An account of the sustainable development process in Bangladesh

With the accelerating industrialization process, even further increasing population and mass deforestation, ‘sustainability’ as a concept has only recently been popularized in Bangladesh. This paper sheds light on the sustainable development process in Bangladesh. It points out the major challenges to this process and identifies the motivating factors for a sustainable society in Bangladesh. The paper concludes with some strategies that are considered essential for the development of a sustainable society in Bangladesh, e.g., strong and effective regulatory framework, emphasis on rural entrepreneurship, development of indigenous technology and an integrated environmental management system.

The boundaries of reporting sustainable development in social housing

The Registered Social Landlord (an independent housing association in the UK) examined here was widely recognized as providing an example of good governance. The organization was using extensive internal reporting, both corporate and quasi-governmental in language, to try to accurately capture different aspects of performance. This article reveals that reporting sustainable development has boundaries to be overcome, particularly in measuring performance of environmental and community activities. © 2008 The Authors.

The development of a sustainable agricultural industry through the application of biochar and pyroligneous acid

This paper marks the first in a series of studies into the potential use of pyrolysis products in the development of more sustainable practices within the agricultural industry. In this study, the immediate benefits of the application of biochar to crop yields of Raphanus sativus (radishes) are assessed. Furthermore, the study reports on the preliminary findings into the potential application of pyroligneous acid (wood vinegar) as a biocidal agent against crop disease. Although germination tests undertaken on biochar/compost blends of up to 1: 2, by weight, showed no significant adverse effect from the addition of the nutrient rich carbonaceous solid, evidence of substantial increases in crop yield through the addition of biochar were not observed. In sharp contrast, zones of inhibition were observed at 3-10 vol. % upon application of pyroligneous acid to two causal agents responsible for certain diseases in vegetable and fruit crops, i.e. Rhizobium radiobacter (agrobacterium tumefaciens) and Xanthomonas campestris, highlighting the versatility in the application of pyrolysis products and avenues for exploration in the development of this biomass conversion technology.

The development of a regional energy assessment model

Shropshire Energy Team initiated this study to examine consumption and associated emissions in the predominantly rural county of Shropshire. Current use of energy is not sustainable in the long term and there are various approaches to dealing with the environmental problems it creates. Energy planning by a local authority for a sustainable future requires detailed energy consumption and environmental information. This information would enable target setting and the implementation of policies designed to encourage energy efficiency improvements and exploitation of renewable energy resources. This could aid regeneration strategies by providing new employment opportunities. Associated reductions in carbon dioxide and other emissions would help to meet national and international environmental targets. In the absence of this detailed information, the objective was to develop a methodology to assess energy consumption and emissions on a regional basis from 1990 onwards for all local planning authorities. This would enable a more accurate assessment of the relevant issues, such that plans are more appropriate and longer lasting. A first comprehensive set of data has been gathered from a wide range of sources and a strong correlation was found between population and energy consumption for a variety of regions across the UK. In this case the methodology was applied to the county of Shropshire to give, for the first time, estimates of primary fuel consumption, electricity consumption and associated emissions in Shropshire for 1990 to 2025. The estimates provide a suitable baseline for assessing the potential contribution renewable energy could play in meeting electricity demand in the country and in reducing emissions. The assessment indicated that in 1990 total primary fuel consumption was 63,518,018 GJ/y increasing to 119,956,465 GJ/y by 2025. This is associated with emissions of 1,129,626 t/y of carbon in 1990 rising to 1,303,282 t/y by 2025. In 1990, 22,565,713 GJ/y of the primary fuel consumption was used for generating electricity rising to 23,478,050 GJ/y in 2025. If targets to reduce primary fuel consumption are reached, then emissions of carbon would fall to 1,042,626 by 2025, if renewable energy targets were also reached then emissions of carbon would fall to 988,638 t/y by 2025.

Sustainable development, shock and awe? London 2012 and Civil Society

There is a disconnection between the top-down, elite, nature of sports mega-events and the ostensible redistributive and participatory sustainable development agendas staked out by BINGOs (Business-based International Non-Governmental Organizations) such as the contemporary International Olympic Committee (IOC). Focusing specifically on the London 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, we argue that, for all the environmental technology advances offered by sports mega-events, their dominant model remains one of a hollowed-out form of sustainable development. Despite significant technical and methodological innovations in environmental stewardship, the development model of the London Olympics remains predicated on the satisfaction of transnational investment flows. We discuss what this means for claims about the staging of a ‘green’ Olympic Games.

The global financial crisis, working people and sustainable development

Although they had nothing to do with the actual causes of the 2008 Global Financial crisis, it is ordinary workers and their families who have arguably suffered the most from its effects. While governments and international agencies seem most concerned to protect the returns to Capital in the name of financial austerity and economic good sense, little has been done to protect the well-being of working people or the global environment. Both trade unionists and environmentalists oppose the destruction wrought by neoliberal market economics; the challenge is for them to work more closely together in the future to promote truly sustainable development.

Transdisciplinarity and reflective practice in sustainable development learning

Using various extracts from the reflective commentaries of MSc students, this article explores how transdisciplinarity and reflective practice operate in the programme. It shows how learners managed the uncertainties of sustainable development through regular critical and evaluative reflections. Students were able to apprehend the several worlds making up the sustainable development project and their own personal learning journey through the various competing, complementary and occasionally contradictory perspectives, modes of learning, sources of knowledge and information. One conceptual device facilitating this process was offering an understanding of sustainable development as constituting a ‘dialogue of values’, an approach that effectively invites students to square the metaphorical circle - i.e. broadly reconciling (ecological) sustainability with (economic) development.

Community, empowerment and sustainable development

This book explores a compelling range of community-based activities from different cultures and nations which help nurture intercultural understanding and practices of sustainable development. The specially commissioned chapters from practitioners and academics offer a set of interconnected case studies, personal stories, philosophical discussions and critical reflections on direct experiences focussing on co-operative action, creative media innovation and community empowerment connecting individuals, groups, organisations from across our converging world. At the bookís core is a central belief that ecological sustainability can only be attained through social learning, community empowerment, participation and a commitment to global justice. It is the first in a series of books addressing issues emerging from the Schumacher Instituteís Converging World Initiative.

Understanding sustainable development

Sustainable development is notoriously difficult to grasp for students and professionals. Multidimensional, encompassing social, ecological and economic theories, policies and practice, it can be a maze of complexity and contradiction. This powerful new textbook, by a topic instructor in the field, is the first to unravel sustainable development and provide readers with the deep understanding so often missing in other texts. The book adopts a multi-perspective approach designed specifically to allow access to the topic from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds and to develop understanding of a diversity of approaches and traditions at different levels. It features multiple entry points, explains jargon and explores controversies. Also offering boxed examples from the local to the global, Understanding Sustainable Development is the most complete guide to the subject for course leaders, students and self-learners.

Sustainable development

The United Nations has pithily defined sustainable development as progress that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. But sustainable development remains highly contested and is subject to a wide variety of interpretations, applications, and criticisms. Moreover, those seeking fully to understand this critical concept are confronted with a (sometimes dispiritingly) voluminous body of scholarly, polemical, and journalistic writing. Edited by the acclaimed author of Understanding Sustainable Development (Earthscan, 2008), this new title from Routledge’s Critical Concepts in the Environment series answers the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the vast literature on sustainable development, and the continuing explosion in research output. Drawing on a wide variety of sources that take full cognizance of the rich background and necessary adaptability of the concept to the imperatives of time, place, and culture, and which emphasize its connected and transdisciplinary nature, the editor has brought together in four volumes the canonical and the best cutting-edge work to produce an indispensable ‘mini library’. The collection covers the history, mediation, application, and likely future orientations of sustainable development, both conceptually and as a continually emerging practice. Sustainable Development is fully indexed and includes comprehensive introductions, newly written by the editor, which place the collected materials in their historical and intellectual context. It is an essential reference collection and is certain to be valued by scholars and students—as well as serious policy-makers and practitioners—as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Trigeneration using biomass energy for sustainable development

Purpose: The paper aims to design and prove the concept of micro-industry using trigeneration fuelled by biomass, for sustainable development in rural NW India. Design/methodology/approach: This is being tested at village Malunga, near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The system components comprise burning of waste biomass for steam generation and its use for power generation, cooling system for fruit ripening and the use of steam for producing distilled water. Site was selected taking into account the local economic and social needs, biomass resources available from agricultural activities, and the presence of a NGO which is competent to facilitate running of the enterprise. The trigeneration system was designed to integrate off-the-shelf equipment for power generation using boilers of approximate total capacity 1 tonne of fuel per hour, and a back-pressure steam turbo-generator (200 kW). Cooling is provided by a vapour absorption machine (VAM). Findings: The financial analysis indicates a payback time of less than two years. Nevertheless, this is sensitive to market fluctuations and availabilities of raw materials. Originality/value: Although comparable trigeneration systems already exist in large food processing industries and in space heating and cooling applications, they have not previously been used for rural micro-industry. The small-scale (1-2 m3/h output) multiple effect distillation (3 effect plus condenser) unit has not previously been deployed at field level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Enhanced renewable energy adoption for sustainable development in India:interpretive structural modeling approach

Poverty alleviation and social upliftment of rural India is closely linked with the availability and use of energy for development. At the same time, sustainable supply of clean and affordable renewable energy sources is required if development is to be sustainable, so that it does not cause any environmental problems. The purpose of this paper is to determine the key variables of renewable energy implementation for sustainable development, on which the top management should focus. In this paper, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) - based approach has been employed to model the implementation variables of renewable energy for sustainable development. These variables have been categorized under ‘enablers’ that help to increase the implementation of renewable energy for sustainable development. A major finding of this research is that public awareness regarding renewable energy for sustainable development is a very significant enabler. In this paper, an interpretation of variables of renewable energy for sustainable development in terms of their driving and dependence powers has been examined. For better results, top management should focus on improving the high-driving power enablers such as leadership, strategic planning, public awareness, top management support, availability of finance, government support, and support from interest groups.

Recent developments in heterogeneous catalysis for the sustainable production of biodiesel

The quest for energy security and widespread acceptance of the anthropogenic origin of rising CO2 emissions and associated climate change from combusting fossil derived carbon sources, is driving academic and commercial research into new routes to sustainable fuels to meet the demands of a rapidly rising global population. Biodiesel is one of the most readily implemented and low cost, alternative source of transportation fuels to meet future societal demands. However, current practises to produce biodiesel via transesterification employing homogeneous acids and bases result in costly fuel purification processes and undesired pollution. Life-cycle calculations on biodiesel synthesis from soybean feedstock show that the single most energy intensive step is the catalytic conversion of TAGs into biodiesel, accounting for 87% of the total primary energy input, which largely arises from the quench and separation steps. The development of solid acid and base catalysts that respectively remove undesired free fatty acid (FFA) impurities, and transform naturally occurring triglycerides found within plant oils into clean biodiesel would be desirable to improve process efficiency. However, the microporous nature of many conventional catalysts limits their ability to convert bulky and viscous feeds typical of plant or algal oils. Here we describe how improved catalyst performance, and overall process efficiency can result from a combination of new synthetic materials based upon templated solid acids and bases with hierarchical structures, tailored surface properties and use of intensified process allowing continuous operation.

The role of academic/industry partnerships in the development of supply chain managers

The need for improvement in the logistics and supply chain management capability of companies in Ireland is becoming increasingly recognised. One of the main bottlenecks currently is the shortage of supply chain management professionals. Education and training has a fundamental role to play if the supply of suitably qualified human resource is to be addressed in a meaningful way. Recent research indicates that demand for people with the right knowledge and skills greatly exceed supply. There are numerous techniques and technologies which can facilitate improvement in a company’s supply chain capability. However, experience has shown that these tools alone can not address the weaknesses – any improvement tool is only as good as a company’s ability to utilise it and effective utilisation depends above all on the knowledge and skill of employees. Education and training is essential in developing the requisite knowledge and skills. Consultants can play a role in terms of providing an objective view of a company’s requirements. But the only way to generate a sustainable competitive advantage is to ensure that the necessary knowledge and skills are available in-house. Indeed, the “consultancy culture” which has developed in many companies is a direct result of this lack of in-house expertise. Given the shortage of suitably qualified and experienced people in the job market, the only way that this problem can be addressed is through effective development of existing staff. This paper describes the partnership model adopted by the NITL to achieve its objective of combining academic excellence with real relevance to commercial needs in its supply chain management development programmes. The Executive Development Programme (EDP) is used to illustrate how the model is implemented.