Connections between Spectrum Allocation, Social Capital and Sustainability

Social capital can be built up when more people are connected to each other. The higher the social capital, the greater the impact on the social domain of sustainability. Better spectrum access through efficient spectrum allocation can improve connectivity of people. Enhanced connectivity can strengthen the social capital and hence can impact the social domain of sustainability in a positive way. However, corruption in such an allocation process can hinder the efficiency and result in misallocation of resources. Further, it can impact connectivity and social capital. The chapter reflects through all these facets to form a link between spectrum allocation, social capital and sustainability.

Labour Observatories for Agricultural Policymaking and Sustainable Development

Assimilation of relevant information within a labour observatory is a key to success of an observatory. Management of such relevant information and its dissemination to the right audience at the right time is also important. In this regard, a labour observatory plays a very important role for successful operationalization of agricultural policies within developing countries. Historical information regarding soil, crop varieties, agricultural practices, and skill of agricultural labourers needs to be maintained by a labour observatory. Information from the observatory has to be communicated to policy makers for making a pragmatic decision in developing countries with large agriculturally dependent populations. These decisions can impact the lives of this population and can impact the sustainable development of these countries. Initiatives related to labour observatory started more than a decade back in developed countries. It has now begun in parts of Africa, too. The chapter highlights these developments and contextualizes the association between these observatories, agricultural policymaking, and sustainable development.

On Value and Price of Environmental Resources

This chapter talks of the inherent problems on why markets on environment and natural resources and the associated ecosystem services may fail, or have failed in some of the recent instances. The fundamental reason for this, as stated in this chapter, is the divergence of the market prices from the value of the environmental resource. As argued here, the problem essentially lies in the fact that prices discovered in the market framework do not reflect the true scarcity value of the resource under consideration.

Story of Live Discussion in Autos of Delhi

A part of the transport sector in New Delhi is comprised of CNG driven autorickshaws. Through a series of discussions and interviews with the drivers of autorickshaws in New Delhi, this chapter reveals the way the social, economic and environmental domains of sustainability are interrelated with the operation of autorickshaws by these drivers for a time period between 2004 - 2010. Various facts emerging from discussions with autorickshaw drivers are presented to posit several aspects of social, economic, and environmental domains of sustainability which are entwined with the operation of this mode of transport in New Delhi.

Valuation and Market-Based Pricing of Economic and Ecosystem Services of Water Resources

This chapter presents a comprehensive review of valuation of water. Though existing literature has a large number of papers on the significant attempts at valuing water, a number of publications only consider certain specific aspects of water pricing, rarely attempting a comprehensive review. Water pricing, whether by government mandate or in practice, has to take into consideration a host of concerns, and hence cannot be confined to bounds of individual disciplines. This chapter presents a survey that attempts to resolve this gap by summarizing accumulated knowledge on valuation of water resources and dealing separately with valuation of water in the economic and the ecosystem sectors. Under each component, a host of studies attempting valuation of water have been reviewed. Finally, the policy implications of water pricing have also been discussed in light of the scarcity value theory.

Biofuel Sustainability and Transition Pathways

Movement from the usage of first-generation to second-generation biofuel has to consider the impact of such transition on the social, economic, and environmental domains of sustainability. The transition pathway has to be guided by an innovation system. Essential elements of this innovation system has to deal with the system of new knowledge development and its diffusion. Institutions will play a key role in such a diffusion process. The chapter throws light on these broad aspects to bring forth the relationship between biofuel sustainability and transition pathways.

Can a Poor Be Vegetarian for Addressing Sustainability?

Poverty is a multidimensional concept. It is determined by the level of income and several other factors that guide the standard of living of a human being. The health of a human being also determines the standard of living. A person identified as poor needs to have nutritious food for his or her health which can reduce poverty and improve the standard of living of the person. Often, such nutrition can come by being a vegetarian though it can be more costly to purchase nutritious vegetables. With this dichotomy, the chapter raises the question of whether a poor person can be a vegetarian in order to address the social dimension of sustainability.

Energy and Emission Linkages from the Three Wheeler Autorickshaws of Kolkata

Three wheeler autorickshaws in Kolkata used to run on “Kata Tel” for quite sometime in the past. Based on the data of 2010, this chapter explores the nature of the impact of operation of these autorickshaws on emissions, health and different economic aspects like income generation. It also highlights the institution structure by means of which these autorickshaws operated within the transport sector of Kolkata. Through interviews, primary field visits and discussion-based analysis the chapter reveals some facts which existed sometime back and still exist to a certain extent in Kolkata and have an impact on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability.

“Virtual Water” and Occam’s Razor

Virtual Water has been criticized as merely being a jargon camouflaging crop-water requirements. This chapter attempts to contest this argument. From the neoclassical production theory, it is argued that virtual water cannot simply be expressed in terms of crop-water requirements. Rather, the notion of virtual water imports has deep economics embedded in it, along with tremendous social implications. This chapter brings to surface the new economics of water management that is deeply rooted in the notion of virtual water imports.

Biofuels and Renewables

The world is now raging with the debate of whether biofuel can be called an environmentally friendly fuel given its lifecycle impacts on people, land, air, andwater. One school of thought suggests that biofuel production does not have an impact on people, land, air, and water. Whereas, there is another school that shows through consistent work that there is an impact on different elements of nature within the planet from biofuel production. Policy makers of different countries of the world are also in a transient phase about their biofuel policies. There is also a politics regarding which school of thought will dominate the policymaking related to the biofuel sector. Such a politics will have a long-term impact on the sustainability of the world by affecting the social, economic, and environmental domains of sustainability. This chapter raises these concerns to provoke thoughts in the minds of the reader.