Examines an array of sustainable development definitions & discusses their common elements. Describes current agriculture, energy, & industry technologies. Also discusses the progress that is being made in education, communication, & information technologies that could support sustainable development. Numerous photos & tables.
This publication provides the proceedings of an international workshop, held in South Africa, intended to address how international co-operation in science and technology can further the three inter-related aspects (economic, social and environmental) of the development process.
After the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to "end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all," researchers and policy makers highlighted the importance of targeted investment in science, technology, and innovation (STI) to make tangible progress. Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals showcases the roles that STI solutions can play in meeting on-the-ground socio-economic and environmental challenges among domestic and international organizations concerned with the SDGs in three overlapping areas: agriculture, health, and environment/energy. Authors and researchers from 31 countries tackle both big-picture questions, such as scaling up the adoption and diffusion of new sustainable technologies, and specific, localized case studies, focusing on developing and middle-income countries and specific STI solutions and policies. Issues addressed include renewable energy, automated vehicles, vaccines, digital health, agricultural biotechnology, and precision agriculture. In bringing together diverse voices from both policy and academic spheres, this volume provides practical and relevant insights and advice to support policy makers and managers seeking to enhance the roles of STI in sustainable development.
In this book, the authors examine a series of key science identity-based research models with the goal of discussing the interplay between individual agency and social interaction through the lens of transformative learning. Current identity-based models are critiqued based on the importance given to either social structures and/or agency separately. Following this, a synthesis report on the development strategies of technology education carried out at basic schools in Slovakia (lower secondary education ISCED 2) is presented. Additionally, the authors discuss the results of a survey done with the goal of finding out the reality of technology teaching at these schools. As the research results show, despite the good intentions of the different strategies, programs and reforms, the technology education at basic schools is on the decline. The next article discusses gender-based segregation and falling recruitment for scientific and technological studies in Nordic countries. This study traced and interviewed students who achieved the best results in the measurement of technological competence twenty years ago in order to examine their progress. In the final study, the book proposes a new vision for science education in the era of sustainable development. The authors discuss how sustainable development goals (SDGs) identify new roles for science and technology to address global and local challenges such as climate change, energy innovation, and biodiversity. These areas of sustainability reveal new horizons for science education by enabling us to approach science learning as a more community-based practice and collaborative way of thinking, beyond classroom-based learning.
This conference proceedings explores how widespread diffusion and application of cleaner technologies can help countries reach their sustainable development goals.
World human population is expected to reach upwards of 9 billion by 2050 and then level off over the next half-century. How can the transition to a stabilizing population also be a transition to sustainability? How can science and technology help to ensure that human needs are met while the planet's environment is nurtured and restored? Our Common Journey examines these momentous questions to draw strategic connections between scientific research, technological development, and societies' efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable improvements in human well being. The book argues that societies should approach sustainable development not as a destination but as an ongoing, adaptive learning process. Speaking to the next two generations, it proposes a strategy for using scientific and technical knowledge to better inform future action in the areas of fertility reduction, urban systems, agricultural production, energy and materials use, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation, and suggests an approach for building a new research agenda for sustainability science. Our Common Journey documents large-scale historical currents of social and environmental change and reviews methods for "what if" analysis of possible future development pathways and their implications for sustainability. The book also identifies the greatest threats to sustainabilityâ€"in areas such as human settlements, agriculture, industry, and energyâ€"and explores the most promising opportunities for circumventing or mitigating these threats. It goes on to discuss what indicators of change, from children's birth-weights to atmosphere chemistry, will be most useful in monitoring a transition to sustainability.
Based on the importance of human beings as creators and managers of knowledge towards the achievement of sustainability in the current digital age, this book is an effort to present many studies taking individuals as centers of knowledge and starting points for environmental, social, and economic development. From various theoretical and empirical studies developed by researchers from Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, this book presents, in an ordered sequence, the individual as the creator of knowledge, the role of human beings as knowledge managers with and for sustainability, the opportunities for knowledge sharing in virtual research collaborations for sustainability, and the advantages and disadvantages with and for sustainability from a human-centered perspective in the digital era. Moreover, this text describes the antecedents of competitive advantage in a sustainable cooperative network, knowledge management in technology projects, an empirical study of knowledge management of tutorial intervention, a model of processes and knowledge management to increase competitiveness, the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for managing sustainable practices, finishing with knowledge management trends with and for sustainability, from a human-centered perspective in the digital era. Offering an innovative approach, this book seeks to expand the understanding of the theme of knowledge management and sustainability from the perspective of the human resource as a generator of knowledge. There is mounting focus on knowledge-intensive work and sustainable development in the corporate world. In light of these trends, this edited volume will be of value to researchers, academics, professionals, and advanced students in the fields of management, environment and sustainability, and development studies.
New knowledge, created in international cooperation, is essential for global sustainability. Set against this background, this study focuses on German science policy for research cooperation with developing countries and emerging economies in sustainability research. Based on interviews with policy makers and researchers, the book scrutinizes the actors, processes and contents of science policy in Germany. The author argues that science policy mainly aims at German economic benefits and technology development. This, however, negatively influences global sustainability. To counter existing path dependencies, the author provides recommendations for sustainability-oriented scientific practice and science policy.
