The challenge for universities to foster sustainable development across multiple scales

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is marked by the consolidation of sustainability as a key guiding principle and an emphasis on cities as a potential solution to global development problems. However, in the absence of an agreement on how to implement sustainable development in cities, a set of urban policy solutions and ‘best practices’ became the vehicles through which the sustainable development agenda is spreading worldwide. This article shows that the rapid circulation of Bogotá as a model of sustainable transport since the 2000s reflects an increasing focus of the international development apparatus on urban policy solutions as an arena to achieve global development impacts, what I call the ‘leveraging cities’ logic in this article. This logic emerges at a particular historical conjuncture characterised by: (1) the rising power of global philanthropy to set development agendas; (2) the generalisation of solutionism as a strategy of action among development and philanthropic organisations; and (3) the increasing attention on cities as solutions for global development problems, particularly around sustainability and climate change. By connecting urban policy mobilities debates with development studies this article seeks to unpack the emergence, and the limits, of ‘leveraging cities’ as a proliferating global development practice. These urban policy solutions are far from being a clear framework of action. Rather, their circulation becomes a ‘quick fix’ to frame the problem of sustainable development given the unwillingness of development and philanthropic organisations to intervene in the structural factors and multiple scales that produce environmental degradation and climate change.

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Integrating Deep Ecology and Adaptive Governance for Sustainable Development: Implications for Protected Areas Management

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12145757 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (14) ◽

pp. 5757

Author(s):

Kofi Akamani

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Cultural Diversity ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Deep Ecology ◽

Adaptive Governance ◽

Ethical Perspective ◽

Human Environment ◽

Human Needs ◽

Holistic Conception

Since the late 1980s, the idea of sustainable development has been gaining widespread recognition as a guiding framework for policies on development and the environment. However, the concept of sustainable development has received a number of criticisms, including its over-emphasis on meeting human needs through economic growth, as well as its failure to recognize dynamic human–environment interactions. In response to these shortfalls, the concepts of resilience and adaptive governance have emerged as alternative perspectives for pursuing sustainable development. Resilience in social-ecological systems emphasizes the capacity of coupled human–environment systems to deal with change, while continuing to develop. Adaptive governance relies on diverse and nested institutional mechanisms for connecting actors across multiple scales to manage conflicts and uncertainties in ecosystem management processes. However, the ethical dimensions of resilience and adaptive governance have not received enough attention. A promising ethical perspective for guiding policies on human–environment interactions is the philosophy of deep ecology, which highlights the need for recognition of the intrinsic values of all living things, as well as the nurturing of ecological and cultural diversity. In this paper, I argue that an integration of the principles of deep ecology and adaptive governance provides a complementary set of ethical principles and institutional attributes that offers better prospects for pursuing sustainable development in the era of the Anthropocene. The implications of this integrative agenda include: the adoption of a holistic conception of dynamic human–environment interactions; the recognition of diverse knowledge systems through an anti-reductionist approach to knowledge; the promotion of long term sustainability through respect for ecological and cultural diversity; and embracing decentralization and local autonomy. I further illustrate this integrative agenda using the management of protected areas as a case study.

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Mapping Vulnerability of Cotton to Climate Change in West Africa: Challenges for Sustainable Development

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9040068 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 68

Author(s):

Mary Ann Cunningham ◽

Nicholas S. Wright ◽

Penelope B. Mort Ranta ◽

Hannah K. Benton ◽

Hassan G. Ragy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

West Africa ◽

Low Income ◽

Species Distribution Model ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Influential Factor ◽

Distribution Model ◽

Limiting Factor

Climate models project vulnerability to global warming in low-income regions, with important implications for sustainable development. While food crops are the priority, smallholder cash crops support food security, education, and other priorities. Despite its importance as a populous region subject to substantial climate change, West Africa has received relatively slight attention in spatial assessments of climate impacts. In this region, rainfed cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) provides essential smallholder income. We used a spatially explicit species distribution model to project likely changes in the spatial distribution of suitable climates for rainfed cotton in West Africa. We modeled suitable climate conditions from the recent past (1970–2000) and projected the range of those conditions in 2050 (Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5). The suitable area declined by 60 percent under RCP4.5 and by 80 percent under RCP8.5. Of 15 countries in the study area, all but two declined to less than ten percent suitable under RCP8.5. The annual precipitation was the most influential factor in explaining baseline cotton distribution, but 2050 temperatures appear to become the limiting factor, rising beyond the range in which rainfed cotton has historically been grown. Adaptation to these changes and progress on sustainable development goals will depend on responses at multiple scales of governance, including global support and cooperation.

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Sustainable development goals and the European Cohesion Policy: an application to the autonomous Region of Sardinia

Journal of Urban Ecology ◽

10.1093/jue/juab038 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Laura Cavalli ◽

Sandro Sanna ◽

Mia Alibegovic ◽

Filippo Arras ◽

Gianluca Cocco ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Specific Reference ◽

The European Union ◽

Cohesion Policy ◽

Development Fund ◽

2030 Agenda ◽

Development Goals ◽

The Eu

Abstract Paramount to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the effective tackling of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) is the cooperation and coordination of the different levels of government—i.e. the supranational, national and local levels. This is due to the very nature of the SDGs, which are multi-dimensional and intended to guide and boost sustainable development at multiple scales. The European Union (EU) demonstrated a full commitment to the Agenda, making sustainable development a top priority. In fact, the five strategic objectives of the EU are modelled on the principles of the 2030 Agenda and the Cohesion Policy, EU’s most transversal policy, is designed to give a direct contribution to the tackling of the 17 SDGs. Introducing a new methodology to evaluate the sustainability of operational programmes co-financed by the EU, the following paper aims to contribute to the building literature around the question of monitoring public investments regarding sustainability criteria. By matching the 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda with the 143 intervention fields of the Cohesion Policy, with specific reference to Sardinia’s European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund 2014–2020 Regional Operational Programmes, the present work introduces the key features of the model developed and its first results. The model could be of valuable support to policymakers who now have an innovative tool to monitor investments’ coherence with the sustainability standards of the 2030 Agenda.

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Diamonds on the Soles of Their Feet: Groundwater Monitoring in the Hout Catchment, South Africa

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development ◽

10.1177/09734082211014435 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 25-50

Author(s):

Jaqui Goldin ◽

Resego Mokomela ◽

Thokozani Kanyerere ◽

Karen G. Villholth

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Groundwater Monitoring ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Limpopo Province ◽

Feminist Philosophy ◽

End Point ◽

Water Literacy ◽

A Current

With the impulse to control and order the disorderly, the threads or tributaries of affect and emotion, which mimic the meanderings of the aquifer itself, are often oversimplified or ignored. These are not anomalies of citizen science (CS) but ‘normal’ and expected ‘disconnects’ that surface when working within a multidisciplinary environment. The article adds value to current discourse on CS by reflecting on the confusing configurations and shifting allegiances that are part and parcel of CS experience. In presenting research from a current project in the Hout Catchment, Limpopo Province in South Africa, it suggests that CS is often oversimplified and does not capture the array of emotions that emerge at multiple scales around CS projects. The authors reflect on the field, which is fraught, fragile and fleeting—and on the intrusions into the field—similar itself to an aquifer with its dykes and flows. Considering CS within the frame of feminist philosophy, it is emancipatory and personally transformative with the element of ‘surprise’ that the end point is undetermined—and the process, however much ‘planned’ is unknown. CS in this instance is a powerful tool for creating virtuous cycles of inclusion and equality and promoting sustainable development through improved water literacy through a grassroot, out-of-the-classroom pedagogy.

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Rethinking Sustainable Development Using Deep Ecology and Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Systems: Implications for Protected Areas Management

10.20944/preprints201908.0066.v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Kofi Akamani

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Cultural Diversity ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Deep Ecology ◽

Adaptive Governance ◽

Human Environment ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological

Since the late 1980s the idea of sustainable development has been gaining widespread recognition as a guiding framework for policies on development and the environment. However, the concept of sustainable development has received a number of criticisms, including its over-emphasis on meeting human needs through economic growth, as well as its failure to recognize dynamic human-environment interactions. In response to these shortfalls, the concepts of resilience and adaptive governance have emerged as alternative perspectives for pursuing sustainable development. Resilience in social-ecological systems emphasizes the capacity of coupled human-environment systems to deal with change while continuing to develop. Adaptive governance relies on diverse and nested institutional mechanisms for connecting actors across multiple scales to manage conflicts and uncertainties in ecosystem management processes. However, the ethical dimensions of resilience and adaptive governance have not received enough attention. A promising ethical perspective for guiding policies on human-environment interactions is the philosophy of deep ecology which highlights the need for recognition of the intrinsic values of all living things, as well as the nurturing of ecological and cultural diversity. We argue that an integration of the principles of deep ecology and adaptive governance provides a complementary set of ethical principles and institutional attributes that offers better prospects for pursuing sustainable development in the era of the Anthropocene. The implications of this integrative agenda include: adoption of a holistic conception of dynamic human-environment interactions; recognition of diverse knowledge systems through an anti-reductionist approach to knowledge; promotion of long term sustainability through respect for ecological and cultural diversity; and embracing decentralization and local autonomy. We further illustrate this integrative agenda using the management of protected areas as a case study.

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Circles of Coastal Sustainability: A Framework for Coastal Management

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12124886 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 4886 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Natália M. P. de Alencar ◽

Martin Le Tissier ◽

Shona K. Paterson ◽

Alice Newton

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Multiple Scales ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Well Being ◽

Visual Assessment ◽

Coastal Zones ◽

Political Activities ◽

Agenda 2030 ◽

Development Goals

The coastal zone is a space where many social, economic, and political activities intersect with natural processes. In this paper, we present an adaptation of the method of ‘Circles of Sustainability’, used to provide a visual assessment of indicators that define sustainability profiles for cities. It is used as a basis for a ‘Circles of Coastal Sustainability’ (CCS) framework that can be used at multiple spatial scales to assess indicators of critical processes that facilitate/constrain sustainability of the world’s coastal zones. The development of such a framework can support management by identifying key features that influence environmental sustainability and human well-being. CCS presents a holistic assessment of four interdependent boundary domains: Environment and Ecology, Social and Cultural, Economics, and Governance and Policy. This approach improves its utility and usability for decision-makers and researchers. CCS adds to existing assessment frameworks that are often focused on particular themes and/or domains that confine their utility to the context of sustainable development and the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which demand an inherently holistic and integrated evaluation. CCS is a holistic framework designed to assess the boundaries to sustainability for socio-ecological systems at multiple scales for the world’s coasts.

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