Awareness and health risk protection behaviours of scavengers in the Gbalahi landfill site, Ghana, in the era of sustainable development

Waste picking is a pivotal in achieving sustainable waste management, environment health and economic development in the era of sustainable development. The study assessed the practices, knowledge, perception and health risk protection behaviours of waste scavengers in the Gbalahi landfill site. A total of 60 scavengers were conveniently sampled and interviewed. The study revealed that 93% of the waste scavengers sort waste using hooks and their bare hands. The study also showed 62% of the respondents have ever been physically abused by other scavengers. A good number of scavengers believed they have been fortified against “dirt diseases” during their childhood and have developed natural immunity against diseases. The knowledge of scavengers was skewed towards economic benefits as they viewed waste picking as a survival strategy. Discrimination and physical abuse posed a seemingly significant psychological health risk to majority of them. Safety and protection practices are limited to the use of pieces of clothes to cover the nose, wearing of multiple clothes and worn-out boots recovered from the landfill. Most of the respondents risk being exposed to the virus and pathogens. It is recommended that education and increased sensitisation should be encouraged and implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ghana Health Service and other allied institutions in order to regularise and ensure the health and safety of waste scavengers.

Fair trade governance: revisiting a framework to analyse challenges and opportunities for sustainable development towards a green economy

As a relatively new form of non-state governance, the fair trade movement presents an opportunity to promote sustainable production and consumption and hence social change. Global market demands and consumer engagement denote changes in social practices that have led governments to share decision-making processes with private sector and non-governmental organisations. In this context of change, it is important to consider not only whether new forms of governance weaken or strengthen states’ authority within the marketplace but also the extent to which they may allow for “green washing” instead of the green economy proposed by the United Nations Environmental Program. This study considers the fair trade of food production and consumption as a potential innovative model. In doing so it examines the existing general literature on governance, which highlights that decision-making processes tend to reproduce top-down approaches. While such practices may reproduce conventional hierarchies, it is worth questioning the potential of new forms of governance within global markets. This article builds on a sustainability governance analytical framework to deepen understandings of fair trade governance and its possible responses to the dilemmas of food production for ethical consumption and thus sustainable development in transnational relations. This research aims to contribute to the literature on improving compliance with global sustainability standards and through this, inform practices that allow for cooperation towards a green economy.

Mitigating social-ecological risks from the surge in China’s overseas investment: an Indonesian profile

Rapid development has become a global priority as countries strive to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Sustainable development is crucial for increasing human well-being in emerging economies while avoiding perverse outcomes on livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promises to help countries reach their national goals for economic growth, trade, and development, but there remain widespread concerns over how this boom in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) will impact social-ecological systems. Here, we discuss the risks implicit in BRI-related FDI projects to ecosystems and local communities, and how these risks can be mitigated or exacerbated by national governance of BRI projects and national development policies. We frame our discussion around Indonesia, where convoluted governance of some of the largest Chinese FDI projects may reduce accountability, and a recent job creation law brings risks of rapid unsustainable development practices across this biodiversity hotspot.

The sustainable development goals in two sustainable development reserves in central amazon: achievements and challenges

The 2030 Agenda was set in 2015 by the United Nations, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The Amazonian riverine people are recognized as traditional communities that have their own culture and use the local natural resources of their territories in an ancestral and traditional way. The Sustainable Development Reserve is a Brazilian protected area category which aims to ensure the protection of the natural environment while allowing the residence and the use of these lands by traditional populations. This article reports and discusses the achievements and challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals in two sustainable development reserves in Central Amazonia. The goals were evaluated in the Mamirauá and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserves, due to the large research programs developed in those areas along the past 20 years. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals have a clear connection with the mission of these sustainable development reserves in Central Amazon. Despite the many achievements conquered over the years, there are many challenges yet to overcome; and while striving to achieve the goals from the 2030 Agenda, new challenges will emerge. The current main challenges to reach the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mamirauá and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserves, in Central Amazon, are connecting to the reality of rural areas.

Microfinance towards micro-enterprises development in rural Malaysia through digital finance

Microfinance is critical for the development of micro-enterprises and alleviating poverty. However, micro-enterprises are able to get microfinance services, they would face a variety of obstacles, due to the misunderstandings among many stakeholders, microfinance has not acquired widespread acceptance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate microfinance's impact on the sustainable development of Malaysia’s rural micro-enterprises. Besides, digital finance is integrated into the conceptual model to further investigate their mediating impact. Data was collected from 563 rural micro-enterprises using structured questionnaires, which were then statistically analyzed using AMOS-21. The findings of the study reveal that microfinance has a positive substantial influence on rural micro-enterprises development. Moreover, digital finance partially mediates the relationship. Thus, the study concludes that microfinance institutions are needed to adopt digital finance to enhance micro enterprises’ productivity through low transaction costs. The findings of the study can be useful to policymakers in the micro-enterprise sector who have a long-term vision and expect the sector to develop steadily. The study also provides scope and space for future academics and scholars to conduct further research.

Fishermen’s perceptions and experiences toward the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on freshwater fish biodiversity in Côte d’Ivoire

Africa’s freshwater ecosystems are impacted by many threats due to climate change and several anthropogenic activities. In Côte d’Ivoire, the economy relies mostly on agriculture, which covers around 64% of the land surface. The study aimed to investigate Côte d’Ivoire fishermen’s perception of climate change, its drivers and other anthropogenic activities impacting freshwater fish biodiversity. The fish species locally threatened in the Ivorian freshwater ecosystems were also investigated. Face to face interviews and a structured questionnaire were used. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, means, and standard deviation, minimum and maximum. The multinomial logit regression was also applied to test factors that influence fishermen’s awareness and perception of climate change and their perception of change in fish abundance. The results show that around 72.7% of fishermen were aware of climate change. Decreases of precipitation (87.9%) and increases of temperature (76.1%) were observed by fishermen. Also, a significant decrease in fish quantity was observed by respondents. Climate change and anthropogenic activities such as gold mining, water withdrawal, use of small-mesh fishing nets, overfishing, industrial waste pollution, pesticides use for agricultural purposes along watersheds, obnoxious fishing practices and population growth, were highlighted as the main reasons for this decline. Species such as Lates niloticus, Heterotis niloticus, Parachanna obscura, Malapterurus electricus, Sarotherodon galilaeus, Tilapia zillii, Polpyterus endlicheri and Labeo coubie were listed by fishermen as locally threatened within Ivorian freshwater ecosystems. Actions and policies are needed to be taken by local authorities to ensure the sustainability of fisheries resources. The information obtained from this study constitutes a prerequisite for developing and implementing studies or policies aimed at mitigating and combating the negative effect of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the Ivorian freshwater ecosystem.

Scale effect on territorial disparities of sustainable human development in Morocco: a spatial analysis

Concretizing the input of Morocco’s advanced regionalization project, which aims to reduce territorial disparities for sustainable human development, is a cornerstone for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Alongside the implementation of this project, we carried out a multiscale study of the scope of human development disparities in Morocco based on the new engineering of the territorial division across twelve regions, seventy-five provinces, and fifteen hundred communes. The study aimed to test the effect of scale modification to identify spatial concentrations through the communal human development index. The level of human development of a country is assessed through the convergence of its local HDI. We tested the scaling effect in 2004 and 2017 to determine the state of convergence of human development indicators. The spatial autocorrelation results showed that the distribution of capabilities at the communal scale remained concentrated in Morocco. Areas near developed communes follow the same pattern, at the expense of more distant areas. After the spatial configuration of advanced regionalization was undertaken, there was a decrease in regional and provincial disparities. This outcome is less notable at the communal level. Focusing on the microscale consequently becomes a preferable way to reduce inequalities in sustainable human development. Therefore, for the success and effectiveness of the advanced regionalization project in particular and for the achievement of the SDGs in general, spatial equity remains a necessary condition for the convergence of sustainable human development actions at the microscale.

Regulating artificial-intelligence applications to achieve the sustainable development goals

Artificial intelligence is producing a revolution with increasing impacts on the people, planet, and prosperity. This perspective illustrates some of the AI applications that can accelerate the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights some of the considerations that could hinder the efforts towards them. In this context, we strongly support the development of an 18thSDG on digital technologies. This emphasizes the importance of establishing standard AI guidelines and regulations for the beneficial applications of AI. Such regulations should focus on concrete applications of AI, rather than generally on AI technology, to facilitate both AI development and enforceability of legal implications.

The technical impacts of the carbon tax in China

Despite the significant impacts of technology on the socioeconomic effects of climate policies, many previous researchers neglected the induced technical impacts and thus resulted in biased evaluations of climate policies. Hence, it is important that the induced technology should be endogenized in the policy evaluation framework. The purpose of this paper is the quantification of the technical impacts of the Chinese carbon tax using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The technical impacts are denoted by the induced technological change (ITC), which is a function of the energy-use efficiency (EUE), energy-production efficiency (EPE), and nonenergy-production efficiency (ENE). The carbon tax will increase the energy cost share because of the internalisation of the abatement costs. This paper empirically shows that the carbon tax will decrease the energy cost share and production efficiency but increase the energy use and nonenergy production efficiency. Under the carbon tax, the ITC will decrease the energy use and production efficiency but increase the nonenergy production efficiency. The ITC will increase the RGDP, decrease the household welfare, and increase the average social cost of carbon (ASCC). This finding implies that the ITC of the carbon tax is biased towards the technical progress of nonenergy sectors; the emission abatement will become costlier under the ITC impacts. Although the quantification method of the technical impacts was from an existing published paper, the CGE analysis of the ITC impacts of the carbon tax in China is original in this paper.