CONVERGENCE OF HUMAN POPULATIONS IN CHINA: IMPACT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT In the late 1980s, the United Nations recognized that industrial activities of the 19th and 2(20th centuries were responsible for global pollution-related problems, and presented a future threat to life-sustaining qualities of the environment. While difficult to document in a perfectly quantifiable and defensible case, the evidence was sufficiently strong for the UN to create a global initiative for sustainable development. Many countries around the world now have institutionalized programs for sustainable development. Target projects and procedures to implement incremental changes in the way the natural elements necessary for life are sustained for their support of, and use by, future generations by managing growth and pollution are underway. The United States has a number of initiatives in various agencies that primarily consist of discrete government-government or government-industry partnerships. Nonetheless, the concept of sustainable development in the US remains ambiguous in terms of its widespread understanding and adoption by the public and private sectors, which are responsible for activities that can cause pollution, or indirectly affect the ability of the environment to sustain future human populations, lifestyles, and the economy. The US Environmental Protection Agency refers to some of its sustainable development initiatives as “Smart Growth” to more clearly and positively conveys the focus of these activities. It has been observed that sustainable development will not make a significant difference in the US, relative to the strides made in other countries, unless sustainable development programs become regulatory in nature. The US sustainable development initiatives are discretionary and essentially implemented according to the prevailing political will. Since the US economy is based on capitalism, and growth in profits is a pre-requisite to economic success, sustainable development programs will only be implemented if program managers in industry and government believe that these programs somehow tangibly benefit “the bottom line.” While exhibiting pioneering leadership in many areas, with regard to innovative and across-the-board programs for sustainable development, the US in fact may lag behind the rest of the world.

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The GCRF Living Deltas Hub: using water quality monitoring and lived experiences to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2891 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lucy R. Roberts ◽

Heather L. Moorhouse ◽

Oanh Truong ◽

Phong Nguyen Thanh ◽

Suzanne McGowan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Mekong Delta ◽

Water Quality Monitoring ◽

Quality Monitoring ◽

Anthropogenic Activity ◽

Human Populations ◽

Clean Water ◽

Safe Water

<p>The Living Deltas Hub is a UKRI GCRF-funded community investigating the environmental, societal, and natural-cultural heritage of three South and Southeast Asian mega-deltas; the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta spanning India and Bangladesh, and the Mekong Delta and Red River Delta of Vietnam. Globally, deltas occupy only 1% of the total land area, but support the livelihoods of ~500 million citizens. As a consequence of growing human populations and intensified anthropogenic activity these deltas face multiple challenges, such as eustatic sea level rise, land subsidence, saline intrusion, unsustainable extraction of natural resources, habitat loss, pollution, and are currently on a trajectory towards collapse. The waterscape of the deltas place SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) at the heart of sustainable development. Thus, the Hub aims to quantify and assess human impacts on the water quality of major river channels, canals, and ponds by establishing catchment-wide water quality monitoring supplemented by historical data, biomonitoring networks, community science projects (including water quality and participatory GIS) and local knowledge of water quality. This will result in improved understanding of the impacts of the multi-functionality of water sources in Asian mega-deltas from basic domestic use (bathing and drinking water) up to industrial scale aquaculture, and can lead to the success of SDG 6 (clean water), SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing), SDG 2 (zero hunger &#8211; here, through sustainable aquaculture), and SDG 14 (life below water). In addition, the combined methodology of water quality monitoring and understanding lived experiences can be used to identify the concerns of local communities, identify inequalities in the access to safe water (working towards SDG 10 reduced inequalities) and understand the female experience (working towards SDG 5 gender inequality). Using a literature review of pond water quality and use in the delta regions and data from household surveys conducted in three regions of the Mekong Delta (Ben Tre, An Giang and Can Tho), we will use ponds as a case study to demonstrate how this approach can be used to improve understanding of community access to safe water.&#160;</p><p>&#160;</p>

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Palaeoenvironmental perspectives for sustainable development in East Africa

Climate of the Past Discussions ◽

10.5194/cpd-6-963-2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 963-1007 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

R. Marchant ◽

J. Finch ◽

R. Kinyanjui ◽

V. Muiruri ◽

C. Mumbi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

East Africa ◽

Land Tenure ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Co2 Concentration ◽

Human Populations ◽

East African

Abstract. East African ecosystems are shaped by long-term interaction with changing climate, human population, fire and wildlife. There remains today a strong connection between people and ecosystems, a relationship that is being strained by the rapidly developing and growing East African population, and their associated resource needs. Predicted climatic and atmospheric change will further impact on ecosystems culminating in a host of challenges for their management and sustainable development, further compounded by a backdrop of political, land tenure and economic constraints. Given the many direct and indirect benefits that ecosystems provide to surrounding human populations, understanding how they have changed over time and space deserves a special place on the ecosystem management agenda. Such a perspective can only be derived from a palaeoecology, particularly where there is high resolution, both through time and across space. The East African palaeoecological archive is reviewed, in particular to assess how it can meet this need. Although there remain crucial gaps, the number of palaeoecological archives from East Africa growing rapidly, some employing new and novel techniques to trace past ecosystem response to climate change. When compared to the archaeological record it is possible to disentangle human from climate change impacts, and how the former interacts with major environmental changes such as increased use of fire, changing herbivore densities and increased atmospheric CO2 concentration. With this multi-dimensional perspective of environmental change impacts it is imperative that our understanding of past human-ecosystem interactions are considered to impart effective long term management strategies; such an approach will enhance possibilities for a sustainable future for East African ecosystems and maximise the livelihoods of the populations that rely on them.

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The sense of obligation is culturally modulated

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19002371 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Bender

Keyword(s):

Cultural Studies ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Human Populations ◽

Cultural Group ◽

Target Article ◽

Sense Of Obligation ◽

Cross Cultural Studies

Abstract Tomasello argues in the target article that, in generalizing the concrete obligations originating from interdependent collaboration to one's entire cultural group, humans become “ultra-cooperators.” But are all human populations cooperative in similar ways? Based on cross-cultural studies and my own fieldwork in Polynesia, I argue that cooperation varies along several dimensions, and that the underlying sense of obligation is culturally modulated.

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