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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmental economics > Sustainability
This book brings together, in a single volume, an overview of multiple applications of the concept of environmental sustainability, featuring examples of useful methodologies and tools for pursuing environmental targets, experiences and case studies spanning a variety of sectors, embracing both industry and research projects; and case studies applied to very different territorial contexts. The first section of the book covers methodologies and tools for environmental sustainability, including Industrial Ecology, Urban Metabolism, Life Cycle Assessment, analysis of industrial water footprint and such chemical technologies as Hypercritical Separation Technology (HYST). Part Two provides case studies of environmental sustainability in specific industrial sectors including electronics, pharmaceutical manufacturing, bio-energy, agriculture, food and residential construction retrofitting. Part Three explores experiences of environmental sustainability in territorial contexts on a local, regional or national scale. This section includes chapters on sustainability in the Republic of San Marino, the European Covenant of Mayors urban sustainability initiative and efforts to promote sustainability in Italy, Norway and Poland among others. The book concludes with a discussion of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Objective I regions of Italy. Featuring the contributions of academics, managers operating in various productive sectors and consultants, the book aims to promote the growth and spread of scientific research and technological development for environmental sustainability."
Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development highlights the opportunities and risks of nature-based tourism for economic development and explores selected strategies for sustainability. The prospect of tourism growth is a potential source of major challenges and considerable threats on a number of levels. The concept of sustainable tourism development has thus become the focus of the debate on this subject. This invaluable book aims to provide useful analytical and empirical tools in support of the idea that sustainability is not just about regulating and controlling the negative impacts of tourism. It is also about policies and actions that aim to reinforce the benefits and reduce the costs of tourism, in order to make it more profitable now and in the future. The chapters focused on economic modelling offer a valuable overview of the main issues currently debated at the academic level. The book also illustrates a number of empirical instruments that will provide a useful reference for academics and policymakers interested in how to put theory into practice. This study will be of great value to economists, geographers and to those who have a direct or indirect interest in tourism economics.
Traditional studies of the property market have tended to focus solely on commercial and legal issues, but the growing importance of the issue of sustainability means that a different approach is needed. This new textbook provides an overview of property within a market context, examining the complex nature of property rights and issues related to both investors and occupiers. At the same time it assesses property from the perspective of financial, social and environment sustainability. Topics covered range from the characteristics of property and depreciation, to ownership and development through to investments and sustainability reporting. The book concludes with key skills in sustainable knowledge needed by those working in the real estate industry. Written by an author team of experienced property professionals, this essential introductory textbook is well suited for property, planning and architecture students on undergraduate, graduate and conversion courses, as well as those on CPD and training programmes in related areas.
Urban systems now house about half of the world's population, but determine some three quarters of the global economy and its associated energy use and resulting environmental impacts. The 21st century will be increasingly urban. Sustainable development therefore needs first to be defined and analyzed, and then realized in urban settings. Energy is one of the key challenges, but also one of the key opportunities in the required urban sustainability transition. The book is the result of a major international effort to conduct the first comprehensive assessment of energy-related urban sustainability issues conducted under the auspices of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA). The assessment is also unique in that it embeds energy issues into the broader sustainability agenda of cities: including housing for the poor, functional transport systems, as well as environmental quality, in addition to the challenges imposed by climate change. Written by an eminent team of internationally renowned scholars it presents new data, new analysis, as well as new policy insights. It includes the first comprehensive global coverage overview of urban energy use and of the specifics of urban energy demand and supply. Major development and sustainability challenges of cities are assessed in detail and public and private sector opportunities and constraints of a sustainability transition examined in detail. Technological and policy options are put in a much needed context in terms of their respective role as drivers of urban energy demand as well as potentials for reductions in energy use and associated emissions of local pollutants as well as greenhouse gases. The analysis presents both a comprehensive literature review as well as novel, spatially explicit models of integrated urban energy policy analysis. The volume concludes with a summary assessment of policy options, priorities as well as paradoxes.
Businesses are nowadays expected to act sustainably; it is also in both society s and the company s own interest if opportunities to develop more sustainable products or services can be fully grasped. Leading international companies may already be moving in this direction, but many (especially smaller companies) are often held back by a lack of personnel or know how. This book has been written to overcome this deficit by providing a convenient one-stop-shop where readers (whether they be business staff, university or business school students) can understand personally what the sustainability issue is about, and appreciate the many areas where companies can respond to the challenge of a more sustainable world. Based on a successful Green Management of Technology Masters introduced in Japan in 2008, this book explains in non-specialist language why current economic systems under which firms operate do not lead to sustainable outcomes, provides the background to the evolution of concerns over sustainability, and also provides sufficient understanding of key environmental and social issues to support informed debate, encouraging readers to consider working for a more sustainable organisation and society. Focusing on the implications of sustainability for business, the book provides an overview of both the internal business issues raised by concerns over sustainability, and the many external opportunities which exist for innovation and development of new products and services which can contribute to both company viability and a sustainable future for society. It can either be used as a basis for self-study and learning, or as a textbook to support a course in an MBA, MOT or similar business-oriented course. It includes educational feedback from the course students (mostly working in local businesses), which may encourage readers to explore the interactions between sustainability and business, and help teachers planning and implementing similar courses. It also blends together case studies from both UK and Japan providing a genuinely trans-national perspective.
Water-Energy-Food Nexus Narratives and Resource Securities: A Global South Perspective provides a knowledge synthesis on the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, focusing primarily on the global south. By presenting concepts, analytical tools, and case studies, the book serves as a practical resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in sustainability and functional roles across all three sectors. It addresses key issues related to data availability, tools, indices, metrics, and application across multiple scales, beginning with a summary of existing knowledge. Finally, it examines the WEF nexus, presents global insights, and discusses future considerations and implications. This book presents an overview of existing knowledge on the WEF nexus and examines how such research aligns with emerging global WEF nexus perspectives, making it ideal for professionals, government entities, private industry, and the general public.
Tourism is an activity that anyone can take part in, regardless of their age, gender, nationality or level of income. This makes tourism one of the most rapidly developing industries in the world. Despite the number of benefits which tourism produces, it also has significant negative impacts on the environment. To minimise the scope of these negative impacts, joint efforts combining tourism and environmental management are called for. This book examines the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method and lifecycle thinking as a tool to generate more accurate and holistic appraisals of the environmental impacts of tourism. Looking at the issue of sustainability of tourism operations, the book evaluates how it can be improved. It highlights the potential of LCA to affect tourist behaviour and contribute to tourism policy-making and managerial practice. This book provides a valuable resource for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers interested in sustainable tourism, sustainable development and environmental impact assessment.
This textbook provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability in the context of transportation planning, management, and decision-making. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, indicators and frameworks for measuring sustainable development in the transportation sector are developed. In the second, the authors analyze actual planning and decision-making in transportation agencies in a variety of governance settings. This analysis of real-world case studies demonstrates the benefits and limitations of current approaches to sustainable development in transportation. The book concludes with a discussion on how to make sustainability count in transportation decision-making and practice.
'There are few scholarly books about climate change that take the issue of the distribution of its costs, and of the costs and benefits of its mitigation, as seriously as their absolute value. This is probably the best of those books that I have come across. Rigorously rooted in Gough's earlier work on theories of human need, the book is relentless in its pursuit of equity in respect of climate change and responses to it. Not everyone will agree with all its conclusions - for example that ''green capitalism merits the term contradiction'' - but they are unfailingly thought-provoking, as all good scholarship should be. Highly recommended.' - Paul Ekins, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, UK 'Gough applies his trademark scholarship on universal human needs to the urgent question of social policy for the transition to a de-carbonised world. Based on a clear-eyed analysis of a wide swathe of the social science literature, and an eco-social political economy perspective, his approach is both pragmatic and deeply rooted in ethics and social justice. Highly recommended and suitable for teaching at all levels.' - Juliet B. Schor, Boston College This exceptional book considers how far catastrophic global warming can be averted in an economic system that is greedy for growth, without worsening deprivation and inequality. The satisfaction of human needs - as opposed to wants - is the only viable measure for negotiating trade-offs between climate change, capitalism and human wellbeing, now and in the future. The author critically examines the political economy of capitalism and offers a long-term, interdisciplinary analysis of the prospects for keeping the rise in global temperatures below two degrees, while also improving equity and social justice. A three-stage transition is proposed with useful practical policies. First, 'green growth': cut carbon emissions from production across the world. Second, 'recompose' patterns of consumption in the rich world, cutting high-energy luxuries in favour of low-energy routes to meeting basic needs. Third, because the first two are perilously insufficient, move towards an economy that flourishes without growth. Heat, Greed and Human Need is vital for researchers and students of the environment, public and social policy, economics, political theory and development studies. For those advocating political, social and environmental reform this book presents excellent practical eco-social policies to achieve both sustainable consumption and social justice.
The aim of this book is to bring together a series of contributions from experts in the field to cover the major aspects of the application of geostatistics in precision agriculture. The focus will not be on theory, although there is a need for some theory to set the methods in their appropriate context. The subject areas identified and the authors selected have applied the methods in a precision agriculture framework. The papers will reflect the wide range of methods available and how they can be applied practically in the context of precision agriculture. This book is likely to have more impact as it becomes increasingly possible to obtain data cheaply and more farmers use onboard digital maps of soil and crops to manage their land. It might also stimulate more software development for geostatistics in PA.
Afro-Eurasia: Assessing Sustainability focuses on the geographic area where humans originated and first began to make use of the natural world - Earth's largest landmass, stretching from Portugal in the west across the steppes of Russia and south across Africa to the Cape of Good Hope. By examining the history of human expansion, as well as 21st century pressures to address ecosystem damage across the region, international scholars and regional experts weave sustainability into core curricular subjects. The interdisciplinary coverage includes national and regional environmental histories, as well as business and commerce, migration, educational institutions, law and government, and the lifestyles of diverse populations.
Integrated assessment modelling is an active and rapidly developing field, triggered by the debate on climate change and the move towards the goal of sustainable development. This book provides an integrated approach to modelling, using a transdisciplinary approach. The author summarizes the main issues involved in the changing global system, and gives an overview of the emerging field of integrated assessment. He then presents a general discussion of the methodological principles of a multidisciplinary integrated modelling approach. Existing tools are examined and new methodological approaches are applied to various aspects of the problem of global change. The case studies focus on optimizing climate change mitigating policies, the allocation of emission rights and the the adaptive behaviour of social and biological agents. Special attention is given to the role of uncertainty, especially the subjective interpretation of uncertainties (world views), and the role of adaptive multi-agent modelling. The book concludes with a discussion on future uses of integrated assessment modelling in the global environment. Modelling Global Change will be vital to economists and scientists who have an interest in integrated assessment modelling, global modelling and decision support, environmental and ecological economists and those interested in sustainable development.
This book covers all sustainable fibres applicable in the fashion sector and discusses their importance in the context of sustainability. It is the first of its kind to address all the minute details pertaining to these fibres and to connect these fibres with the world of sustainable fashion. It stresses their importance in developing sustainable apparel, since fibres play a major role as the starting point in the life cycle of clothing.
Forest inventories throughout the world have evolved gradually over time. The content as well as the concepts and de?nitions employed are constantly adapted to the users' needs. Advanced inventory systems have been established in many countries within Europe, as well as outside Europe, as a result of development work spanning several decades, in some cases more than 100 years. With continuously increasing international agreements and commitments, the need for information has also grown drastically, and reporting requests have become more frequent and the content of the reports wider. Some of the agreements made at the international level have direct impacts on national economies and international decisions, e. g. , the Kyoto Protocol. Thus it is of utmost importance that the forest information supplied is collected and analysed using sound scienti?c principles and that the information from different countries is comparable. European National Forest Inventory (NFI) teams gathered in Vienna in 2003 to discuss the new challenges and the measures needed to get data users to take full advantage of existing NFIs. As a result, the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN), a network of NFIs, was established. The ENFIN members decided to apply for funding for meetings and collaborative activities. COST- European Cooperation in Science and Technology - provided the necessary ?n- cial means for the realization of the program.
Indigenous People and Nature: Insights for Social, Ecological, and Technological Sustainability examines today's environmental challenges in light of traditional knowledge, linking insights from geography, population, and environment from a wide range of regions around the globe. Organized in four parts, the book describes the foundations of human geography and its current research challenges, the intersections between environment and cultural diversity, addressing various type of ecosystem services and their interaction with the environment, the impacts of sustainability practices used by indigenous culture on the ecosystem, and conservation ecology and environment management. Using theoretical and applied insights from local communities around the world, this book helps geographers, demographers, environmentalists, economists, sociologists and urban planners tackle today's environmental problems from new perspectives.
Energy policy is at a crossroads. Attempts to meet targets for carbon emissions, energy security and affordable energy for vulnerable households are all on a trajectory to failure. Aggressive ambitions to roll out huge off-shore wind, nuclear and clean coal plants are proposed, but without any clear plans on how funds will be mobilized, or transmission and distribution infrastructure developed. In this book Prashant Vaze and Stephen Tindale ask politicians and regulators to consider a different path. Using abundant examples of small scale local solutions Repowering Communities examines how cities, communities and local authorities from across Europe and North America have driven reductions in energy use and rolled out small scale, community level solutions. Among the issues examined are the drivers behind behavioural change, the methods used to secure necessary investment and what government and civil society can do to foster such action on a wide scale. Based on extensive first-hand research and drawing on the latest global energy data the authors provide essential information and inspiration for readers who wish to drive the policies that encourage community-level energy development.
The Environmental Impact of Cities assesses the environmental impact that comes from cities and their inhabitants, demonstrating that our current political and economic systems are not environmentally sustainable because they are designed for endless growth in a system which is finite. It is already well documented that political, economic and social forces are capable of shaping cities and their expansion, retraction, gentrification, re-population, industrialisation or de-industrialisation. However, the links between these political and economic forces and the environmental impact they have on urban areas have yet to be numerically presented. As a result, it is not clear how our cities are affecting the environment, meaning it is currently impossible to relate their economic, political and social systems to their environmental performance. This book examines a broad selection of cities covering a wide range of political systems, geography, cultural backgrounds and population size. The environmental impact of the selected cities is calculated using both ecological footprint and carbon emissions, two of the most extensively available indices for measuring environmental impact. The results are then considered in terms of political, economic and social factors to ascertain the degree to which these factors are helping or hindering the reduction of the environmental impact of humans. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainability, urban planning, urban design, environmental sciences, geography and sociology.
Those who advocate moving towards sustainability debate how change can be achieved. Does it have necessarily to be top-down or can it also be bottom-up? Can radical organizational and social change be spread from "the middle"? Who can lead change when those with seniority and credibility are necessarily embedded in currently dominant mind-sets and power structures? This book focuses on what it means to take up leadership for sustainability, from a variety of organizational and social positions, and considers the consequences of different strategies and practices for influencing change. Leadership for Sustainability shows what an action research based practice of leadership for sustainability looks like and provides a sense of the personal and professional challenges this involves; it demonstrates how people who are influencing change draw on reflective practice strategically (to create a context in which they can be influential) and also tactically (in moment-to-moment choices about how to act). It also illustrates and reflects on the kinds of outcomes that can be expected from this work, both the specific and strategic achievements, and the difficulties, challenges and disappointments. Thus the major part of this volume consists of accounts by graduates of an innovative master's programme, the MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice, of their activities, projects, achievements and learning. Accompanying sections from the editors overview, analyse and reflect on these accounts and the issues they raise for notions of leadership, practice, sustainability and change. One substantial chapter offers ideas, frameworks and practices for people taking leadership. One of the most dispiriting aspects of the environmental challenges that beset us is the lack of agency that many people experience: we do not know what to do or how to do it. Many organizations espouse a sustainable approach. This may be lip service or it may be a genuine attempt to integrate sustainability into business strategy. Whatever form it takes, organizational sustainability programmes need committed, intelligent, reflective leadership at all levels to make them work. The examples in this book show how people in very different contexts have seized the opportunities open to them and acted with courage and initiative to make a difference. This book will be relevant to a wide range of people, including managers, consultants and others in commercial, non-profit, public and intergovernmental organisations who want to contribute to the development of a sustainable world. It will be of particular interest to people working in organizations already thinking about issues of sustainability and those who are seeking to take on the role of change agents in organisations or communities. In addition, the book will be a resource for those in educational fields, primarily but not exclusively higher and further education, who wish to work with their students to develop leadership practices through action research based educational approaches. All contributors to this book have been associated with the MSc in Responsibility & Business Practice at the University of Bath, School of Management, UK, either as tutors or participants. This innovative degree course used action research to engage with challenging issues in a wide range of business, public service and civil society contexts.At the heart of this book are stories from 29 people who are seeking to make the world more environmentally sustainable and socially just. They report their purposes, journeys, impacts, learning and disappointments. Their accounts are diverse and from many different worlds, ranging from fast moving consumer goods to international forestry and conservation projects. They have in common that they are among the 254 graduates of an innovative Master's programme, the MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice community, who in one way or another are adopting action research as a practice of taking leadership for sustainability, and believe their actions can be significant contributions to the causes that matter to them.
Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. Sustainable agriculture is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, and social sciences. Indeed, sustainable agriculture decipher mechanisms of processes that occur from the molecular level to the farming system to the global level at time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. For that, scientists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and social issues. In that respect, sustainable agriculture is not a classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. Because most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.
This proceedings volume examines leadership from the perspectives of business, economics, social sciences, cross-cultural management, and education as a means to establish a future of sustainable development. Featuring contributions from the 2017 Prague Institute for Qualification Enhancement (PRIZK) and International Research Centre (IRC) "Scientific Cooperation" International Conference held in the Czech Republic, this volume focuses particularly on business models and higher education schemes from BRICS nations and examines topics such as social and educational practices, academic policies and business development. Leadership is becoming a key element for the future sustainable development of business and education in the quickly globalizing world. In this regard, a special emphasis should be made on the formation of high-quality human resources-the leading experts in their field who will create innovations and introduce breakthrough technologies. The development of a creative economy and knowledge economy requires highly-educated human capital, thus education becomes a key element of this process. Education must keep pace with time, be competitive, and stay in touch with the process of technology. The enclosed papers identify the key steps for sustainable growth and development in business and education. Featuring contributions on theory and practice, this book is appropriate for academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in the areas of business, leadership management, entrepreneurship, innovation and education.
This book challenges conventional wisdom by showing how, in some circumstances, improved energy efficiency may "increase" energy consumption. Relying upon energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions could therefore be misguided. This book explores the broader implications for climate change and sustainable consumption.
This book presents the regenerative leadership framework that has emerged from doctoral research and consulting work with successful sustainability leaders and their organizations in business, education, and community. The framework synthesizes the levels of awareness, the leadership styles and behaviours, and the organizational arrangements that correlate most significantly across these domains. Most importantly, the overwhelming majority of the leaders in this work agree that individual and collective consciousness development is critical to transforming the culture of organizations for sustainability and beyond. The term regenerative has not been chosen arbitrarily, but to provide an alternative to the notion of sustainability, which many of the leaders featured here indicate has become insufficient to describe what needs to be done, economically, socially, and environmentally, if we are to ensure a flourishing world for present and future generations. This work in turn has led to the development of the Regenerative Capacity Index (RCI), a tool designed to assess an organization's readiness to engage in regenerative practice. From this evaluation of an organization's regenerative capacity, it becomes possible to design a strategy for regeneration that considers all levels of its environmental, social, and economic impact, both internally and externally, in the local and global community. Among its major findings, the book argues that the more evolved sustainability leaders are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the construct of sustainability, and indicate the need for a profound cultural shift towards regenerative human systems. In this framework, regenerative organizations are driven by a sense higher purpose, and leadership is exercised horizontally and collaboratively. Leaders and followers engage in generative conversations to create desirable futures which are then 'backcasted' to eliminate unanticipated consequences. Throughout, leaders emphasize the critical importance of engaging in personal and collective consciousness development or "inner work" in order to make regenerative practices possible.
Keith Culver and David Castle Introduction Aquaculture is at the leading edge of a surprisingly polarized debate about the way we produce our food. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, aquaculture production has increased 8. 8% per year since 1970, far surpassing productivity gains in terrestrial meat production at 2. 8% in the same period (FAO 2007). Like the 'green revolution' before it, the 'blue revolution' in aquaculture promises rapidly increased productivity through technology-driven - tensi?cation of aquaculture animal and plant production (Costa-Pierce 2002; The Economist 2003). Proponents of further aquaculture development emphasize aq- culture's ancient origins and potential to contribute to global food security d- ing an unprecedented collapse in global ?sheries (World Fish Center; Meyers and Worm 2003; Worm et al. 2006). For them, technology-driven intensi?cation is an - dinary and unremarkable extension of past practice. Opponents counter with images of marine and freshwater environments devastated by intensive aquaculture pr- tices producing unsustainable and unhealthy food products. They view the promised revolutionasascam, nothingmorethanclever marketingbypro?t-hungry ?shfa- ers looking for ways to distract the public from the real harms done by aquaculture. The stark contrast between proponents and opponents of modern aquaculture recalls decades of disputes about intensive terrestrial plant and animal agriculture, disputes whose vigor shows that the debate is about much more than food production (Ruse and Castle 2002).
This volume is a compilation of essays that focus on livelihood issues faced by forest communities of the southern Western Ghats region of India. Communities living along the fringes of forests are, more often than not, overlooked in academic and policy discussions. However, they face considerable pressures, being sandwiched between conservation endeavours and the forces of urbanization and commercialization. The chapters in this book provide an insight into the kinds of livelihood issues these communities face and the potential means that can be adopted to sustain these livelihoods. This volume provides a unique alternative perspective by locating livelihood issues within socio-ecological-economic narratives of communities living at the intersection of the three southern Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and suggests directions for policies to address these challenges. |
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