Current Research in Environmental Sustainability最新文献

The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected societies across the world while its economic impact has cut deeper than any recession since the Second World War. Climate change is potentially an even more disruptive and complex global challenge. Climate change could cause social and economic damage far larger than that caused by COVID-19. The current pandemic has highlighted the extent to which societies need to prepare for disruptive global environmental crises. Although the dynamics of combating COVID-19 and climate change are different, the priorities for action are the same: behavioral change, international cooperation to manage shared challenges, and technology's role in advancing solutions. For a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis to be durable and resilient, a return to ‘business as usual’ and the subsequent often environmentally destructive economic activities must be avoided as they have significantly contributed to climate change. To avoid this, we draw lessons from the experiences of the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond to advance sustainable development.

Whilst COVID-19 has left a devastating trail of economic and social losses, it has spurred incidental transitory positive externalities for the environment and climate. Key among these include; improved air and water quality, clearer skies and a projected 8% global blip in carbon emissions by the end of 2020. The global wave of restrictive lock downs implemented to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the short term account for these gains. The lockdowns were defined by limited public and private travel, closure of airports and borders, and a decline in industrial activity. However, most of these climate and environmental gains were secondary effects of the COVID-19 induced lockdowns and not based on decisive deliberate policy action, which casts doubts on their sustainability and ability to contribute to a green economy transition. Sustaining accrued environmental and climate benefits will depend on the direction of the COVID-19 stimuli and recovery packages – whether they are designed to work for the planet or against it. This article therefore elaborates on how state and non-state actors across the globe ought to be agile in building back sustainably to upend the ongoing collision course between the planet and economic development. It emphasizes the use of Sustainable Development Goals and Nationally Determined Contributions on climate change (NDCs) as a compass to shape the direction of COVID-19 recovery packages. It further enumerates six strategies that must underpin recovery packages to ensure win-win for the economy, society, and the planet.

Svalbard is facing changes related to climate change and permafrost thaw, which have impacts on the life and well-being of people. This study evaluated impacts of climate change and permafrost thaw on the life of locals living in Longyearbyen, Svalbard and focused on investigating self-rated health, well-being, quality of life, satisfaction with life, and feeling of empowerment when facing the changes and impacts. The aim was to find out which perceived environmental and adaptation factors relate to these dependent variables. The data was collected using a multidisciplinary questionnaire (n = 84); for statistical analysis cross-tabulation was used and the associations were tested either by the Pearson χ² test or Fisher's exact test, when appropriate. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate associations between the dependent variables and perceived environmental and adaptation factors. Results suggested that well-being, quality of life, satisfaction with life, and life balance (a sum variable of earlier parameters) were associated with the recognized challenges related to infrastructure or physical environment. Quality of life and life balance were supported by the opinion that not enough has been done to adapt to permafrost thaw by national and global authorities. Despite recognized challenges, participants appear to live satisfied lives. People seemed to have knowledge about the impacts of permafrost thaw, they wanted to adapt to the changes, but more actions are needed from national and global authorities. Research with a larger sample size is needed due to the complexity of the relationships between people, holistic well-being, and climate change.

The global change between human activities and the natural environment has evolved with technological growth and economic development. Due to their size and small population, small island states have become the most vulnerable to these irreversible changes. These have raised the importance for taking some initiatives for human benefits, economic welfare and environmental protection. Sustainable practices and performance measurement are important for these small island states. The purpose of this paper was to develop a quantitative modelling tool to measure sustainability performance for small island states while considering the three sustainability spheres namely environment, economic and social in an integrated manner. A Sustainability Assessment Tool for Small Island States (SATIS) was developed based on a fuzzy methodological approach which used sustainability indicators for the three dimensions. The research began by identifying the indicators for Mauritius island which were then selected according to their level of importance for this research study through an expert survey. Data was then collected and applied to the proposed model. A Sensitivity analysis was conducted in order to stress on the most influencing factors that were affecting the overall system. The model was then validated using recent data. It was observed that fuzzy logic approach has shown great reasoning capabilities which traditional mathematical tools failed to produce. The fuzzy based methodological approach was found to be a remarkable tool for monitoring sustainability performance in small island states. To conclude, this model is recommended for sustainability assessment. Practitioners can apply this modelling technique to track sustainability performance of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Agricultural policies are now orientated towards sustainable food production which integrate climate and biodiversity targets. Increasing the uptake of ecological approaches is intrinsic to the success of these policies. but this is contingent on farmer acceptability of these practices. We employ a cross-European farmer survey to explore the perspectives of producers and to derive a typology based on their ecological self-identities.Using a one stage latent class model we find four types and examine common factors which may correlate to farmer membership of a particular group. We find two types which are positive towards uptake of ecological approaches but are mainly differentiated by their responses to social pressure and the acceptance of ecological practices within their supply chains. A further group reveals a multifunctional identity, which balances ecological with food productivity goals, whereas a final group show indifference towards ecological approaches and may align with previous work identifying productivist farming identities. As Governments are seeking to promote transition within the industry we argue for clear policy intent inmessaging, as well as approaches which support supply chain dialogue to target particular groups of farmers for real behavioural change.

In developing countries, connections between rural households' energy access, efficiency of cooking technologies, and relevant factors are less understood. This study investigates household-level cooking stove's carbon-di-oxide (CO₂) emissions, perceptions, and influencing factors in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Methods involve a survey of 176 randomly selected households with a pre-tested questionnaire, and relevant measurements of traditional cooking stoves (TCS) and improved cooking stoves (ICS) of the households in three different categories: nearby, far, and very far from a protected forest area. Results show that most of the households use double-mouthed TCS, although ICS can save 27% fuels and 25% CO₂ emissions compared to TCS. Between 44% to 84% of the respondents prefer ICS because these are less labor intensive, emission-friendly as well as fuel- and time- efficient. The perception varies significantly between the households located far away and nearby the park. The amount of fuelwood and total biomass fuels used in the TCS tends to be significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those in the ICS, which corresponds to the higher emissions in TCS. We also find that a household releases six times higher CO₂ emissions from burning fuelwood and other biomass fuels compared to use of non-renewable fuels. Households with pucca (brick-built) houses, financial affluency, education, large family size, away from the park, and larger homestead area tend to release more emissions from the use of fuelwood and non-renewable fuels. This study finding can help policymakers make informed decisions in implementing ICS and other cleaner biomass-based projects.

The textile industry has led to economic prosperity but harms the environment caused by untreated textile wastewater. This paper aims to integrate the textile value chain (TVC), resource nexus, the textile production chain (TPC), focusing on wastewater management (WWM) and environmental consequences (EC). The SCOPUS electronic database has selected 110 peer-reviewed relevant articles through PRISMA guidelines. The significant research gaps and seven substantial future research avenues have been identified through a systematic literature review. The predominant avenue portrayed effective integration of TPC associated EC interlinking the TVC to mitigate the silo thinking of SDGs by reinforcing the resource nexus synergies.

Research collaborations between volunteer monitoring groups and environmental scientists and managers are instrumental for understanding and managing complex socioecological systems. In the Chesapeake region, the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) helps coordinate volunteer monitoring efforts throughout the watershed, and facilitates collaboration between environmental stakeholders. However, stakeholders perceive their environment and their own role in different ways, and these perceptions affect how they prioritize problems and respective solutions. We conducted a survey to explore the extent to which cultural knowledge about environmental monitoring was shared across the CMC community, pinpoint key similarities and differences in how stakeholder groups prioritized various environmental monitoring goals, and understand stakeholders' perspectives of the CMC's resources. We learned that stakeholders drew from a shared system of cultural knowledge surrounding environmental monitoring and prioritized goals related to collecting actionable data and improving environmental conditions. There were also compelling differences in how stakeholder groups prioritized increasing knowledge and building a sense of community. Furthermore, stakeholders especially valued CMC resources associated with increasing the quality, quantity, and accessibility of volunteer-collected data. Based on our results, we developed recommendations to inform the design and coordination of other collaborative environmental monitoring programs. We argue that cultural consensus can provide a foundation for collaboration, and stakeholders' highest-priority monitoring goals can inform organizational priorities and strategic outreach. Furthermore, efforts to build social capital and understand stakeholders' changing priorities over time will be important for ensuring the continued success of the research partnership.

In Colombia, rural youth face multiple challenges and social gaps, so the main option is to leave rural areas and migrate to urban environments in search of better living conditions. Instigating collective processes that enhance prospects for rural permanence is crucial. The research gap that we face in this article is the limitation of research in knowledge co-creation dynamics based on the Citizen-Labs framework in rural environments located in the Global South. This article presents the systematisation of a LabCampesino, a space aimed at collaborative creating innovations for territorial management and alternatives to development from the rural youth in the Colombian countryside, as a new theoretical and methodological framework to examine knowledge generation. By applying a case study approach, this article explores the axes of agroecology, co-creation, and community organisation from a transdisciplinary and participatory action research lens. For this, sessions on exploration, experimentation, and prototyping were created in the province of Sumapaz, which led to learning around technologies and knowledge dialogue practices for the protection and reconstruction of peasant territories. The results demonstrate that the young participants can build, document and disseminate innovations at the community level related to situated technologies, processes and reflections on local socio-ecological processes. Thus, rural laboratories make possible practical, experimental, and situated rural education as a communal innovation experience in the territory, hand in hand with agroecological dynamics and political and social organisation, becoming places of articulation and advocacy for territorial actors and interests that seek a transformation of rurality.

Information sharing lies at the core of most governance interventions within agro-food commodity supply-chains, such as certification standards or direct trade relationships. However, actors have little information available to guide sustainable consumption decisions beyond simple labels. Blockchain technology can potentially alleviate the numerous sustainability problems related to agro-food commodity supply-chains by fostering traceability and transparency. Despite significant research on blockchain, there is limited understanding of the concrete barriers and benefits and potential applications of blockchain in real-world settings. Here, we present a case study of blockchain implementation in a coffee supply-chain. Our aim is to assess the potential of blockchain technology to promote sustainability in coffee supply chains through increased traceability and transparency and to identify barriers and opportunities for this. While our pilot implementation clearly illustrates certain benefits of blockchain, it also suggests that blockchain is no silver bullet for delivering agro-food supply chain sustainability. Knowledge on provenance and transparency of information on quality and sustainability can help trigger transformation of consumer behaviour, but the actual value lies in digitising the supply chain to increase efficiency and reduce costs, disputes, and fraud, while providing more insight end-to-end through product provenance and chain-of-custody information. We identify a need to understand and minimize supply chain barriers before we can reap the full benefits of digitalization and decentralization provided by blockchain technology.