Strategic Shifts
The Powers in the Geography of Waste and Climate Change: Red Lacre and University of São Paulo Interfaces View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Luciana Ziglio
Climate change is related to several factors, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Although the main source of greenhouse gas emissions is the burning of fossil fuels, other sources need to be considered. Organic matter and inert materials discarded as waste (e.g., food scraps and plastics) — can become aggravating the greenhouse effect. Red Lacre emerged from the articulation of recyclable material collectors' movements in 17 Latin American countries. The municipality of São Paulo (MSP) – Brazil is one of the central points of Red Lacre. The MSP and the University of São Paulo (USP) in particular, through the search for the management of their municipal solid waste (MSW), interrelate with Red Lacre members by supporting waste pickers. Therefore, analyzing Red Lacre and its interfaces with the MSP, the university, as well as the city, leads to an international dimension of MSW management, with emphasis on waste pickers . Hence, the following question is defined: what are the actors that USP articulates when promoting the management of its MSW in the MSP? Given the statement presented, the summary aims to answer the question presented. The methods used for the development of the research are: to collect and research bibliographic bases and quantitative and qualitative data in secondary sources on Red Lacre, in the management of MSW, such as: emission of gases, treatment and disposal; and verify through documentary research the participation of Red Lacre and USP in the management of MSW.
Climate Vulnerability of National Economies and Mobility Challenges: The Case of Egypt and Vietnam View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dimitrios Anastasopoulos, Saradamoyee Chatterjee
The study attempts a comparative analysis of the economic implications of climate change in two developing countries, namely Egypt and Vietnam, and the subsequent mobility challenges of the population. This study pursues a descriptive, “literature review” approach of identifying, collecting and analyzing data from credible reports and research studies. Egypt and Vietnam have comparable economies. Vietnam has been transformed from being among the world's poorest nations to a lower middle-income nation that aims to become, according to the World Bank, a high-income country by 2045. Egypt belongs to a grouping of countries located in Middle East and North Africa known as “MENA”, experienced political and economic transformations, but with a potential for significant future expansion. The analysis shows that Egypt and Vietnam are one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts and face substantial economic consequences. Both countries experience de-escalate growth rates and reduction in GDP. The impacted sectors are housing and property values, tourism sector, agriculture sector, transportation and health. Mainly UNEP prioritizes the mitigation of climate change effects in Egypt since it is home to 7 UNESCO world cultural heritages. The primary climate impacts forcing mobility of population in Egypt include sea level rise, desertification, and soil degradation and extreme flooding for Vietnam. The study states that since significant parts of population are impacted by climate change, mobility is a significant adaptation strategy including governmental relocation programs. The study concludes that the benefits of solid and early action far outweigh the economic costs of not acting.
Featured Satellite Museums for Sustainable Development: Increasing Sustainability Through International Strategy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alejandra Linares Figueruelo
Sustainable development depends on measures taken by public and private organizations. Museums stand out among these organizations due to the controversies arising in connection with their role in society. Museums use resources in order to provide public goods and services, being budgetary subsidies their main sources of income. Unfortunately, those are limited and shrinking. Therefore, during the last years the need for sustainable development of museums was stressed. In order to operate, museums were forced to find ways of increasing their own income and keeping their costs under control. Thus museums have begun to use management strategies similar to those used by private companies, such as internationalisation. By analysing case studies in order to assess how international expansion has helped museums to increase their sustainability, the aim is to trace patterns of convergence in order to develop a global interpretation of the strategy. Methodologically, it is based on the triangulation of qualitative techniques (bibliographic and documentary analysis, interviews, etc) and quantitative techniques (virtual ethnography and social network analysis), taking into account the need to approach the subject from an interdisciplinary approach that reflects the multi-dimensional reality of museology. This research analyses whether and how satellite museums could become sustainable and provide an overview on the models’ sustainability by considering why it is necessary to reform the traditional management of museums, which its main development directions are, what sustainable museum development should look like and why museums should implement it.
Environmental Performance in the Philippines and India: Comparative Analysis of the Sustainability Reports of Listed Companies View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Francia Santos
In the company setup of large-scale industries, there are such activities that involve environmental degradation. Therefore, it is mandatory for such companies to perform corporate sustainability reporting as part of their compliance to environmental laws and International Standard of Organisation (ISO) 26000. It is a virtue with which company can give back to the society for the environmental damages that they have done in the process of their manufacturing and business operations. This study has analysed sustainability reports of 25 listed companies each from Philippines and India. The study focuses on the environmental parameters such as energy consumption, renewable energy, water consumption, air emissions, generated wastes. The study further aims to develop a framework that involves Public Private Partnership (PPP) model which shows how a systemic approach to environmental sustainability is inclusive and resilient to the barriers to climate change. Implications of this study would be essential for environmental sustainability strategies that will mitigate the negative impact of business operations on society and nature. Relevant findings have significance in terms of climate change adaptation, environmental performance and policy implications. Most importantly, the need to have concerted efforts to resolve this large issue are addressed in this study.
Combustion Optimization by Magnetic Action Impact on CO2 Concentrations in the Mitigation of Air Pollution: Anthropogenic Climate Change from Mobile Sources Emissions View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Raul Guerrero Torres
The purpose of this paper is to present implementation of Combustion Optimization by Magnetic Action (COBMA) as a crucial action to effectively abating air pollution, controlling CO2 emissions, from mobile sources. It is supported by new analyses emissions test results and recent announcements from authoritative sources that are increasingly alarming. Announcements point out the global ineffectiveness on cutting emissions, missing the right path to a sustainable future and thoughtlessly moving away increasingly fast from it, towards a close unstable-equilibrium. Implementation of COBMA and other proven actions constitute an urgent path we must follow right now to keep the planet temperature from rising above 2°C, averting a climate catastrophe. We only will achieve this goal working together but, globally integrated around a more comprehensive view of the Earth-Atmosphere system balance; seeing the Earth as a planet that behaves as if it were alive, at least to the extent of regulating its climate and chemistry. Consequently, in this paper, we analyze the recent alarming reports, highlighting the scientific heritage on diagnosing climate-change evolution; the main roots of global ineffectiveness to guarantee a sustainable future are characterized; the importance of a balanced combustion and its connection with the earth-atmosphere balance is emphasized and, finally, from analysis of periodic tests results in two cars and two motorcycles, is concluded that COBMA, with and without pre-treatment, reduces efficiently CO and HC emissions concentrations controlling CO2 emissions concentrations, keeping them steady after several weeks.
