Context Of Sustainable Development Research Articles

Organic Farming Support Policy in a Sustainable Development Context: A Polish Case Study

This paper assesses the extent, scope and importance of financial support for Polish organic farming from 2004 to 2019. The analysis focuses particularly on how the changes in the amount and structure of organic farming payments affected farmers’ interest in specific organic crops during three financing periods: the 2004–2006 Rural Development Plan, the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme (RDP) and the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme. This paper aims to answer the question of whether and to what extent the organic farming support policy impacted the development trends followed by, and transformation processes affecting, this sector. It follows from this analysis that in the first decade after joining the European Union, Poland implemented a policy of making payments easily available. It was primarily focused on the quantitative growth of organic farming rather than on stimulating supply. As the payments were easily accessible and decoupled from production, subsidy-oriented farmers were additionally encouraged to seek political rent. This resulted in the instability of a large group of farms who discontinued their organic farming activity in 2014. That year, the policy was amended because of the need to improve the allocation efficiency of subsidies and to couple them with the provision not only of environmental public goods but also of private goods in the form of organic farming products. The current support policy opens up greater opportunities for leveraging the potential of organic farming while reaping environmental and socioeconomic benefits and contributing more than ever to sustainable development.

Creating Strategic Opportunities: The Concept and Practice of China-ASEAN Security Cooperation

The cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began with the establishment of dialogue relations between the two sides after the ending of the Cold War. In 1994, when the ASEAN Regional Forum was established, China was one of the founding members, marking the beginning of formal security cooperation between China and ASEAN. The decision to shift to cooperation/enhance willingness to cooperate was made by the two parties after taking stock of the international and regional situation and their respective interests in the wake of the collapse of the bipolar system. Security cooperation was driven by a consensus on seizing, creating and maintaining strategic opportunities; or more specifically, by taking advantage of development opportunities and striving to maintain regional stability in difficult situations, thus creating a peaceful and amicable strategic regional context for sustainable development. The core concept of China-ASEAN security cooperation is developmental peace, with the norms of cooperation being the ASEAN way, cooperative security, the new security concept and the Asian security concept. In practice, China-ASEAN security cooperation covers three dimensions—strategic stability, management and control of high tension issues, and practical cooperation. New opportunities and challenges are emerging in the new era for China-ASEAN security cooperation. Fundamentally speaking, the two sides need to strive for the goal of building an ASEAN community and a China-ASEAN community with a shared future and to properly coordinate the strategic positioning of the long-term core interests of both parties.

Significant soil degradation is associated with intensive vegetable cropping in a subtropical area: a case study in southwestern China

Abstract. Within the context of sustainable development, soil degradation driven by land use change is considered a serious global problem, but the conversion from growing cereals to vegetables is a change that has received limited attention, especially in subtropical regions. Here, we studied the effects of the conversion from paddy rice to an oilseed rape rotation to vegetable production in southwestern China on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), the C/N ratio, pH, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) based on face-to-face farmer surveys and soil analysis. In the vegetable cropping system, fertilizer application often exceeds the crop demand or levels recommended by the local extension service several times over. Thus, the crop use efficiency of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg was only 26 %, 8 %, 56 %, 23 %, and 28 %, respectively. In the vegetable cropping system studied, SOC, C stock, TN, and N stock were decreased significantly due to low organic inputs from crop residues and high tillage frequency. Furthermore, the soil C/N ratio decreased slightly; available P (AP) in the topsoil increased by 1.92 mg kg−1 for every 100 kg ha−1 of P surplus, and the critical levels of AP and CaCl2-soluble P in P leaching were 104 and 0.80 mg P kg−1. Besides, compared to the current paddy–rape rotation system, a clear trend of soil acidification was observed in the vegetable fields. However, increasing the contents of soil Ca and Mg significantly alleviated topsoil acidification, with the effect increasing over time. Given our findings, the potential benefits of conservation agricultural practices, integrated soil–crop system management strategies, and agricultural technology services for recovering the degraded soil and improving the vegetable productivity are discussed here.

Natural capital. Approaches to economic assessment

The problems of economic assessment of natural capital as the most important category of ecological economy are considered in the modern context of sustainable development. It is required to improve the procedures and methods for natural capital accounting in accordance with the international environmental and economic standards in the System of National Accounts. Historical features of transformation of the term “natural capital” are analyzed in terms of the natural resource and ecosystem approaches. The principles of economic assessment of natural resources are proposed. The compliance with these principles is a necessary condition of the quality of information received. The formation of the structure of the natural capital accounts is analyzed in the case-studies of Great Britain as one of the first countries that switched to monetary reflection of ecosystem services in the national wealth and of a region of the Russian Federation in o rder to identify the structural uniformity of natural capital calculated in monetary terms. Data on the value of the underestimate part of the national wealth generated by forest ecosystems in Russia are obtained. The research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education under state contract with the Ural State Mining University, Contract No. 075–03–2021–303 dated 29 December 2020.

Scientometric Analysis and Mapping of Transit-Oriented Development Studies

ABSTRACT Contemporary research on transit-oriented development (TOD) continues to progress within the context of sustainable development. Based on a scientometric analysis, this paper collected 507 articles from the Web of Science within the timespan of 1996–2021, and used VOSviewer to visually map and analyse the development of TOD studies, including yearly article distribution, main countries, organisations, highly co-cited documents, and burst keywords. We found documents with high co-citation strength in four clusters of TOD studies: impacts of TOD planning factors on transportation benefits; TOD typology, classification, and measurement; TOD contexts, experiences, difficulties, and solutions; TOD transit proximity and housing values.

Sustainable Development Goals, are we there yet?–challenges and shortcomings

PurposeLiterature reviews were conducted with the aim of analysing and deriving evidence and reference points. A qualitative research approach was also used in order to properly identify situations, problems and solutions related to the particular context of sustainable development with Africa as a focus.Design/methodology/approachThe Sustainable Development Goals are a commendable metric and framework by which to measure practical improvements in various governments, communities or socio-economic regions. There is also the reality of adapting and implementing this framework to the dynamic nature of myriad environments consisting of many distinct cultures, ideologies and lifestyles. The purpose of this article is to briefly and pointedly assess the African status quo in relation to achieving the United Nations’ (UN) prescribed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The African challenges and shortcomings in this regard are addressed and ideas for solutions are also looked into.FindingsEconomic inadequacies and poor development are not always rooted in a lack of resources or the will to act but usually as a result of bad governance, corruption and poor adoption of suggested strategies for recovery. This brings into focus the facet of the resource curse. It is seen in multiple contexts across continents that having reserves of resources does not translate to economic prosperity if the concerned region is weighed down by poor governance or stagnant policies. The article shows that though the journey to implementing solutions is challenging, consistent commitment to trusted development frameworks and social programs will benefit many communities and spark projects for economic self-sufficiency.Originality/valueThis article is important because it is a quick and concise snapshot about the realities experienced by a contemporary African attempting to evaluate the cumulative value and worth of the UN prescribed SDGs. This work is also valuable to academic institutions and young/aspiring researchers alike, it can serve as a compact reference point that analyses the realities of the concept of the “resource curse” in relation to attainable SDGs.

Redefining Ecological Engineering\xa0in the Context of Circular Economy and Sustainable Development

In the past decades, the search for a more sustainable way of global development has increased in importance in international politics and economy. A driving force is the continuing degradation of the environment in many areas of the world, often caused or accelerated by population growth and climate change. Sustainable development is seen as key approach to mitigate these processes. It has been defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” But how can this ambitious goal be achieved in the light of numerous global challenges? Engineering is a very influential human practice and must be addressed in this context. Engineers are crucially involved in design and construction of our built environment and thus in shaping almost its entire development. However, when designing a solution for a given problem, effects caused outside of the system borders are often not considered. If this is combined with a narrowly confined linear problem-solving approach, it is inherently prone to create new environmental challenges. We postulate that the development of a new design paradigm for engineering must be part of the progress towards sustainable development. We think that this new paradigm needs to integrate a sound understanding of ecological principles, processes, and interdependencies as well as thorough system thinking. We call this ecology-inspired approach to engineering “ecological engineering” and redefine it as follows: Ecological Engineering integrates ecological principles, processes, and organisms with existing engineering practice to a holistic approach for problem-solving. In this paper, we explore the historical development of earlier definitions of Ecological Engineering in the light of their underlying value systems. Based on this analysis, we propose a new conceptual approach for Ecological Engineering and define seven principles that point the way towards a future label that can be conferred to Good Ecological Engineering Practice.

Экономико-статистический анализ практики целеполагания акционерных обществ в контексте устойчивого развития регионов

Экономико-статистический анализ практики целеполагания акционерных обществ в контексте устойчивого развития регионов

Drivers of sustainability practices and contributions to sustainable development evident in sustainability reports of European mining companies

Mining activities cause negative environmental impacts and social conflicts but also provide economic benefits to communities and secure the minerals necessary for low-carbon technology. The aim of this multiple case study is to analyze, compare and critically evaluate sustainability reports of 10 European mining companies for the 2016–2018 period to determine the drivers for implementation of sustainability practices and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings suggest that European mining companies act under pressures from international initiatives and industry associations, the European Union, governments, stakeholders, and maintaining social license to operate. The companies report on the core subjects of corporate governance, employees, the environment, stakeholders’ engagement and occupational health and safety. Positive trends were observed in stakeholders’ engagement and health and safety, while air emissions and water and energy usage increased for most companies. Furthermore, there was an absence of improvement in gender diversity, utilization of renewable energy, and waste recycling. Even though all analyzed companies mentioned SDGs in the reports, the reports lacked a comprehensive explanation of mining activities’ contribution to the SDGs. This study addresses a gap in the existing literature on the European mining context of sustainable development and SDGs relevant for researchers, policymakers, and other impacted stakeholders and adds new theoretical knowledge on the external drivers of CSR activities based on institutional theory.

The Impact of Economic Freedom on Economic and Environmental Performance: Evidence from European Countries

The EU Green Deal and its impact on economic transformation provoked a slightly forgotten free market vs. market regulation discussion, but in the light of a new context—economic and environmental performance development. The economic shock caused by COVID-19, which transformed economies and societies, intensified this discussion. This article analyses the impact of economic freedom on economic performance and environmental performance in European countries. The article contributes to a gap in the literature, because, to date, research has examined the effects of economic freedom, or some of its components, on economic or environmental measures in groups of nations with a lacking sustainable development context. In addition, the mixed results obtained led to confusion in perceptions and knowledge about the influence and usefulness of economic freedom for economic and environmental performance. We also found mixed results regarding the influence of economic freedom on economic and environmental performance, but the introduction of a new concept—the optimal level of economic freedom—organized the different results into a coherent logical sequence. The paper provides original empirical evidence and specifies the targets of structural reforms. The results are thus useful for policymakers to develop more appropriate and efficient economic freedom.

Principles for a sustainable circular economy

The pressure that the human species exerts on the natural environment through the extraction of materials and generation of wastes is widely recognised. Circular economy has emerged as a potential solution to make better use of resources. Positioned as a technology-focused concept that can generate economic gains while alleviating pressure on the environment, circular economy enjoys a positive reception by organisations in public, private and civic sectors and, increasingly, academia alike. However, concerns have been raised regarding some purported circular economy practices being promoted as ‘sustainable’ yet resulting in detrimental impacts on environment and society. We briefly revisit the systems ecology literature that construed the context for both circular economy and sustainable development. Values and principles in core sustainable development literature are analysed to offer a foundation against which circular economy can be discussed. We then analyse and critically reflect upon the strengths, shortcomings and theoretical flaws within the values and principles that emerged from the evolving circular economy literature. We propose a value framework and set of ten principles for the design, implementation and evaluation of a sustainable circular economy. We finish with a call for action for both practitioners and a research agenda for academia.

The response strategy of social work with displaced families and the receiving community (within the context of sustainable development)

The article deals with the issues of overcoming poverty, inequality, nutrition improvement, ensuring a healthy way of life, raising education quality, enhancing well-being, and building up a peaceful and open society for internally displaced persons (IDP) and the receiving community by means of the social response strategy. The goal of the research: theoretic substantiation of the response strategy in social work with IDP and the community in the context of the perspective of ensuring their sustainable development. The presented response strategy is for the first time theoretically substantiated and adapted to the Ukrainian realities in the conflict zone and takes into account the peculiarities of the DP and social work in the receiving borderline community and includes standard actions to react to extraordinary situations, activity directions – psychology-and-pedagogic, socio-medical, humanitarian, information-and-cultural assistance. The strategy is based on the principles of integration, multi-sidedness, multidisciplinary connection, resource-orientation, green-aware social work, the advantages theory, partnership, assistance for self-assistance, family-centrism, innovation, synergy, etc.; it takes into account the perspective ensuring of sustainable future for both the displaced families and the receiving community in general. The methods of the research: theoretical analysis, synthesis, systemizing, generalizing, comparison, documentation study, estimation of needs, and mathematic statistics methods. The obtained results of applying the mentioned theory under conditions of the military conflict in the Luhansk oblast (area) of Ukraine confirm its efficiency in qualitative and numerical terms and are supported by mathematic statistics methods.

The role of the ecological culture of the teacher for the sustainable development of the state

The concept of sustainable development (SD) was born, developed and is actively evolving in many national and international strategies, official reports, modern scientific research in various directions. The context of sustainable development is present in the official and scientific chronicle of the development of society, summarized in documents and studies. However, in pedagogical works, this tendency is not covered in such detail. The idea of SD is aimed at systematic, multidimensional development, at the well-being of countries, peoples, an individual, at eliminating inequalities: demographic, social and political stability and neutralizing factors dangerous for the development of nature. The basic element of SD in the 21st century is higher education, which was declared at the Paris World Conference on Higher Education in 2009. The evolution of education in a society of sustainable development contributes to a change in the ecological culture of an individual and groups of people based on a value attitude towards nature, safety, health, well-being, unity and cultural diversity. The article is based on the idea of the leading importance of the formed ecological culture of the teacher for the sustainable development of the state. The developed foundations for the formation of environmental culture in the context of sustainable development of university students imply the definition of its goals and conditions, clarification of the structure and relationships between the components, patterns and principles, methods and forms of organization of training, criteria and indicators for assessing the development of components of environmental culture.

Dualism of Logistics in a Sustainable Development Context

Dualism of Logistics in a Sustainable Development Context

Sustainable coastal zone management of Strymonikos Gulf: implementation of the analytic hierarchy process through an application designed using the programming language C# (sharp)

Coastal areas are of interest as they usually include a wide variety of habitats and ecosystems, as well as many important economic activities. Human coastal population increases continually and consequently, there is much stress from all settlements and economic activities to coastal zones. A proposed methodological approach for coastal management plans' environmental strategic evaluation, in the context of sustainable coastal zone management, is described. Therefore, alternative management scenarios for the examined area of the coastal zone of Strymonikos Gulf, are presented. The selection of the prevailing alternative proposal is made through the process of multi-criteria analysis and more specifically, with the aid of the analytic hierarchy process. For the implementation of the suggested multicriteria method, within the context of coastal zone sustainable development, a program in programming language C# (sharp) was designed, in order to help researchers with the selection of the best alternative scenario.

Sustainable coastal zone management of Strymonikos Gulf: implementation of the analytic hierarchy process through an application designed using the programming language C# (sharp)

Coastal areas are of interest as they usually include a wide variety of habitats and ecosystems, as well as many important economic activities. Human coastal population increases continually and consequently, there is much stress from all settlements and economic activities to coastal zones. A proposed methodological approach for coastal management plans' environmental strategic evaluation, in the context of sustainable coastal zone management, is described. Therefore, alternative management scenarios for the examined area of the coastal zone of Strymonikos Gulf, are presented. The selection of the prevailing alternative proposal is made through the process of multi-criteria analysis and more specifically, with the aid of the analytic hierarchy process. For the implementation of the suggested multicriteria method, within the context of coastal zone sustainable development, a program in programming language C# (sharp) was designed, in order to help researchers with the selection of the best alternative scenario.

Microstructure and Mineralogy of Compressed Earth Bricks Incorporating Shea Butter Wastes Stabilized with Cement

The current context of sustainable development encourages the development of materials with low environmental impact, which explains the renewed interest in earthen constructions. This study is therefore a contribution to the valorization of clay raw materials from Côte d'Ivoire and agro-industrial waste in eco-construction. The aims of this study was studied the effect of shea butter wastes on the mineralogy and microstructure of Compressed Earth Bricks (CEB) stabilized with cement. To do this, two clay raw materials denoted F (Fronan) and K (Katiola) were sampled and then characterized. Various geotechnical and physicochemical tests have shown that these soils are loamy sand of class A2 and essentially contain quartz, kaolinite, mica and ferric compounds. As for shea butter wastes, it is mainly rich in lignin (32%); cellulose (28%) and hemicellulose (19%). Several samples of bricks with different percentages by mass of clay and shea butter wastes (0-10%), stabilized with 5% cement were prepared and then characterized. The results of the mechanical tests showed that the clay-cement matrix could contain 4% shea butter wastes for the formulations with clay F against 6% with clay K. The corresponding optimal formulations are F₉₁TK₄C₅ and K₈₉TK₆C₅ with clays F and K respectively. The SEM images showed a less dense microstructure for the optimal formulation F₉₁TK₄C₅ compared to that of the clay-cement matrix unlike K₈₉TK₆C₅ where the microstructure remained always dense. X-ray diffraction did not allow to observe mineralogical modifications with the incorporation of shea butter wastes into the clay-cement matrix due to their low quantities in the optimal formulations.

BECOMING OF A DEMOCRACY POPULATION SYSTEM WITH PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION THE «CORPORATE STATE» IN E CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINE

The purpose of the article is to investigate the main directions of the transition from the “oligarchic” system of government to democracy in the form of a «corporate state», where the founders are citizens-owners of national wealth, in the context of sustainable development, multiculturalism of the population and a variety of features of economic development of regions. The research methodology is a critical system analysis and a method of planning sustainable development of Ukraine, regions and territorial communities in the context of decentralization and a variety of forms of ownership. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the evaluative definitions of the basic concepts of the «corporate state», the oligarchic system, corruption consensus, the development of the triad model «CO-KNOWLEDGE»–»CO–POWER»–«CODEVELOPMENT» as a necessary condition for the transition to democracy and the principles of corporate management in the system of democracy applies to Ukraine. Conclusions. 1. It is proposed to adjust the strategic course of Ukraine – from the strategy of the economy of slow growth, on the principles of liberal ideology and «external» management, to the strategy of sustainable development and planning of the economy of the future based on the theory of convergence of «socialism and capitalism». 2. Describes anatriadic model of the formation of civil society, sustainable co-development and corporate co-management. 3. The transition from an oligarchic system of state development, which is based on a «corruption consensus» and a shadow economy, to a system of democracy in the form of a «corporate state» and public-private partnership according to the triad model «business – territorial community – power» is justified, which will allow the requirements of Articles 5 and 13 of the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of the people’s ownership of national wealth and the source of power [1]. Key words: deoligarchization, corruption consensus, sustainable development, «co-knowledge», «co-power», «co-development», «corporate state», trust management, delegation of powers from the bottom up, interconnected territorial clusters, basic income.

LOCAL PERSPECTIVES OVER CULTURAL TOURISM TO HERITAGE SITES. THE CASE STUDY OF ORADEA FORTRESS (ROMANIA)

The Fortress of Oradea is one the most representative in Transylvania, which strongly influenced the socio-economic development of the city, in the same time turning the settlement into a cultural and multiethnic center, with impacts on the architecture of the city. The main aim of the paper is to explain the importance of the cultural, historical, architectural values of the fortress from a local perspective. The questionnaire sampling method was used in the present study, further interpreting the questionnaire, the results underlining the historical significance and authenticity were generated. These issues generate functions, justifies the dominating role in the urban texture of Oradea, requiring in the same time integrative planning and special policy measures for the heritage protection, in an overall sustainable development context.

Animal Husbandry Export Measures Productivity: What is the Position of the Czech Republic?

Efficiency, productivity and competitiveness are important indicators of any production process. Speaking of agriculture and, in particular, animal husbandry in the light of sustainable development context, the values of these indicators become of special importance. Since adequate and efficient usage of disposable labour, land and capital can play a crucial role in obtaining and preserving higher efficiency and productivity levels, the natural question arises - does any relationship exist between mentioned production factors and revealed comparative advantage? The main aim of this research is to evaluate the relationship between export-measured productivity and comparative advantages in animal husbandry of selected European countries. The benchmark is provided in relation to the Czech Republic. To analyse productivity of agricultural and, more specifically, animal production in the European countries selected for the analysis (based on available balanced data incorporating the period from 2005 to 2017), a decision was made to trace export performance of these countries recalculated with regard to a unit of core productive factors, such as land, labour and capital. Based on the foreign trade indicators (Gruber Lloyd index, RCA index), cluster analysis was conducted, in which individual calculation was used as an input variable. Subsequently, hierarchical clustering and Ward´s method were used. The evidence from this study suggests that the revealed comparative advantage of the countries is not determined primarily by the level of export-based productivity. The relationship between these variables is rather weak and very often negative, which indicates that productivity indicators do not play a significant role in the overall competitiveness of the monitored countries.