Sustaibability

Nowadays, we have seen that the depletion and loss of coral reef biodiversity in our region is significantly worsening. Therefore, biodiversity conservation and significant issues related to sustainable use of this biological resource should be given specific attention. In this study, Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark (LUGG) is one example where the deterioration of coral reefs is at a critical level. A comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of coral reefs in Pulau Langkawi, its values, the processes that support it and the pressures that affect it is fundamental to protecting and restoring the reefs and in making informed decisions on avoiding, mitigating and offsetting the pressures. All of this information should be taken into account in informing the adaptive management before proclaiming this area as marine protected area (MPA) through Ecosystem Approach for Fisheries Management (EAFM). Generally, the effectiveness of this study on biodiversity response and strategy can be measured by the wealth of the local community. Here we can see from two angles; (1) they conserve the resources of goods and services for their current and future needs, and (2) they create synergy and balance between the conservation of biodiversity and the other needs of the community, including the safeguarding of the sustainable use of biological resources. Hopefully, the outcome of this study will benefit the locals and even regionally and globally in ensuring the survival of marine life, particularly the coral reefs in this area so that they are immaculately maintained for future generations.

La presente tesi ha come obbiettivo quello di analizzare le forme e le modalità dell’agricoltura sostenibile intesa come pratica in grado di valorizzare sia l’ambiente sia l’individuo. Si tratta di un tema che incrocia, in maniera transdisciplinare, tematiche care tanto all’antropologia quanto alla sociologia più recente. In questa sede, si cercherà di offrire un approccio olistico preferendo gli strumenti e le metodologie proprie di discipline quali l’Antropologia Sociale e l’Antropologia dell’Alimentazione. Attraverso la ricerca documentale e la raccolta di informazioni e interviste di tre peculiari realtà - Fuorimercato collocata a Trezzano sul Naviglio (MI), Mercato Ritrovato a Bologna e Libera Terra - è stato possibile mettere a confronto i cosiddetti canali “convenzionali” della Grande Distribuzione Organizzata con progetti equi e sostenibili capaci di resistere alle dinamiche sfruttatrici. In questa sede è stata posta la premessa che le diverse pratiche dipendenti da una logica a gestione intensiva non siano più sostenibili in quanto fanno un uso spropositato di risorse energetiche non rinnovabili. Sono stati proposti, pertanto, sistemi alternativi di agricoltura sostenibile che hanno preso le distanze dalle forme di mercato agroalimentare convenzionale e dimostrano una maggiore efficienza dal punto di vista energetico, economico, salutare e sociale. Sono sistemi agricoli che mettono in pratica i principi dell’agroecologia, disciplina che ha a cuore l’ambiente e il benessere sociale e, pertanto, attua pratiche ecologicamente e socialmente sensibili e sostenibili in grado di avviare una vera e propria rivoluzione della cultura agroalimentare. Una sostenibilità, dunque, duplice che comprende tanto la sfera ambientale quanto quella sociale valorizzando il prodotto, il lavoratore, il produttore e il consumatore, nonché mettendo in moto un’economia alternativa di stampo circolare.

Published in the first Volume of "The International Journal for Arts and Politics":

Considering the high traffic congestion rate in Lebanon and its negative impact on the urban air
quality, the Dutch Cycling Model is proposed as a potential solution. The reason being that it can
help alleviate the problems of the high energy dependency, lack of efficiency in urban transport, and
the environmental/health hazards that Beirut faces. This paper looks at how the different social
science approaches such as behavioral economics, social psychology, sociology, and social shaping
by technology can influence this travel behavior change in Lebanon and encourage cycling as means
of transport within coastal cities.

In order to support the government target on Total Sanitation at Surkhet District, ENPHO initiated WASH promotion programs at Surkhet from 2011-March 2014 with the support of USAID and EAWAG. As the name of the project itself indicates, the main approach of Su-Swastha Project was School Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) with the focus on all the 58 schools within the project areas as entry points. Apart from SLTS, the project embraced multi-tier approaches and methods to engage locals at household, community and institutional level to speed up the process of community mobilization for effective WASH promotion throughout the VDCs, taking on consideration with the local level of understanding and interest.

Strategy used on one cluster/ tole did not work in other due to their geographical condition, ethnic background, changing livelihood, cognitive behavior, conservative thoughts, educational standard, interest, and profit-making mind-set. Throughout the project intervention period, combination of two or more approaches along with multiple front line workers were the foundation to convince the community towards applying WASH interventions and ensuring gradual transformation. It has been observed that minimum three working team was required to make any approach or strategy successful.

The main motivation for the team on engaging throughout the project duration were exposure visits, recognition and appreciation. In order to attain the sustainability of the project, four major aspects were focused on. This included; 1. Social/ Environmental aspect; 2. Institutional aspect; 3. Technical aspect and 4. Financial aspect. It is deemed necessary that post-project evaluation to be conducted in order to maintain sustainability so that project experiences could benefit other similar projects in Nepal.

Wearable technologies involve the integration of technology into clothing or accessories 15 to bring new functionalities for people on the move. Many examples of wearables are emerging, 16 from simple fitness tracking watches to electronics deeply embedded into garments for multi-touch 17 sensing and control for personal music players. Without careful development, wearables can have 18 a negative impact on the environment due to increased production of electronic components, 19 increased e-waste from abandoned devices, and increased energy usage. We examine 20 environmental sustainability issues through a review of recent research and cases across three broad 21 areas including the fashion industry, information and communications technology (ICT), and 22 wearable technologies. In the analysis, we examine stages in the product lifecycle and identify the 23 unique issues for each sector including the extraction of materials, production process, distribution 24 of products, use, and disposal of products that have reached the end of their life. The findings are 25 gathered as implications for design so that researchers, educators, designers, developers, and 26 product managers will gain an overview of the issues related to environmental sustainability. 27 Related examples of products and prototypes are provided to enable informed choices during the 28 design and development of wearables that are more environmentally sustainable. 29

The purpose of this study was to examine the development of organic farming (OF) and clarify its mechanism in Sri Lanka under the global food system. OF is seen as a typical alternative to the mainstream global food supply system and productivism and is expected to be an environmentally, socially, and economically just and sustainable farming method. However, ironically, due to the commodification of certified “ organic ” products, even this sector falls under the global food system. Moreover, most of the research on the development of OF is conducted in industrialized countries, despite the fact that OF is expected to offer solutions to rural issues in developing countries. Few comprehensive studies have been carried out on the development of OF in developing countries under the global food system.
Sri Lanka was chosen as the study area for following reasons: 1) the government and companies have positive attitudes toward the export of organic products; 2) OF has been introduced in two agricultural sectors, plantations and small farmers, which are typical in developing countries; and 3) the small scale of the country is suitable for conducting research on a national scale.
Based on the agricultural structure of Sri Lanka, OF development was examined from three aspects: development through agri-business activities, development through NGO activities, and support from the government. In-depth interviews with and questionnaires to relevant actors were conducted to obtain data from October 2004 to August 2005. The results are summarized as the interrelationships among the actors.
Major findings of this study were:
1) OF in Sri Lanka has mainly been led by agri-businesses that have organic certification from industrialized countries for exports. There are two types of these agri-businesses, plantation companies and companies that organize small farmer's groups, and they mainly export tea and processed spice/fruit, respectively. Their location patterns result from convenience for exporting, but some are chosen by considering less-favored areas. Organic cultivation of rice is, however, not popular because rice is mainly for domestic consumption despite the major agricultural land use in Sri Lanka.
2) NGOs promote OF mostly for environmental conservation, conservation of traditional cultivation systems, promoting farmers' environmental consciousness, and food security, and they do not always concentrate efforts on the export of products. Therefore, the locations of NGO offices and the crops they promote crops are diverse. However, a few NGOs are active in OF promotion and they have close relationships with international organizations based in industrialized countries.
3) Despite the strong connection with industrialized countries, the development of OF in Sri Lanka has been endogenous to some extent and features interrelationships between relevant actors, such as technical support and finding buyers. Under this situation, the Sri Lankan government, which promoted the Green Revolution, has changed its attitude toward OF and original certification systems to improve cooperation with other relevant actors.
4) OF in Sri Lanka will continue to develop depending on exports to industrialized countries, because of the difficulty in establishing the domestic organic market. Therefore government support is necessary for export activities. As public-benefit actors, the government, NGOs, and international organizations need to give priority to promoting OF in environmentally sensitive and socioeconomically less-favored areas. At the same time, all upstream actors including those in industrialized countries must understand the situation of downstream actors such as small farmers and plantation workers and support them. Otherwise, OF as an environmentally, socially, and economically just and sustainable farming method will not be achieved in developing countries like Sri Lanka.

It can be said that all market paradigms have a knowledge base that supports their model structure, their choice structure, and their price structure. We know that there are lower level market paradigms and higher level market paradigms. It can be said that the higher level the market is the higher level its model structure, its choice structure and its price structure are. According to paradigm death and shift expectations we expect that after death lower level market paradigm will shift individually to or will merge if in groups into higher level markets in order to preserve their core values. And when they shift or merge they create paradigm shift knowledge gaps, which can affect in different ways the expected evolution of market paradigms as decision makers do not have the correct tools and understanding needed to properly set up and manage a new market paradigm when paradigm shifts are taking place. In other words, the creation of knowledge gaps brings along different types of implementation problems. For example, under knowledge gaps decision makers may mishandle expected paradigm shifts as knowledge gaps may make it impossible if not difficult for decision makers to set up properly higher level market structures and supporting institutions or knowledge gaps may lead them to see market patching as a solution when the problem is not yet fixed or knowledge gaps can lead decision makers to flip the model under sustainability pressures and take the structure of another lower level model that has a knowledge base as they cannot see the way to manage the shift from the lower level market to the higher level market. Yet not much is written about how paradigm shift knowledge gaps come along and how they may affect the proper way to handle or manage expected paradigm evolution paths. And this raises the question, how are paradigm shift knowledge gaps created? In which ways can they lead to the mishandling of expected paradigm shifts?