Showing papers on "Sustainability published in 1994"

More People, Less Erosion: Environmental Recovery in Kenya

Abstract: This study "examines the interactions between people and the environment of the semi-arid Machakos District Kenya over a period of sixty years from 1930 to 1990. In the 1930s the district was considered an environmental disaster with famine relief and food imports needed between 1942 and 1962. Over the sixty years between 1930 and 1990 the population of the District increased more than five-fold however the environment in 1990 was in a much better condition than in the 1930s. Soil erosion had declined due to terraces in place to protect arable land and predictions of a wood fuel crisis were not fulfilled because of a larger number of farmed and protected trees. Additionally agricultural production...was higher and new technologies and farming systems had been introduced....This study combines the findings of physical and social scientists from the Overseas Development Institute London and the University of Nairobi Kenya. It uses conventional data oral history and photographic records....The study concludes with an explanation of the positive contribution that population growth in low density areas can have on economic and social development technology change and environmental sustainability under the right policies." (EXCERPT)

A natural resource-based view of the firm

Abstract: Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.

Industrial Metabolism: Restructuring for Sustainable Development

Abstract: Part 1 General Implications: Industrial metabolism - theory and policy industrial restructuring in industrial countries The case of India Evolution, sustainability and industrial metabolism. Patr 2 Case Studies: Sweden 1880-1980 The Rhine Basin Switzerland United States 1880-1980. Part 3 Further Implications: The precaution principle in environmental management, Transfer of clean(er) technologies to developing countries A plethora of paradigms.

Investing in natural capital: the ecological economics approach to sustainability.

Abstract: "Investing in Natural Capital" presents the results of a workshop held following the second biannual conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics. It focuses on the relation of human development to natural capital, and the relation of natural capital to environmental processes.Because we are capable of understanding our impact on the environment and the importance of managing it sustainably, humans play a special role in our ecosystem. The book emphasizes the essential connections between natural ecosystems and human socioeconomic systems, and the importance of insuring that both remain resilient. Specific chapters deal with methodology, case material, and policy questions, and offer a thorough exploration of this provocative and important alternative to conventional economics.

Strategic information systems revisited: a study in sustainability and performance

Abstract: Sustainability of competitive advantage may be achieved by leveraging unique firm attributes with information technology to realize long-term performance gains. Information systems that cannot sustain competitive impact have only transient strategic value or may offer negative value if matched by a superior response by competitors. A research review of sustainability was conducted that resulted in the development of a framework depicting factors effecting sustainable competitive advantage. This study evaluate longitudinal changes in performance measures of 30 firms that have been cited as "classic" cases of strategic use of information technology. The results of this analysis indicate that not all of these classic cases can be touted as "sustained winners" Differences among strategic "sustainers" and "non-sustainers" were formally tested to determine those firm and/or industry factors that may be antecedents to sustained IT competitive advantage. Results indicate that managers must do more than simply assess the uniqueness or availability of emerging technological innovations in developing strategic IT plans. Specifically, the establishment of technological base along with substantial capital availability seem to be important prerequisites for "technologically derived" sustainability. Recognizing the need for a stronger prescriptive orientation to strategic IS, future research is outlined in an effort to develop a comprehensive framework that would link combinations of sustainability factors to actual performance.

'Sustainable development': is it a useful concept?

Abstract: It is argued that 'sustainable development' has been defined in such a way as to be either morally repugnant or logically redundant. 'Strong' sustainability, overriding all other considerations, is morally unacceptable as well as totally impractical; and 'weak' sustainability, in which compensation is made for resources consumed, offers nothing beyond traditional economic welfare maximisation. The 'sustainability' requirement that human well-being should never be allowed to decline is shown to be irrational. Welfare economics can accommodate distributional considerations, and, suitably defined, the concept of welfare can include the subjective effects of changes in - as well as the levels of - well-being. Hence there is no reason why welfare maximisation should not remain an overriding policy objective. Nor can sustainability be regarded as a 'constraint' on welfare maximisation unless there is a clear conflict between the two - which has yet to be demonstrated. This is not to deny the importance of intergenerational justice, nor the need for economic incentives to correct market imperfections if the environment is to be managed in a socially optimal manner. Apart from a few small developing countries heavily dependent on minerals or other finite primary products, the measurement of some wider concept of 'sustainable' GNP is a waste of time and such estimates as have been made are virtually worthless.

Sustainable rural tourism strategies: a tool for development and conservation.

Abstract: This paper reviews how the principles of sustainable tourism have special relevance to the development of rural tourism, and examines how those principles can be translated into practice by the writing and implementing of regional sustainable tourism strategies. It considers the advantages of this approach, and offers guide‐lines for future practitioners. A case study is given of the development of a strategy for an area in northern England, Berwick‐upon‐Tweed.

Cities and natural process

Abstract: Cities and Natural Process is a book for all concerned with the future of our cities, their design and sustainability, and our quality of life within them. Michael Hough describes how economic and technological values have squeezed any real sense of nature out of the modern city, the ways in which this has led to a divisive separation of countryside and city, wasted much of the city's resources, and shaped an urban aesthetic which is sharply at odds with both natural and social processes. Against this is set an alternative history of ecological values informing proven approaches to urban design which work with nature in the city.

Social Theory and the Global Environment

Abstract: This book marks a watershed in the social sciences. The qualitative, critical perspective of sociology and allied disciplines challenges the technocentric `managerialism' which dominates environmental policy, its discourse and its impact. The authors explore the relationship between social theory and sustainability in an attempt to transend technical rhetoric and embrace a broader understanding of `nature'.

Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet

Abstract: Chapter 1 Key Themes in Environmental Science. Chapter 2 Science as a Way of Knowing: Critical Thinking about the Environment. Chapter 3 The Big Picture: Systems of Change. Chapter 4 The Human Population and The Environment. Chapter 5 Ecosystems: Concepts and Fundamentals. Chapter 6 The Biogeochemical Cycles. Chapter 7 Dollars and Environmental Sense: Economics of Environmental Issues. Chapter 8 Biological Diversity and Biological Invasions. Chapter 9 Ecological Restoration. Chapter 10 Environmental Heath, Pollution, and Toxicology. Chapter 11 Agriculture, Aquaculture, and the Environemnt. Chapter 12 Landscapes: Forests, Parks, and Wilderness. Chapter 13 Wildlife, Fisheries, and Endangered Species. Chapter 14 Energy: Some Basics. Chapter 15 Fossil Fuels and the Environment. Chapter 16 Alternative Energy and the Environment. Chapter 17 Nuclear Energy and the Environment. Chapter 18 Water Supply, Use, and Management. Chapter 19 Water Pollution and Treatment. Chapter 20 The Atmosphere, Climate, and Global Warming. Chapter 21 Air Pollution. Chapter 22 Urban Environments. Chapter 23 Materials Management. Chapter 24 Our Environmental Future. Appendix. Glossary. Notes. Photo Credits. Index.

Sustainable Environmental Economics and Management : Principles and Practice

Abstract: Part 1 Principles: sustainability - principles and practice, R.K. Turner the politics of sustainability, T. O'Riordan sustainable development and developing country economies, D.W. Pearce environmental economics, policy consensus and political empowerment, M. Redclift valuation of the environment, methods and techniques - revealed preference methods, I.J. Bateman. Part 2 Practice: valuing environmental assets in developed countries, K. Willis and J. Benson heritage landscapes - a new approach to the preservation of semi-natural landscapes in Canada and the USA, N. Henderson valuation of environmental resources and impacts in developing countries, E.B. Barbier sustainable national income and natural resource degradation in Zimbabwe, N. Adger controlling water pollution using market mechanisms - results from empirical studies, N. Hanley postscript - future prospects, R.K. Turner.

Is Capitalism Sustainable?: Political Economy and the Politics of Ecology

Abstract: This volume probes the many facets of capitalism's ecological contradictions and presents critical discussions of the politics of ecology under a free-market economy. Offering cogent analyses of the ways capitalism and liberal politics themselves are responding to this crisis, the book also presents the groundwork for meaningful social resistance to capitalist exploitations. Essays in this volume--contributed by leading scholars including Juan Martinez-Alier, Jean-Paul Del?age, Elmar Altvatar, Frank Beckenbach, Ariel Salleh, James O'Connor, John S. Dryzek, Margaret FitzSimmons, Colin Hay, Michael Gismondi, Mary Richardson, and Alex Demirovic--address two broad questions. First, is an ecologically sustainable capitalism possible? Second, is it possible for capitalism to be reformed to respect the integrity of social and ecological domains? In addressing these questions, the first half of the book appraises the ecological and economic contradictions of capital. Thought-provoking chapters discuss theoretical aspects of the relationship between capitalism and nature, such as whether the capitalist system is consistent with ecological sustainability; and which social and economic interests are served and which are forcibly suppressed in a market economy. Contributions drawing on critical perspectives in political economy, ecological economics, eco-feminism, and social history of science, place the industrial exploitation of wage labor within the larger context of the "external" domains of biophysical nature, human nature, and social infrastructures, upon which capitalist accumulation depends. The second half of the book focuses on the political institutions of liberal democracies and both their potential and limitations as vehicles for effective resolution of capitalism's ecological contradictions. Chapters examine the effectiveness of such liberal democratic actions as policy measures for clean air, worker's health, hazardous waste control, protection for endangered species, and international treaties and agreements. They also explore whether more radical democratic principles could furnish an adequate basis for responding to the social and economic dimensions of our ecological crises. The book is a sobering and timely antidote to the current rash of publications touting a successful marriage of market society to the goals of environmental quality and social justice.

Making development sustainable : from concepts to action

Abstract: Since the establishment of the Environment Department in 1987, the Bank has made a concentrated effort to incorporate environmental concerns into its lending and advisory activities In January of 1993 the Vice Presidency for Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) was created to take forward the incorporation of sustainability issues into all aspect's of Bank work This report is a compilation of eight essays which attempt to capture current thought on a number of key conceptual, methodoligical, and practical issues The collective authors cover a range of concerns including: poverty and the environment; gender and ecosystem management; the sociologist's, ecologist's and economist's approaches to sustainable development; the integration of environmental concerns into development policymaking; the World Bank's agenda for the environment; and an epilogue regarding the expansion of capital stock

Rehabilitation of Tropical Lands: A Key to Sustaining Development

Abstract: Land rehabilitation is proposed as a management strategy to reverse the negative consequences of tropical deforestation and land degradation. We first define the concepts associated with ecosystem modification—conversion, damage, and degradation—and those associated with ecosystem repair—restoration, rehabilitation, and reclamation. We then present a scheme of sustainable land use in the tropics, with illustrations of how rehabilitation and restoration activities fit into the overall scheme of the use of land. Because damaged lands cannot contribute effectively to sustained economic development, land rehabilitation is a necessary step for increasing the chances of attaining sustainability. Approaches for rehabilitating ecosystems are discussed, including the management of stressors and subsidies in relation to their point of interaction in the ecosystem. Finally, we illustrate the concepts of ecosystem rehabilitation of damaged, degraded, and derelict lands with examples of case studies from dry to humid life zones in island and continental situations throughout the tropics. The case studies demonstrate that opportunities for success exist, even with severely degraded lands, but a considerable amount of research remains to be done before we have a full understanding of the complexity of the task facing us.

Watershed Management: Balancing Sustainability And Environmental Change

Abstract: Watersheds are recognized as vitally important resources which need to be managed in a co-ordinated fashion to attain sustainability. This volume presents contributions to the analysis of watersheds in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, in three broad subject areas: global and national perspectives; elements of integrated watershed management; and innovative approaches for the mitigation and restoration of watersheds. The aim of this book is to summarize new perspectives that combine social, economic and environmental concerns with approaches to watershed management that treat forest, range, agricultural and urban parcels in an integrated manner.

Confronting the environmental consequences of the Green Revolution in Asia

Abstract: Intensive double or triple monocropping of rice has caused degradation of the paddy micro environment and reductions in rice yield growth in many irrigated areas in Asia. Problems include increased pest infestation, mining of soil micronutrients, reductions in nutrient-carrying capacity of the soil, build-up of soil toxicity, and salinity and waterlogging. Emerging sustainability problems in intensive rice agriculture show the need for a greater understanding of the physical, biological and ecological consequences of agricultural intensification and greater research attention to long term management of the agricultural resource base.

Rural tourism as a factor in rural community economic development for economies in transition

Abstract: This paper examines how community resources can be mobilised to help rural communities make the transition from agrarian to diversified and sustainable economies. It discusses the concept of the Global Management Approach used by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Europe, and shows how this approach can be used to develop sustainable rural tourism, paying close attention to implementation issues.

Farmer Participatory Research: Rhetoric and Reality

Abstract: PREFACE vii 1 Introduction 1 2 An Introduction to Farmer Participatory Research 13 3 Associated Themes and Concepts 26 4 Farmer Participatory Research in Practice 47 5 Key Issues in Implementation 71 6 Analysis of Current Trends and Practice 93 7 Monitoring and Evaluation 119 8 Future Directions: linking evaluation indicators to project design 127 REFERENCES 137

The economics of sustainable development

Abstract: INTRODUCTION ........ . . . .... . . . ..... . .. . . . 457 DEFINING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ...... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. . 458 OPTIMAL GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 MEASURING MACROECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY ..... ..... . 466 WEAK SUSTAINABILITY AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 STRONG SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CRITICAL NATURAL CAPITAL 468 CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

The spirit of the soil : agriculture and environmental ethics

Abstract: In this second edition of The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, Paul B. Thompson reviews four worldviews that shape competing visions for agriculture. Productionists have sought increasing yields—to make two seeds grow where only one grew before—while traditional visions of good farming have stressed stewardship. These traditional visions have been challenged by two more worldviews: a call for a total cost accounting for farming and an advocacy for a holistic perspective. Thompson argues that an environmentally defensible systems approach must draw upon all four worldviews, recognizing their flaws and synthesizing their strengths in a new vision of sustainable agriculture. This classic 1995 study has been thoroughly revised and significantly expanded in its second edition with up-to-date examples of agriculture’s impact on the environment. These include extensive discussions of new pesticides and the effects of animal agriculture on climate and other areas of the environment. In addition, a new final chapter discusses sustainability, which has become a dominant idea within environmental studies and agrarian political philosophy.

Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development: Towards a Theoretical Synthesis

Abstract: The purpose of this book is to review the debates about women in development the effects on the environment and sustainable development. The strengths weaknesses shortcomings and contradictions of various postures are indicated and an alternative framework is provided which suggests policy changes. Chapter topics are identified as the global environmental crisis and the emergence of women in development theoretical assumptions of development in the 1990s feminist critiques of science debates within feminism the shift to gender and development alternative development environmental reform and sustainability and responses to the global crisis from deep ecology social ecology and ecofeminism. Many agree that the present dominant model of development is violent and ethnocentric. The argument is presented that locally adapted sustainable development strategies in the North and the South must be based on "locally sustainable life styles participatory democracy and recovery of dominated peoples subjugated knowledge." Development has brought with it problems such as the continued subjugation of women local power structures and the idealization of tradition. Most theoretical positions do not take into account of womens interests and needs. The challenge of the new feminist epistemologies is to incorporate the ongoing process of change and redefinition of women in cross cultural alliances into a formulation that links gender class and race. A power structure that supports a patriarchal ideology of women as close to nature and of women defined in gender distinct roles must be deconstructed. Women in development legitimizes the movement of past inequalities into mainstream development. Women must benefit from environmental projects. Feminist critiques must be incorporated into the development discourse. The proposed framework calls for very specific methodologies and policy actions. Development is a global problem and developed countries must rethink their use of the environment and are not a viable global model. The approach must assure peoples right to self-determination and not be coopted by urban middle class individuals representation of local poor populations. Gender training among development agencies is imperative. Coercive population control must be rejected.

The green national product: a proposed index of sustainable economic welfare

Abstract: Many critics of mainstream economics have been calling for a new compass to guide national economic policies because the existing one, the GNP, is broken. They propose a 'green national product' which would address the long-term health of the planet and its inhabitants, and focus on sustainability. Toward this end, they propose an Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), which takes into account such elements as adjustments for income distribution, environmental damage, the value of housework, and resource depletion. Experts in the field of economic development present comments and criticisms regarding the creation of the ISEW and its outcome. The book concludes with the authors' direct response to those critical suggestions, culminating with a revised Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare. Contributors: Robert Eisner, Alan H. Young, Carol S. Carson, Robert R. Gottfried, Thomas Michael Power, E.J. Mishan, Jan Tinbergen, Richard D. Lamm, and Hans Diefenbacher. Co-published with the Human Economy Center.

Reflections on sustainability population growth and the environment.

Abstract: The related terms, “sustainable” and “sustainability,” have become popular and are used to describe a wide variety of activities which are generally ecologically laudable. At the same time, the term “compromise” is heard more frequently because the needs of the environment often are in conflict with the needs of humans. A brief examination of the question of compromise shows that a series of ten compromises, each of which saves 70% of the remaining environment, results in the saving of only 3% of the environment. Judging from the ways in which the terms “sustainable” and “sustainability” are used, their definitions are not very precise, especially when compromises are involved. An attempt is made here to give firm definition to these terms and to translate the definition into a series of laws and hypotheses which, it is hoped, will clarify the implications of their use. These are followed by a series of observations and predictions that relate to “sustainability.”

Sustainability, biomass yields, and health of coastal ecosystems: an ecological perspective

Abstract: The sustainability, health and biomass ylelds of marine resources can be enhanced by the implementation of a more holistic and ecologically based strategy for assessing, monitoring, and managing coastal ecosystems than has been generally practiced during most of this century. A major milestone was reached in advancing toward a more ecologically based management practice when the majority of coastal nations of the world endorsed the declaration made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, to prevent, reduce, and control degradation of the marine environment, so as to maintain and improve its life-support and productive capacities; develop and increase the potential of marine living resources to meet human nutritional needs, as well as social, economic, and development goals; and promote the integrated management and sustainable development of coastal areas and the marine environment. The scientific framework in support of the UNCED objectives is now emerging from a series of regional efforts aimed at cross-sectoral integration of research, monitoring, and assessments conducted to mitigate stresses on coastal ecosystems from toxic effluents, habitat degradation, nutrient loadings, harmful algal blooms, aerosol contaminants, and losses of living resources from pollution and overexploitation. Discipline-oriented ecological studies can contribute more toward achievement of resource sustainability when they are conducted withm a framework of science at the level of organization that is multidisciplinary and focused on populations, habitats, and ecosystems at large spatial scales. Primary, secondary, and tertiary driving forces of variability in biomass yields are examined for several large marine ecosystems, along with observations on changing states of 'health' of the systems. Marine resource problems underscored by UNCED are being addressed. Post-UNCED large marine ecosystem-scale programs for advancement toward resource sustainability, ecosystem health, and economically viable biomass yields are now being implemented. The programs are being supported by international agencies as part of an effort to couple recent advances in ecological monitoring, management, and stress mitigation strategies from the more developed countries, with the lesser developed coastal countries around the margins of the ocean basins.

The costs and benefits of soil conservation: the farmers' viewpoint

Abstract: Most countries in Central America and the Caribbean depend heavily on agriculture; efforts to sustain and improve the sector's productivity are therefore crucial to the region's economic development and to the welfare of its people. Land degradation is thought to pose a severe threat to the sustainability of agricultural production. Yet despite long-standing concern about this threat and dramatic claims of environmental damage, surprisingly little empirical analysis has been done on the causes and severity of land degradation problems in the region and on how best to tackle them. Meanwhile, many of the conservation programs designed to address the problems have fallen short of expectations. Often farmers have not adopted the recommended conservation practices or have abandoned them once the project ended. The research presented in this article attempts to bridge the empirical gap, using cost-benefit analysis to investigate the nature and severity of the soil degradation problem and to assess the cost-effectiveness of proposed solutions. Because soil degradation problems tend to be site-specific, the analysis is rooted in case studies, and because conservation programs stand or fall on the participation of farmers, the study's main focus is on the profitability of the measures and the deterrents to their adoption from the farmer's point of view.