Social Pillars Research Articles

Editorial Introduction - Special Issue: 4th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water & Environment

In its new energy and climate change policies, released in January 2008, the European Union has made the most daring change of energy policy up to date. It has decided to set up a binding target of 20% renewables in final energy demand, to reduce greenhouse gases emissions by 20% and to reduce the primary energy use by 20%, by 2020. A significant technology shift will be necessary to fulfill such goals, but it is already clear that technologies that will be used are available, mainly in the area of renewable electricity and heat generation, biofuels, energy efficiency, especially in buildings and transportation, cogeneration, nuclear energy in those countries in which it is politically acceptable, which will all be achieved by a combination of binding targets, certificate trading and fiscal policies. With a change of direction also anticipated in the United States, the intertwining of security of energy supply and environmental protection is becoming a new global tenet. The 4th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems was dedicated to the improvement and dissemination of knowledge on methods, policies and technologies for increasing the sustainability of development, taking into account its economic, environmental and social pillars, as well as methods for assessing and measuring sustainability of development, regarding energy, transport, water and environment systems and their many combinations. Sustainability being also a perfect field for interdisciplinary and multi-cultural evaluation of complex system, the Dubrovnik Conference has during the first decade of the 21st century become a significant venue for researchers in those areas to meet, and discuss, share, and disseminate new ideas.

Küreselleşme Kıskacındaki Refah Devletinde Sosyal Refah Harcamaları

In many countries, employment was expanded, social rights were improved and the idea of welfare state was firmly established during the 1945 - 1975 period, so called “the golden years of the welfare state”. After the 1973 in conjunction with the first and second oil shocks, the economic, political and social pillars of the welfare state have started to evolve rapidly. Recently there have been continuous debates on the boundaries of the welfare state. What should be the state’s role? Does welfare state face fiscal crisis? Are there any socio - economic limits of the improvement of welfare state and financing need of redistribution level? In this study, we evaluate above - mentioned issues within the context of the latest rise on the globalization.

A Framework for the Strategic Design of Science and Technology Policy for African Development*

Abstract: The key role of science and technology and the ways in which it can be developed and deployed to achieve the identified goals of development in Africa are articulated in this paper. Notable projects, programmes, declarations etc. addressing issues of development of Africa are: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at poverty reduction over a stipulated period of time with globally defined measurable indicators of progress; the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD); the Blair Commission Report for Africa; and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) targeted at repositioning Africa in the world economy. During the WSSD Summit process, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) identified the three pillars of sustainable development as the economic, environmental and social pillars, and emphasized the fact that ‘science and technology must be placed at the heart of policies to promote sustainable development’.

SAFE—A hierarchical framework for assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems

Sustainable development and the definition of indicators to assess progress towards sustainability have become a high priority in scientific research and on policy agendas. In this paper, we propose a consistent and comprehensive framework of principles, criteria and indicators (PC&I) for sustainability assessment of agricultural systems, referred to as the Sustainability Assessment of Fanning and the Environment (SAFE) framework. In addition we formulate consistent and objective approaches for indicator identification and selection. The framework is designed for three spatial levels: the parcel level, the farm level and a higher spatial level that can be the landscape, the region or the state. The SAFE framework is hierarchical as it is composed of principles, criteria, indicators and reference values in a structured way. Principles are related to the multiple functions of the agro-ecosystem, which go clearly beyond the production function alone. The multifunctional character of the agro-ecosystem encompasses the three pillars of sustainability: the environmental, economic and social pillars. Indicators and reference values are the end-products of the framework. They are the operational tools that are used for evaluating the sustainability of the agro-ecosystems. The proposed analytical framework is not intended to find a common solution for sustainability in agriculture as a whole, but to serve as an assessment tool for the identification, the development and the evaluation of agricultural production systems, techniques and policies. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improving Linkages Between Family Physicians and Hospitals

Hospitals, as social pillars and hubs of medical activity, can be a great influence and supporter of family physicians and primary healthcare, which will in turn improve the health of their communities. This paper discusses general linkages between family physicians and hospitals and the development of a specific program to enhance these linkages created at a large community hospital in Ontario.

The Aalborg process and its Hungarian connections

The four European Conferences on Sustainable Cities and Towns gave birth to documents that are important from the point of view of local sustainability. These are, in chronological order, the Aalborg Charter – 1994 Aalborg, the Lisbon Action Plan – 1996 Lisbon, the Hannover Call – 2000 Hannover, and the Aalborg Commitments – 2004 Aalborg. Throughout the process, the emphasis gradually moved from planning to the implementation of plans.Today, there are more than 2000 signatories of the Aalborg1A tanulmány az OTKA T-046704 sz. pályázatának támogatásával készült.Charter. The cutting edge of the process are Italy and Spain, the municipalities of these two countries add up to 80 per cent of all signatories. In both countries, the national commitment is given, but there is not a body that could coordinate the activities related to sustainability, so local governments play the major role in it. The constitutions of these two countries also pass on some duties that are relevant from the point of view of sustainability within the competence of local governments, and allow resources to implement them. In the case of the United Kingdom, the commitment of the national government, and especially the Prime Minister, is the major factor in the movement towards local sustainability.The former socialist countries in Europe, as well as Hungary are relatively underdeveloped economically, so the social and environmental pillars of sustainable development are pushed into the background behind the economical pillar. As a result of the lack of national commitment, there is no guidance and there are no case studies available, so only a small part of local governments are informed of this important international movement, and so are committed to it. The lack of resources is also a problem. The consequence of all this is that there are 35 municipalities from the Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004, and only four from Hungary – to mention by name Aba, Kecskemét, Monor and Nagykanizsa – that signed the Aalborg Charter.

Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy: An Analysis of the Social Pillars of Globalization, and: Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry (review)

Towards a Socially Sustainable World Economy: An Analysis of the Social Pillars of Globalization, and: Making Sweatshops: The Globalization of the U.S. Apparel Industry (review)