Main Pillars Of Sustainability Research Articles

Social acceptance of stingless bee honey cultivation for sustainable bioproduction system

Stingless bee honey cultivation is one of the bioproduction systems that is predicted to have a high sustainability value. There are 3 indicators in assessing the sustainability of a system taken from the 3 main pillars of sustainability, namely economic, environmental, and social indicators. This study discusses the social sustainability of stingless bee honey cultivation through one of its elements, namely social acceptance. The research was conducted through a case study in one of the stingless bee honey cultivation sites in Sumedang Regency. The data collected is data on community characteristics and data on social acceptance regarding stingless bee honey cultivation. Community characteristics data shows that based on economic conditions, availability of human resources, and social status of the community, the practice of stingless bee cultivation has the potential to be carried out sustainably. Meanwhile, data on social acceptance related to cultivation show that public perceptions and attitudes generally support the sustainability of stingless bee cultivation, although on the other hand knowledge about the benefits of cultivation and community involvement behavior is still low. Therefore, to strengthen the social sustainability of this bioproduction system, it is necessary to introduce and provide assistance regarding cultivation practices to the community around the location.

Engaging students in cross-disciplinary module design: a case study on the co-creation of a sustainaibility module in Singapore

This research engaged undergraduate students to design a learner-centric multi-disciplinary module that encompassed the three main pillars of sustainability, namely the economic, environmental, and social pillars of sustainability as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Collaborating in multi-disciplinary groups, participating students examined their learning experiences through the perspectives of educators while researching on sustainability and pedagogy. Both groups of students were provided with a framework of pedagogical approaches, such as flipped classroom, student-centred learning, collaborative learning, outcome-based learning, and formative assessment. Beyond the focus on sustainability as a subject matter and the pedagogical framework little guidance was provided during the creation process. Through their participation in the five-day bootcamp-style Module Design Workshop, both groups created an engaging and creative module that addressed their educational needs and expectations. Moreover, participating students clearly exhibited an increased understanding of pedagogy, sustainability, and the SDGs. Through pre-and post-workshop surveys and post-workshop group reports participating students illustrated a range of perceived and experienced challenges and takeaways, such as lack of time, lack of knowledge, changed perception of higher education pedagogy, and a sense of achievement. Observations throughout the Module Design Workshop found that both groups of students demonstrated their ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams and develop strategies to overcome difficulties. The research project has proven that both groups were able to create a well-designed module on sustainability, which could be offered to undergraduate students in order to facilitate sustainability education in all academic disciplines.

Sustainability Impact of Bus Priority Treatments in Small-Scale Cities

Bus priority treatments (BPTs) are among the effective alternative solutions that provide significant advantages to urban transport. The literature has revealed some of the benefits of BPTs in various aspects. In this study, the sustainability impact of BPTs on cities has been investigated with numerous interviews. The study has been conducted by considering the economic, social and environmental factors, which are the three main pillars of sustainability, in a balanced way. This study is unique because it focuses on cities with small population and considers the sustainability impact approaches that have not been applied for BPTs in previous studies. The study results show that BPTs have a high potential to positively affect cities, in social, environmental and economic aspects. It is thus concluded that they can provide significant advantages to cities in the three main pillars of sustainability. This study has also revealed that BPTs can contribute positively to the sustainability of small-scale cities as well as medium-/large-scale cities.

A review of sustainability concerns in the use of blockchain technology: Evidence from the agri-food and the pharmaceutical sectors

Blockchain is an evolving technology with promising applications in various sectors. The introduction of blockchain in the industry has the potential to provide a significant competitive advantage, even though it still is in the early stages of its adoption, particularly in supply chains. The implementation of blockchain technologies affects all the operational aspects of a production and supply chain system, including its sustainable performance. In these terms, there is a raising of concerns regarding the impact of the integration of blockchain on the economic viability of the organization, the total environmental footprint that results from its use, and the social matters regarding its control, safety assurance, and governance. The scope of this paper is to identify the implications of the integration of blockchain technologies in the industry concerning the three main pillars of sustainability.

Sustainability and perspectives of the North Macedonian dairy industry

The subject of this review is the dairy industry in the Republic of North Macedonia. This industry can bring many economic and social benefits to society and the economy. The paper provides a description and analysis of the current situation within the dairy industry in our country. Milk production rates in our country are analyzed, with a comparative approach to production rates at global and European levels. In the Republic of North Macedonia, milk production is characterized by many traditional small farmers (80% of the total) with 1-3 cows and low annual milk productivity (2-3 thousand liters per cow). The number of large specialized farms with more than 15 cows (about 3% of the total) with annual milk production of about 5 thousand liters per cow is minimal. Only 1% of all farms have more than 50 cows. The Republic of North Macedonia is an absolute importer of milk and its products. The quantity and monetary value of imported milk and its products are many times higher than the quantity and value of exported milk. Today, the dairy industry faces various challenges in the three main pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental including fluctuating market prices, high labor costs, and demographic characteristics of the population in terms of age. In conclusion, for the dairy industry to be sustainable, all activities should be carried out in partnership with the industry (along the value chain), policymakers and a wide range of stakeholders, including consumers.

Metaheuristic algorithms for a sustainable agri-food supply chain considering marketing practices under uncertainty

In recent decades, the rapid growth of the global population has caused a significant increase in agricultural and food product demands. Thereby, the production of various items in the agricultural food supply chain network has increased to diminish food security concerns. On the other hand, the excessive production of products has led to various issues, such as greenhouse gas emissions and increased water consumption in farmlands, followed by supply chain-related challenges affecting the intermediaries in the next network levels. In this study, an agricultural food supply chain network under marketing practices is firstly probed by developing a stochastic multi-objective programming model to effectively improve three main pillars of sustainability. A convex robust optimization approach addresses the uncertainty of the farm production capacity and the saffron demands in the supply network. The effectiveness of the proposed mathematical model is certified by a case study on saffron business using the LP-metric method. A metaheuristic-oriented methodology comprising a modified Keshtel Algorithm is adapted to deal with the NP-hardness of the problems. The performance of the proposed solution methods is evaluated by two strategies, a statistical comparison and a supportive tool developed based on multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods. The results validate the capability of the applied algorithms to solve the problem in different dimensions. Moreover, the MCDM method approves that MOKASEO outclassed in small, medium, and large-sized problems compared to other algorithms.

A comparative study of project risk management with risk breakdown structure (RBS): a case of commercial construction in India

The construction industry deals with the growing complexity and dynamism exposed to numerous and interdependent risks which, evolve throughout the project. In most risk management processes, risk identification forms a long list or matrix, which it difficult in identifying more influenced risks. Preparing a risk list or risk matrix in the identification process has become inadequate for prioritizing risks. The construction industry is classified as commercial, industrial, and residential; identifying and managing the project risk for them on a common platform is difficult. In the present work risk breakdown structure (RBS) tool is used for the brief, clear identification of risks by interviewing and brainstorming with the experts involved in three commercial construction projects. It provides a means for grouping all possible individual project risks into risk categories (RC), linked by father/son relations, and risk events (RE) form the hierarchy. Further, analyzed to find the impact on the three main pillars of sustainability: Environmental, Financial, and Social. The plotted results are further structured with the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and found the global weight of each RC’s. The method is applied to illustrate the principle of process and highlights risk identification and its assessment in the Indian commercial construction industry.

Board gender composition and waste management: Cross-country evidence

Extant literature on board gender diversity focuses on the main pillars of sustainability while ignoring the important subdimension – waste management. Using a sample of 8365 firm-year observations for the period 2002–2017 from 37 countries, we provide novel empirical evidence that board gender diversity significantly reduces (increases) waste generation (waste recycling) in firms. We also note that the impact is significant with two or more female directors and is primarily driven by female directors’ independence. Moreover, the relationship is moderated by the masculinity dimension of national culture and sustainable compensation policies. Our analysis also shows that waste management activities of gender-diverse boards accompany the better financial performance. Our findings are robust to several identification strategies and estimation techniques. Our study provides new insights into the governance–sustainability nexus and presents important policy implications for regulators across countries.

Sustainability spillover effects and partnership between East Asia & Pacific versus North America: interactions of social, environment and economy.

The three sustainability pillars of social, environment and economy were initially introduced by the United Nations in 2002, addressing major global sustainability issues including economic problems, income inequality, environmental pollution and social shortcomings. Comparing East Asia & Pacific with North America, there is a growing concern over economic, political and even social competition as a result of recent development and industrialization that is taking place in Asian countries. This might lead to an unhealthy conflict that favors regional independency as opposed to the current globalization and trade facilitation trend. As a result, this study aims to assess the effects of development in three main pillars of sustainability (social, environment and economy) in the East Asia and Pacific on that of North America and vice versa. To estimate this interactive or spillover effects of sustainable development (or sustainability elasticities), our research employs Econometric methodologies including Simultaneous Equations System, Vector AutoRegressive (VAR) and Granger Causality approaches during 1971–2016. The results show that most of the sustainability elasticities are positive between and inside the two regions, supporting the synergetic character of the sustainability spillover effects and confirming constructive role of globalization and openness in the sustainability progress. Based on the results, this research suggests policy-makers to follow cooperative and flow-based governance rather than the placed-based or regional independent thinking that supports integrated sustainable development benefiting not only the two parties but also the overall global sustainability.

Eco-friendly practices and pro-environmental behaviours: the Australian folk and world music festival perspective

PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has once again brought to our attention one of the three main pillars of sustainability–the environment. It has also brought into sharp relief the fragility of the live music festival sector, whose success hinges fundamentally on the capacity for both travel and mass gatherings to occur. Considering this intersection of environmental sustainability and the live music festival sector, this paper–which reports on events occurring long before the global pandemic took hold–examines the ways in which eight Australian folk and world music festivals successfully engage in eco-friendly and pro-environmental practices and educational activities at their events. Findings from this research will assist industry practitioners in being able to engage in similar practices at their events, as well as further academic understandings of the relationship between the environment and the live music sector, and the role of environmental communication practices within this.Design/methodology/approachThis study engaged an exploratory research design using interviews to gain an insight into the perceptions of eight live music festival promoters regarding their patrons' on-site eco-friendly behaviours and engagement with the eco-friendly initiatives at their events.FindingsSocial support within the on-site festival community (applied here through the notion of a sense of communitas), coupled with the provision of eco-friendly initiatives and effective environmental communication approaches, were key pivot drivers to support patrons' pro-environmental behaviours. Engagement with environmental authorities and experts during the festivals was found to validate their eco-friendly approaches.Originality/valueThis paper provides details of, as well as insights into, the success of the eco-friendly and pro-environmental education practices engaged at select world and folk music festivals in Australia. It broadens and builds upon existing understandings of environmental communication practices.

Assessing the sustainability index of different post-disaster temporary housing unit configuration types

Temporary housing units (THUs), as a solution for accommodating displaced population (DP) in the aftermath of disasters, are critical in terms of the three main sustainability pillars: economic, environmental, and social. Furthermore, the need for these units could grow due to the currently increasing social vulnerability and climate-related hazards. Thus, to enhance the sustainability performance of THUs, which incorporate the most negative aspects of the building industry, is required. One of the THUs less-studied features, which could have considerable impacts on the main pillars of sustainability, is unit configuration types. Therefore, this study presents a novel model that enables decision-makers to select the most suitable THUs configuration types based on the characteristics and requirements each case has. This model combines several methods for the first time, learning from these methods numerous former uncombined applications. This model assesses THUs sustainability using the Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessment (MIVES) combined with DesignBuilder®, a simplified life-cycle assessment (LCA), interviews and sensibility analyses.1 This project applies this model for the first time to assess different THUs suggested for Bam's earthquake recovery program. This application has validated the model demonstrating that semi-detached units perform as the most suitable configuration types alternatives for Bam's THUs. This is especially the case of two-story types, although several social issues should be improved in future DP housing. Furthermore, after this pioneering research paper in the subfield of THU configuration types, future projects should enlarge upon its findings to move towards better THUs for the future.

KERANGKA KERJA SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN RISK MANAGEMENT INDUSTRI KELAPA SAWIT DI INDONESIA

Abstract This paper combines three main concept including supply chain management, sustainability and risk management which is put palm oil Industry in Indonesia as an object. It explores sustainability-related supply chain risk from principle and criteria of roundtable sustainable palm oil (RSPO) and Indonesian sustainable palm oil (ISPO), distinguishes them from common supply chain risks and develop framework for their management. 45 risks across the three main pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, economic/financial) are identified from extensive review from principle and criteria of RSPO and ISPO. The fuzzy failure mode and effect analysis (fuzzy FMEA) approach is utilized to assess the relative importance of 45 risks. Based on the findings of the study, risks response and treatments are proposed for each sustainability-related supply chain risks. The findings show generally three most important risks are low OER (oil extraction rate), FFB (fresh fruit bunch) looting, un-fulfill palm oil mill capacity, respectively. Finally, integrated sustainable supply chain risk management approaches need to implement by the management of palm oil industry.

The Complex Pathway towards Farm-Level Sustainable Intensification: An Exploratory Network Analysis of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Perception

Farm-level sustainable intensification of agriculture (SIA) has become an important concept to ensuring food security while minimising negative externalities. However, progress towards its achievement is often constrained by the different perceptions and goals of various stakeholders that affect farm management decisions. This study examines farm-level SIA as a dynamic system with interactive components that are determined by the interests of the stakeholders involved. A systems thinking approach was used to identify and describe the pathways towards farm-level SIA across the three main pillars of sustainability. An explanatory network analysis of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) that were collectively created by representative groups of farmers, farm advisors and policy makers was performed. The study shows that SIA is a complex dynamic system, affected by cognitive beliefs and particular knowledge within stakeholder groups. The study concludes that, although farm-level SIA is a complex process, common goals can be identified in collective decision making.

Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship Holistic Construct

In recent years, conducted businesses have been increasingly expected to obtain more sustainable forms, with many added determinants. Indeed, sustainability-related entrepreneurship still faces complex choices among conventional entrepreneurial factors, while being urged to consider three main pillars of sustainability. Thus, this work is focused on the development of sustainability-related entrepreneurship by reflecting the sustainable needs of entrepreneurship. Due to the fact that it is not clear for the sustainability-related entrepreneurship what the valuable and most influential factors stimming its development are, the detection of basic components and their correlation becomes a major motivation of this work. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct an attempt to identify a comprehensive set of SE (sustainable entrepreneurship) factors providing a structural overview in making insights into the factors/determinants of SE. It assists researchers and entrepreneurs in obtaining clear, informative pictures about SE factors. The applied research methodology is based on a systematic literature review which is conducted using the PRISMA methodology, simultaneously ensuring repetitiveness and lack of bias in this process. To retrieve and condense the immense amount of bibliographic information, a bibliometric analysis is adopted to perform in co-occurrence analysis of keywords determining SE factors and different detailed forms of distribution analysis. The expected outcome is to provide the classification schema of applied keywords in sustainable entrepreneurship literature as part of a comprehensive literature review, which is presented in order to uncover, classify and systematize the current research. As a result, a co-word matrix of high frequency keywords of SE factors is also established. It offers a feasible path of investigation for researchers aiming to build a consistent body of knowledge about sustainable entrepreneurship, by providing a conceptualization and systematization that can be applied across the many contexts in which sustainable entrepreneurship is expressed, for example, sustainable actions and sustainable development contexts. The present research aims to yield a successful attempt of identifying the comprehensive set of SE factors, as well as to establish a co-word matrix of high frequency keywords of SE factors. Providing a macroscopic overview of the main factors of SE in the form of conceptualization of the proposed construct will capture the unique organizational characteristics of sustainable enterprises and facilitate the research into capability building, innovation and competitive advantage in sustainable enterprises. It supports both researchers and entrepreneurs in shaping up and refining future research activities and investments in line with the policy of SE.

The role of digital stories and civic actions on student-teachers’ understanding about social sustainability in urban settings

The present study aims to explore student-teachers’ (STs’) progress in understanding social urban sustainability and how it is affected through the development of digital stories and engagement in civic actions. Participants were 44 STs enrolled in a Department of Primary Education located in Northern Greece. Although participants were aware of the principles of sustainable development and education for sustainability, none of them had familiarity with social or urban sustainability. Three individual digital concept maps constructed before, intermediate and after the end of the course served as data sources. Both quantitative (significance testing, effect sizes, and confidence intervals) and qualitative (categories development) methods of analysis were implemented. Results indicate a sound improvement of STs’ understanding even in the intermediate concept maps with the most significant proposition gains associated with the society pillar. Moreover, despite the significant improvement in understanding of all main pillars of sustainability, this improvement was unbalanced because a minority of subcategories constituted the majority of STs’ propositions in all settings, indicating a strong and constructive combination between theory and praxis for the advancement of STs’ learning.

Evaluation of the Relation between Lean Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and Sustainability

Nowadays, Lean Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and Sustainability are important concerns for the companies and in a general way for the society, principally, the influence of the two production philosophies, Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, in the three main pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social. According to the literature review done in this work, these relations are not well known and are dispersed by different sustainability’s criteria. To address this gap, this research proposes a structural equation model, with six hypotheses, to quantitatively measure the effects of Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, in Sustainability. To statistically validate such hypotheses, we collected 252 valid questionnaires from industrial companies of Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain). Results show that: (1) it is not conclusive that Lean Manufacturing is correlated with any of the sustainability pillars; and (2) Industry 4.0 shows a strong correlation with the three sustainability pillars. These results can contribute as an important decision support for the industrial companies and its stakeholders, even because not all the results are in line with other opinions and studies.

Sustainable Guideline for Developing the E-Waste Sector in Egypt

The amount of electronic waste generated globally is alarming especially that it is on the rise. The impact of the generated amounts is not only Environmental. The electronic waste sector is unregulated in most developing countries; this results in the informal sector being heavily involved in managing and handling it. Due to the lack of regulations, informal handlers are exposed to hazardous materials that affect both their health and health of the communities living in their proximity. Moreover, the informal sector involves illegal child and women labor under harsh conditions. In addition to the social impact, the lack of regulations leads to missing major economic opportunities associated with developing a recycling industry for the safe handling and material recovery from the generated e-waste volumes. Electronic waste may contain up to 60 different materials including precious and rare-earth metals with estimated equivalent economic value of 48 billion Euros. Egypt is one the countries which lack policies and regulations dedicated to e-waste, hence the Egyptian economy is missing the economic potential and job creation opportunities associated with developing the e-waste sector as well as facing major Environmental and health challenges due to the improper handling of the generated amounts. This paper briefly reviews the current situation of e-waste in Egypt. The paper then proposes an adapted guideline for the sustainable management of e-waste in Egypt. The guideline is based on the international regulations and guidelines especially those of countries similar to the Egyptian socioeconomic context. The produced guideline focuses on establishing a collection and recycling framework for e-waste in Egypt with EPR at its center. The guideline also establishes a financing system to help foster the recycling industry in Egypt while fulfilling the three main pillars of sustainability.

Green and Sustainable Cellular Base Stations: An Overview and Future Research Directions

Energy efficiency and renewable energy are the main pillars of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This study presents an overview of sustainable and green cellular base stations (BSs), which account for most of the energy consumed in cellular networks. We review the architecture of the BS and the power consumption model, and then summarize the trends in green cellular network research over the past decade. As its major contribution, this study highlights the uses of renewable energy in cellular communication by: (i) investigating the system model and the potential of renewable energy solutions for cellular BSs; (ii) identifying the potential geographical locations for renewable-energy-powered BSs; (iii) performing case studies on renewable-energy-powered cellular BSs and suggesting future research directions based on our findings; (iv) examining the present deployment of sustainable and green BSs; and (v) studying the barriers that prevent the widespread use of renewable-energy-powered BSs and providing recommendations for future work.

Techno-Economic Evaluation of a Stand-Alone Power System Based on Solar Power/Batteries for Global System for Mobile Communications Base Stations

Energy consumption in cellular networks is receiving significant attention from academia and the industry due to its significant potential economic and ecological influence. Energy efficiency and renewable energy are the main pillars of sustainability and environmental compatibility. Technological advancements and cost reduction for photovoltaics are making cellular base stations (BSs; a key source of energy consumption in cellular networks) powered by solar energy sources a long-term promising solution for the mobile cellular network industry. This paper addresses issues of deployment and operation of two solar-powered global system for mobile communications (GSM) BSs that are being deployed at present (GSM BS 2/2/2 and GSM BS 4/4/4). The study is based on the characteristics of South Korean solar radiation exposure. The optimum criteria as well as economic and technical feasibility for various BSs are analyzed using a hybrid optimization model for electric renewables. In addition, initial capital, replacement, operations, maintenance, and total net present costs for various solar-powered BSs are discussed. Furthermore, the economic feasibility of the proposed solar system is compared with conventional energy sources in urban and remote areas.

The Ex-Ante Evaluation of Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

This paper describes the methodology and main results from an overall assessment on future achievement of sustainable development goals. The proposed approach consists of a model-based, looking forward composite sustainable development index—FEEM sustainability index—projected to the future. It represents a first experiment to reproduce the future dynamics of sustainable development indicators over time and worldwide and to assess future sustainability under different scenarios. The assessment presented here is relevant under different viewpoints. First, it has a very broad nature in terms of both geographical coverage and meaningfulness: it considers the multi-dimensional structure of sustainable development by combining relevant indicators belonging to economic, social and environmental pillars for the whole world. Second, the modelling framework to compute future trends of indicators relies upon a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model. This is an ideal tool to look simultaneously at the development of many indicators, their potential interactions and trade-offs, and more in general to the consequences of economic development and/or policies aiming to increase performance in one or more indicators; it allows measuring the overall sustainability under alternative scenarios, across countries and over time. Finally, regarding the construction of the composite indicator, the application of fuzzy measures and Choquet integral increases substantially the model capability allowing taking into account the interactions that exist among the three main pillars of sustainability and the considered indicators.