The ecosystem approach under the Convention on Biological Diversity: a review of decisions of the Conference of the Parties

A comprehensive analysis of the process of formation and development of the ecosystem approach in international environmental law under the Convention on Biological Diversity has been undertaken. Based on a study of the provisions of the Convention and a review of decisions of the meetings of its governing body – the Conference of the Parties – the conclusion is made about the current state of development of the ecosystem approach. In particular, under the Convention on Biological Diversity, general framework of the ecosystem approach have been developed, including its description, principles and practical guidelines for its application, and its leading role in the conservation of biodiversity has been determined. Undoubtedly, the ecosystem approach generally and its principles particularly require thorough discussion at future meetings of the Conference of the Parties and implementation in appropriate decisions. At the same time, it is quite obvious that the effectiveness of this approach in the issue of biodiversity conservation will depend primarily on its implementation in the state environmental policy and legislation of all countries-participants of the Convention and its practical realization, which, according to the author, should become one of the priority and strategic directions in the field of legal regulation of environmental relations in Ukraine.

Reframing Life Skills: From an Individualistic to a Relational Transformative Approach

This chapter examines how life skills education draws on a dominant individualistic behavioral approach that aims to teach skills to young people so they can overcome various social and economic problems. Life skills are taught to girls so that they can be empowered to overcome health issues, such as HIV/AIDs or early pregnancy. They are also targeted at boys who are deemed ‘at risk’ of engaging in asocial behaviors in efforts to reduce violence and to contribute to the economy. Yet many of these societal problems are linked to changing social, economic and environmental relations. To think differently about how to use life skills to foster a good life that is just, equitable, and sustainable, the chapter offers a transformative framing based in a critical and relational approach. Such an approach requires a reframing of skills to consider the values and perspectives that are often implicitly taught, such as individual responsibility and self-promotion, and to reorient these skills around values that youth desire and need within their challenging contexts. It concludes with a discussion of some common life skills and how they can be reframed to achieve transformation in society so youth can live life well – oriented toward greater justice, equality and peace.

Sustainability and Halal: Procedure, Profit and Ethical Practice

Halal certification is a technological and technocratic transformation that facilitates increasingly complex food production and global supply chain management. However, the discourse and materiality of global trade and the growth of consumers for which halal certification is in demand have been the target of ethical criticism that puts forward the vulnerabilities of human, non-human, and environmental relations. This paper proceeds through some steps to elucidate questions of halal ethics in practice, halal certification, and Muslim trade and exchange networks. The research method uses a descriptive qualitative approach, using library sources. The results of the analysis and discussion show that the halal discursive tradition that centralizes intra-Muslim networking, trade, and exchange, is significant to consider the ethical stakes of halal certification for marginalized and precarious Muslim populations around the world. Drawing on ethnographic insights on the meat market in Mumbai, I argue that exclusive political intimacy and economic growth mean halal certification can play a part in the marginalization of the Muslim workforce and trade in the city. Therefore, the question of sustainability and halalness must consider the new formation of halal's ethical requirements to bridge the gap between the ethics of trade and intra-Muslim exchange and global trade conditions.

Environment, Demographics, and Economy in Qing China

The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), China’s last, ruled an ethnic diversity of peoples throughout both Inner Asia and China proper. In the process, networks of environmental relationships were formed across Mongolian steppes, Tibetan and Southeast Asian highlands, Manchurian forests, and alluvial plains in the empire’s core, China proper. The dynasty’s main environmental efforts were devoted to the lowland agrarian concentration of water and grain. Yet the empire’s sheer extent also required management of agro-pastoral, pastoral, foraging, and swiddening relations—pursued under conditions of global cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, known as the Little Ice Age. Mineral inputs from foreign and domestic sources, as well as New World crops, were critical not only for the dynasty’s material development, but also entailed debilitating costs—most particularly deforestation and soil erosion. As it adapted to dynamic demographic and ecological conditions, the dynasty developed many structures for the maintenance and resiliency of its environmental relations, which included existential interactions with select animals and plants, to produce the world’s largest population of its time. The Qing achievement can be evaluated differently according to timescales and wide-ranging criteria that transcend crude Malthusian parameters. However, its political and demographic accomplishments must be qualified from an environmental perspective in light of the mid-19th-century breakdown of many of its environmental networks that directly contributed to its demise and that of the 2,000-year-old imperial system.

CONTROLLING – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY AND PROPOSAL OF A RELEVANT MODEL FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS AND DEVELOPMENT IN SLOVAKIA

The economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that enterprises should manage their business in the wider system of public, social and environmental relations. Sustainable socially responsible business is becoming a lifeline for enterprises, they need to make the most effective decisions about the future direction. This can be achieved by interconnection of sustainable socially responsible business and controlling. Following the empirical survey research carried out using 151 Slovak enterprises the maturity of enterprises concerning the use of controlling and its financial, investment, cost, quality and personnel controlling subsystems was defined. Fisher’s f-test was used for Three-factor analysis of variance questions. The results achieved in the research showing significant differences between analyzed categories of enterprises in terms of size and their subject of business. Based on the analyses of the secondary sources and on results of the research, a framework concept of the structure of corporate controlling for Slovak enterprises was proposed which represents an innovative sustainable business model in practice, the application of which in practice will be a prerequisite for the growth of performance and financial health of enterprises.

Complex ecological branch of law in terms of globalization

The article deals with study of the impact of globalization on the development of a complex branch of environmental law. A significant development of science and technology in the modern world, the relative "development of the planet" and globalization processes necessitate the solution of qualitatively new scientific and applied problems and, in particular, the need to take into account the intensive development of world industry, limited natural resources and environmental requirements. and social mobility. The author has analyzed the most important historical events, implementation of international norms on environmental protection to national legislation. A particular attention has been paid to the development of the idea of environmental protection in European law in the second half of XX century and the separation within it of European environmental law. Recently, such important issues as the management of genetically modified organisms, the management of waste and hazardous chemicals, the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere and water pollution have been regulated. This state of legal regulation of environmental relations at the level of international law has a positive impact on the national legislation of the Member States of the European Union and other states that have taken the European direction of development, including Ukraine. One of the important areas of cooperation between the European Union and Ukraine is the joint solution of problems in the field of environmental management and environmental protection. It has been concluded that the international legal regulation of environmental relations is a system of purposeful actions of subjects of international law, aimed at the rational use of nature and environmental protection in order to preserve it for present and future generations. The green economy is a priority for the European Union.

Prospects for the introduction of the ecological court in Ukraine

Effective legal regulation of environmental protection and protection of environmental relations in modern conditions is a necessary condition for the successful development of human society. Given the specifics of existing environmental problems, the article is devoted to the coverage of various forms and models of specialized environmental courts operating in different countries. The scientific opinions on the organization of activity of ecological courts are covered, the normative-legal acts regulating ecological legal relations are analyzed. The conclusion on prospects of introduction of ecological court in Ukraine is made. To this end, it is necessary to reform the legislation on the judiciary, update procedural legislation to ensure a harmonious combination of private and public interests in the field of environmental relations. Keywords: environmental protection, ecological legal relations, organization, activity, ecological court

Political Ecology: Nature and Society against the Grain

This essay advances the argument for James C. Scott as a preeminent political ecologist, despite the fact that he has not claimed such a title for himself. While he is variously described as an (errant) political scientist, an (adopted) anthropologist, and a (most of the time) Southeast Asianist, he has not usually been called a card-carrying political ecologist. But in fact, his many works have foreshadowed a number of the topical concerns of political ecologists of Asia, such as his attention to subsistence strategies of peasants, to hegemony and resistance, to state power and simplifications, to anarchism and self-organization, and to ecological transitions and human-nonhuman interactions. The fact that Scott is one of the most-cited theorists in the field of political ecology is further proof of his influence, with authors using Scottian themes to launch critical investigations of how power shapes environmental relations and how politics plays a role in the co-constitution of nature and society.

Socioeconomic Relations and Impacts on the Environment

Society is developing every day and, together with the positive changes in evolution, it is observed that there are interconnected problems, which are not only urban, but also socioeconomic and environmental. The individual’s quality of life is related to the aptitude of your way of living, and societies adapt to these means, thus, there are societies formed in rural, urban and even living in places that are remote and isolated from other civilizations, such as the indigenous villages of Parque do Xingu. The objective of this work is to expose some socio-environmental relations, showing that societies that develop in large centers have a greater number of technological devices, offering possibilities that are often not found in other types of societies, however, in both places there are problems socio-environmental and economic. Due to the changes arising from the actions of man, it is clear that any form of experience changes the natural environment, if carried out in an unconscious, untimely and illegal way, the problems will always be interconnected to society, causing negative changes in the quality of life, bringing with it difficulties for the minimum necessary for human dignity, since there will be a deficit in basic sanitation, which causes several diseases, leading to lack of opportunity and mass unemployment. The work was developed through reading and field research, including an interview given by the head of the local technical coordination of Pole Wawi at Funai, based in the municipality of Canarana, state of Mato Grosso.

Scaling up and zooming in: global history and high-definition archaeology perspectives on the longue durée of urban–environmental relations in Gerasa (Jerash, Jordan)

Combining global perspectives with localized case studies and integrating scientific and material evidence of environmental change in historical narratives are amongst the main challenges for the field of global history in addressing the dawn of the Anthropocene. In this article, we trace the relationship of the city of Gerasa (Jerash, Jordan) with its riverine hinterland, from the first millennium BCE until the nineteenth century CE. We argue that the study of long-term historical trajectories of microregions not only depends on context from regional and global history timelines, but also has the potential to provide insights relevant to those scales in return. Zooming in and scaling up must go hand in hand in order for global history perspectives to be properly informed, and archaeology and natural sciences have crucial insights to offer – although importantly only when evidence comes from well-contextualized frameworks.