While having basic access to water resources is clearly critical for survival, the extent to which water consumption contributes to wellbeing once basic needs have been met is not clear. In this study the link between household water consumption and wellbeing is assessed via a household survey conducted in southern England and actual water consumption data for the same households received from their water supply company. While the study revealed a few correlations, in general no link was found between actual water use and wellbeing. This suggests that high wellbeing is attainable regardless of low water use (assuming basic needs are met). In fact, when assessed through individual rather than composite measures of wellbeing, a weak but statistically significant link was shown between higher water use and some indicators of low wellbeing. Our results also show that actual water use appears to be unlinked to environmental attitudes, attitudes to water use or willingness to adopt water saving measures. This suggests that seeking a sustained reduction in water consumption via attitudinal change alone is unlikely to be effective.

Bioenergy is an important renewable energy source in the UK, but the bioenergy industry and in particular the wood fuel sub sector, is relatively under-developed. Socioeconomic factors have been identified as critical for facilitating deployment levels and sustainable development. However, previous studies have mostly assessed these factors using quantitative methods and models, which are limited in assessing pertinent contextual factors such as institutional/regulatory governance, supply chain structure and governance, capital resource availability as well as actor decisions. As a step further, this research engages with these under-explored aspects of the system by developing a new analytical framework: the Resilience and Livelihoods in Supply Chains (RELISC) framework, which was designed by linking Value Chain Analysis, the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and a supply chain resilience framework. Its application to a UK wood fuel supply chain produced useful insights. For example, the structure of the chain revealed a high level of dependency on a particular end user and contractor. Key institutional governance was critical in sustaining natural resources and providing access to finance. Internal supply chain governance was limited in ensuring the sustainability of resources and lack of actor awareness and interest were also limiting factors. In addition, five capital analyses revealed gaps in skills, networking and physical infrastructure. Finally, the design of the novel RELISC framework enables it to engage with diverse aspects of the system holistically and its application generated practical recommendations and strategies for supply chain resilience and sector growth, which are useful and applicable to other emerging sectors.

Published studies to date have suggested that seed-yam (Dioscorea rotundata) production in Nigeria using minisett (~0.025 kg) technology or an adapted form of the technology using larger setts (0.08 to 0.1 kg) was not profitable. But these studies were often conducted under artificial conditions where labor inputs may have been inflated. This paper describes the results of a questionnaire-based survey designed to explore the economic performance of seed-yam producers in the Ilushi hinterland area of Nigeria, along the western bank of the River Niger. It is the first economic study of this important source of seed yam. Farmers in this area specialize in seed-yam production via two techniques: the use of small whole tubers (0.05 to 0.1 kg) and setts (cut pieces of tuber) of 0.12 to 0.15 kg. Results suggest that seed-yam production is profitable in the area using both systems, with gross margins (revenue - costs) of between Naira 23,395 and 61,375/ha (or US$175 to $458/ha). © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This research compares and contrasts the physical and chemical characteristics of incinerator sewage sludge ash (ISSA) and pyrolysis sewage sludge char (PSSC) for the purposes of recovering phosphorus as a P-rich fertiliser. Interest in P recovery from PSSC is likely to increase as pyrolysis is becoming viewed as a more economical method of sewage sludge thermal treatment compared to incineration. The P contents of ISSA and PSSC are 7.2?7.5% and 5.6%, respectively. Relative to the sludge, P concentrations are increased about 8-fold in ISSA, compared to roughly 3-fold in PSSC. Both PSSC and ISSA contain whitlockite, an unusual form of calcium phosphate, with PSSC containing more whitlockite than ISSA. Acid leaching experiments indicate that a liquid/solid ratio of 10 with 30 min contact time is optimal to release PO4-P into leachate for both ISSA and PSSC. The proportion of P extracted from PSSC is higher due to its higher whitlockite content. Heavy metals are less soluble from PSSC because they are more strongly incorporated in the particles. The results suggest there is potential for the development of a process to recover P from PSSC.

White yam (Dioscorea rotundata) is a major root crop grown throughout West Africa and a major limitation on its production is the availability of good quality (i.e. free of pests and diseases) planting material; notably seed yams. One of the methods developed to address this limitation is the Adapted Yam Minisett Technique (AYMT) and since 2012 the AYMT has been promoted in both Nigeria and Ghana via a Bill and Melinda Gates funded project entitled Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA). AYMT is a process by which farmers can produce good quality seed yams using setts treated with a pesticide dip. While previously published studies have focussed on the agronomy of the sett-to-seed yam process there has been no work done on the seed-to-ware yam stage which is critical in terms of income and livelihood for yam farmers throughout West Africa. This paper addresses this significant gap in knowledge and provides the first published evidence obtained under entirely farmer-managed conditions in Africa that shows seed yams produced via the AYMT can generate significant agronomic benefits, including better germination, tuber numbers and tuber weights, for ware yam growers in Nigeria.

The relationship between consumption and deprivation has been explored at various scales in the literature. It would be expected that increased deprivation leads to less consumption and vice versa. However, what is the form of that relationship? Evidence from international studies using the Human Development Index (HDI) and Ecological Footprint (EF) for nation states suggest that the relationship is curved such that an increase in HDI (decrease in deprivation) is linearly associated with an increase in EF (consumption and impact on the environment) up to a point but beyond that there can be widely different values for the EF for the same value of HDI. Given that deprivation and consumption within a single country can be expected to be more homogenous than that observed between countries does this result in a linear relationship between the two variables? We tested the relationship between the Townsend Index of Deprivation (TID) and EF for English regions, using fine scale data as derived from the UK Census and the Stockholm Environment Institute respectively. The results suggest that the relationship between the EF and deprivation for most English regions is markedly linear; with the level of deprivation declining with increasing EF. The picture is remarkably consistent across most of the regions and the only region where this simple picture becomes distorted is London. The paper discusses the relevance of this finding and implications for future research. © 2014 by the authors.

This paper provides an analysis of the reporting of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties
by newspaper across the globe between 1996 and 2013. The aim of the research was to
explore whether the significant increase in GM crop area between those years had been
paralleled by an increase in press reporting, and if so then whether this was linked to more
positive or negative views of the technology. Results suggest that the increase in GM area has
been paralleled by an increase in newspaper reporting, and the pattern over time is similar
across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania. Topics typically
associated with critiques of GM had significantly lower article counts compared with some
that may be associated with more positive visions of GM. Indeed the pattern suggests
reporting that is, if anything, mildly positive towards GM up until 2013

This paper introduces the rationale behind a new approach to problem solving - Triple Task (TT) - and discusses how this adds new dimensions to problem solving. TT provides a means for groups to engage together in purposeful work and, at the same time, for facilitators to understand what may be influencing the outputs generated by groups; in particular the role of the group dynamic. The latter should help with the process of facilitation but could also help groups appreciate their own functioning. TT thus moves away from envisioning problem solving only as a means to an output but to a better understanding of process that arrived at the output.

Many manufacturing companies recognise the need to produce products that are cleaner, greener, and environmentally sustainable, yet they are only at the early stages of this transition in addressing the symptoms of unsustainability at their direct operations by reducing waste and the use of energy, water and material. The implementation of reductions in these areas can be disparate and minimal given the life cycle of a product. Bridging the gap between the rhetoric of sustainable manufacturing and reality requires a holistic, systems thinking approach to ensure the implementation of sustainability is unified and strategic. This paper presents a novel environmentally sustainable manufacturing framework that encompasses energy, water, waste, biodiversity, and people & community. It adopts a systems thinking perspective to address the factories ?environmental life cycle impact to deliver factory and supply chain benefits. The insights from the application at a Nestlé confectionery factory are reported.

Despite its theoretical prominence and sound principles, integrated pest management (IPM) continues to suffer from anemic adoption rates in developing countries. To shed light on the reasons, we surveyed the opinions of a large and diverse pool of IPM professionals and practitioners from 96 countries by using structured conceptmapping. The first phase of thismethod elicited 413 open-ended responses on perceived obstacles to IPM. Analysis of responses revealed 51 unique statements on obstacles, the most frequent of which was "insufficient training and technical support to farmers." Cluster analyses, based on participant opinions, grouped these unique statements into six themes: research weaknesses, outreach weaknesses, IPM weaknesses, farmerweaknesses, pesticide industry interference, and weak adoption incentives. Subsequently, 163 participants rated the obstacles expressed in the 51 unique statements according to importance and remediation difficulty. Respondents from developing countries and high-income countries rated the obstacles differently. As a group, developing-country respondents rated "IPM requires collective action within a farming community" as their top obstacle to IPM adoption. Respondents from high-income countries prioritized instead the "shortage of well-qualified IPM experts and extensionists." Differential prioritization was also evident among developing-country regions, and when obstacle statements were grouped into themes. Results highlighted the need to improve the participation of stakeholders from developing countries in the IPM adoption debate, and also to situate the debate within specific regional contexts.

... New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/
9780521835336 ' S. Morse 2010 This publication is in copyright. ...

This Randomised Control Trial (RCT) investigated the effectiveness of using stickers as a visual prompt to encourage the separate collection of household food waste for recycling in two local authorities in South East England. During a baseline period of up to 15 weeks, separately collected food waste was weighed (in tonnes) and averaged across households in both treatment (N = 33,716 households within 29 defined areas) and control groups (N = 30,568 households within 26 areas). A sticker prompt was then affixed to the lids of refuse bins in the treatment group area only. Weights for both groups were subsequently measured across a 16-week experimental period. Results showed that, in the control group, there was no change in the average weight of food waste captured for recycling between the baseline and experimental period. However, there was a significant increase (20.74%) in the treatment group, and this change in behaviour persisted in the longer term. Sticker prompts therefore appear to have a significant and sustained impact on food waste recycling rates, while being simple, practically feasible and inexpensive (£0.35 per household) for local authorities to implement at scale.

© Stephen Morse, 2004. All rights reserved.The use of numbers to condense complex systems into easily digested 'bites' of information is very much in fashion. at one level they are intended to enhance transparency, accountability and local democracy, while at another they provide a means of enhancing performance. However, all indicators suffer from the same basic problem that, ironically, is also their biggest advantage - condensing something highly complex into a few simple numbers. Love them or hate them, there is no denying that people use indicators to make decisions. Indices and Indicators explores the use of indicators within the field of human development. Part I provides a brief outline of the contested meaning of 'development' and how indices and indicators have been used as means of testing the realization of these development visions in practice in a range of institutional contexts. Part II discusses the limitations of such indices and indicators and illustrates how they are dependent upon the vision of development adopted. The book also suggests how indices and indicators can best be employed and presented. Given our overwhelming reliance on indices and indicators for measuring progress, directing policy and allocating resources, this book is essential core reading for academics, undergraduate and post-graduate students in social science, economics, geography and development studies as well as development practitioners, policy-makers and donor and international funding agencies.

The paper discusses the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) as implemented by a Catholic Church development organisation (Diocesan Development Services; DDS) in Nigeria, including the trade-offs involved and the meaning of ?success? with this process. SLA sets out to assess the ability of a social unit to enhance its assets and capabilities in the face of shocks and stresses over time and could be said to be a practical framework for evidence-based intervention. DDS implemented an SLA to help provide the basis for changes planned to an existing intervention, namely micro-credit. Given the challenges involved in SLA, DDS decided upon a number of trade-offs to balance the significant cost in resource against what it was looking for from the process. The first driver was a perceived need from DDS to provide quality evidence to help plan changes to its micro-credit scheme. The evidence gained from the SLA was also intended to help provide credibility when approaching major donors for support with the scheme. Secondly there was a desire to use the SLA as a means to identify and work with a group of households in an area where DDS had little prior experience on the assumption that these households could form the basis for a wider involvement with the community.

"Sustainability Indicators" addresses the crucial issue of sustainability: how can it be measured.

Indicators are increasingly dominating our lives; whether we are aware of it or not. They have been popular tools for sustainable development policy makers, planners and managers, largely because they do the hard work of condensing complexity into single values that can be more easily digested and acted upon. But much power rests with those who select the indicators deemed to be important. This paper explores some of these issues at what is now regarded by some as the new frontier in 'indicatorology'; their use and influence. The authors argue that a new tyranny of methodology may be at play.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is often employed to capture some of the more social concerns in sustainable development at the scale of the nation-state. The HDI is founded on three components; life expectancy, education and income per capita. To avoid a dominance of the income component, proxied by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita per annum, it has been capped at a maximum level and transformed. Two methods for transforming the GDP/capita have been employed; the Atkinson transformation (1991 to 1998) and the Logarithmic transformation (all other years). The paper explores the impact that these transformations have had on the HDI rankings of 167 countries, by comparing the rank across two periods; 1991 to 1998 and 1999 to 2009. Results suggest that for the 167 countries in the dataset, the majority (65%) showed a high resilience to the transformations. For these countries, the use of the two alternatives does not alter the difference seen in the original ranking between the two periods. A significant proportion of countries had a medium (18%) and low (17%) resilience to the methodology for handling GDP/capita. For those countries the choice of methodology does matter in terms of their ranking, with some doing better and others worse relative to the original ranking. Consistency in methodology is desirable in order to avoid such misrepresentations but so is some flexibility to allow for new knowledge and experience. One can also question the value of the league table style of presentation so often employed with sustainable development indices given that change in rank for at least some countries is so vulnerable to shifts in methodology. © 2013 by the authors.

© Cambridge University Press 2009 and 2010.It is all too readily forgotten that agriculture still is the most important livelihood base for the majority of people living in developing countries (Abate et al., 2000; Lenné, 2000), and it follows that crop protection is an important dimension given the extent of crop losses to pests seen across the globe (Oerke, 2006). However, as crop protection is but a part of a bigger picture it can be difficult, if not impossible, to make a link between it and poverty alleviation (Lenné, 2000). IPM is the current ideology as to the form that crop protection should take, and is being promoted on a global scale within both developed and developing countries. But while its appeal is understandable, is IPM really the road we should encourage farmers in developing countries to follow? This chapter will address this question but I will put forward a set of arguments to spark a critical analysis in the mind of the reader rather than provide an ?answer.? But it has to be said that this aim generates a number of conundrums. First, the chances are that most readers of this chapter, like the author, will not be one of those farmers that form the basis of the discussion. Thus I am asking readers unconnected and remote in just about every sense of the term (spatially, culturally, economically, etc.) from the conditions of those farmers to ruminate on ways in which they can be ?helped.?

Following experience elsewhere in the world, China has pinned its hopes for development on industrialisation and China's economy has grown exceptionally fast in the last two decades. But many unintended environmental consequences have been recognised. This paper asks whether there really is a trade-off between economic and environmental performance. This is considered in the context of China's macroeconomic performance as well as in the case study of a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) (Zhengzhou Abrasive Company (ZZAC)). The feature of the paper is that stakeholders' perceptions of the trade-off were considered. Our results indicate that the low economic performance of ZZAC to some extent resulted in its improved environmental performance. However, other factors like investment in pollution abatement, which is also influenced by the economic performance, have had a positive impact. Furthermore, ZZAC is found to have increased its labour productivity level, but is retreating from social commitments. Finally, our results clearly indicate that the characteristics of the stakeholders, as well as their positions in the local economy, make a significant difference to their perception of trade-offs between economic growth and the environment, which will finally affect environmental policy making in China. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Genetically modified (GM) varieties of crops, notably soybean, maize, rape (canola) and cotton, were first grown commercially in 1996. In 2010 they occupied 148 million ha in 29 countries, mostly in the Americas and Asia but with an obvious absence in Europe where their introduction has been controversial due to concerns about environmental impairment and adverse impacts on human health. This paper reviews the published literature on the agronomic and environmental impact of GM crops in the last 15 years. Overall, the impact of GM crops has largely been agronomically and environmentally positive in both developed and developing world contexts. The often claimed negative impacts of GM crops have yet to materialize on large scales in the field. Agronomically, there have been yield increases per unit area, mainly due to reduced losses as a result of improved pest (i.e. insect) and weed control; in the case of conventional crops grown near GM varieties with insect resistance there have been benefits due to the so-called 'halo' effect. Environmentally, the decrease in insecticide use has benefited non-target and beneficial organisms while surface and groundwater contamination is less significant; human-health problems related to pesticide use have also declined. Equally important is the reduced carbon footprint as energy inputs are reduced. Of particular note, however, is the recognition that the success or longevity of GM crops is reliant on the speed with which resistance develops in target weeds and insects. However, resistance to GM-based plant resistance is already being detected in some pest populations and this suggests that scientists and farmers cannot be complacent. Current GM approaches are relatively transitory as a means of combating pests, as are conventional pesticides, and good management will determine how long this strategy proves positive. However, GM is a comparatively new science and the possibilities are considerable. © The Author(s) 2012.

Partnerships are complex, diverse and subtle relationships, the nature of which changes with time, but they are vital for the functioning of the development chain. This paper reviews the meaning of partnership between development institutions as well as some of the main approaches taken to analyse the relationships. The latter typically revolve around analyses based on power, discourse, interdependence and functionality. The paper makes the case for taking a multianalytical approach to understanding partnership but points out three problem areas: identifying acceptable/unacceptable trade-offs between characteristics of partnership, the analysis of multicomponent partnerships (where one partner has a number of other partners) and the analysis of long-term partnership. The latter is especially problematic for long-term partnerships between donors and field agencies that share an underlying commitment based on religious beliefs. These problems with current methods of analysing partnership are highlighted by focusing upon the Catholic Church-based development chain, linking donors in the North (Europe) and their field partners in the South (Abuja Ecclesiastical Province, Nigeria). It explores a narrated history of a relationship with a single donor spanning 35 years from the perspective of one partner (the field agency). © 2006 SAGE Publications.

The SPREE Country Feasibility Study is the key deliverable for Work Package (WP) 7.
The objectives of WP7 are:
" To test the identified Servicizing systems1
and their impacts on achieving absolute decoupling and
social benefits using three sector specific models with local country conditions;
" To assess the feasibility of pursuing Servicizing opportunities and anticipated policy outcomes for
the different partner countries;
" To set the ground for the preparation of the more general Policy Packages using the insights from
qualitative assessment, models simulations, and sensitivity analysis.

This paper describes the results of research designed to explore reporting of three indices (Corruption Perception Index, CPI; Human Development Index, HDI and the Ecological Footprint, EF) in the UK national press between January 1990 and December 2009. Reporting of the indices was assessed by: (a) the number of articles published each year mentioning the index at least once (b) a weighting of (a) allowing for the different circulation between newspapers (c) the diversity of newspapers having articles mentioning the index (using the Shannon Index). Results suggest that the EF scored highest across all three measures whereas the CPI was lowest. The EF was also more likely to be reported in terms that implied a sense of ownership as well as a concept and not just an index. Unlike the CPI and HDI, there is no single methodology for the EF with various groups having their own approach. These features appear to have aided the relative popularity of EF within newspaper reporting. Finally, there was typically little if any description within the articles of the methodology or assumptions that rest behind the indices. Hence they are usually presented as a ?black box? to provide authoritative support for statements.

This paper describes the results of a literature survey to determine the most common methods of analysis and measures of data location employed in journal papers that explore the agronomic and economic differences between genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crop varieties. A total of 108 articles were reviewed and the most common measure of location employed was the arithmetic mean. Only a small minority of articles employed the median or stated that the data had been tested for normality. Yet the choice of measure of location can make a difference in terms of presenting differences between GM and non-GM to a readership. This is illustrated using data from one of the first field-level studies of GM crops in Africa (GM cotton in Makhathini Flats, South Africa), where the median actually gave a greater percentage yield advantage for GM over non-GM cotton than did the mean. However while the median could be justified in statistical terms this could be a source of suspicion amongst those who are opponents of GM.

White yam (Dioscorea rotundata) is a major root crop grown throughout West Africa but one of the major factors that limits its production is the availability of good quality planting material. This paper described the results of farmer-managed demonstration plots established in 2012 and 2013 designed to promote the Adapted Yam Minisett Technique (AYMT) in Nigeria. The AYMT was developed between 2005 and 2008 to produce quality seed yam tubers at a cost that is viable for small-scale farmers. Since its development the agronomic performance of AYMT has not been explored across a large sample of farmers, and neither has there been any attempt to explore possible varietal effects although farmers have often alluded to this. This papers seeks to address these gaps in the literature and the results suggest that the AYMT does succeed in producing seed yams of the required size and the economic returns are also good. Results also suggest that there is a varietal affect with AYMT, including a significant interaction with pesticide treatment; the first time this has been demonstrated.

A policy package is a combination of policy instruments1
(PIs) designed to address one or more policy
objectives, created in order to improve the effectiveness of the individual policy instruments, and
implemented while minimizing possible unintended effects, and/or facilitating interventions?
legitimacy and feasibility in order to increase efficiency. The Water sector is one of the three sectors for which the options and contribution of servicizing to
absolute decoupling2 were examined (the other two sectors are Mobility and Agri-food). Specifically,
servicizing the introduction of greywater recycling (GWR) and rainwater harvesting (RWH) were
analyzed. Examining the potential in the UK indicates that servicizing the introduction of GWR and
RWH does have the potential to contribute to decoupling, both in terms of GHG emissions and in
terms of water that needs to be delivered in mains. The decoupling indicator chosen for the mobility
sector in this project was chosen to be the ratio between the economic cost and environmental
impact (emissions/mains water use) of abstracting, treating, delivering and disposing of water in the
servicizing options (GWR&RWH solutions). However, the extent to which such decoupling will
materialize is a function of the degree to which such systems are indeed adopted. To facilitate the adoption of GWR and RWH systems a policy packaging approach is used, whereby
different policy instruments (PI) are combined so they will have synergetic effects, and potential
contradictions among them are addressed. The Policy Packages are designed in several steps. First all the PIs that are likely to advance GWR and
RWH are identified. Then the potential contribution of each, and the likely cost of implementing it are
assessed, in order to identify the most effective PIs ? those PIs with the highest potential to both
advance decoupling and the implementation of which does not incur excessive cost. Then the preconditions
for implementing these most promising, ?low hanging fruits? are identified, as well as
instruments that may facilitate decoupling if enacted with these primary PIs and PIs that have
synergetic relations with the primary PIs. On this basis basic packages are formed. In the case of GWR
and RWH in the UK, the leading country in this sector study, three basic packages were originally
identified, based on the primary tools they use. Then, by using agent-based modeling simulation
results and causal mapping an Effective Package is forme

Critics of genetically modified (GM) crops often contend that their introduction enhances the gap between rich and poor farmers, as the former group are in the best position to afford the expensive seed as well as provide other inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation. The research reported in this paper explores this issue with regard to Bt cotton (cotton with the endotoxtin gene from Bacillus thuringiensis conferring resistance to some insect pests) in Jalgaon, Maharashtra State, India, spanning the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Questionnaire-based survey results from 63 non-adopting and 94 adopting households of Bt cotton were analyzed, spanning 137 Bt cotton plots and 95 non-Bt cotton plots of both Bt adopters and non-adopters. For these households, cotton income accounted for 85 to 88% of total household income, and is thus of vital importance. Results suggest that in 2003 Bt adopting households have significantly more income from cotton than do non-adopting households (Rp 66,872 versus Rp 46,351) but inequality in cotton income, measured with the Gini coefficient (G), was greater amongst non-adopters than adopters. While Bt adopters had greater acreage of cotton in 2003 (9.92 acres versus 7.42 for non-adopters), the respective values of G were comparable. The main reason for the lessening of inequality amongst adopters would appear to be the consistency in the performance of Bt cotton along with the preferred non-Bt cultivar of Bt adopters - Bunny. Taking gross margin as the basis for comparison, Bt plots had 2.5 times the gross margin of non-Bt plots of non-adopters, while the advantage of Bt plots over non-Bt plots of adopters was 1.6 times. Measured in terms of the Gini coefficient of gross margin/acre it was apparent that inequality was lessened with the adoption of Bunny (G = 0.47) and Bt (G = 0.3) relative to all other non-Bt plots (G = 0.63). Hence the issue of equality needs to be seen both in terms of differences between adopters and non-adopters as well as within each of the groups. ©2007 AgBioForum.

© Simon Bell and Stephen Morse, 2008. All rights reserved.Praise for the first edition: 'This book should be of interest to anyone interested in sustainable development, and especially sustainability indicators. Bell and Morse easily succeed in exposing the fundamental paradoxes of these concepts and, more importantly, they offer us a way forward. Readers & will find their practical recommendations for those attempting to do sustainability analysis in the field most welcome, which is also the book's greatest strength.' Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 'This book makes a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of using indicators for sustainability. It introduces systems ideas and a range of tools and techniques that have the potential to broaden and deepen our understanding of a whole range of complex situations. Well worth a closer look.' Christine Blackmore, Open University 'This is a book that explores new ways of thinking about how to measure sustainability& It offers stimulating food for thought for environmental educators and researchers.' Environmental Education Research 'This book tells me, as an SI 'practitioner', where I have been and why, and more importantly how I should be thinking in order to effectively present to and empower the local community in the years ahead.' David Ellis, Principal Pollution Monitoring Officer, Norwich City Council 'A practical guide to the development of sustainability indicators which offers a systemic and participative way to use them at local scale. Our preliminary results are highly positive and the approach is applicable in many contexts.' Elisabeth Coudert, Programme Officer Prospective and Regional Development, Blue Plan The groundbreaking first edition of Sustainability Indicators reviewed the development and value of sustainability indicators and discussed the advantage of taking a holistic and qualitative approach rather than focusing on strictly quantitative measures. In the new edition the authors bring the literature up to date and show that the basic requirement for a systemic approach is now well grounded in the evidence. They examine the origins and development of Systemic Sustainability Analysis (SSA) as a theoretical approach to sustainability which has been developed in practice in a number of countries on an array of projects since the first edition. They look at how SSA has evolved into the practical approaches of Systemic Prospective Sustainabil

© Simon Bell and Stephen Morse, 2003. All rights reserved.'Measuring the sustainability of development is crucial to achieving it, and is one of the most actively studied issues in the area. To date, most studies of measurements or indicators have been largely theoretical. However, this book, a follow-on to Bell and Morse's highly influential Sustainability Indicators (1999), presents valuable practical advice on how to develop measurements that will work in real-life development contexts. it describes and analyses how to derive, validate and apply indicators in the course of an actual development project - in this case the Mediterranean Action Plan in Malta. The authors explain the trade-offs and constraints involved and how it is possible to combine the open-ended and flexible perspectives of sustainability with the more linear processes and fixed targets of specific projects through the use of pragmatic and reflective methodologies.

Malta is a member of the European Union (EU), but faces constraints unique to its status both as a small island nation and its geographical location on the periphery of the EU. Several initiatives to develop suites of sustainability indicators (SIs) have been attempted in the Maltese Islands over the past two decades but there has been little corresponding follow-up to examine the extent to which such SIs are used by practitioners and influence policy. This paper presents an assessment of the use and influence of SIs in Malta by drawing upon the results of two quite different means of enquiry: (i) a more traditional approach in the social sciences using semi-structured and one-to-one interviews conducted with key stakeholders involved with SIs in Malta, and (ii) an innovative participatory approach, called Triple Task (TT) implemented within a workshop context, where stakeholders were placed in teams and asked to explore the use of SIs. Based upon the results obtained with these two methods of enquiry the paper provides insights into the problems of adoption of SIs in Malta and makes the case that rather than being seen as mutually exclusive, a combination of the two approaches provides a powerful means of triangulation to what is a complex set of issues. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Heat integration is a key measure to improving energy efficiency and maximising heat recovery. Since the advent of Pinch analysis in the 1980s, direct and indirect integration approaches have developed in separate domains with very few examples where both approaches are utilised together to maximise heat recovery. This paper presents a novel decision-making framework for heat integration in complex and diverse production lines, with the aim to provide the user with a step-by-step guide to evaluate all heat recovery opportunities through a combination of direct and indirect heat integration. This framework involves analysis at both the zonal level and the factory level. The proposed framework was applied to a case study based on a confectionery factory in the UK that manufactured multiple products across a diverse range of food technologies. It demonstrates that the framework can effectively identify the significant streams to be considered in the heat integration analysis, and address practical factors such as diverse production times, geographical proximity, and potential of compromise to product quality when the direct and indirect heat integration opportunities are proposed and assessed both within and between production zones. This practical framework has the potential to benefit the wider food industry and beyond. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Groupthink is a known weakness leading to a number of problems relating primarily to false senses of consensus. But, positive group 'wisdom' is an ideal which many aspire to make happen but few manage to achieve in practice. The mystery of the group comes at a number of levels and raises various issues. What is the relative importance of how groups assemble? How they are motivated? The value of inducement? How can group work be assessed and how is a 'good' group identified? How is positive and not negative group working achieved? How is group working linked to what the group achieves? In the area of policy use of indicators the function of the group becomes more critical. In an age of transparency in decision making and calls for more evidence-based policy, the importance of good group work is becoming vital if the project is to succeed. Based on research undertaken around the European Union between 2009 and 2010 this paper explores some of these questions by providing a series of 'rich pictures' of indicator use, the meanings ascribed to the pictures by the group members and some insights regarding the dynamics of the groups that rest behind them and how this may have influenced the stories told by the pictures. We argue that in many ways the pictures represent a window to the understanding of the groups use of indicators. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper critically reviews the application of a post-development analysis to sustainable development by employing a defined target for post-development analysis - the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The ?quadratic? EKC predicts an increase in environmental degradation with national wealth before reaching a point of inflection. Data from the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) for 146 countries are used to generate statistically significant EKC models, and the approach is deconstructed by employing post-development theory. While an ESI derived EKC is clearly an easy target for post-development critique, there are foundations upon which both rest which are not easily dismissed. Neither is the typical post-development ?alternative? of encouraging 'endogenous discourse' and grassroots movements at odds with sustainable development. As a result the paper argues that sustainable development theory already incorporates much of the critique and alternatives raised by post-developmentalists, and the problems rest more with how theory is translated to practice. Indeed what is more disconcerting is that sustainable development readily encompasses such apparently divergent ideas represented by the ESI, EKC and post-developmental critique and solutions. Building on the work of Fyodor Dostoevsky the paper questions whether what we embrace as sustainable development can ever be practically realised given the imperfections of human beings?

Participation is often presented as a 'good' thing and a fairer way to represent views and opinions outside narrow confines of interest and expertise. However, the roots of participatory approaches within research contexts are deep and numerous twists and turns demonstrate a confused and possibly confusing morphology with significant gaps and weaknesses.In this paper 'via the medium' of the POINT (Policy Influence of Indicators) research project we trace elements of the recent history of group participation in sustainable development and the emergence of focus on four areas, most significantly how participatory methods are used. In the absence of strong evidence to contrary we suggest that the issue of how participants engage in participation remains a significant weakness for the field. In order to counter the apparent gap we suggest that a certain degree of structure and process can provide the oeuvre of participatory approaches with a higher degree of transparency in the research process and, by focus on the use of a method called Triple Task, group participatory events can be encouraged to yield greater insights into the workings of groups of all kinds. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

© 2015 Taylor & FrancisThis study investigated the current situation of food risk management (FRM) in Chinese companies and the factors that influence the effectiveness of risk management measures. FRM is considered from the perspective of food company managers in 161 food companies surveyed in the Provinces of Henan and Hubei, Central China. Results suggest that the current FRM situation in China is poor, and the most important factor influencing the effectiveness of FRM measures is the financial resource allocated to FRM. Other affecting factors include the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement of the company and the company size (measured by the number of employees). The better the CSR, the better the FRM; the larger the company, the less effective the FRM measures are. The study provides some suggestions for policy-making and further research.

This paper explores recent developments in the trade-offs between energy security, sustainability and globalisation, focusing on the European Union (EU) energy market. The EU's desire to secure long-term supplies of lower-carbon energy is a key driver for the diversification of sources of natural gas, as is a desire to diversify and maximise intra-EU sources of primary energy, including renewable and nuclear sources. However, any development of domestic energy sources within the EU faces resource limitations and appears to push against trends towards globalisation. This paper develops a risk-based analysis to explore some of these issues by comparing two long-term natural gas supply options for the EU. Firstly the supply of Russian natural gas (currently around 45% of total imports), delivered via pipelines crossing national borders, and an alternative of LNG supplied by Qatar's fast-growing export capacity.

This paper assesses changes in the Human Development Index (HDI) rank for a sample of 135 countries over 20 years. The countries selected have had a presence in every HDI table published in the Human Development Reports since 1990. A measure of change in rank between subsequent years was developed so as to allow for differences in the number of countries included in the tables. Results suggest that changes in HDI methodology lead to increased turbulence in country ranking. Also, that there are significant differences between countries in their shifts in HDI table ranking, with five countries in particular (Romania, Jamaica, Botswana, Iran and Belize) experiencing substantially greater turbulence in rank than others. Results suggest that periods of enhanced turbulence in HDI ranking may lead to increased reporting in the world's press. The paper makes a case for a new way of thinking of indicators - in terms of a 'natural selection' process that operates over time. In the opinion of the author this approach would help create a greater understanding as to what makes some indicators and indices successful while others are not so and indeed would help with a better understanding of what is meant by the term 'success' with regard to such tools. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Groups of all kinds are complex organisations. To understand them and to facilitate them in process terms is a matter of rich and diverse discourse in varied fields from sustainable development to coastal ecology; from bandwidth in rural communities to health service provision. How to allow groups to discourse, problem solve and review their own issues and concerns? Diagrams in general and rich pictures in particular can be great means to allow groups to explore their subconscious, their occult sentiments and conflicted understandings. This paper explores and explains diverse use of pictures and shows how they can be applied and understood in group processes of all kinds. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Executive Summary
The SPREE Water Research (Work Package 4) objectives are:
- To develop sector-specific methodological tools in the water sector to measure the impacts
derived from the shift towards servicizing;
- To broader the understanding why previous policies in the water sector haven't led to absolute
decoupling;
- To explore existing examples and best practices (if exist) in servicizing systems within the water
sector and to identify additional potential servicizing systems opportunities;
- To understand the role of ICT and eco-innovation in servicizing in the water sector;
- To build a conceptual framework for assessing social aspects of servicizing systems in the water
sector, in particular, the links between water and wellbeing;
- To identify potential servicizing policy paradigms that can lead to an absolute decoupling in the
water sector;
- To collect relevant data for the servicizing system and servicizing policy in the sector, according
to the general methodologies developed in WP3 (?Methodology development?) and the sectorspecific
methodologies developed in WP4.
Following pre-defined tasks set out under WP4, the aim of this deliverable is twofold: (1) It sets out
the conceptual and methodological frameworks of servicizing in the water sector, and (2) It serves to
identify the specific water system to be investigated in the project and presents the appropriate
methodologies to be employed for researching this system in the SPREE water sector countries (UK,
Spain and Israel). Exploring the key elements and aspects of servicizing in the water sector seeks to
clarify also the links between water and well-being and the role of servicizing in decoupling water
and well-being.

This book provides some practical advice on how to address problems of sustainability in developing nations, demonstrating the precepts of the ?sustainable livelihood approach? (SLA) by examining a two-year case study of a microfinance ...

Indicators and indices (a collection of indicators into a single value) have been promoted for some time as convenient devices for the presentation of complex datasets to a more general audience. Examples of indices are the corruption perception index (CPI), human development index (HDI) and ecological footprint (EF). The research reported in this paper was designed to explore the extent to which the CPI, HDI and EF have been reported in UK national newspapers between January 1990 and December 2009, and whether there are differences between the indices in the pattern of reporting. Results suggest that reporting of the CPI was linked to the timing of reports issued by Transparency International. The same was partly true of reporting of the HDI and timing of release of Human Development Reports s by the UNDP. The EF has more reports than the CPI and HDI, and this is related in part to its greater flexibility and adaptability at more local (intra-UK) scales. The paper recommends that those creating such indices look beyond the methodological dimension and consider how best to make the index resonate with the media.

During the last two decades Oman has experienced rapid economic development but this has been accompanied by environmental problems. Manufacturing and agricultural output have increased substantially but initially this was not balanced with sufficient environmental management. Although agriculture in Oman is not usually considered a major component of the economy, government policy has been directed towards diversification of national income and as a result there has been an increasing emphasis on revenue from agriculture and an enhancement of production via the use of irrigation, machinery and inputs such as pesticides. In recent years this has been tempered with a range of interventions to encourage more sustainable production. Certain pesticides have been prohibited; there has been a promotion of organic agriculture and an emphasis on education and awareness programs for farmers. The last point is of especial relevance given the nature of the farm labour market in Oman and a reliance on expatriate and often untrained labour. The research, through a detailed stratified survey, explores the state of knowledge at farm-level regarding the safe disposal of pesticide waste and what factors could enhance or indeed operate against the spread and implementation of that knowledge. Members of the recently constituted Farmers Association expressed greater environmental awareness than their non-member counterparts in that they identified a more diverse range of potential risks associated with pesticide use and disposed of pesticide waste more in accordance with government policy, albeit government policy with gaps. Workers on farms belonging to Association members were also more likely to adhere to government policy in terms of waste disposal. The Farmers Association appears to be an effective conduit for the diffusion of knowledge about pesticide legislation and general awareness, apparently usurping the state agricultural extension service.

Beginning with the question, can a multimethodology explore the nature of group work from both the inside out (group participant self-analysis) and the outside in (facilitator observed analysis), this study presents the results of a statistical analysis comparing 2 different approaches to assessing group function: SYMLOG (A SYstem for the Multiple Level Observation of Groups) and BECM (Being, Engaging, Contextualizing and Managing). SYMLOG is a quantitative internal assessment of group function made by members of the group, whereas BECM is a qualitative external assessment made by an outsider observing the groups. Together, it is argued, they provide a unique, triangulated assessment of the group dynamic. By using a "best subsets" linear regression technique it was found that some of the 26 characteristics of SYMLOG are related to BECM scoring (adjusted R2 = 0.82). This article discusses the reasons for this and the repercussions for such blending of approaches to understanding group dynamic. The article ends by discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of the 2 approaches and potential for further hybridizing of them in blended group dynamic approaches. © 2013 American Psychological Association.

This paper presents results from a project designed to explore the meaning and function of partnership within the Catholic Church development chain. The geography literature has had little to say about such aid chains, especially those founded on faith-based groups. The relationships between three Catholic Church based donors ? referred to as A, B and C - with development personnel of the diocese of the Abuja Ecclesiastical Province (AEP) as well as other Catholic Church structures in Nigeria were analysed. The aim was to explore the forces behind the relationships and how ?patchy? these relationships were in AEP. Respondents were asked to give each of the donors a score in relation to four questions covering their relationship with the donors. Results suggest that the modus operandi of donor ?A? allows it to be perceived as the ?best? partner while ?B? was scored less favourably because of a perception that it attempts to act independently of existing structures in Nigeria rather than work through them. There was significant variation between dioceses in this regard as well as between the diocese and other structures of the Church (Provinces, Inter-Provinces and National Secretariat). Thus ?partnership? in the Catholic Church aid chain is a highly complex, contested and ?visioned? term and the development of an analytical framework has to take account of these fundamentals.

The European Union Framework Package 7 project POINT (Policy Influence of Indicators) is exploring the use of indicators in several domains (most specifically sustainable development) in order to see how their value and ultimate usefulness can be maximised. One key aspect of POINT is to assess the ways in which groups and communities work to gain greatest use of information. Using an innovative methodology called 'Triple Task', the authors are applying a three cornered approach in order to gain an understanding as to how groups work, how they assesses themselves and how they appear to function from an external perspective. In this paper, the three stages of Triple Task are described and explored. Task One is effectively an adapted 'soft systems' approach, encouraging a group to work together on problem identification and action planning. Task 2 is a reflective,'outside in', external review of group dynamics which makes use of the 'BECM' matrix for group systemic assessment first developed by the Systems Group at the UK Open University. Task 3 is an 'inside-out' self-reflective group analysis applying the well-known SYMLOG method. By use of a tri-analysis involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the authors show how during Triple Task managed events a 'story' emerges of group learning and development and, how a potential diagnostic tool for educing purposeful group behaviour has emerged. The research is in its early stages, but following the analysis of numerous groups from a range of sectors from across the European Union the authors are gaining clarity over what features are most consistent between purposeful group behaviour and group makeup. This is leading towards the development of a 'Triple Task' heuristic device for measuring and even predicting the systemic and reflective capacities of specific groups and communities and this could in turn result in means for improving participative effectiveness in a wide range of social engagements.

The economic benefits of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in developing countries have been well documented, but little research has been undertaken to date on the impacts of GM adoption on household livelihoods. The research reported here aimed to assess the livelihood impacts of the adoption of Bt cotton in South Africa., and involved 100 interviews of resource-poor farmers growing Bt cotton in Makhathini Flats, South Africa. Some 88% of respondents reported a higher income from Bt compared to non-Bt varieties previously grown by them, and this higher income was used primarily for greater education of their children (76%), more investment in growing cotton (46%), repaying debt (28%), investment in other crops (20%) and spending money on themselves. Some 89% had increased their asset base due to Bt cotton, primarily by increasing their cultivable land. These benefits of Bt adoption appeared widespread regardless of gender or farm size.

This study aims to find relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and food risk management (FRM), and other affecting factors of FRM in China. This is considered from the perspective of food company managers located in 161 food companies surveyed in Henan Province and Wuhan City, China. The results indicate that the company's attitude (defensive/passive/proactive) to CSR affects its attitude to food risks, and the CSR performance of a company affects the effectiveness of its FRM measures. With better CSR performance, a company experiences less risk than the ones with poor CSR performance. Among other FRM affecting factors, the budget allocated to FRM is the direct affecting factor, and the manager's perceived importance of FRM for improving organizational behaviour is causal to both the best and poor FRM practices. Finally policy suggestions are made.

In problem structuring methods, facilitators often ask of themselves questions such as: what makes a 'good' problem structuring group (PSG) and indeed what does 'good' mean? How can group dynamics be improved and does it matter in terms of the quality of the problem structuring that that group engages in? On the surface these questions seem to be straightforward. Indeed, those who have helped facilitate many participatory workshops will think they intuitively know the answers to these questions; they can, from their professional practice, 'feel' which PSGs are doing well and producing novel insights and those which are functioning less well and perhaps generating something that is less imaginative and more routine as a consequence. The intuitive, practice-learned insight will depend upon a rich array of visual signals that become more obvious with experience. This paper asks whether there is value in being much more open and analytical about these questions and answers. If so, then how can we make the unwritten processes and outcomes of PSGs written? Indeed, open to whom? Finally, how much of any insights learned by facilitators should be shared with those engaged in workshops? © 2013 Operational Research Society Ltd.

The level of uptake and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by farm workers in Oman is low; the conditions under which pesticides are stored are frequently below acceptable international standards. Research was undertaken to explore the drivers working against safe storage of agrochemicals and effective personal protection usage by pesticide application personnel. Results from a survey of over 200 respondents, representing workers in, and owners of, farms either within or outside a local farmer's association (FA), suggest that FA membership raises standards of behaviour both in terms of safe pesticide storage and use of PPE. Age of respondents had no apparent effect on the likelihood of PPE (gloves and masks) use. PPE use was, however, highest among respondents with more advanced educational backgrounds. Positive responses for glove and mask use, when applying pesticides, were higher for owners and workers in FA farms compared to non-FA farms. Lowest reported use of PPE was among workers in non-FA farms. Analysis of responses appears to indicate that behaviour patterns of workers in FA farms mirror that of the farm owners. This was not the case in non-FA farms. The results suggest that conformity to social norms, in this case acceptable work-environment behaviour, is a powerful driver behind raised usage levels of PPE in farms in Oman.

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht A variety of indices have been applied to the performance of nation states, both for research and as aids to help guide policy and intervention. While the literature on indices is extensive, the focus to date has been almost entirely on technical issues of index creation. However the success of an index is arguably related at least in part to the use of that index by policy makers and managers. While cause-effect can be difficult to determine, one approach is to measure ?success? in terms of the reporting of indices by an intermediary group such as the media, and this paper assesses the reporting of 24 indices by newspapers worldwide until 2012. The results suggest that index success is influenced by a number of factors, including the time it has existed, its focus, extent and quality of publicity, adaptability in terms of the scope for others to change the content and methodology of the index and resonance in terms of the match with ideas/culture/behaviour of people. The paper makes a case for a new research field that seeks to investigate the meaning and factors involved in ?success? of indices and how these should help with index development.

In a study of pesticide use on farms in Oman, over 200 respondents were surveyed from amongst owners of and workers on farms that belonged to a Farmers' Association (FA) and those that did not belong to the FA. A questionnaire was used to gauge attitudes to pesticide use whilst inventories of active ingredients were taken for all farms. The age profiles of the respondents were broadly similar, as was the distribution of nationalities amongst the workers. Workers and owners of FA farms were better educated than respondents from non-member farms. A majority of non-FA farm workers reported that they always used pesticides, fewer FA member farm workers and non-FA farm owners reported this behaviour with FA owners showing the lowest proportion of respondents who always used pesticides. Responses amongst farm owners to questions about frequency of pesticide use suggested that this was unaffected by age or education status, but for farm workers younger or less well educated respondents were more likely to respond by indicating that pesticides were always used. When asked to rate pesticides on a scale of 1 (bad) to 10 (good), high responses were most frequent amongst non-FA farm workers followed by FA member farm workers and non-FA farm owners. On average FA farm owners had the lowest average response, and responses by all groups were unaffected by age or education status. Prohibited pesticide use was higher on non-FA farms (4.9% of all pesticides) than on FA farms (1.3%). Pesticide products observed on FA member farms generally contained newer classes of active ingredients and were most frequently from major manufacturing companies in Europe, North America and Japan. Older, off-patent active ingredient-containing products were frequently observed on non-FA farms, often from so-called 'me-too' producing companies in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

In problem solving methods facilitators often ask of themselves questions such as what makes a "good" group (and indeed what does "good" mean), how can group dynamics be improved and does it matter it terms of the quality of the problem solving which that group engages in? On the surface these questions seem to be straightforward. Indeed those who have helped facilitate many participatory workshops will think they intuitively know the answers to these questions; they can, from their professional practice, "feel" which groups are doing well and producing novel insights and those which are functioning less well and perhaps generating something which is less imaginative and more routine as a consequence. They will sense how they can intervene (or not) to help keep the energy in the room. They will also have a view on whether an analysis is weak or strong and be able to link that to what they have observed of the group dynamic. The intuitive, practice learned insight will depend upon a rich array of visual signals which become more obvious with experience. Thus a facilitator with a rich store of practice will be able to identify signs of friction and harmony, of hard work and focus, of dominance, of tiredness, of "soft" and qualitative variation and so on. More importantly a facilitator with many years practice will be able to change the pace of the process or introduce "tweaks" to enhance energy. All of this represents a mysterious, unwritten and little discussed (at least in the academic literature) matrix of instinctive solutions and puzzles. These questions and answers are readily shared and dissected amongst practitioners when they meet, often illustrated with examples, but often the narratives are not written - they are spoken forming an acroamatic record. This paper asks the question as to whether there is value in being much more open and analytical about these questions and answers. If so then how can we make the unwritten written? Indeed, open to whom? Indeed added to all of the above is how much of any insights should be shared with those engaged in the workshop? Do participants have a right to know what their facilitators think during the workshop, even if this may be interpreted as being critical? We provide some responses to all of these questions based upon our combined experiences with problem solving workshops in many contexts and places over some 30 years.

This paper reviews the evidence on the socio-economic impacts of GM crops and analyzes whether there are patterns across space and time. To this end, we investigate the effect of GM crops on farm-level costs and benefits using global data from more than one decade of field trials and surveys. More specifically, we analyze the effects of GM-crops on crop yields, seed costs, pesticide costs, and management and labor costs and finally gross margins. Based on collected data from studies on Bt cotton and Bt maize, statistical analyses are conducted to estimate the effect of GM crop adoption on these parameters. Our results show that, compared to conventional crops, GM crops can lead to yield increases and can lead to reductions in the costs of pesticide application, whereas seed costs are usually substantially higher. Thus, the results presented here do support the contention that the adoption of GM crops leads on average to a higher economic performance, which is also underlined by the high adoption rates for GM crops in a number of countries. However, the kind and magnitude of benefits from GM crops are very heterogeneous between countries and regions, particularly due to differences in pest pressure and pest management practices. Countries with poor pest management practices benefited most from a reduction in yield losses, whereas other countries benefited from cost reductions. However, our study also reveals limitations for meta-analyses on farm-level costs and benefits of GM crops. In particular, published data are skewed towards some countries and the employed individual studies rely on different assumptions, purposes and methodologies (e.g., surveys and field trials). Furthermore, a summary of several (often) short-term individual studies may not necessarily capture long-term effects of GM crop adoption.

This paper explores the reporting of three indices - the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Human Development Index (HDI) and Ecological Footprint (EF) - in the national press of the UK between January 1990 and December 2009. The indices were compared over both time (year and month of article publication) and space (across the component countries of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, ROI). Results suggest that there are significant differences in reporting of the three indices. The EF appeared more frequently and was employed more often in articles than the CPI and HDI, perhaps reflecting a greater flexibility of the EF in terms of methodology and its association with consumption at all social scales, including the individual. The HDI was used by journalists more often as an 'ornament' to provide factual support to discussion of development, aid, conflict etc. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.

Partnership is increasingly espoused as the best relationship between members of the sustainable development aid chain, and implies a respect for the position of all and a desire to avoid a situation where one group dominates another. It also implies a form of relationship which is not just ?better? for the sake of it but which is more able to help achieve sustainable development. But given the inevitable inequalities in power between donors that have the resources and field partners that don?t it can be hard to put this ideal into practice. This paper explores the function of partnership within a group of closely related institutions that comprise the Catholic Church development chain. The research focussed on three Catholic Church based donors (one from the USA and two from Europe) and their partners in Abuja Ecclesiastical Province, Nigeria. Relationship between and within various strata of the Church in Nigeria were also examined. Relationships were ?patchy? at all levels. One of the donors had a significant operational presence in Nigeria and this was regarded by some respondents as a parallel structure which seriously undermined local bodies. However, while problems existed there was a sense of inter-dependence arising from a shared sense of values and Catholic Social Teaching which allowed partners to work through their stresses and conflicts. It is the innate sustainability of the aid chain itself founded upon a set of shared values which provided the space and time for problems to be addressed.

Development geography has long sought to understand why inequalities exist and the best ways to address them. Dependency theory sets out an historical rationale for under-development, based on colonialism and a legacy of developed core and under-developed periphery. Race is relevant in this theory only in so far that Europeans are white and the places they colonised were occupied by people with darker skin colour. There are no innate biological reasons why it happened in that order. However, a new theory for national inequalities proposed by Lynn and Vanhanen in series of publications makes the case that poorer countries have that status because of a poorer genetic stock rather than an accident of history. They argue that IQ has a genetic basis and IQ is linked to ability. Thus races with a poorer IQ have less ability, and thus national IQ can be positively correlated with performance as measured by an indicator like GDP/capita. Their thesis is one of despair as little can be done to significantly improve genetic stock other than a programme of eugenics. This paper summarises and critiques the Lynn and Vanhanen hypothesis and the assumptions upon which it is based, and uses this analysis to show how a human desire to simplify in order to manage can be dangerous in development geography. While the attention may naturally be focussed on the ?national IQ? variables as a proxy measure of ?innate ability?, the assumption of GDP/capita as an indicator of ?success? and ?achievement? is far more readily accepted without criticism. The paper makes the case that the current vogue for indicators, indices and cause-effect can be tyrannical.

Groups of all kinds are complex organisations. To understand them and to facilitate them in process terms is a matter of rich and diverse discourse in varied fields from sustainable development to coastal ecology; from bandwidth in rural communities to health service provision. How to allow groups to discourse, problem solve and review their own issues and concerns? Diagrams in general and rich pictures in particular can be great means to allow groups to explore their subconscious, their occult sentiments and conflicted understandings. This paper explores and explains diverse use of pictures and shows how they can be applied and understood in group processes of all kinds. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

This paper analyses the dynamics of land use via the perspectives, motivations and behaviours of local landowners!. The dynamics are explored in the context of an oil palm based-biodiesel development in Thailand where the advent of oil palm has caused the loss of paddy areas. A sequential mixed-method strategy, including 10 in-depth interviews and 180 responses to a questionnaire survey, indicates that the likelihood of a landowner switching traditional land for oil palm cultivation is affected by a number of factors including age and education of the head of household, number of household farming labourers, amount and source of income, land size and land right. Moreover, the results indicate that success of switching land to oil palm cultivation was determined by factors influencing willingness and capacity to change. Willingness-related factors are relevant to outcome expectation and social networks and connections while capacity-related factors are relevant to finance, labour, capital, land rights and transportation.

The paper provides the first published evidence for a ?U? shaped relationship between country ?league-table? ranking based on the Human Development Index (HDI) and Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and media reporting. The results suggest that the Extremity Hypothesis proposed by Heath (1996) applies to such data rather than the alternative of the Centrality Hypothesis. In the Extremity Hypothesis people are more likely to transmit information regarding extremes, perhaps because people value ?surprisingness? or think that others do so, and the inevitable polarity of league-tables would appear to invite greater attention on those countries that rank high and low. This is an important finding as it suggests that countries at these extremes could act as exemplars. However, this is not to say that at more regional scales the media may pick-up on differences between ?peer group? countries ranked towards the middle of the league-table. Much more attention needs to be given by researchers to the use of indicators and indices and what helps to influence this, especially as it would help inform further development of existing indicators/indices and the creation of new ones.

The paper outlines some of the findings and insights achieved from efforts to establish a sustainable seed yam (Dioscorea rotundata) supply system in Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria. The activity was part of a project entitled ?Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa? (YIIFSWA), spanning 2012 to 2016, and the paper covers the results of a novel and ambitious intervention designed to establish seed yam entrepreneurs as part of a wider initiative to establish a sustainable seed yam value chain in an area where none had previously existed. Seed yam production by the entrepreneurs was based on the Adapted Yam Minisett Technique (AYMT) and results between 2013 and 2015 suggest that the agronomic performance of AYMT under ?farmer managed? conditions was good, with reasonable yields of yam and an average weight (0.8 kg) in the required range for ?Grade 1¹ seed yams. The entrepreneurs achieved a good economic return (gross margin) and this translated into a return on investment of around 400 to 600%. However for the seed yam system to be sustainable in the Idah area there is a need to establish a value chain that links traders with growers.

This paper describes the results of 3 year's data from farmers using the Adaptive Yam Minisett Technique (AYMT) to produce seed yams in Nigeria. A total of 30 sites were established each year between 2013 and 2015 in the Idah area (Kogi State) of Nigeria and 58 plots in the Amoke area (Benue State) in 2015. Each site had yam setts (80 to 100 g) untreated and treated with a pesticide ?dip? prior to planting and farmers (male and female) were free to select the variety and manage the sites as they wished. In line with previous research, the results suggest that treatment does increase the weight of tubers produced by a sett but not necessarily the number of tubers. Varietal differences were also observed. For the first time, the results suggest that the time of planting does have a significant impact on seed tuber weight, with later planting leading to small tubers. Also, the gender of the farmer had an impact on some of the agronomic variables, with male owners of the site generally producing more and larger tubers per sett planted and sprouted than female owners. Various mechanisms for the latter are discussed in the paper.

Indicators define our world. We are constantly measured and assessed. Perhaps the most important indicator in current use is Gross Domestic Product or GDP. It is the measure of a nation's success and can be key to its ability to borrow money and appear internationally credible. This paper is set against the current debate ?Beyond GDP? begun in November 2007 with the conference hosted by the European Commission, European Parliament, Club of Rome, OECD and WWF. The initiative, with its five actions, recognizes weaknesses in the ways in which indicators of all kinds are collected and presented, and attempts to improve the indicator world, but is the answer to effective information for policy formulation hidden in the articulation of indicators? Maybe indicator use is a function of the ways in which stakeholders are engaged in their use? Our conjecture is that indicator use is little understood and that this use dynamic can be better understood. In this paper, the authors write from the perspective of their work undertaken in the European Union funded Framework 7 project ?Policy Influence of Indicators? (POINT; contract no 217207), which began in 2008. A major element of the project involved a number of group workshops designed to elicit viewpoints regarding the use of indicators (including sustainable development indicators) in sustainable development policy at EU and member-state levels

This paper concerns the interpretation of pictures which stakeholders draw in order to help them structure and understand complex situations. The pictures in question are called Rich Pictures (RPs) and the matter at the heart of interpretation is insight drawn from eduction (drawing forth). Insights relate to stakeholders of all kinds, be they the individual, the group, the context in which the individual and the group find themselves, and the means whereby the context can be made more sustainable or improved. RP drawing, often as a collaborative, stakeholder exercise, is a powerful activity which has the capacity to break down barriers of language, education and culture. Drawing upon research with RPs from around the world and spanning fifty years of our combined practice, this paper demonstrates RPs utility, universality and resilience. We maintain that RP drawing enriches problem solving and, in the long term, saves time and resources from being expended on erroneous and/or superficial tasks. But the interpretation of RPs is still in its infancy. By use of processes derived from various forms of Content Analysis (CA) we argue that RPs can be applied as a powerful tool in a variety of policy fields. Conclusions for application are drawn and suggestions are made for further research relating to the clearer interpretation of Rich Pictures.

Rich Pictures focuses on the value of developing visual narratives ? Rich Pictures ? as an important component and starting point for community participation. A key device for the community to share ideas and perspectives on current and potential future situations, Rich Pictures provide a shared space for members to set out ideas and negotiate.
While Rich Pictures are widely and globally used, this is the first book discussing their use, and how and when to use this technique for maximum participatory value. A valuable read for community engagement professionals, planners, politicians, and members of affected communities, Rich Pictures is richly illustrated with examples and authors? testimonials.

Within the aerospace industry there is a growing interest in evaluating and reducing the environmental impacts of products and related risks to business. Consequently, requests from governments, customers, manufacturers, and other interested stakeholders, for environmental information about aerospace products are becoming widespread. Presently, requests are inconsistent and this limits the ability of the aerospace industry to meet the informational needs of various stakeholders and reduce the environmental impacts of their products in a cost-effective manner. Energy consumption is a significant business cost, risk, and a simple proxy value for overall environmental impact. This paper presents the initial research carried out by an academic and industry consortium to develop standardised methods for calculating and reporting the embodied manufacturing energy content of aerospace products. Following an action research approach, three potential methods are identified and applied in a real manufacturing environment. Suitability for use across the aerospace value chain is assessed. The benefits, implementations issues, areas of data uncertainty, and differences in results are outlined. Results show companies could be over/under reporting the embodied manufacturing energy content of parts by a factor of 10. The subsequent business and EU policy implications for industry reporting and evaluating product risks are discussed. The paper concludes the novel research outcomes will be valuable to businesses and other interested stakeholders seeking to report or understand the embodied energy content of aerospace products and associated data uncertainty, as well as inform the development of future industry standards.

The paper explores a number of ways in which environmental quality can be represented by indicators within empirical attempts to look for a relationship between environmental performance, income and income inequality. A total of 16 environmental performance indicators were selected where data were available at the national scale (180 countries), all of which were components of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) published in early 2016, and included as dependent variables with income/capita (GDP/capita) and distribution of income (Gini coefficient) spanning nearly 20 years as independent variables. Data were analysed using Principal Components Regression. The results generate a rather complex picture whereby some of the EPI component indicators, notably those in the Environmental Health? category, have a relationship with income and income distribution while others, especially those centred on ?Ecosystem Vitality? do not. The paper provides some of the first published evidence for a relationship between environmental performance and income distribution and discusses some of the possible causal factors.

White yam (Dioscorea rotundata) is an important tuber crop of West Africa and the Caribbean, and one the key limiting factors in its production is the availability of good quality planting material. The Adaptive Yam Minisett Technique (AYMT) was designed to help overcome this constraint. The paper presents an analysis of agronomic and economic data collected across four years (2013 to 2016) of AYMT plots planted in two areas within the middle-belt of Nigeria. Of the 136 plots that were established, 11% were lost to flooding and damage from Fulani cattle. Mean yield was 13.16 t/ha, 17,747 tubers/ha and the mean tuber weight was 0.73 kg. Plot yield declined with an increase in planting time, while plots owned by female farmers were on average planted later than those owned by their male counterparts; this helps explain the effect of gender noted in a previous study. Differences in yield were also noted between the two areas, which could also partly be explained by differences in planting time. The plots were profitable, with a mean cost over the four years of Naira 915,196/ha, revenue of Naira 3,197,786/ha and gross margin of Naira 2,282,591/ha (equivalent to US$4,039, US$14,319 and US$10,280 respectively). The main factor influencing costs and revenue was year, with no effect of gender. There is a need for more research on planting time in AYMT and how it interacts with factors, such as yam variety.

This paper explores the connection between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and food safety and how best to promote CSR in Chinese food companies by comparing two groups of food companies, one which had food safety incidents in the previous three years and one which had no food safety incidents during the same period. Managers of 498 food companies in 17 regions of China were surveyed. It was found that companies where the senior management gave higher levels of support and commitment to CSR and companies that had higher levels of CSR engagement had lower food safety incident rates. Motives for CSR engagement by food companies are the expected benefits that might accrue to the company including helping to achieve strategic objectives, improving daily management, ensuring food safety, improving internal cooperation, enhancing food quality, improving employees? skills at work, increasing employee benefit and improving their morale, and maintaining business integrity. It was also found that the external factors for CSR engagement are consumer demand, as well as pressures from the government and from other companies in the supply chain. Finally, the paper makes a number of suggestions for improvements in policy.

This paper presents the first environmental life cycle analysis for a range of different confectionery products. A proposed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was developed to characterise and identify the environmental profiles and hotspots for five different confectionery products; milk chocolate, dark chocolate, sugar, milk chocolate biscuit and milk-based products. The environmental impact categories are based on Nestle's EcodEX LCA tool which includes Global Warming Potential (GWP), Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP), ecosystems quality, and two new indicators previously not considered such as land use and water depletion. Overall, it was found that sugar confectionery had the lowest aggregated environmental impact compared to dark chocolate confectionery which had the highest, primarily due to ingredients. As such, nine key ingredients were identified across the five confectionery products which are recommended for confectionery manufacturers to prioritise e.g. sugar, glucose, starch, milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, milk liquid, wheat flour and palm oil. Furthermore, the general environmental hotspots were found to occur at the following life cycle stages: raw materials, factory, and packaging. An analysis of five improvement strategies (e.g. alternative raw materials, packaging materials, renewable energy, product reformulations, and zero waste to landfill) showed both positive and negative environmental impact reduction is possible from cradle-to-grave, especially renewable energy. Surprisingly, the role of product reformulations was found to achieve moderate-to-low environmental reductions with waste reductions having low impacts. The majority of reductions was found to be achieved by focusing on sourcing raw materials with lower environmental impacts, product reformulations, and reducing waste generating an aggregated environmental reduction of 46%. Overall, this research provides many insights of the environmental impacts for a range of different confectionery products, especially how actors across the confectionery supply chain can improve the environmental sustainability performance. It is expected the findings from this research will serve as a base for future improvements, research and policies for confectionery manufacturers, supply chain actors, policy makers, and research institutes towards an environmentally sustainable confectionery industry.

Within the aerospace, defence, space, and security (ADS) industries, there is a growing reporting requirement and interest in understanding and reducing the environmental impacts of products and related risks to business. This dissertation presents the research carried out in collaboration with six ADS companies (ADS Group, Airbus Group, BAE Systems, Bombardier Aerospace, Granta Design, and Rolls-Royce) to establish industry methods for consistently measuring and reporting two pre-selected product-based environmental indicators identified as important to the industry: energy consumption and access to resources.
Following an action research approach, four potential methods for calculating and reporting the manufacturing energy footprint of ADS products were identified and industry tested on three case study parts selected by Airbus Group, Bombardier Aerospace, and Rolls-Royce. Methods tested were: (1) Direct measurement, (2) Theoretical calculation, (3) Facility level allocation of energy consumption (based on annual production hours, quantity, and weight of parts manufactured), and (4) Approximation based on generic data. Method 3 (Production Hours) was found to be the most suitable ?single? method for immediately reporting the manufacturing energy footprint of parts as it was quick to implement and based on widely available industry data. Regarding the comparability of methods, methods were found to be incomparable and produce significantly different results when applied to calculate the manufacturing energy footprint of the same part. Differences in the comparison of two methods could be in the order of one magnitude based on findings. Such large differences are significant for understanding energy use/costs, environmental impacts (e.g. carbon footprint), and reliably reporting and comparing information for informing decisions.
Therefore, methods for calculating the manufacturing energy footprint of products cannot be assumed to be interchangeable and stacked in LCAs, EPDs, and other standards. These findings challenge current LCA practices and the interpretation of product-based environmental declarations if multiple methods have been used and results stacked. Thus, existing standards and growing product-orientated environmental polices allowing for the use of multiple methods (e.g. EPDs and PEFs) may indeed proliferate incomparability rather than engender comparability. Regarding approximating product energy footprints using generic data, the research was only able to approximate the machining energy consumption associated with the case study parts because of data gaps in the generic database. However, a high comparability between generic data use and direct measurement (i.e. specific/primary data) was found. These limited findings challenge attitudes towards generic data use and indicate potential scope to replace expensive primary data collection with more cost-effective (and similarly accurate) generic data.
With regards to proposing a method for measuring the access to resources (A2R) product-based environmental indicator, several supply risk indicators and methodological choices for measuring the indicator were identified. Methodological choices included decisions such as to normalise and aggregate supply risk indicators into a single score. A workshop with the industry consortium was consequently carried out to explore and agree: (1) what indicators should be selected to appropriately measure A2R, and (2) how the selected indicators should be measured. Out of 18 potential supply risk indicators, five were identified as key: conflict material risk, environmental country risk, price volatility risk, sourcing and geopolitical risk, and monopoly of supply risk were selected because of clear links to legislation, use of reliable data, and effect on material prices. Regarding methodological choices for measuring A2R, the industry consortium preferred to avoid normalising and aggregating indicators to prevent masking

White yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) is an important tuber crop grown throughout West Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Propagation of the crop is primarily vegetative, through the use of small whole tubers (seed yams) and cut pieces of tuber (setts) planted to produce the larger tubers (ware yams) that households consume and sell. The Yam Minisett Technique (YMT), introduced in Nigeria in the late 1970s, as a means of increasing the production of seed yams. Yam Minisett Technique is different from many other agricultural technologies in that it requires farmers to do something ? cut their tubers into small pieces ? which they feel based upon experience is potentially damaging as it causes rot. Indeed, existing literature suggests that adoption of YMT tends to be low and variable. However, to date there has been no systematic analysis of the existing literature on YMT adoption designed to explore which factors are reported to be the most important and why. Hence the objective of this paper is to analyze the YMT adoption studies published to date to explore which factors are particularly important, and how this may help guide future research in YMT adoption. Results suggest that uncertainty ? risk and ambiguity aversion ? as perceived by farmers is a key consideration in YMT adoption and needs to be considered in future work

In 2015, member countries of the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Sustainable
Development Summit in New York. These global goals have 169 targets and 232 indicators which are based on the three
pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Substantial challenges remain in obtaining data of
the required quality, especially in developing countries, given the limited resources involved. One promising and innovative
way of addressing this issue of data availability is to use Earth Observation (EO). This paper presents the results of research
to analyse and optimise the potential of EO approaches to populate the SDG indicators and targets. We present a matrix of
EO technologies with respect to the full set of current SDG indicators which shows the potential for direct or proxy
calibrations across the span of the social, economic and environmental SDG indicators. We have focussed particularly on
those SDG indicators covering the social and economic dimensions of sustainable development as these are relatively
unexplored from an EO context. Results suggest that EO can make an important contribution towards populating the SDG
indicators, but there is a spectrum from at one end the sole use of EO to the other end where the EO derived data have to be
used in concert with data collected via non-EO means (surveys etc.). Complicating factors also include the lack of driving
force and pressure indicators in the SDG framework and the use of ?proxy? indicators not part of the SDG framework but
more amenable to EO-derived assessment. The next phase of the research will involve the presenting of these ideas to
experts in the EO and indicator arenas for their assessment.

Global consumption for confectionery products are growing and is exerting enormous pressures on confectionery supply chains across the world to efficiently utilise natural resources towards becoming environmentally sustainable. However, there are a disparate range of studies investigating the environmental impacts of confectionery products, and more importantly how to improve environmental sustainability performance. In this thesis, the aim was to improve knowledge of opportunities for reducing environmental impact in confectionery manufacturing ? from factory to supply chain ? by developing methodological tools based on heat integration and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). A range of novel methodologies were developed to advance heat integration and LCA knowledge, including (1) a heat integration framework combining direct and indirect heat exchange from zonal to multiple zones, possibly incorporating heat pump technology to enhance low grade heat recovery; (2) methodologies for systematically improving Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data based on the role of multinational companies and for conducting effective LCA for confectionery products; and (3) a methodology to assess and quantify the environmental life cycle impacts of multi-product food factories. These methodologies have been applied at a multi-product confectionery factory, which has revealed significant findings: (1) combining direct and indirect heat integration from zonal to multiple zones can reduce factory energy by 4.04?6.05%, (2) heat pump technology can reduce factory energy by up to 29.2% but imposes design complexity and long economic paybacks up to 6.62 years, (3) fine bakery ware products on average was found to have the highest aggregated environmental life cycle impacts (higher than chocolate products by 7.1%, milk-based products by 18%, and sugar by 51.9%), and (4) combined improvement strategies of 50% energy reduction with 100% renewable energy, zero food waste to landfill (inc. 50% food waste reduction), and raw material changes to lower impacts can potentially reduce: Global Warming Potential by 65.82%, water depletion by 43.02%, abiotic depletion potential by 20.66%, land use by 17.45% and ecosystem quality by 7.24%. Overall, this research has culminated in several contributions to knowledge which substantially increases understanding of how to improve the environmental sustainability of confectionery manufacturing across the product, factory and supply chain level. The research will serve as a guide for future improvements, research and policies of confectionery manufacturers, supply chain actors, policy makers, and research institutes.

In 2015, member countries of the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Sustainable Development Summit in New York. These global goals have 169 targets and 232 indicators which are based on the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Substantial challenges remain in obtaining data of the required quality, especially in developing countries, given the often limited resources available. One promising and innovative way of addressing this issue of data availability is to use Earth Observation (EO). This paper presents the results of research to develop a novel analytical framework for assessing the potential of EO approaches to populate the SDG indicators. We present a Maturity Matrix Framework (MMF) and apply it to all of the 232 SDG indicators. The results demonstrate that while the applicability of EO-derived data does vary between the SDG indicators, overall, EO has an important contribution to make towards populating a wide diversity of the SDG indicators.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential non-substitutable nutrient for all living organisms, but it is also a dwindling non-renewable resource. Approximately two-thirds of the world?s supply of phosphate rock is located in China, Morocco, and the USA. Phosphate rock is included in the EU list of ?critical raw materials? and is ranked 20th in an index of commodity price volatility. P recovery from waste water can help alleviate reliance on imported phosphate and reduce vulnerability to fluctuating prices. This project explored the options for P recovery from wastes produced across Thames Water?s waste water treatment plants (WWTPs), the main foci being sludge dewatering liquors and incineration/pyrolysis residues.

The research focussed specifically on the Slough WWTP and the operation of a newly installed Ostara system for recovery of P as struvite from dewatering liquors. The Ostara process is designed to operate with centrate PO4-P concentrations above 100 mg/l; to obtain these concentrations chemical coagulant dosing in the enhanced biological nutrient removal process must be reduced. Centrate monitoring following this change showed that Fe concentrations must measure consistently below 1.5 mg/l for PO4-P concentrations to remain steadily above 100mg/l. Following these changes onsite, operational savings and revenue can be produced onsite. Significant operational and maintenance savings totalling to £113K can be made in the first year of operation of the P recovery system in Slough WWTP. Sale of P rich struvite fertiliser produces annual revenue of £20K. Moving beyond the local benefits of P recovery, national benefits of P recovery were quantified. In a national context, a total of 28±1 kt P/year can be recovered from all WWTP waste streams, reducing P fertiliser imports by 36±1%. P recovery from WWTP influent and incinerated sewage sludge ash would reduce P losses to water bodies by 22±2%.

Sewage sludge may be incinerated, producing incinerated sewage sludge ash (ISSA), or alternatively pyrolysed to produce sewage sludge char (PSSC). The possibility of recovering P from these residual solids was also investigated. PSSC samples contained significantly more nitrogen and lower heavy metal concentrations than ISSA samples due to the process conditions. The % P extractions from both ISSA and PSSC plateaus at 0.6M and 0.8M H2SO4 acid concentrations, respectively, due to the formation of gypsum on the particles, so that further increase in acid concentrations does not increase P recovery.

The knowledge gained through this research has been used to improve the understanding and efficiency of the P recovery system at Slough WWTP. The information learned about pyrolysis residues will be used by Thames Water to develop a novel P recovery process from PSSC. Combined, these findings can impact the industry by creating incentives and inform policies regarding P recovery.

The effects of urban living on health are becoming increasingly important, due to an increasing global population residing in urban areas. Concomitantly, due to immigration, there is a growing number of ethnic minority individuals (African, Asian or Middle Eastern descent) living in westernised Higher Latitude Countries (HLC) (e.g. Europe, Canada, New Zealand). Of concern is the fact that there is already a clear vitamin D deficiency epidemic in HLC, a problem which is likely to grow as the ethnic minority population in these countries increases. This is because 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status of ethnic groups is significantly lower compared to native populations.

Environmental factors contribute to a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in HLC, particularly during the winter months when there is no sunlight of appropriate wavelength for vitamin D synthesis via the skin. Also, climatic factors such as cloud cover may reduce vitamin D status even in the summer. This may be further worsened by factors related to urban living, including air pollution, which reduces UVB exposure to the skin, and less occupational sun exposure (may vary by individual HLC). Tall building height may reduce sun exposure by making areas more shaded. In addition, there are ethnicity-specific factors which further worsen vitamin D status in HLC urban dwellers, such as low dietary intake of vitamin D from foods, lower production of vitamin D in the skin due to increased melanin and reduced skin exposure to UVB due to cultural dress style and sun avoidance.

A multidisciplinary approach applying knowledge from engineering, skin photobiology, nutrition, town planning and social science is required to prevent vitamin D deficiency in urban areas. Such an approach could include reduction of air pollution, modification of sun exposure advice to emphasise spending time each day in non-shaded urban areas (e.g. parks, away from tall buildings), and advice to ethnic minority groups to increase sun exposure, take vitamin D supplements and/or increase consumption of vitamin D rich foods in a way that is safe and culturally acceptable. This review hopes to stimulate further research to assess the impact of high latitude, urban environment and ethnicity on the risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important concept in the last few decades. Although it originated in the developed countries of the West, the concept has been embraced and adapted by corporations and policy-making agencies in many developing countries. Not surprisingly, given the importance of growth and development as policy objectives in these countries, CSR has had a significant impact on sustainable development.

Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility explores the evolution of CSR across the developed and developing world, with a particular focus on China and sustainable development. Through an extensive review of the literature and relevant case studies, the book examines whether CSR can make a contribution to sustainable development, how the patterns of CSR in developed Western economies compare to that in the rapidly growing economy of China, what trade-offs take place between CSR and economic growth as well as the future of CSR and its possible impact on the global sustainable development agenda.

Food security is a term that is hardly on the tips of most people?s tongues, especially those living in the Northern Hemisphere. But while the term may be unfamiliar, we can all recognise the outcomes of its opposite ? food insecurity ? namely, hunger, food banks and crop contamination.

This book is about how we can work towards growing enough for everyone, available at the right quality and an affordable price. While food?s cultural significance is not always fully appreciated, most eating habits are strongly cultural, with indigenous foods prepared and presented in many ways.

Can you imagine Ireland without the potato, or China without rice? The authors explore many aspects of food security within the context of a single African crop of major cultural significance ? the white yam.

Food Most Royal is a tribute to those who have worked for over four decades with a crop they cherish. It aims to encourage others to value food resources as a key element in preserving our environment.

This handbook provides researchers and students with an overview of the field of sustainability indicators (SIs) as applied in the interdisciplinary field of sustainable development. The editors have sought to include views from the center ground of SI development but also divergent ideas which represent some of the diverse, challenging and even edgy observations which are prominent in the wider field of SI thinking.