Sustainable Environmental Governance Research Articles

Understanding The Nature And Role Of Public Participation In Environmental Decision Making In Uganda

Public participation is a key element of sustainable environmental governance, especially in Uganda, where engaging diverse stakeholders is essential to addressing environmental challenges. This paper explores the nature and role of public participation in Uganda’s environmental decision-making, focusing on its legal framework, practical implementation, and effectiveness. It examines how the public helps shape policies, assess environmental impacts, and influence decisions at both local and national levels. Despite Uganda's progressive laws, such as the National Environment Act, public participation faces challenges like limited access to information, low awareness, and weak institutional support. This research highlights the importance of meaningful public involvement in improving environmental outcomes and fostering equity, transparency, and accountability. Strengthening public participation through capacity building, stronger legal enforcement, and partnerships between government, civil society, and communities is essential for achieving sustainable environmental governance in Uganda.

Karakteristik Islam dalam Tata Kelola Lingkungan Hidup: Studi Kasus Pemberian IUP Pertambangan dan Mineral kepada Organisasi Masyarakat Keagamaan

The article examines Islamic characteristics of environmental governance with a focus on the granting of mining and mineral business licences (IUPs) to religious organisations. This case study was conducted to understand how Islamic principles can be applied in sustainable and responsible environmental governance practices. The article used a qualitative approach with a case study method involving document analysis and participatory observation. The results showed that Islamic principles, such as tawhid (the oneness of God), Khilafah (human leadership on earth), and Kaslahah (public interest), play an important role in decision-making regarding the granting of IUPs. In addition, this study found that the application of Islamic values in environmental governance can improve compliance with environmental regulations and strengthen commitment to nature conservation. These findings make an important contribution to the development of policies that integrate religious values in environmental governance in Indonesia.

Assessing and anticipating environmental challenges in Lahore, Pakistan: future implications of air pollution on sustainable development and environmental governance.

Urban environment and air quality are changing primarily due to land use land cover (LULC) changes, economic activity, and urbanization. Air pollution has been increasingly acknowledged as a major issue for cities due to its extensive effects on health and well-being. As the second most populous city in the country, Lahorefaces alarming levels of air pollutants, whichinduced this study to focus on the pervasive issue of air pollution in Lahore. For this, the study collected air pollutants data from the Environmental Protection Department of Punjab and analyzed them using the ARIMA model. In the research results, both the observed data and predictive models uncovered concerning trends in pollutant concentrations, ultimatelyportraying a concerning picture for air quality management. Carbon monoxide (CO) levels show a consistent rise, surpassing Pakistan's environmental standards by 2025. Similarly, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations escalate, exceeding prescribed standards. Ground-level ozone (O3) also demonstrates a substantial increase, surpassing standards by 2025. Both PM2.5 and PM10 exhibit marked upward trends, projected to exceed recommended limits, particularly PM10 throughout the study year. The Air Quality Index exhibits an observable upward trend, fluctuating between 70 and 442 from 2015 to 2020. Similarly, a positive correlation was found between population growth and land use conversion into residential areas. Projections suggest a continuous increase, potentially hitting a severe level of 500 during winter by 2025. These findings point to an impending air pollution crisis, demanding urgent action to address the hazardous situation in the city. The study recommends that urban air pollution should be reduced, and the negative health effects of air pollution should be minimized using vegetation barriers, screens, and greening initiatives. Strict regulations and monitoring initiatives need to be put in place in big cities to monitor pollution and vegetation.

A pedagogy of uselessness: challenging solutionism and utility in the Anthropocene through architectural pedagogy

This article discusses an architectural pedagogy of uselessness in relation to the Anthropocene, explicitly building on pedagogical involvement in a design studio at a department for sustainable architecture. The suggestion of a pedagogy of uselessness aims at questioning the criteria and paradigms of utility and solutionism that tend to characterise the discourse on sustainable development, environmental governance, and resilience. To this end, a pedagogy of uselessness moves towards what we have called sustainability otherwise and suggests an orientation which resists the calculability of utility and solutionism. The article is organised in three parts: the first looks at four specific student works that, following the scope of the design studio, question the dominant discourse on sustainability through architecture while addressing territorial issues in several different geographies. The second part focuses on the conceptual references that informed the notion of sustainability otherwise: thinking of modernity as a bewitched time; terrain and landscape as conflict; and weaving as a notion to describe a methodological approach. The third and final part elaborates on the organisation and content of the design studio, in which the article suggests a teaching and learning approach that questions both strictly technical and formal approaches, and offers a provisional and negotiable definition for a pedagogy of uselessness.

Sustainable environmental governance as the implementation of state defense policy

Background: Land waters in urban areas often become a source of problems if they are not managed wisely and firmly. The threat and risk of danger, disease and even death always haunt the people who live on the banks of the river. Poverty and slum areas are negative effects of less than optimal land water management in urban areas. The Indonesian government has taken various steps to address this, but the lack of urban land for settlement is the reason why immigrants from other regions reside and reside in dangerous areas such as riverbanks. The compulsion to live minimally in urban areas is a burden for local governments in their efforts to increase welfare as well as improve sustainable urban governance. Many other cities in developed countries have made efforts to improve inland water areas to alleviate poverty and at the same time beautify the urban landscape. The experts agreed to hold discussions to formulate the best policy steps for sustainable urban governance in Indonesia. Methods: In the process of data analysis and decision making related to sustainable environmental governance as implementation of national defense policy, this article utilizes the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Data Processing Method. Finding: The results of in-depth discussions and interviews with experts in the field of environment, urban governance, economic experts and poverty management experts from various institutions such as the Ministry of Social Affairs, PUPR Ministry, Spatial Planning and City Planning Services, Academics and also the Military were processed using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Conclusion: The best decision alternative will be a recommendation for policy makers regarding sustainable urban governance. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study is relevant to the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method to formulate sustainable urban water management policies in Indonesia, involving various experts and related institutions to overcome poverty and improve urban landscapes. Therefore, this study can show policy recommendations based on various aspects and views.

Investigate the Role of Environmental NGOs in Global Sustainable Development and Environmental Governance

This paper explores the role of environmental NGOs in global ecological sustainability and environmental management through an empirical approach. Multiple case studies of environmental NGOs have demonstrated positive benefits in promoting environmental regulations, popularizing environmental knowledge, and guiding ecological conservation and restoration. Environmental NGOs around the world, with their public participation and advocacy of environmental protection, not only play an important role in safeguarding biodiversity and preventing environmental damage but also provide opportunities for the public to participate in environmental management. On this issue, this paper also has an in-depth discussion on the problems existing in environmental NGOs in many fields such as environmental education, financing, and implementation consistency, and is willing to provide suggestions for the further improvement of global environmental management strategies, and then promote the better realization of global sustainable development goals.

Does Environmental, Social and Governance Have an Impact on Stock Performance? A Panel Study of Indian Companies

The present study investigates the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) on firms' profitability in the Indian setting on a sample of 23 firms. The bootstrap corrected fixed effects estimation and inference in the dynamic panel method is employed to investigate the relationship. The dynamic panel results show that the relationship between ESG score and firms' profitability is inconclusive in the short run. However, governance conditions affect firms' investment decisions and the nexus between ESG and firm financial performance in the long run. Therefore, institutional reforms are warranted to stabilise property rights and check parent-client politics for the long-run effects of sustainable environmental governance on firms' profitability.

From test case to trusted tool: Lithuania’s evolving SWAT system for water and agricultural management

Lithuania’s development of the river modelling system (RMS) exemplifies an institutional development and application of integrated modelling for water and agricultural management. What started as a test case, continued to develop focusing on environmental compliance with the EU regulations. Currently, the RMS is a part of decision-making. By incorporating the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model and comprehensive data sources, the system facilitates in-depth analysis and policy formulation. Applications in water management plans, pollution assessments, and climate change studies demonstrate the reliability of RMS. Despite data quality and skill retention challenges, institutional commitment and collaboration ensure the RMS’s persistence. This experience emphasizes the value of sustained investment in integrated modelling systems for achieving sustainable environmental governance and signifies Lithuania’s shift towards data driven green transition practices.

Visual analysis of contaminated site studies in recent 30 years based on bibliometrics and knowledge graph

AbstractThe problem of contaminated sites is a hot and difficult issue in global environmental sustainable development. Because the contaminated site carries a large number of harmful substances (heavy metal ions, organic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, toxic gases, etc.), it brings great security risks to the environmental ecological security and people's health. Effective identification of the characteristics of contaminated sites and understanding of the research status and development trend of contaminated sites are of great significance to environmental sustainable development and environmental governance and restoration. Based on Web of Science database, this study systematically, quantitatively and visually analyzes the research status of contaminated sites by bibliometrics and knowledge graph technology. The results show that bibliometrics and knowledge graph are effective in information retrieval and visualization. It can display the information of different scales and different times in the study of contaminated sites, and find the distribution characteristics of popular keywords. The cluster cases of this study show that the problems of contaminated site research mainly focus on suspended particulate matter pollution, water pollution, heavy metal pollution, organic pollution, pollution reduction and bioremediation technology research. In the future, the hot issues of contaminated site remediation and environmental sustainable development will focus on strengthening the research of microbial remediation technology, nanomaterial technology, composite material adsorption technology and so on.

Emerging attributes of adaptive governance in the global south

Adaptive governance is widely considered an effective approach to address the complexities and uncertainties of socio-ecological systems. The application of adaptive governance to sustainable environmental governance in the global south has not been sufficiently explored. There is a gap in the literature in the global south, especially given its conceptual roots in the global north. A number of reviews identified some key conceptual and practical gaps related to adaptive governance principles and the challenges to implementing them. To address this gap, this paper presents a systematic literature review of adaptive governance scholarship focused on the global south published between 2003 and 2022. The review discusses adaptive governance’s key principles and framings, as well as the challenges of implementing it in the global south. This paper examines the factors that influence the emergence of adaptive governance and how this framing has been used to understand effective environmental governance within the global south’s diverse socio-political and institutional settings. The review specifically focuses on Africa and South Asia, which are densely populated with limited financial and institutional capacity. Sustainable environmental governance is crucial in these regions not only for the wellbeing of the population, but also for the health of the planet. A review of adaptive governance scholarship identified emerging attributes that improve government structures and processes, as well as proposed attributes that would minimize challenges and improve adaptive capacity. The key emerging attributes are formal and informal networks, social learning, community engagement and proposed attributes are flexible, integrated and participatory institutional governance, inclusive decision making, context-specific strategies, accountability, and capacity development. These attributes provide a framework for adaptive governance scholarship for examining different governance structures and processes in different socio-ecological systems. This paper concludes with a framework for future research that can facilitate adaptive governance in the context of sustainable environmental management in the global south.

THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN COMMUNICATINGENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE: A REVIEW OF TWO SOCIALMEDIA PLATFORMS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND KENYA.

Recent environmental disasters happening all around the world, particularly in Africa, have given rise to the need for ways to protect and preserve the environment. However, one of the ways to achieve this is via accurate dissemination of information regarding climate change to the citizens as information is crucial to action. This study examines the trends in the dissemination of information to the public regarding climate change and environmental preservation. Through a critical evaluation of the exchange and dissemination of information, via social media, between the government and the public on two official Twitter handles of environmental agencies in South Africa and Kenya, the paper examines the extent of awareness created by the agencies in respect of climate change and environmental issues. Approaching environmentalism from a communication point of view, the paper argues that much of the efforts/interventions towards addressing climate change will be more effective if the public are duly informed and involved. It intends to do this by establishing the current state of climate change knowledge/awareness in the selected countries, thereby contributing to knowledge on approaches to better environmental preservation/conservation. Thus, in order to ensure participation and achieve sustainable environmental governance in Africa, there is need for adequate and consistent education/awareness on the part of the citizenry

Extract or conserve? The Hartwick-rule and sustainable environmental governance

The legal safeguards for sustainable environmental governance are often inadequate, inefficient, and amenable to political maneuverings. Australia recently approved the Carmichael coal mine, rail, and expansion of the Abbot Port projects. These projects, along with many others in the region, have dire consequences for the groundwater system (Currell et al., 2017) [5], the Great Barrier Reef (Kroon et al., 2016; Grech et al., 2016) [6,7], and climate change (Taylor and Meinshausen, 2014) [8]. Here we show that incorporating the Hartwick-rule in economic analysis renders many of these projects unviable with or without the opportunity and externality costs. The Hartwick-rule dictates that exhaustible resource extraction can ensure weak sustainability if resource rents can be invested in such a way that the produced capital outweighs the consumed natural capital (Hartwick, 1977) [9]. We put forward two main arguments; one, resource rents belong to the society and many projects are only viable when these rents are invested with a certain growth rate; second, economic analysis shall incorporate the Hartwick-rule and shall be applied prior to recourse to the legal safeguards. Our analysis can be applied to any non-renewable natural resource extraction decision making.

PROGRAM USAID SEGAR UNTUK MENDUKUNG KONSERVASI HUTAN KALIMANTAN

As a tropical country, Indonesia faces challenges managing forests and protected forest areas. This research discusses the degradation and deforestation of Indonesian forests, which have decreased since 2017. Problems that often arise and potentially harm Indonesia's forest ecosystems are land acquisition operations for oil palm land, mining activities, excessive excavation, shifting agriculture systems, over-exploitation of wildlife, and some prohibited activities that can disrupt the balance of an ecosystem. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provides funds to support the Indonesian government in various forest conservation activities under the Sustainable Environmental Governance across Regions (SEGAR). SEGAR incentivizes forest managers, farmers, and the business community to adopt sustainable production. This study employs a descriptive qualitative research method to explain the role of foreign aid in preserving forests in developing countries. The authors interview key stakeholders to explore the program's effectiveness. The study finds that SEGAR effectively promotes forest conservation in protected areas. SEGAR also increases the capacity of local community groups to manage natural resources in the area

Digital horizons: IT-driven strategies and challenges in environmental planning and public administration

This mixed-method study delves into the realm of environmental planning and public administration, focusing on the adoption, impact, challenges, and facilitators of IT-driven strategies. Drawing upon a comprehensive assessment across various regions, the study unveils a significant extent of adoption of IT-driven strategies, underlining their crucial role in contemporary governance processes. Digital technologies emerge as potent catalysts for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in environmental planning and public administration, facilitating streamlined processes and improved decision-making. The study identifies key factors influencing successful implementation, encompassing leadership, institutional capacity, stakeholder engagement, and resource allocation. Additionally, stakeholders' perspectives unveil both benefits and challenges associated with digital integration, underscoring the imperative of addressing data privacy, technical capacity, and resistance to change. Crucially, organizational culture, leadership, and institutional capacity emerge as linchpins in driving successful IT adoption efforts. The study's conclusions underscore the global acknowledgment of technology's pivotal role in environmental governance, highlighting the transformative potential of digital solutions. Recommendations include investing in leadership development, enhancing institutional capacity, promoting stakeholder engagement, bridging the digital divide, and fostering collaboration to leverage innovative IT solutions for sustainable environmental governance.

Environmental Rights are a Human Right to a Healthy Environment: A Brief Review

Environmental Rights is a branch of law that deals with the protection and safeguarding of the environment; and, is a set of legal rules that regulate people's relationships with nature, and it can be said that it is an interdisciplinary right, based on rules of private law, public law, administrative law, and criminal law. Therefore, it regulates the creation, modification, and fulfillment of legal relationships that condition the enjoyment, conservation, and improvement of the environment, inducing actions and abstentions in favor of the environment and the common good. As such, it is a fundamental human right to a safe, clean and healthy environment; and sustainable environmental governance cannot exist without the establishment of and respect for human rights.

Preface

The world now is facing a potential future risk which is climate change due to the increasing global temperature compared to the pre-industrial era in the late 18th century. Greenhouse gas emission released from un-clean industries, land use change, fuel-based transportation, energy, and urban waste has been considered as the main contributor to this problem. To tackle this issue, the international community has been offered various schemes including providing incentives for countries or entities that proved to be successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions.This year, the Faculty of Forestry Mulawarman University, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia hosted The 3rd International Symposium on Tropical Forestry and Environmental Sciences (3rd ISTFES) on August 29-31, 2023 in Balikpapan. The symposium was co-organized with Kreativa Organizer Samarinda, Indonesia. In line with the climate change issue as described above, the symposium took “Forest & Environment Future Challenges and Opportunities on Climate Policies and Benefits” as the main theme. A total of 139 participants attended this symposium which came from various institutions and universities including four keynote speakers, three invited speakers, oral presenters, and participants.The 3rd ISTFES committee wishes to express gratitude to all authors and co-authors who have contributed to this event by submitting their valuable and recent works. The 3rd ISTFES proceeding, comprising 59 selected reviewed papers that published in the this IOP conference series: Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES).As the chairman of the symposium, I would like to convey our appreciation to all keynote speakers and invited speakers: Ir. Ujang Rachmat, M.Si (Assistant for Economic and Development Administration, East Kalimantan Province); Dr. Tetra Yanuardi (Project Manager, Division of Trade and Industry, International Tropical Timber Organization, Japan); Dr. Robert Nasi (Director General of CIFOR-ICRAF); Prof. Dr. Phua Mui How (Universiti Malaysia Sabah); Mirna Asnawi Safitri, S.H., M.Si., Ph.D (Deputy for Environmental and Natural Resources, Authority Bureau of Nusantara Capital City (OIKN)); Tunggul Butar Butar (Project Leader for Peatland Management and Rehabilitation Project (PROPEAT–GIZ)); and Dr. Josi Khatarina (USAID Sustainable Environmental Governance Across Region (SEGAR)). Our sincere gratitude also goes to the sponsors: the Governor of East Kalimantan Government, East Kalimantan Regional Council of Climate Change, GIZ PROPEAT, USAID SEGAR, and PT Multi Harapan Utama (MHU), for their invaluable contribution to making this conference highly meaningful and rewarding. We expect that forthcoming ISTFES conferences will be equally exciting, given the encouraging evidence of contribution demonstrated in these proceedings.Warm regards,Chairman of Organizing Committee Ali Suhardiman, Ph.D List of symposium committees are available in this Pdf.

The tapestry of green economics: mapping the nexus of CO2 emissions, economic growth, and renewable energy

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationships between CO2 emissions, GDP, renewable energy consumption, and trade openness across 37 OECD countries from 1995–2020. Using a Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) model and Granger Causality tests, the research probes the causality among these factors. Key findings show a notable causality from GDP, renewable energy, and trade openness to CO2 emissions. Specifically, lags in renewable energy consumption and trade openness significantly decrease CO2 emissions. Surprisingly, GDP's influence on CO2 emissions is found to be negligible, challenging the typical belief linking economic growth to environmental degradation. These insights hold great value for policymakers in environmental governance and climate finance. The data underscores the importance of promoting renewable energy and trade openness for effective CO2 reduction. The study advocates a sustainable environmental governance model, emphasizing strong legal structures and clarity in execution. Since GDP doesn't significantly impact CO2 emissions, there's potential to pivot towards sustainable economic growth models. The research offers a foundational empirical groundwork, suggesting that expanding future studies to include diverse variables might yield a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships in question.

Greening the flow: Harnessing foreign remittances for sustainable development and environmental governance: Evidence from 2SLS testing approach

AbstractForeign remittances have significantly impacted recipient countries' economic growth and financial development over the past few decades. However, eco‐friendly climate change mitigation techniques must be implemented immediately due to the environmental implications of foreign remittances. Recipient nations' industrial and agricultural sectors are bolstered by remittances, ultimately contributing to carbon dioxide emissions. This paper examines the effects of remittances on economic growth by incorporating CO2 emissions, financial development, industry, and agriculture‐added value. This study examines panel data spanning 32 years (1990–2021) for eight countries: China, the Philippines, Egypt, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The relationship among selected variables and their impact on CO2 emission is examined using the two‐stage least squares (2SLS) and Granger causality approach. The empirical results show that increased financial development and economic growth decrease environmental quality through toxic CO2 emissions. The remittances and agricultural sector help to mitigate CO2 emission by their negative contribution toward environmentally destructive activities in top remittances‐based countries. Except for agriculture, CO2 emission is bidirectionally related to all variables. Incorporating industrialization (as an instrumental variable) to improve the financial system leads to an upward trend in CO2 emissions reduction. As a result, the study makes important suggestions to economists and policymakers on reducing CO2 emissions in Asian countries.

The perspective of multi-parties to the implementation of Forestry and Other Land Use (FoLU) net sink in Central Sulawesi

Climate change will determine how long people can survive on our planet. Several countries, including Indonesia, have stalled debates, policies, and concrete steps. In response to the Glasgow Fact, the Indonesian government implemented the Forestry and other land use (FoLU) Net Sink 2030, whose essential pillars are sustainable forest management, environmental governance, and carbon governance. FoLU program plan will be implemented in Central Sulawesi. This study explores the perspectives of the persons involved using the Delphi and the G-O-L-A-R methods. According to the study’s findings, The cornerstones to the successful implementation of FoLU Net Sink 2030 in Central Sulawesi are legal certainty and regulatory regulations, budget efficiency for programs, community awareness and motivation to preserve and care for the environment, and solid and participative institutional capacities.

The influence mechanism of ESG performance on corporate green innovation: Evidence based on Chinese A-share listed companies

Green innovation helps companies achieve high-quality sustainable development, and environmental, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) performance impacts enterprises’ green innovation capability. Taking the data from 2011 to 2021 of Chinese A-share listed companies as the research sample, this paper empirically tests the impact of corporate ESG performance on green innovation and explores the impact mechanism. Measuring firms’ ESG performance through ESG score given by a third-party rating agency, this paper finds that better ESG performance enhances firms’ green innovation capability. Based on the double externality of green innovation, we find that better ESG performance of enterprises can enhance their green innovation capability by incentivizing firms in the same industry to innovate, strengthening external supervision, and alleviating financing constraints. As an important informal system in China, Confucianism has a certain inhibitory effect on firms’ green innovation capability. This paper provides a decision-making reference for the effectiveness of ESG in the Chinese market and corporate green sustainable development by investigating the impact mechanism of ESG performance on corporate green innovation capability.