Good practices of labor welfare and environmental protection in potato crops in Colombia

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albeiro Alberto Aguilar Olivera ◽  
Saúl Tomás Salas Suárez
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Labor Welfare ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Potato Crops

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate the labor and environmental risks that exist in potato crops in an agricultural area of Colombia and to propose good labor and environmental welfare practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted through the combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches, applying pragmatic techniques and tools such as direct observation by field journal, questionnaire survey, checklist of working conditions and a specific methodology for the risk assessment.FindingsIt is identified that the production practices carried out by the cultivators studied are rudimentary, that the agrochemicals used affect the health and safety of the farmers and their families, constituting high-risk products for people and the environment. On the other hand, it is established that the training and qualification of workers is low, they do not use protection elements, or they are not adequate, representing a considerable degree of vulnerability.Originality/valueWith the findings of this research it is expected to improve the working conditions of potato growers and sustainability of agricultural processes in the area, whose results will also be very useful for the analysis of the issue throughout the agricultural sector in general, at a national or international level. Contributing in the same way to the fulfillment of the goals of the sustainable development goals.

Migrants' satisfaction with working conditions on cocoa farms in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bismark Amfo ◽  
James Osei Mensah ◽  
Robert Aidoo
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Annual Earnings

PurposePoor working conditions among migrant labourers on cocoa farms may be commonplace. This could affect labour productivity and cocoa industry performance. The paper investigates migrants' satisfaction with working conditions on cocoa farms in Ghana and the key drivers of satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a five-point Likert scale to evaluate migrants' satisfaction with remuneration, working hours, welfare, health and safety, contract and freedom. Using primary data from 400 migrants and non-migrants in four cocoa districts, multivariate probit regression was employed to evaluate the determinants of satisfaction with working conditions.FindingsMigrant labourers are generally satisfied with their working hours, nature of contract and freedom they enjoy. However, they are unsatisfied with their remuneration, welfare and health/safety conditions on cocoa farms. All things being equal, secondary occupation, nature of contract, number of farmers served by labourer, annual earnings, farm ownership, education and expectations before migration influence migrants' satisfaction with working conditions.Practical implicationsTo improve satisfaction with working conditions and productivity, migrants on cocoa farms should be given protective working gear, long-term or renewable contracts and they should be encouraged to engage in secondary occupations.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies that focussed on working conditions in the formal sector, this study explores migrants' satisfaction with working conditions in the informal agricultural sector. Also, the study examines labourers' satisfaction with six subcomponents of working conditions compared to previous studies that employed a univariate analytical approach to examine working conditions.

Alignment of tourism investment to the SDGs in Jamaica: an exploratory study

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-274
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Spencer ◽  
Larisa M. McBean
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Development Goals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the level of alignment of tourism investment in Jamaica with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and their economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts on the country. Design/methodology/approach This study is interpretive, combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This comprises primary data; collected from interviews of tourism policy makers and experts; and analysis of secondary research data on tourism investments made by government agencies and other organizations that generate and/or provide official statistical data. Interviews are conducted in a semi-structured, open-ended format that enable respondents to provide insights and expound on ideas shared. Findings The findings reveal that some SDGs have greater alignment with some of the targets of the SDGs than others. The results proffer a possible reason for this; this could be owing to the priorities of the Ministry of Tourism as it relates to investment in tourism development – investment in improved infrastructure is high on the priority of the Ministry, and therefore reflects better alignment to SDG 9, which relates to infrastructure. Research limitations/implications This study provides a backdrop from which to assess Jamaica’s investment activities in furtherance of inclusive and sustainable tourism. The findings also inform decision makers – whether they continue on the current trajectory, or in facilitating adjustments to enable tourism investments to better align with the SDGs. The main limitation lies in the fact that the research findings may only be transferable and generalized to the extent that other jurisdictions bear similar macroeconomic characteristics to Jamaica. Practical implications This study lends itself to opportunities for future research in other similar small island developing states. It also contributes to the body of knowledge on investments that work to further the aims of the SDGs and provides a base from which to conduct further research. Social implications The social implications of tourism investment closely align with SDGs including tourism that is more inclusive and sustainable; that reduces income inequalities; that is beneficial to all Jamaicans, whether directly or indirectly; and that contributes to the development of human capital. Originality/value This study evaluates investment alignment with the SDGs in relation to Destination Jamaica. No previous work has been done to explore this relationship; hence, this research is pivotal in informing decision makers and continuing research in this area.

Smart practices in HEIs and the contribution to the SDGs: implementation in Brazilian university

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane Dalla Gasperina ◽  
Janaina Mazutti ◽  
Luciana Londero Brandli ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rabello
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Infrastructure Management ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Development Goals

Purpose Smart campuses can be seen as the future of higher education efforts, especially for their contributions to sustainability and to encourage innovation. This paper aims to present the benefits of smart practices in a Higher Education Institutions and highlights its connections to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach The methodology is divided into three steps: first, an international search and assessment of smart practices at universities; second, the identification of smart practices in a university campus in southern Brazil; and third, the presentation of the benefits of smart practices and their relationship with the SDGs. Findings The results showed that globally, the area most covered by smart practices in universities is the environment and, specifically, focused on waste reduction. in the context of this case study, the benefits of implementing smart practices mainly reach SDGs 4 and SDG 9, especially due to aspects of teaching technologies for the new classroom models and the optimization of campus infrastructure management. Practical implications The study encourages other universities to implement smart practices in their campuses, to becoming smart campuses while they also collaborate in achieving the SDGs while raising the discussion on the importance of committed actions taken on a university campus with the UN SDGs, to leverage synergies on campus operations at universities. Originality/value This paper presents a set of smart practices that universities are applying both globally and locally (in southern Brazil). In addition, it contributes to sustainability research by showing how smart practices have the potential to promote SDGs in universities, especially through campus operations.

Reducing corruption and bribery in Africa as a target of the sustainable development goals: applying indicators for assessing performance

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr.
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Ethical Behaviour ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Illegal Activities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess African performance for substantially reducing all forms of corruption and bribery on the continent by 2030, through the indicators for achieving Target 16.5 of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the available and accessible relevant data from credible sources, this work quantifies, outlines and analyses the relationship between corruption/bribery and sustainable development as it applies primarily to sub-Saharan Africa; assesses the trends in the region through the official indicators for achieving Target 16.5 of the SDGs; and recommends other indicators for assessing ethical behaviour in African political, administrative and business leadership and institutions for achieving sustainable development and improved ethical performance towards significant reductions in all manifestations of bribery and corruption on the continent by 2030. Findings Corruption and bribery are found to affect all SDG-related sectors, undermining development outcomes and severely compromising efforts to achieve the SDGs in Africa. Consequently, prioritising corruption reduction including from money laundering, bribery and other illegal activities is a necessary requirement for achieving sustainable development, good governance, building effective and inclusive institutions as required by SDG 16, and funding the achievement of the SDGs. Originality/value The main value of the paper is the insights it provides through the very comprehensive compilation of statistical information that quantifies, and with analysis, the corruption/bribery avenues and the resultant deleterious effects on sustainable development in Africa.

The contribution of tourism towards a more sustainable and inclusive society: key guiding principles in times of crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 679-689
Author(s):  
Carla Cardoso
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Inclusive Society ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose At a time when tourism is embarking on the path to recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, this paper aims to put forward a set of principles guiding the development of tourism to enable global society to become more inclusive and sustainable. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopted a descriptive design using views and data mainly published by 11 international organisations and specialised agencies between March and mid-June 2020. Content analysis was carried out to enable the research to identify features and the presence of challenges for tourism within international organisations’ documents and leaders’ speeches to compare them. Findings The results revealed that there are five key principles that may have a significant impact on tourism development, suggesting that these could be adopted for building a more inclusive and sustainable economy, while mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications Adopting the five key principles recommended in this paper can help tourism to emerge stronger and in a more sustainable way from COVID-19 or other future crises. Equally, this can incite changes in policies, business practices and consumers’ and locals’ behaviours with a view to building a truly sustainable sector. Originality/value This study helps to reconfirm existing knowledge in the COVID-19 context by highlighting five guiding principles that can help tourism players to respond to this crisis disruption and future ones via transformative innovation. In doing so, these will also be contributing to the achievement of the ideals and aims of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Using an artificial neural network for estimating sustainable development goals index

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1023-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed-Hadi Mirghaderi
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Neural Networks ◽  
Artificial Neural Network ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Artificial Neural Networks ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Artificial Neural

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a simple model for estimating sustainable development goals index using the capabilities of artificial neural networks.Design/methodology/approachSustainable development has three pillars, including social, economic and environmental pillars. Three clusters corresponding to the three pillars were created by extracting sub-indices of three 2018 global reports and performing cluster analysis on the correlation matrix of sub-indices. By setting the sustainable development goals index as the target variable and selecting one indicator from each cluster as input variables, 20 artificial neural networks were run 30 times.FindingsArtificial neural networks with seven nodes in one hidden layer can estimate sustainable development goals index by using just three inputs, including ecosystem vitality, human capital and gross national income per capita. There is an excellent similarity (>95%) between the results of the artificial neural network and the sustainable development goals index.Practical implicationsInstead of calculating 232 indicators for determining the value of sustainable development goals index, it is possible to use only three sub-indices, but missing 5% of precision, by using the proposed artificial neural network model.Originality/valueThe study provides additional information on the estimating of sustainable development and proposes a new simple method for estimating the sustainable development goals index. It just uses three sub-indices, which can be retrieved from three global reports.

Values, sustainability consciousness and intentions for SDG endorsement

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 921-939
Author(s):  
Pradeep Kautish ◽  
Arpita Khare ◽  
Rajesh Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Instrumental Value ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Environmental Friendly ◽  
Instrumental Values ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Societal Responsibility

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between value orientation, i.e. terminal and instrumental values, consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral intentions toward environmental-friendly products and its influence on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) endorsement.Design/methodology/approachStructured questionnaires were administered on 410 respondents from northwestern India. The two-step approach proposed by Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was employed to assess the measurement and structural models.FindingsTerminal and instrumental values influenced consumer sustainability consciousness. Sustainability consciousness influenced behavioral intentions which endorsed consumers' SDG. Instrumental value had a greater impact on consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral intentions than terminal value. Consumer sustainability consciousness partially mediated the relationship between terminal/instrumental value and behavioral intentions for SDG endorsement.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings will help marketers to endorse SDG promotion by linking them with values and develop an understanding of consumers' sustainability consciousness for SDG implementation.Practical implicationsGreen marketers, policymakers and SDG promoters should develop messages to communicate and emphasize the importance of purchasing environmental-friendly products. From a functional perspective, it affects instrumentality orientation and societal responsibility toward the implementation of SDG.Social implicationsThe current study proposed an action-oriented, integrated, aspirational and universally applicable SDG framework. The findings may pioneer the way forward for sustainability-oriented consumption.Originality/valueThis research is the first of its kind that examined the relationships between value orientations (Rokeach, 1973) and their effect on consumer sustainability consciousness and behavioral intentions in SDG milieu.

Power crisis to hamper Zambia development prospects

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Hydroelectric Power ◽  
Fuel Price ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Growth Environment ◽  
Finance Minister ◽  
Price Hike ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Government

Subject Outlook for Zambia's economy. Significance Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda last month presented revisions to the 2015 budget. They reflected the cooling growth environment, lower-than-expected tax revenues and rising borrowing costs. Droughts have exacerbated these vulnerabilities by pressuring Zambia's hydroelectric power supplies. Economic prospects are weakened ahead of elections scheduled for September 2016. Impacts Riots that took place in the main tourist hub Livingstone over the fuel price hike could hit visitor numbers if repeated. Revenue woes will harden the government's stance on tax avoidance, raising tensions with miners. The government may use the Sustainable Development Goals summit to press for greater donor aid, citing its revenue crunch.

Sustainability of Indian PPP procurement process

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 491-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilesh Agarchand Patil ◽  
Boeing Singh Laishram
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Risk Allocation ◽  
Environment Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
Environment Impact Assessment ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Development Goals

Purpose Though public-private partnership (PPP) programme in India has stabilized significantly with implementation of successful infrastructure projects, still it suffers from shortfalls related to some aspects of sustainable development. One of the ways to overcome these shortfalls is to modify the existing PPP procurement process in order to attain the sustainable development goals. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework highlighting the strategies for integrating sustainable development principles in PPP procurement process. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis through literature review has been adopted to identify the shortfalls in PPP process and examine the possible strategies to overcome the shortfalls from best practices in implementation of PPP projects. The preliminary framework of strategies has been conceptualized to integrate sustainable development principles in PPP procurement process. Finally, the feasibility of preliminary framework has been undertaken through focussed interviews with local stakeholders of PPPs. Findings The study indicates opportunities to promote sustainable development in the current PPP procurement process exists through enhancement in critical aspects like stakeholder’s participation, environment impact assessment, value for money analysis, user’s charges, risk allocation policies, transaction and bidding cost, and bid evaluation criteria. Originality/value The paper presents a critical insight on integrating sustainable development principles in PPP procurement process which has not been the focus in the majority of previous research studies.

Ambitious UN global goals may falter in execution

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Millennium Development Goals ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Member States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals

Subject An assessment of the prospects for the SDGs Significance UN member states on September 25 ratified a new set of global benchmarks, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), following the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) this year. The 17 new goals, with 114 outcome targets, have already drawn criticism for being overly ambitious and lacking direction. Impacts The UN's Paris Climate Talks (COP21) later this year will be heavily influenced by the number of climate goals set out in the new SDGs. NGOs will alter policies to align with the SDG agenda, soliciting funds to broaden programmes beyond the MDG-focus of the last 15 years. Governments and NGOs will increasingly ask international businesses and financial institutions to collaborate on achieving the SDGs.

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