In the arid and semi-arid regions of Northeast Asia, grassland degradation has become a major environmental and economic problem, so sustainable utilization of resources is crucial in terms of not only supporting the local and animal production but also thinking about the global environment. Especially in Mongolia and North China, grassland degradation has mainly been induced by artificial fact...

The need for better techniques, tools and practices to analyse ecological and economic systems in an integrated framework has never been so great. Self-organising map (SOM) methods are utilised for this purpose with two examples using regional and global data (ecological and economic) compiled by state and international institutions i.e. Waikato Regional Council and the World Bank. Sustainable ...

This paper presents an innovative computer system that contributes to sustainable development of the enterprise. The research refers to a rethinking of traditional systems of collaboration and risk assessment, present in any organization, leading to a sustainable enterprise. This concept integrates emerging tools that allow the implementation and exploitation of the collective intelligence of t...

This paper focuses on the methodological aspects for emergy analysis (EA) and socioecological principles (SEP) methods that were previously used for sustainability assessment in a wastewater treatment case study (Grönlund et al. 2004). Grönlund et al. (2004) constructed a model of a microalgae wastewater treatment plant (ALGA), located in Sweden at latitude 60°N, and tested it by comparing it t...

Currently, politicians, university representatives, scholars and leading NGOs share a strong belief in the ability of educational systems to generate positive attitudes to sustainable development (SD) among citizens, with the idea of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as perhaps the most apparent expression of this conviction. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether ESD might h...

With growing calls for changes in the field of risk assessment, improved systematic approaches for addressing environmental issues with greater transparency and stakeholder engagement are needed to ensure sustainable trade-offs. Here we describe the comprehensive environmental assessment (CEA) approach as a holistic way to manage complex information and to structure input from diverse stakehold...

rapid urbanization has brought environmentally, socially, and economically great challenges to cities and societies. to build a sustainable city, these challenges need to be faced efficiently and successfully. this paper focuses on the environmental issues and investigates the ecological approaches for planning sustainable cities through a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. the re...

Certification systems are generally used for the purpose of sustainability assessment in buildings or neighbourhoods, and indexes mainly focus on construction issues related to the civil engineering activities but not usually in urban management programs. As an attempt to tackle this issue, the “German Sustainable Building Council” has created and developed a certification system according to t...