river bank in a virgin forest less than 200 years ago. Shaping Portland: Anatomy of a Healthy City is about the values engendered by the place, and how those values have influenced the growing city. It examines how and why the public realm supports or obstructs the health-forward lifestyles of those who choose to live there. This book explores the values and dynamics that shaped a healthy city to enable those things. It is a case study of a recognized success - looking more closely at a recent urban infill: the Pearl District. The future roles of the planners and other design professionals in continuing to build healthy and responsive environments are suggested. The cities of the future will be those that we already inhabit, but infilled and adapted to tomorrow's needs and values. Understanding the dynamics involved is essential for those in whose hands we entrust the design of cities and urban places.

A set of new studies are included in this volume which provides solutions that lead towards sustainability. Contributions originate from a diverse range of researchers, resulting in a variety of topics and experiences. Urban areas face a number of challenges related to reducing pollution, improving main transportation and infrastructure systems and these challenges can contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances and require the development of new solutions. The challenge is to manage human activities, pursuing welfare and prosperity in the urban environment, whilst considering the relationships between the parts and their connections with the living world. The dynamics of its networks (flows of energy matter, people, goods, information and other resources) are fundamental for an understanding of the evolving nature of today's cities. Large cities represent a productive ground for architects, engineers, city planners, social and political scientists able to conceive new ideas and time them according to technological advances and human requirements. The multidisciplinary components of urban planning, the challenges presented by the increasing size of cities, the amount of resources required and the complexity of modern society are all addressed.

Over the past decade, the use of Renewable Energy Technology (RET) has significantly increased around the globe. Technologies that once were considered experimental are now being deployed on commercial scales at phenomenal rates, delivering cost-effective substitutions for conventional, fossil fuel-based systems that cause problems including greenhouse gas emissions, expensive operating costs, and global pollution. But these new systems come at a costly rate, and because of this, officials must review their overall efficiency and effectiveness. Global Sustainable Development and Renewable Energy Systems pushes through the boundaries of current research to introduce the concept of an energy management information system, exploring the role of energy for sustainable development. This book goes into great detail describing the benefits of these systems for organizations, focusing on corporate sustainability initiatives and activities to combat climate change. Research presented in this publication includes modeling techniques, software applications, and case studies that reveal how renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass fuel can have a significant implications for both operating costs and environmental impacts.

Drawing on more than 30 case studies from around the world, this book offers a multitude of examples for improving the governance of small-scale fisheries. Contributors from some 36 countries argue that reform, transformation and innovation are vital to achieving sustainable small-scale fisheries - especially for mitigating the threats and vulnerabilities of global change. For this to happen, governing systems must be context-specific and the governability of small-scale fisheries properly assessed. The volume corresponds well with the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries adopted in 2014, spearheaded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). These affirm the importance of small-scale fisheries for food security, nutrition, livelihoods, rural development and poverty reduction. The book arises from the project Too Big To Ignore: Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries Research (TBTI). "A nuanced, diverse, vibrant and local-specific collection of essays - just as the small-scale fisheries around the world - dealt with by this versatile array of authors. Following on the heels of the recently adopted FAO Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines, here is an erudite compendium which I heartily recommend to policy makers, academics and activists who wish to come to terms with the complex issue of governance of this important field of human activity." John Kurien - Founding Member of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), and Former Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India "Likely to become a classic in its field, this book is about small-scale fisheries and interactive governance - governance which is negotiated, deliberated upon, and communicated among stakeholders who often share governing responsibilities. The authors show that interactive governance is not just a normative theory but a phenomenon that can be studied empirically, here with 34 case studies from as many countries around the world, north and south, east and west. Such "force of example" enables the editors to put together well-developed arguments and sometimes surprising conclusions about the way ahead. A must-read for managers, practitioners, stakeholders, and students!" Fikret Berkes - University of Manitoba, Canada, and author of Coasts for People

This book explores the opportunities offered by Strategic Environmental Assessment in the context of guaranteeing the synchronized integration of landscape (in all its aspects) within urban plans, thereby helping to overcome the constraints of rigidly framed, sector-focused laws and a purely aesthetic concept of landscape. In pursuit of this goal, various scholars have previously attempted to construct arrays of indicators relating to the different conceptions of "landscape". This book critically examines the most complete proposals of this nature, systematizing and comparing them and, finally, offering some guidelines with respect to their codification within specific application protocols. After opening chapters exploring the origins of the problem and analysing the European normative frame for Strategic Environmental Assessment, two case studies are described and discussed. A model is then presented for the evaluation of the effects of urban plans on landscape, including in cultural and perceptual terms. The author demonstrates that, when suitably employed, Strategic Environmental Assessment can indeed facilitate the integration of environmental, economic, and social sustainability into urban planning.

."..presents an excellent overview of the study of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) and the directions in which it has evolved in recent years...Individually but especially together, the contributors of this volume do a fine job at providing a contextualized and fluid understanding of TEK...I have no hesitation in recommending this volume not only to anyone wishing to catch up on recent developments in TEK research, but also as a useful teaching resource in a range of anthropology courses." JRAI

"This volume succeeds in its purpose to dislodge enduring western notions of TEK traditional environmental knowledge] as static and to firmly center it within an analytical framework of landscape, process, and power...The critical perspectives of the authors of this book would prompt lively discussion in the classroom, and the books grounding in ethnographic detail and applications are of interest to both research academics and practitioners." Ethnobiology Letters

In recent years, the field of study variously called local, indigenous or traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) has experienced a crisis brought about by the questioning of some of its basic assumptions. This has included reassessing notions that scientific methods can accurately elicit and describe TEK or that incorporating it into development projects will improve the physical, social or economic well-being of marginalized peoples. The contributors to this volume argue that to accurately and appropriately describe TEK, the historical and political forces that have shaped it, as well as people's day-to-day engagement with the landscape around them must be taken into account. TEK thus emerges, not as an easily translatable tool for development experts, but as a rich and complex element of contemporary lives that should be defined and managed by indigenous and local peoples themselves.

Serena Heckler received her Ph.D. in ethnobotany, environmental anthropology and sustainable development from Cornell University and is a research fellow at Durham University. She has lived and worked with the Wothiha of the Venezuelan Amazon, studying the ways in which the market economy and demographic change have affected their environmental knowledge. She is currently undertaking participatory research on similar themes with the Shuar of Ecuador, in collaboration with the Intercultural University of Indigenous Peoples and Nations-Amawtay Wasi based in Quito, Ecuador.

This book discusses the role of ESD stakeholders at university level, involving civil society and the private sector and public sectors (including local, national and intergovernmental bodies). In particular, it describes practical experiences, partnerships, networks, and training schemes for increasing the capacity of ESD and other initiatives aimed at promoting education for sustainable development taking place at institutions of higher education. In order to meet the pressing need for publications that may promote stakeholders' involvement in ESD in higher education, the book particularly focuses on state-of-the-art approaches, methods, initiatives and projects from around the world, illustrating the contribution of different stakeholder groups to sustainable development in higher education on an international scale.

This book documents and disseminates experiences from a wide range of universities, across the five continents, which showcase how the principles of sustainable development may be incorporated as part of university programmes, and present transformatory projects and programmes, showing how sustainability can be implemented across disciplines. Sustainability in a higher education context is a fast growing field. Thousands of universities across the world have signed declarations or have committed themselves to integrate the principles of sustainable development in their activities: teaching, research and extension, and many more will follow.

This edited volume explains the importance of regional public goods (RPGs) for sustainable development and shows why they are particularly important in the context of 21st-century international relations. By presenting a new and original data set and by presenting original essays by renowned scholars, this book lays the foundation for what will become an increasingly important focus for both economic development and international relations as well as for their intersection. The volume contains four parts. The first introduces the core issues and concepts that are explored throughout the book as well as a new and original data set on RPGs. The second part further develops specific concepts important for understanding 21st-century RPGs: regional leadership, alliances, networks, and outcomes. The third examines how cooperation takes place worldwide for a range of important RPGs. Finally, the fourth part discusses how public goods are produced in specific regions, stressing that each region has a distinct context and that these contexts overlap in a decentered "multiplex" manner. Global economic cooperation will be different in the 21st century, and this volume will be of interest to students and scholars of global governance, economic development, international political economy, sustainable development, and comparative regionalism.

This book presents the outcome of the Towards Sustainable Land Use in Asia (SLUAS) project, which was the pilot undertaking for development in a series of projects on land use. Monsoon Asia, with its huge and still increasing population and rapid socioeconomic changes, is regarded as a major hot spot of global change in general and of land use change in particular. The major issues include urbanization, rural development, land-related problems such as food problems, and disasters in the context of global change and sustainability. Future Earth, the new international research framework established by International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and other international academic or funding organizations for a sustainable world, has chosen the Global Land Project (GLP) as one of the first such international projects it has endorsed that originated from International Geosphere/Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and/or International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). This endorsement is a clear indication of the importance of the issues related to land use and its changes. Land use change is an essential driving force of environmental change, a result of socioeconomic and environmental changes, and is a major environmental change itself. Because of this complex and multifaceted nature and the difficulties in obtaining relevant data with historical depth, this phenomenon has not been studied fully in the context of global change or sustainability. It is hoped that this book is of use to those who are concerned about the present and future land use in the world.

This book builds up on the experience and lessons learnt by academics at the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science, Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI) at the University of Tokyo. A number of scholars in the new field of sustainability science describe how field methods and exercises are carried out in this discipline, together with the theoretical basis for such exercises. Case studies of various countries around the world where these exercises are carried out are showcased, emphasizing the various socio-economic considerations and problems facing humanity and possible ways forward to build more sustainable and resilient societies. The final objective is to enrich the field of sustainability science by describing the novel aspects used in the field exercises carried out by practitioners of this cross-disciplinary field.

Increasing concerns regarding the world's natural resources and sustainability continue to be a major issue for global development. As a result several political initiatives and strategies for green or resource-efficient growth both on national and international levels have been proposed. A core element of these initiatives is the promotion of an increase of resource or material productivity. This dissertation examines material productivity developments in the OECD and BRICS countries between 1980 and 2008. By applying the concept of convergence stemming from economic growth theory to material productivity the analysis provides insights into both aspects: material productivity developments in general as well potentials for accelerated improvements in material productivity which consequently may allow a reduction of material use globally. The results of the convergence analysis underline the importance of policy-making with regard to technology and innovation policy enabling the production of resource-efficient products and services as well as technology transfer and diffusion.

Chemistry for Sustainable Development in Africa gives an insight into current Chemical research in Africa. It is edited and written by distinguished African scientists and includes contributions from Chemists from Northern, Southern, Western, Eastern, Central and Island state African Countries. The core themes embrace the most pressing issues of our time, including Environmental Chemistry, Renewable Energies, Health and Human Well-Being, Food and Nutrition, and Bioprospecting and Commercial Development. This book is invaluable for teaching and research institutes in Africa and worldwide, private sector entities dealing with natural products from Africa, as well as policy and decision-making bodies and non-governmental organizations.