Translating An Ambitious Vision Into Global Transformation

This volume discusses topics of global sustainability involving sustainability indicators, stakeholders' participation, and technological and strategic advances with the goal of "thinking locally to act globally". Scientists, academics, policymakers, and planners are currently focused on escalating global socioeconomic and ecological issues, such as rising inequality, adverse anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and deficiencies in natural resources. These variables are pushing the earth system's resistance capacity past its breaking point, with additional pressures incurred by a global pandemic. Therefore, this book looks to impart knowledge on participatory learning action research for human and environmental health and well-being. Sustainable development planning and management are needed in these pressing circumstances, and they necessitate an analytical interpretation of ongoing processes, current and future challenges, and an understanding of available tools and technologies. The main sections of the book focus on challenges and management practices for global sustainability, promoting educational values, smart initiatives in urban contexts, and integrating emerging sustainability dimensions in policies and legislation. The primary audience for the work is policy makers, urban planners, social scientists, economists, NGOs, and students, researchers, and educators engaged in environmental social science and sustainability management.

The analysis of energy systems is of paramount importance in modern societies, since it is fundamental to guarantee a sustainable economic development. It combines technical and economic research with a specific focus on quantitative modelling, in order to optimize the modalities of energy demand and supply globally. The book covers major advanced topics related to the analysis of energy by considering different aspects, namely management, planning and policies. The most recent trends, such as smart grids, transition from fossil fuels to renewables based energy systems and distributed generation, are also discussed in this book. Intended to be a collection of various contributions from experts all around the world, it includes latest research results, innovations and methodologies about the analysis of energy systems. The book also focuses to contribute to the current debate related to the evolution of energy systems, by discussing in an open way the pro’s and con’s without any pre-constitute point of view. Title is aimed to be a reference for the academic community, students and professionals with a wider interdisciplinary background. Key Features: Presents integration of renewable sources with conventional energy systems. Topic is addressed from a multidisciplinary point of view, i.e. economy, technical, modelling, planning. Investigates management and planning aspects of future energy supplies. Multidimensional nature of energy systems is highlighted and discussed. Contributes towards implementing policy measures to reduce primary energy consumptions and carbon footprint.

The G20 (or Group of Twenty) is an international body established to manage the global economy, and includes members from developing economies.This reference set examines the issues facing developing countries and studies the role that the G20 can play in light of continuing challenges and objectives to meet the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).Volume 1 sets out the state of the world economy and the intricate functions of the G20 in policy coordination and economic cooperation. It also deals with the interests and strategies of some developing country members of the G20. These chapters answer questions such as what the country expects from the G20, the strategies adopted to achieve its ends, the extent to which it sees itself as a representative of developing countries in its region and how does it seek to represent them.The G20 has also centred its efforts around helping countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Volume 2 concentrates on trade issues and the prospects of achieving the SDGs. In this context, it examines whether the SDGs themselves are a desirable goal in terms of what the nature of development is which underlies these goals.

This book is an edited volume that focuses on international norms and normative change in some of the key areas of sustainable human development. This is an important and timely topic since the international community adopted a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September of 2015. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will guide international development efforts over the next fifteen years. For this reason, developing a deeper understanding of the SDGs, the international norms that underpin them, and any normative change they represent is vital for students, scholars, and development practitioners and professionals. This volume is designed to provide an account of some of the normative debates and normative change that the process of developing a set of SDGs has entailed. Its goal is to assess the origins, nature, extent, and implications of normative change in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. It also evaluates the extent to which the SDGs represent a significant change from established development norms and practices.

This book provides a brief history of the notion of development and related policies. Readers will find an overview of the main development notions and debates from 1950 to the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The author argues that sustainable development is equal to empowerment within a specific historical setting; development is a dialectic relationship between people's empowerment and the existing social and economic structures. The book examines some well-known growth theories from Harrod in 1939 to contemporary debates views about the role of the state and the market. Some major structural changes are also examined from economic growth in Asia to international finance: the author contends that contemporary issues on development can be better understood with the help of the founding fathers of economics, from the Mercantilist era to Marx. They help to understand the difficult relationship between development and market forces within different models of social and economic reproduction. The author contends that the main development challenge is that of building a global partnership in a system with enormous differences in economic powers and offers some examples of how to re-balance the existing economic powers particularly in trade and finance.

Beyond the tropical paradise and beyond the fear of climate change effects, the Maldives is a fascinating island country that faces social, cultural, economic and environmental transformations. Atolls of the Maldives: Nissology and Geography provides a spatial analysis on some key challenges the Maldivian society has to deal with, and guides the reader in the discovery of the human and environmental geography of this Indian Ocean archipelago. Geographers, political scientists, sociologists, geologists, biologists and experts in environmental policies help the audience to move through the complex systems of interrelations, connections and disconnections that shape the environment and the geography of this extraordinary archipelagic country.

This contributed volume offers a state-of-the-art, holistic overview of the employment of a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach to implement the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a geographical focus on applications in different African regions. The book is divided into three sections, each composed of several chapters contributed by experts in their respective fields. Section I introduces the WEF Nexus and its role in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. It highlights the attempt to connect different spheres of sustainability thanks to the Nexus, taking advantage of the existing interlinkages and interconnections among the Goals. Section II proposes a multi-scale and multi-stakeholder approach to various aspects of the Nexus and reviews existing quantitative tools. This section focuses on the issue of resource control and development aims and spotlights how Nexus dynamics influence the achievement of the SDGs as a whole. Section III applies the WEF Nexus to different African regions, which are balancing a rising population and an economic boom with severe vulnerability in the face of climate change. Chapter “Review of the Economic Impact of Water Availability on Food Security and the Related Ecosystems” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This open access book focuses on the issue of sustainability standards from the perspective of both global governance frameworks and emerging economies. It stems from the recognition that the accelerated pace of economic globalization has generated production and consumption patterns that are generating sustainability concerns. Sustainability standards (and regulations) are increasingly being used in a bid to make global consumption and production more sustainable. Given the dense inter-connectedness of economic affairs globally, the use of sustainability standards has become a concern of global governance, who face the challenge of achieving a balance between the use of standards for genuine sustainability objectives, and not allowing them to turn into instruments of protectionism or coercion.The emerging economies, given their increasing engagement with the global economy, are most impacted by the use of sustainability standards. The emphasis of ‘emerging economies’ in this book is retained both by using case studies from these economies and by collating perceptions and assessments of those located in these economies. The case studies included span sectors such as palm oil, forestry, food quality, vehicular emissions and water standards, and address the problems unique to the emerging economies, including capacity building for compliance with standards, adapting international standards in domestic contexts and addressing the exclusion of small and medium enterprises etc. Complex interfaces and dynamics of a global nature are not limited to the thematic of this book but also extend to the process through which it was written. This book brings together insights from developed as well as emerging economies (Germany, India, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico and China). It also brings together scholars and practitioners to jointly ponder upon the conceptual aspects of the global frameworks for sustainability standards. This book is a very useful resource for researchers and practitioners alike, and provides valuable insights for policy makers as well.

Meeting the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires contributions by scientists focusing on understanding, monitoring, protecting, managing and restoring the natural environment, including geoscientists. This book presents the first detailed discussion on the role of the geological sciences (geosciences) community in the implementation of the SDGs. Unlike traditional geosciences textbooks, it is structured according to development priorities, framed in the context of the 17 SDGs. Written by international experts from diverse range of geosciences / development disciplines, it explores themes linked to both science and the professional practice of science (e.g., ethics, equity, conduct, and partnerships). The book is intended for graduate and senior undergraduate students in the earth sciences, as well as practicing geologists and experts from other sectors involved in sustainability initiatives.