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Cultural heritage faces many types of threats such as neglect, conflicts, disasters caused by natural and human induced hazards, unplanned infrastructure projects, climate change, etc. Over time, a number of institutions, organisations, programmes and initiatives to address the issues related to heritage at risk through varied modes of interventions such as advocacy work, conservation efforts, funding, awareness-raising regarding particular sites, etc. have emerged. Despite the stimulus and support of the various institutions, organisations and initiatives, diverse threats continue to impact cultural heritage in present times with some factors amplifying more than before, leading to the subsequent damages to or losses of heritage assets. Though reasons for these issues are varied and complex, one of the important factors to look into is the agency of the diverse ‘Heritage at Risk’ programmes or initiatives. ICOMOS being one of the pioneers in this global discourse of threatened heritage, its role is strategically vital. 20 years after ICOMOS’s first attempts to initiate one of the first ‘Heritage at Risk’ programmes, this research is an opportunity to re-examine and analyse the effectiveness of ICOMOS’ ‘Heritage at Risk’ programme within the current organisational/ institutional landscape of initiatives in the field of heritage at risk, that ICOMOS is embedded in. It is also an opportunity to situate the programme within the diverse views of the heritage at risk framework and the continuing shifts in the foundational paradigms of the international discourse on heritage conservation. The purpose of this analysis is to guide programme improvement for optimising efforts in favour of cultural heritage at risk within and/ or beyond ICOMOS and improve their ability to contribute towards - safeguarding heritage at risk, increasing the resilience of cultural heritage and sustainable development.
Nachhaltig und Geschäftsprozesse sind häufig benutzte Schlagworte der heutigen Zeit, vor allem in Politik und Wissenschaft. Auch deren Verbindung nachhaltige Geschäftsprozesse hat Aufnahme in den allgemeinen Sprachgebrauch und Wortschatz gefunden. Das Ziel nachhaltiger Geschäftsprozesse ist es, die Effektivität und Effizienz des Unternehmens langfristig zu verbessern, ohne die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Unternehmens zu beinträchtigen. Nachhaltige Geschäftsprozesse fokussieren dabei insbesondere auf drei unterschiedliche Aspekte: Ökonomie, Ökologie und Soziales. Diese Aspekte sind unter dem allgemeinen Grundsatz der Nachhaltigkeit zu betrachten und in das bestehende Management zu integrieren. Auch dieses funktionale Managen von Geschäftsprozessen oder der Nachhaltigkeit ist zwischenzeitlich wissenschaftlich bearbeitet worden. Dessen Umsetzung in der Wirtschaft lässt jedoch zu wünschen übrig. Diese Arbeit hatte sich daher zur Aufgabe gemacht, das funktionale Managen, d. h. das Planen, das Steuern und Kontrollieren von nachhaltigen Geschäftsprozessen in einen Kontext zu bringen. Dabei wurde unter den Gesichtspunkten der Effektivität und der Effizienz geprüft, ob für dieses komplexe Management ein separates Konzept notwendig wird. Es wurde daher untersucht, ob sich mit dem Geschäftsprozessmanagement die Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte planen, steuern und kontrollieren lassen. Zur Prüfung dieser These wurden die deutschen Automobilhersteller als Validierungsobjekte herangezogen.
Water is a primordial resource for the development of urban agglomerations. Today, 50% of the population worldwide is concentrated in urban settlements and 10 - 20% of all worldwide freshwater consumption occurs in the domestic sector (UN: World water development report 3). By 2030, 60% of the world’s population will be living in urban settlements (UNESCO), and domestic freshwater consumption will rise by 70% in 2025. Urban areas inflict high pressure on the local and even regional water sources, since the high population density requires large flow volumes in a restricted area, with often competing pressures on the water resource per se as well as for the space needed for water storage or aquifer recharge. This becomes complicated and even critical in areas where natural water availability is already scarce and urban demand is high due to large population sizes. Today 700 million people in 43 countries are living in water stress condition (Human Development Report 2006). Mexico, ranking 88 on a global scale in water availability per capita, is a clear example of this situation, where the most populated urban settlements, such as Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puebla or Queretaro are located in regions which concentrate only 31% of the renewable water of the country (CONAGUA). Thus, the main question arises: How will the urban settlements develop a sustainable water supply now and in the future?
The city of Guadalajara, in particular, has seen an extremely fast and chaotic development in the past three decades, where the population of the city increased from 1,354,000 inhabitants in 1970 to 4,064,000 in 2005; by 2020 Guadalajara is expected to overpass the 5 million inhabitants thus becoming a megacity. Nowadays, overall water consumption in the city is about 9.3 m3/sec. and it is estimated to be 10.3 m3/sec by 2030, with Lake Chapala as the main water source, supplying 55% of the water demand. However, Lake Chapala has been confronted with several severe droughts which critically lowered its water table as was the case between 1998 and 2003 and due to its weak equilibrium droughts could be more recurrent in the future. As the water supply of Guadalajara is strongly linked to the faith of Lake Chapala, Guadalajara needs to reduce its pressure on the lake by adopting strategies based on sustainable development.
The main goal of this research is to provide governments and decision makers with a robust tool that integrates the most amount of information possible but presents this information in a simple way, offering at the same time the possibility to detect the factors that need to be addressed in order to reach sustainability.
The specific aim is to test the use of composite indices (CIs) to the case of the city of Guadalajara in the period of the year 2000 to 2009. CI is a holistic methodology in which independent variables can be aggregated into a single result. CIs thus allow for the comparison between different cases, the integration of qualitative and quantitative variables and the easy use by decision makers. We used 11 carefully selected variables from all three sectors of sustainability, economical, ecological and social, which were first normalized using ranging procedures and process capability indices, and aggregated by using the weighted geometric mean. A set of best strategies Guadalajara should follow are suggested in order to have a sustainable water supply in the future.
With this study, we have been able to show that CIs are an effective tool for evaluating sustainability of domestic freshwater supply at local scale. Overall, Guadalajara reached a CI of 0.29 showing, that its domestic water supply is currently not sustainable. It was able to identify the following three main problems: a) lack of wastewater treatment with just less than 3% of the waste water being treated; b) water loss in the distribution system, with 34% of the water extracted being lost at some point in the distribution system (during treatment, in the pipelines and dweller connection to the distribution net); c) water availability, with increased flow volumes of Lake Chapala in the last six years, but only surpassing its natural storage twice (2004 and 2009). Nonetheless, a clear trend of continuous improvement could be seen overall in the past years with a decline in the domestic water consumption per capita to levels comparable to the one in Berlin, as a consequence of people awareness after the several drought Lake Chapala suffered in the beginning of the decade, and an increase in the level of access to piped water and connectivity to the drainage system to 94% of the city’s coverage in 2009 (on year 1990, the access to piped water was 89% and the connectivity to the drainage system was 92%).
This study closely examined how oil exploration has caused environmental degradation and untold hardship to the local communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Nigeria is known to be the sixth largest producer of crude oil among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and thelargest in the African continent. The crude oil that puts Nigeria in this position is being produced in the Niger Delta region of the country. Nigeria’s economy is based on crude oil exports. Despite this enormous wealth coming from the Niger Delta, there is pervasive poverty and despicable environmental damage as a result of crude oil mining activities going on in this region. Suffice it to say that, there is total neglect of the region in terms of infrastructural development and economic empowerment of its local populace by the government and oil companies operating in the region. This has led to youth restiveness and hostage taking in the area. A sound methodological research approach was developed and utilized in this study. Both primary and secondary data were collected from questionnaires, structured interviews, personal observations, relevant literature, documentation from government agencies and oil companies. These data were analyzed, and they synthesized the discussions contained in this study. This study is all about charting a new course in the way the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region carry out their activities in order to ensure the environmental sustainability of the region, and improve the economy of the rural communities in the region at the same time. It identifies the constraints to effective implementation of Nigeria’s environmental laws and policies especially the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as it concerns oil prospecting, which has hitherto contributed in hindering her environmental sustainability. It also unveils the critical issues concerning the deplorable state of the economy of the local populace of the region. After identifying the various problems contributing to the environmental woes, and the poor economic growth of the region, this research proffers recommendations that should be conscientiously and vigorously implemented to reverse the trend. Although, the oil companies have made some efforts towards providing the necessary infrastructures needed in the region, they need to do more in the area of capacity building, and use of green technologies to ensure healthy environment of their host communities. The government on her part should strengthen the various Ministries and Agencies vested with the responsibility of protecting the Nigerian environment, by providing them with the necessary incentives for maximum efficiency. This study therefore emphasizes a concerted approach from all the stakeholders in the Niger Delta region for the successful implementation of the recommendations herein to ensure the sustainable development of the region, and Nigeria in general.
While much is known about ISO 14001 and EMAS environmental management systems in general, comparatively little knowledge is about the application of these management instruments in non-industrial sectors, including the municipal waste sector. Consequently, the intention of this paper is to assist municipal waste treatment facilities with the development of environmental management systems in which the continual improvement of environmental performance can be coupled with an increased economic efficiency and quality of delivered services. For this purpose, a manual that provides sample polices, programmes and approaches to the successful realisation of the ISO 14001 environmental management system was written. Due to more stringent requirements for the sound management of municipal solid waste, a growing number of Polish municipal waste treatment facilities have implemented or intend to implement the ISO 14001 system. By the end of 2005, 25% of facilities were formally certified to the ISO 14001 EMS, 60% of which have integrated it with the ISO 9001 QMS. The facilities, despite encountering a number of difficulties, for instance during the identification and assessment of significant environmental aspects, are also gaining numerous benefits, resulting in an improved environmental performance. Ipso facto, 37.5% of municipal waste treatment facilities in Poland have admitted that the environmental-improvement potential of EMSs is higher than economic-human costs related to its introduction and operation. All the presented information, if other sources are not adequately referenced, are based upon the author’s research, encompassing quantitative and qualitative study methods, conducted among municipal waste treatment facilities in Poland in years 2004 – 2006. The response rate of 68% guarantees credibility of the collected data.