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- Reinvigorating the sustainable development research agenda: the role of the sustainable development goals (SDG)Publication . Leal Filho, Walter; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Alves, Fátima; Pace, Paul; Mifsud, Mark; Brandli, Luciana; Caeiro, Sandra; Disterheft, AntjeThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) contain a set of 17 measures to foster sustainable development across many areas. It offers a good opportunity to reinvigorate sustainable development research for two main reasons. First, it comprises many areas of SD research, which have become mainstream thanks to the UN SDGs. Second, the fact that the UN and its member countries have committed to attaining SDGs by 2030 has added a sense of urgency to the need to perform quality research on SD on the one hand, and reiterates the need to use the results of this research on the other. Even though the basic concept of sustainability goes back many centuries, it has only recently appeared on the international political agenda. This is partly due to an awakening of the fact that the human ecological pressure on the planet is still much larger than what nature can renew or compensate for. Based on this state of affairs, this paper presents an outline of the process leading to the agreement on the UN SDGs, and looks at some of the ecological aspects as a result of continued pressure of human activities on natural resources. Furthermore, a set of research needs is proposed – also based holistically on updated research trends – discussing the degree of urgency of some measures and explaining why the UN SDGs need to be accorded greater priority in international sustainable development research efforts.
- Climate change and health: an overview of the issues and needsPublication . Leal Filho, Walter; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Alves, FátimaThis introductory chapter outlines some of the key issues related to climate change and health, as well as some areas where action is needed, so as to allow a more systematic approach towards the problem. It outlines the challenges of Climate change to societies and its impacts on human health; considers the influence on various groups of stakeholders and suggests some measures, which may lead to a better understanding of the connections between human health and ever changing climate conditions.
- Sustainability assessment tools in higher education institutions : mapping trends and good practices around the worldPublication . Caeiro, Sandra; Leal Filho, Walter; Jabbour, Charbel; Azeiteiro, UlissesMuch has been written about sustainability in higher education, from the late 1980s when the concept of sustainable development was first discussed in-depth,to the 1990s with an emphasis on curriculum greening, and the period 2000–2012, with an emphasis on sustainability research. But despite the progress achieved over the years, and the plethora of publications on sustainable development produced to date, there are still many conceptual and practical gaps which need to be met. One of them is the need to map trends and good practice in higher education, and the ever-present need to document and disseminate them. The book ‘‘Sustainability Assessment Tools in Higher Education—Mapping Trends and Good Practices at Universities round the World’’ is an attempt to fill in this gap. The aim of this book is to provide a contribution to the state of the art about current sustainability practices, with a focus on assessment tools, being used or applied in higher education institutions. The first chapters discuss issues of sustainability in higher education, namely the role of universities in promoting sustainability and the emergent fields of sustainability science and education for sustainable development and how to integrate, motivate and consider time for education for sustainability into the universities. The subsequent chapters present several international examples of sustainability assessment tools specifically developed for higher education institutions, such as the AISHE—Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education, the GASU—Graphical Assessment of Sustainability in Universities tool, and the STAUNCH—Sustainability Tool for Auditing Universities Curricula in Higher Education. The use of other integrated tools are also presented to a lesser and to a greater extent. All along, the papers have adopted a pragmatic approach, characterised by conceptual descriptions, including sustainability assessment and reorienting the curricula, on the one hand, and practical experiences on the other, with good practices from different edges of the world. As the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) is coming to an end in 2014, this book provides a concrete contribution towards showing how sustainable development principles may be implemented in practice, and the sort of action that is needed in the coming decades. This publication is therefore forward-looking and pace setting, since it outlines some areas where action is and will be needed, for many years to come.
- Climate change and health: an analysis of causal relations on the spread of vector-borne diseases in BrazilPublication . Leal Filho, Walter; Bönecke, Juliane; Spielmann, Hannah; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Alves, Fátima; Carvalho, Mauren Lopes de; Nagy, Gustavo J.The increases in greenhouse gas concentrations caused by anthropogenic activities such as industrial emissions, transport and burning of forests and other resources, recorded over the past decades, are known to have an impact on the global environment. In particular, this paper reviews the evidence that climate change has an impact on human health as a whole and on the spread of vector-borne diseases in particular. It offers an analysis of previous research on the connections between climate change and health, with a case study from Brazil, and lists some areas which may guide future policy-making.
- The INDICARE-model: measuring and caring about participation in higher education's sustainability assessmentPublication . Disterheft, Antje; Caeiro, Sandra; Leal Filho, Walter; Azeiteiro, UlissesThe implementation of sustainability in higher education has been advanced over at least the last twodecades and brought sustainability assessment on the research agenda of Education for Sustainable Devel-opment (ESD) and sustainability science. Participatory approaches have gained increasing attention inthese endeavours, but remain often vague and less addressed in sustainability assessment procedures.To fill in this gap, an indicator-based model, INDICARE, was developed that can assist in assessing par-ticipatory processes within higher education’s sustainability initiatives. The objective of this paper is tointroduce and discuss the model’s theoretical background, its structure, applicability, and how it canbroaden the perspectives on participation and sustainability assessment in the university context.Embedded in a cross-sectional qualitative research design, the model was developed in iterative stagesand was presented and adjusted along six feedback loops, having been presented to 98 persons duringconferences, workshops and university meetings. Inspired by biophilic ideas, transformative learning the-ories and participatory evaluation, INDICARE follows an ecocentric and integrative perspective that placesthe earth and its community at the centre of attention. A preliminary set of thirty indicators and prac-tices, grouped in three categories of context, process, and transformation, is proposed. The assessmentprocess itself is considered as a thought-provoking exercise rather than as a control tool and empha-sizes the interplay of personal reflection and action-oriented outreach. INDICARE intends to invigoratethe sustainability debate in higher education, in particular by proposing a more holistic approach toassessment that underlines experiencing the interconnectedness of human–nature relationships, com-bined with reflective exercises that can respond better to the call for transformation on individual andinstitutional level.
- Sustainability science and education for sustainable development in universities : a way for transitionPublication . Disterheft, Antje; Caeiro, Sandra; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Leal Filho, WalterThe debate about sustainable development (SD) in higher education institutions has expanded over the past decades. It has been recognized that universities play a pivotal role in promoting sustainability principles, contributing to the paradigm shift toward a more sustainable present and future. Campus sustainability—commonly understood in a broad sense that includes the physical, educational (teaching, curricula, research), and institutional dimensions—is an evolving study field, as indicated by the growing number of articles in academic journals, conferences, awards, and books (like the present one) dedicated to the subject. From the academic point of view, the emergent fields of sustainability science and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) have advanced the efforts of mainstreaming sustainability and implementing concrete practices in universities. But despite some progress and good examples, only a few institutions follow a SD implementation process holistically. A one-sided trend of ‘‘going green,’’ driven by market requirements, marketing advantages, and economic benefits, increases the risks of greenwashing. Reductionist models and misconceptions may cause sustainability initiatives to be wrongly reduced to single aspects of SD like environmental initiatives, losing meaning and credibility. This chapter addresses the question of what role the emerging fields of sustainability science and ESD can play within the transition to more sustainable universities. It aims to contribute to a more holistic perception of SD and examines some of the trends being observed in the higher education sector. Universities are challenged to reflect about educational objectives and strategic goals in their sustainability implementation processes, if they aim to educate the academic community beyond eco-efficiency and recycling. ESD and sustainability science are normative academic fields, action-oriented and close to society. Along with universities as democratic institutions, these fields constitute essential vehicles to investigate, test, and develop conditions for truly transformative change.
- Introducing "the new food choice and consumer paradigms"Publication . Moura, Ana Pinto de; Cunha, Luís Miguel; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Leal Filho, WalterIn this special issue, the main results from an International Seminar entitled: New Food Paradigms, held in Portugal in October 2008 are presented. The event was organized on behalf of the Associated Laboratory, REQUIMTE, University of Porto, Portugal. A total of seven rigorously peer-reviewed papers stemming from the Seminar are presented.
- Discusos: lingua, cultura e sociedade: tendências actuais em educação ambientalPublication . Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Pereira, M. J.; Leal Filho, Walter; Caeiro, Sandra; Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Morgado, Fernando; Gonçalves, F.
- Climate change and health: improving resilience and reducing risksPublication . Leal Filho, Walter; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Alves, FátimaA major objective of this volume is to create and share knowledge about the socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions of climate change. The authors analyze the effects of climate change on the social and environmental determinants of the health and well-being of communities (i.e. poverty, clean air, safe drinking water, food supplies) and on extreme events such as floods and hurricanes. The book covers topics such as the social and political dimensions of the ebola response, inequalities in urban migrant communities, as well as water-related health effects of climate change. The contributors recommend political and social-cultural strategies for mitigate, adapt and prevent the impacts of climate change to human and environmental health. The book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners interested in new methods and tools to reduce risks and to increase health resilience to climate change.
- Implementing innovation on environmental sustainability at universities around the worldPublication . Leal Filho, Walter; Emblen-Perry, Kay; Molthan-Hill, Petra; Mifsud, Mark; Verhoef, Leendert; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Sousa, Luiza Olim de; Castro, Paula; Beynaghi, Ali; Boddy, Jennifer; Salvia, Amanda Lange; Frankenberger, Fernanda; Price, ElizabethInnovation is known to be an important and influential factor in fostering sustainable development. Yet, there is a paucity of literature on the extent to which universities are successfully implementing innovation in this field. This paper addresses this gap, by examining the role of innovation in the field of environmental sustainability in universities, and by reporting on the results of an international study, in which examples of successful experiences and good practice were identified. The paper outlines the lessons learned from such examples, with the aim of motivating other universities to engage in this rapidly‐growing field.