Ecosystem Health, Ecological Integrity, and Sustainable Development: Toward Consilience

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Rapport
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Ecological Integrity

scholarly journals Sustainable AI: AI for sustainability and the sustainability of AI

AI and Ethics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimee van Wynsberghe
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Computing Power ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sociotechnical System ◽  
Societal Values ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractWhile there is a growing effort towards AI for Sustainability (e.g. towards the sustainable development goals) it is time to move beyond that and to address the sustainability of developing and using AI systems. In this paper I propose a definition of Sustainable AI; Sustainable AI is a movement to foster change in the entire lifecycle of AI products (i.e. idea generation, training, re-tuning, implementation, governance) towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. As such, Sustainable AI is focused on more than AI applications; rather, it addresses the whole sociotechnical system of AI. I have suggested here that Sustainable AI is not about how to sustain the development of AI per say but it is about how to develop AI that is compatible with sustaining environmental resources for current and future generations; economic models for societies; and societal values that are fundamental to a given society. I have articulated that the phrase Sustainable AI be understood as having two branches; AI for sustainability and sustainability of AI (e.g. reduction of carbon emissions and computing power). I propose that Sustainable AI take sustainable development at the core of its definition with three accompanying tensions between AI innovation and equitable resource distribution; inter and intra-generational justice; and, between environment, society, and economy. This paper is not meant to engage with each of the three pillars of sustainability (i.e. social, economic, environment), and as such the pillars of sustainable AI. Rather, this paper is meant to inspire the reader, the policy maker, the AI ethicist, the AI developer to connect with the environment—to remember that there are environmental costs to AI. Further, to direct funding towards sustainable methods of AI.

The Relationship between Ecosystem Health and Ecological Safety

2012 ◽  
Vol 260-261 ◽  
pp. 781-785
Author(s):  
Ying Song ◽  
Rui Ying Chang ◽  
Zheng Da Yu ◽  
Ren Qing Wang ◽  
Jian Liu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Ecological Safety ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Environment Friendly ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
The Relationship

With the rapid economic development and the highlighting environmental issues, more attention has been paid to ecosystem health and ecological safety. Along with the development of the concept of sustainable development, people gradually realized the importance of natural ecosystems. Ecological safety is the basis of sustainable development. It is a necessary condition to build a harmonious and environment friendly society. A healthy ecosystem is the basic guarantee of the realization of human social and economic development. This paper analyzes the relationship between ecosystem health and ecological safety, and finds that there are many connections and differences between them.According to the comparison of indices in the same evaluation model, the differences are analyzed. The paper helps to avoid the confusion between this two terms, and aims to make the goal of environmental management clear.

Innovative biological treatment for sustainable development in the chemical industries

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 111-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Wesley Eckenfelder ◽  
A. J. Englande
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Biological Treatment ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Effluent Quality ◽  
Treatment Techniques ◽  
Conventional Technology ◽  
Receiving Waters ◽  
Specific Oxygen Uptake Rate

This paper presents a perspective of wastewater management in the chemical industries as related to sustainable development. The scope of wastewater management must therefore further be expanded to include the concept of ecological integrity of receiving waters. Ecological integrity of receiving waters is compromised by contaminants which are not effectively removed by Best Conventional Technology (BCT). Biological treatment typically offers the most cost-effective conversion and/or stabilization of wastewaters; however, modifications must be employed in the design and operation to provide satisfactory effluent quality. Enhanced treatment techniques for wastewaters containing high organic concentrations, VOCs, elevated TDS levels, toxics and priority pollutants are discussed. The importance of design and operational procedures including pretreatment technologies, two stage vs. single stage activated sludge, selector design and maximum specific oxygen uptake rate determinations are also presented.

scholarly journals A participatory, territory-rooted and change-oriented approach to assess the multi-criteria contribution of an agrifood value chain to sustainable development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Vayssières ◽  
Alexandre Thévenot ◽  
Ivonne Acosta ◽  
Mathieu Vigne ◽  
Emmanuel Tillard
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Reunion Island ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Réunion Island ◽  
Resources Conservation ◽  
Methodological Guidelines

Agrifood Value chains (AVCs) can be powerful driving forces for sustainable development. Multi-criteria analysis is particularly useful for supporting decision making on improvement measures in AVCs. Methodological guidelines are still needed to effectively integrate environmental and socio-economical assessment tools and indicators at this level.In this paper, we propose a participatory, territory-rooted and change-oriented framework. The framework is applied to analyse the contribution of the main local poultry AVC in Reunion Island to the sustainable development of the territory. The main stakeholders of the AVC participated in (i) identifying key territory challenges, (ii) selecting corresponding appropriate assessment methods and indicators, (iii) defining the perimeter of the AVC and (iv) the improvement scenarios to be explored, v) providing data inventory, and vi) interpreting the results of the assessment.Both the environmental life cycle assessment and the effect method fit the proposed framework particularly well. They were applied to the same AVC data inventory, improvement scenarios were explored and indicators were spatialized to distinguish the local impacts in the root territory and externalized impacts at the global scale.In the ecological dimension of our case study, most of the effects linked to the AVC activities which threaten resources conservation and ecosystem health are externalized. This is due to strong dependency on foreign resources: in the case of fossil energy and raw materials used for livestock feed, 82% of environmental impacts occur outside Reunion Island. In the socio-economic dimension, the employment created by the AVC is mainly local due to the use of local services, 89% of jobs are provided in Reunion Island. Improvement of on-farm eco-efficiency was shown to be a mitigation option that would significantly affect the impacts of the AVC. Human and ecosystem health, and resources conservation would be improved by respectively +2.2, +9.8 and +4.8,% at global scale. But the AVC industrial network and the community would also be negatively affected, by respectively -2.2 and -3.0%, at local scale. This study underlines trade-offs between the environmental and the socio-economic dimensions and methodological challenges associated with the effective integration of assessment methods originating from diverse disciplines.

scholarly journals Healthy or Not: A Way to Predict Ecosystem Health in GitHub

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhifang Liao ◽  
Mengjie Yi ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Shengzong Liu ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
The Sustainable Development

With the development of open source community, through the interaction of developers, the collaborative development of software, and the sharing of software tools, the formation of open source software ecosystem has matured. Natural ecosystems provide ecological services on which human beings depend. Maintaining a healthy natural ecosystem is a necessity for the sustainable development of mankind. Similarly, maintaining a healthy ecosystem of open source software is also a prerequisite for the sustainable development of open source communities, such as GitHub. This paper takes GitHub as an example to analyze the health condition of open source ecosystem and, also, it is a research area in Symmetry. Firstly, the paper presents the healthy definition of GitHub open source ecosystem health and, then, according to the main components of natural ecosystem health, the paper proposes the health indicators and health indicators evaluation method. Based on the above, the GitHub ecosystem health prediction method is proposed. By analyzing the projects and data collected in GitHub, it is found that, using the proposed evaluation indicators and method, we can analyze the healthy development trend of the GitHub ecosystem and contribute to the stability of ecosystem development.

scholarly journals Make nature's role visible to achieve the SDGs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Hole ◽  
Pamela Collins ◽  
Anteneh Tesfaw ◽  
Lina Barrera ◽  
Michael B. Mascia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals

Central to the premise of the Sustainable Development Goals is the concept that the environment underpins the economic and social dimensions of development, yet the language and structure of the SDG framework are largely blind to these environment-development relationships beyond the "nature" Goals (14 and 15). As a result, ecosystem health continues to decline, development milestones lag, and investments are suboptimally allocated. Here, we highlight and conceptually map nature's role across the entire framework and make suggestions for leveraging synergies and limiting undesired impacts.

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