Discover Sustainability最新文献

{"title":"Systems thinking and modelling to support transformative change: key lessons from inter-disciplinary analysis of socio-ecological systems in applied land systems research.","authors":"Miriam Glendell, Matt Hare, Kerry A Waylen, Kerr Adams, Jean Léon Boucher, Zisis Gagkas, Alessandro Gimona, Simone Martino, Keith B Matthews, J Gareth Polhill","doi":"10.1007/s43621-025-00987-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-00987-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The evolving 'permacrisis' of compounding environmental and social challenges calls for transformative approaches to understanding and intervening in socio-ecological systems. Approaches to support systems thinking and understanding can be vital to achieving this goal. However, applying such systems thinking is often challenging, and we need to better reflect on the pros and cons of different approaches for building systems understanding and informing changes. In this paper, we first identify key attributes of systems thinking approaches from literature. We then use these as a framework for comparing and evaluating seven different systems thinking approaches, selected on the basis of our experience in applying them in support of the management and governance of various types of land systems. The seven approaches are: agent-based modelling, Bayesian belief networks, causal loop modelling, spatial multicriteria analysis, societal metabolic analyses, social network mapping and quantitative story telling. This framework has allowed us to appraise and reflect on our own experiences to identify the respective strengths and weaknesses of these different methodologies. We note that some of the ability to inform change depends as much on the context within which specific tools are used as the particular features of the tools themselves. Based on our appraisal, we conclude by suggesting six key recommendations that should be followed by others seeking to commission and use systems approaches, in order to enable them to support transformative change. We hope this may be useful to those working with systems approaches, since there is an urgent need for analytic efforts that can inform and enable transformative change. We also reiterate the call for sustained funding for long-term, standards-based evaluation of systems thinking approaches with respect to whether their use can demonstrate instrumental impacts leading to the kind of transformation the IPCC has called for, i.e. fundamental system change that goes beyond capacity development impacts such as network-building.</p>","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"6 1","pages":"231"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11961505/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143781617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Attaining sustainable development in Nigeria: the role of solid waste, urbanization and pollution in reducing under-five mortality.","authors":"Anayochukwu Denis Onicha, Joshua Chukwuma Onwe, Nwanku Ofobuike Ngwuta, Sandy Oguma, Atif Jahanger","doi":"10.1007/s43621-024-00570-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s43621-024-00570-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The United Nations, through its subsidiary agency United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has put in such resources to curb infant mortality in pursuit of the Sustainable development goals (SDG). Nevertheless, the issue of under-five mortality is still persistent in so many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study investigated the long-term and short-term impacts of solid waste, urbanization, and pollution on under-five mortality, employing the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and the dynamic Autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) models for the empirical investigations and robustness checks, respectively. The study found that there is significant cointegration between the interest variables. While key findings from the DARDL results revealed that pollution, urbanization, and solid waste have long-term significant positive impacts on under-five mortality in Nigeria, the short-run outcome shows that urbanization and solid waste had a significant positive impact on under-five mortality, while pollution was statistically insignificant. Moreover, lead exposure showed a significant long-term positive and short-term negative impact on under-five mortality in Nigeria. Furthermore, the DARDL simulations show higher long-run shocks and variations as compared to the short run. Thus, CO₂ emissions, urbanization, and solid waste encourage under-five deaths in Nigeria. The study recommends, among other things, the enactment of environmental laws that will curb CO₂ emissions in the country while also strengthening the existing ones, discourage indiscriminate solid waste disposal, and encourage investment in clean technologies and modern healthcare facilities in urban areas of Nigeria.</p>","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11542747/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142629692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Internet of things sensors and support vector machine integrated intelligent irrigation system for agriculture industry","authors":"G. K. Kumar, M. Bangare, P. M. Bangare, Chanda Raj Kumar, Roop Raj, J. L. Arias-Gonzáles, Batyrkhan Omarov, Md. Solaiman Mia","doi":"10.1007/s43621-024-00179-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00179-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"1 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139438532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying future climate extreme indices: implications for sustainable urban development in West Africa, with a focus on the greater Accra region.","authors":"Ebenezer Kwadwo Siabi, Edward Abingya Awafo, Amos Tiereyangn Kabobah, Nana Sarfo Agyeman Derkyi, Komlavi Akpoti, Geophrey Kwame Anornu, Mashael Yazdanie","doi":"10.1007/s43621-024-00352-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s43621-024-00352-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change leading to Climate extremes in the twenty-first century is more evident in megacities across the world, especially in West Africa. The Greater Accra region is one of the most populated regions in West Africa. As a result, the region has become more susceptible to climate extremes such as floods, heatwaves, and droughts. The study employed the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 models in simulating climate extreme indices under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios (SSPs) over West Africa between 1979 and 2059 as exemplified by the Greater Accra region. The study observed a generally weak drought in the historical period and expected to intensify especially under SSP585 in Greater Accra. For instance, continuous dry days (CDD) reveal an increasing trend under the SSPs. Similarly, the overall projected trend of CDD over West Africa reveals an increase signifying a more frequent and longer drought in the future. The flood indices revealed a surge in the intensity and duration of extreme precipitation events under the SSPs in the region. For instance, R99pTOT and Rx5days are expected to significantly increase under the SSPs with intensification under the SSP245, SSP370, and SSP585. A similar trend has been projected across West Africa, especially along the Guinean coast. The study foresees a gradual and intensifying rise in heatwave indices over the Greater Accra region. The warming and cooling indices reveal an increasing and decreasing trend respectively in the historical period as well as under the SSPs particularly within urban centers like Accra and Tema. Most West African countries are projected to observe more frequent warm days and nights with cold nights and days becoming less frequent. Expected effects of future climate extreme indices pose potential threats to the water, food, and energy systems as well as trigger recurrent floods and droughts over Greater Accra. The findings of the study are expected to inform climate policies and the nationally determined contribution of the Paris Agreement as well as address the sustainable development goal 11 (Sustainable cities) and 13 (Climate action) in West Africa.</p>","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"5 1","pages":"167"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11286659/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141861138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The influence of the beliefs of Italian and Spanish managers in their engagement in sustainability reporting","authors":"J. García-Machado, Marco Papa, Mario Carrassi","doi":"10.1007/s43621-023-00171-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00171-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"179 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139002340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Twitter conversations on sustainable development goals in Brazilian public universities using natural language processing","authors":"Abimael de Jesus Barros Costa, Sonia Maria da Silva Gomes, Daniel Kouloukoui, Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, Thierry Warin","doi":"10.1007/s43621-023-00170-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00170-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":" 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138613532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing sustainability of Chiang Mai urban development","authors":"Wiwat Pongruengkiat, K. Tippayawong, P. Aggarangsi, Preda Pichayapan, Tossapon Katongtung, N. Tippayawong","doi":"10.1007/s43621-023-00174-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00174-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":" 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138611528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Some lessons learned and still to be learned about the role of forests and urban green areas during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"G. Bonanno, Vincenzo Veneziano","doi":"10.1007/s43621-023-00172-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00172-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":" 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138618115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of microfinance service in the sustainable development goals of women's empowerment: a glimpse from Amhara Credit and Savings Institution (ACSI)","authors":"Habtamu Wondimu, Dagnachew Terefe, Girum Melkamu","doi":"10.1007/s43621-023-00161-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00161-7","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Gender equality and women’s empowerment are major concerns under Goal 5 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030. Therefore, microfinance institutions in developing nations have been working on these issues by providing loans to married women and others in need. As a result, this paper focuses on one such microfinance institution in Ethiopia, called ACSI (Amhara Credit and Saving Institution), and its role in fostering economic independence for married women and their involvement in various public social schemes. The study utilized a qualitative approach, collecting data through in-depth interviews (26), focus group discussions (1), and life histories from ACSI experts (4) and key informants from Women's and Children's Affairs (6). Specifically, the study focused on married women in Basona Werana Woreda and examined the impact of ACSI's credit services on their social conditions. The empirical findings of the study reveal that the social condition of married women clients has improved due to the credit services provided by ACSI. Women's social empowerment indicators have shown positive changes after utilizing the credit services. However, the study also identified challenges faced by the institution, such as a lack of adequate transportation means and a shortage of personnel to reach remote residents and fulfill their mission of improving the situation of vulnerable low-income and productive poor resident women. Additionally, cultural attitudes pose significant challenges to the social empowerment of women. The empirical implementation of this study provides insights into the achievements and hurdles that need to be addressed in enhancing economic security for married women through microfinance initiatives.","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"9 13","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135972888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Message-in-a-bottle: engaging stories around sustainable and safe wine products","authors":"Panagiotis Papadakos, Ioannis Chrysakis, Theodore Patkos, Giorgos Flouris, Giorgos Samaritakis, Dimitris Angelakis, Nena Basina, Nikoleta Tsampanaki, Ariadne Pratikaki, Pavlos Baritakis, Ilias Loulakakis, Maria Gouma, Akis Kioupakis, Christina Apostolidi, Bart Lyrarakis","doi":"10.1007/s43621-023-00160-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00160-8","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The wine industry has evolved thanks to the introduction of digital technologies in every aspect of the wine production chain and the emerging need of the food industry for qualitative, sustainable, and safe products. As a result, the incorporation of digital services that facilitate access to related data of wine products is crucial for wine enterprises to increase their competitiveness, customer loyalty, and market share in this highly competitive domain. In this work, we present the Message-in-a-Bottle (MiB) ecosystem, which exploits multi-dimensional and multi-sourced data for creating engaging and interactive stories around wine labels. We especially focus on the sustainability and safety issues in the wine industry and showcase how MiB addresses them. The ecosystem is developed in the context of the MiB project and has already started to be available in the market through the Lyrarakis wine enterprise.","PeriodicalId":34549,"journal":{"name":"Discover Sustainability","volume":"2015 16","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135814130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}