The role of environmental stewardship in nature conservation

This research explored the concept of environmental stewardship, creating an Environmental Stewardship Model and Performance Framework to enhance and fulfill the objectives of global biodiversity conservation. The model framework are social science approaches to assessing the effectiveness of community engagement in natural area planning and management for global biodiversity conservation objectives.

Cost-effectiveness of whole-of-community obesity prevention programs: an overview of the evidence

Whole-of-community obesity prevention programs that impact on multiple players and promote community capacity show promise as an important strategy in the fight against global obesity. This paper reviews the economic evaluation literature of multifaceted, community based obesity prevention programs. There are few cost effectiveness studies. Whilst results to date are encouraging, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the long term results given the lack of evidence regarding sustainability of program effect and a consequent reliance on economic modeling to fill the gaps. More empirical studies of longer duration are needed to demonstrate the longer term effectiveness and cost effectiveness of these programs, and to facilitate identification of the elements necessary for their sustainability.

Developing a spatial decision support system for sustainable built environments in Abu Dhabi

 The research aims at developing a set of sustainability indicators for the challenging Abu Dhabi built environment and examine the possible use of GIS. The research has illustrated the real potential of the sustainability indicators for managing built environment sustainability performance and provides a clear perspective on how the proposed indicators can be used to develop a DSS to assess and improve Abu Dhabi’s sustainability.

Impact assessment and quality analysis of corporate social responsability (CSR) programs of mining companies and their contribution to sustainable development in the communities they operate: case study Tenke Fungurume Mining SA in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Purpose – This case study presents an impact assessment of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs of the TFM Company in order to understand how they contribute to the sustainable development of communities in areas in which they operate. Design/Methodology/Approach - Data for this study was collected using qualitative data methods that included semi-structured interviews and Focus Group Discussions most of them audio and video recorded. Documentary analysis and a field visit were also undertaken for the purpose of quality analysis of the CSR programs on the terrain. Data collected was analyzed using the Seven Questions to sustainability (7Qs) framework, an evaluation tool developed by the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) North America chapter. Content analysis method was on the other hand used to examine the interviews and FGDs of the study participants. Findings - Results shows that CSR programs of TFM SA do contribute to community development, as there have been notable changes in the communities’ living conditions. But whether they have contributed to sustainable development is not yet the case as programs that enhance the capacity of communities and other stakeholders to support these projects development beyond the implementation stage and the mines operation lifetime need to be considered and implemented. Originality/Value – In DRC, there is paucity of information of research studies that focus on impact assessment of CSR programs in general and specifically those of mining companies and their contribution to sustainable development of local communities. Many of the available studies cover issues of minerals and conflict or conflict minerals as mostly referred to. This study addressees this gap.

Produção familiar e parâmetros de sustentabilidade no Município de Bauru/SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Conditional cash transfer programmes: the recent experience in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes Bibliography

A aplicação da avaliação do ciclo de vida para análise dos aspectos ambientais que envolvem a reciclagem de sucatas nas usinas siderúrgicas

Pós-graduação em Geociências e Meio Ambiente - IGCE

Sustentabilidade e gestão ambiental no município de Moju/PA: desafios para a produção do biodiesel

O conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável e sua operacionalização emergem como uma necessidade de pensar em novas formas de mensurar o crescimento, daí o surgimento dos “Indicadores de Sustentabilidade”, criados para medir a sustentabilidade de um sistema, baseado em índices de diversas variáveis que apontam para a sustentabilidade ou não de uma região. Na Amazônia e no Estado do Pará, pouco se tem aplicado ferramentas de análise de sustentabilidade em suas mais diversas dimensões. Recentemente nesta região, foram criados os “Pólos de Produção do Biodiesel” através da Política Nacional de Produção do Biodiesel – PNPB e neste sentido, destaca-se o Município de Moju, no Pará, como um dos maiores produtores de dendê. Apesar da enorme expansão de cultivo de dendezeiro neste município, há dúvidas sobre a capacidade de Moju de receber uma política pública como essa, que se configura em novas territorialidades e novas dinâmicas sociais, econômicas e ambientais e trazem imensos desafios, que requerem uma capacidade de gestão ambiental forte. Dessa forma, o estudo dedica-se a analisar o nível de sustentabilidade do município de Moju e a capacidade de gestão ambiental deste município. Foram realizadas entrevistas e busca de dados secundários e para a análise de sustentabilidade usou-se como ferramenta de avaliação o Barômetro da Sustentabilidade. Observou-se que este município tende a baixa sustentabilidade com poucos avanços socioeconômicos e ambientais, o que denota a fragilidade do município nas questões socioambientais. Em geral, o município possui habilitação para exercer a gestão ambiental plena, ou seja, apresenta uma estrutura administrativa considerada desejável, porém sua estrutura operacional ainda é deficitária ou ineficaz, o que trará certamente problemas para a condução do PNPB.

Desafios da comunicação na gestão da sustentabilidade ambiental das organizações contemporâneas

The present production aims to approach environmental sustainability and communication to demonstrate that the public relations´s professional is capable of legitimation process´s assistance of ethics and coherent speechs and capable of sense´s construction´s assistance for environmental sustainability on contemporary organizations. This position shows that organization´s consistent speechs are connected with its institutional mission and effort besides, it is value and sensitive to interested parts that emphasis the environmental preservation and environmental project´s introduction, integrating organization with community. On this context it is constructed a discussion about Sustainability Report´s content and guidelines used for sustainability reporting framework, as where as main environmental organizational activities, analyzing three different companies and its respective Sustainability Reports on 2009. Thereby, it is pointed out relevance of efficient communication which deal with opposite interests between organizations and its stakeholders so that public relations focus on strategic management trying to include negotiation, dialogue, transparency and ethics to line up both interests

Proposta de um processo de categorização de fornecedores para a execução de projetos

Nowadays, in business environment, organizations seek to differentiate through special programs and plans, taking the concepts of sustainability, performance and benefits generated for society. Based in this competitive environment, as companies depend on the use of subcontractors to perform services for your different customers, the work performed by them is directly related to the vision created by the final customer’s vision of the company responsible for the project. Considering that the supplier hired to execute the project does not share the strategic concepts related to the level of services to be offered to the final customers, thus creating the need to develop methods that enable the alignment between the project owner, responsible for preparing the executive project, and the supplier, responsible for the execution of the work. Tangent to this need, it was necessary to create a method of evaluation and categorization for suppliers to hired for the projects. As a result it has been proposed a process of categorization of suppliers, through the restriction of possible companies to be hired for a project designed to promote alignment between strategies and continuous improvement of the solutions offered to the market

Sustainable consumption: from escape strategies towards real alternatives

Better sustainability policy is supposed to lead to better sustainability performance. Nonetheless, recent research predicts further growth of the ecological footprint and stable ecological deficit in Europe and North America despite their impressive policy efforts (Lenzen et al. 2007) [1]. Similarly, individual strategies result in somewhat reduced load for committed consumers, but this reduction cannot offset the total impact of the socio-economic configuration: consumers in higher income countries tend to pollute more. Comitted consumers "offset" a part of their environmental load by carrying out green purchases. A radical change assumes a change in lifestyle (Shove, 2004) [2]. The conference paper is the first step of the study that aims at measuring the significance of attitude elements as compared to the significance of the socio-economic system on different elements of consumption and environmental aspects This paper focuses on measuring the ecological footprint impacts of consumption in different product groups as well as in different income groups of the society.

Proposta de avaliação de práticas sustentáveis nas operações de serviço em instituições de ensino superior da Rede Federal de Educação Profissional, Científica e Tecnológica

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have an extremely important social role, they are responsible for the place where they work and to form citizens who contribute to a fair and cooperative society. Universities can engage with sustainable development in planning, management, education, research, operations, community services, procurement of materials, transportation and infrastructure; this research seeks to analyze the sustainability practices in service operations in the Higher Education Institutions of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education in Brazil through the development and application of a model called the Sustainability Assessment for Higher Technological Education (SAHTE). To achieve the proposed goal, a systematic survey of the scientific literature on sustainability assessment models in higher education institutions was conducted, making it possible to identify the characteristics and features of existing models. The model was applied through multiple case studies. The proposal compares the sustainability performance of service operations among individual institutions using a common methodology. It presents five areas to be evaluated in the HEI: Governance and Policies, People, Food, Water and Energy, and Waste and Environment, with a total of 134 questions. The need for greater support from the senior management of institutions to formulate and implement policies on sustainable development was identified when the lack of policies on sustainability in service operations was found; initiatives tend to be isolated. The participation of students and teachers in studies on the daily operations of the campus can be expanded and more widespread. The model seeks to evaluate sustainable practices in the service operations of the Brazilian Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education; studies related to the evaluation of teaching sustainability are absent and the applicability of the model in private institutions and other countries is needed. The results obtained with the application of the SAHTE model are useful for the preparation and development of policies on sustainable development, especially in the service operations of the surveyed HEI. The results can sensitize staff and students, who can reflect on their roles in the HEI, as well as the community and suppliers.

Green buildings : a framework for social sustainability

Despite the ongoing debate surrounding climate change, sustainability is increasingly a key consideration for building owners and tenants with the ‘triple bottom line’ as desired outcomes. The triangulated social, economic and environmental goals of sustainability are now the mantra of many businesses. While much has been written of the benefits of green buildings to its occupants, comparatively fewer studies have been devoted to investigating the perceived drawbacks and measures to improve the social sustainability factor, i.e., user satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to consider the impacts of green buildings on its occupants by drawing together past empirical findings and summarizing the results. In addition, the paper will also present a case study of the Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture, which is Australia’s first 6-green star, rated educational building. Through these methods, the paper will identify gaps between green building performance and user satisfaction. Thereafter, it will introduce a social sustainability framework that seeks to improve the social performance of green buildings. The 6-P model is a holistic framework targeting the following factors that can influence user satisfaction of green buildings. These factors are: public perception, price, policies, psychological, physical and personal.

A conceptual framework for future-proofing the energy performance of buildings

This paper presents a review undertaken to understand the concept of 'future-proofing' the energy performance of buildings. The long lifecycles of the building stock, the impacts of climate change and the requirements for low carbon development underline the need for long-term thinking from the early design stages. 'Future-proofing' is an emerging research agenda with currently no widely accepted definition amongst scholars and building professionals. In this paper, it refers to design processes that accommodate explicitly full lifecycle perspectives and energy trends and drivers by at least 2050, when selecting energy efficient measures and low carbon technologies. A knowledge map is introduced, which explores the key axes (or attributes) for achieving a 'future-proofed' energy design; namely, coverage of sustainability issues, lifecycle thinking, and accommodating risks and uncertainties that affect the energy consumption. It is concluded that further research is needed so that established building energy assessment methods are refined to better incorporate future-proofing. The study follows an interdisciplinary approach and is targeted at design teams with aspirations to achieve resilient and flexible low-energy buildings over the long-term. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.