Search Results (415)

The objective of this study is to create an integrated and sustainability-centered framework to identify optimal locations for wind energy projects in Indonesia. This research employs a novel two-phase multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework that combines the strengths of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and Fuzzy Combined Compromise Solution (F-CoCoSo). Initially, DEA is utilized to pinpoint the most promising sites based on a variety of quantitative factors. Subsequently, these sites are evaluated against qualitative criteria such as technical, economic, environmental, and socio-political considerations using FAHP for criteria weighting and F-CoCoSo for ranking the sites. Comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the criteria weights and a comparative assessment of methodologies substantiate the robustness of the proposed framework. The results converge on consistent rankings across methods, highlighting the effectiveness of the integrated approach. Notably, the results consistently identify Lampung, Aceh, and Riau as the top-ranked provinces, showcasing their strategic suitability for wind plant development. This framework provides a systematic approach for enhancing resource efficiency and strategic planning in Indonesia’s renewable energy sector. Full article

At a time when globalisation and the economic crisis have forced a reduction in public expenditure at all levels, social policy and social welfare systems’ efforts for sustainable development are focused on identifying alternative ways to provide integrated services and achieve balanced social development. Post-colonial Cyprus has experienced radical socio-political changes that have demanded rapid responses to address its needs. This paper aims to discuss the role of the Cypriot voluntary sector in the national integrated care. Within the spectrum of ensuring social rights and social justice, the voluntary sector has emerged as a key factor of social policy implementation. Through the exploration and analysis of this context, an in-depth insight is given into socio-political and economic factors, dimensions, relationships, processes, patterns, and critical junctures that, under the influence of history, have shaped the voluntary sector’s path, formed its major stages of transformation, and defined its relationship with structures and institutions. Full article

Vaccine equity and access remain critical challenges in global health, particularly in regions with complex socio-political landscapes, like the Middle East. This review examines disparities in vaccine distribution within the Middle Eastern context, analyzing the unique challenges and opportunities across the region. It provides an overview of the area’s diverse finances and its impact on healthcare accessibility. We examine vaccination rates and identify critical barriers to vaccination, which may be particular issues in developing countries, such as vaccine thermostability, logistical hurdles, financial constraints, and socio-cultural factors, or broader problems, like political instability, economic limitations, and deficiencies in healthcare infrastructure. However, we also highlight successful efforts at the regional and national levels to improve vaccine equity, along with their outcomes and impacts. Ultimately, by drawing on the experiences of previous programs and initiatives, we propose strategies to bridge the gaps in vaccine access through sustainable financing, local manufacturing, and the strengthening of health systems. This approach emphasizes the importance of regional collaboration and long-term self-sufficiency in enhancing global health security and achieving more equitable outcomes in the Middle East. Full article

The rubber industry is facing major socio-economic and environmental constraints. Rubber-based agroforestry systems represent a more sustainable solution through the diversification of income and the provision of greater ecosystem services than monoculture plantations. Participative approaches are known for their ability to co-construct solutions with stakeholders and to promote a positive impact on smallholders. This study therefore implemented a participatory research process with stakeholders in the natural rubber sector for the purpose of improving inclusion, relevance and impact. Facilitation training sessions were first organised with academic actors to prepare participatory workshops. A working group of stakeholder representatives was set up and participated in these workshops to share a common representation of the value chain and to identify problems and solutions for the sector in Indonesia. By fostering collective intelligence and systems thinking, the process is aimed at enabling the development of adaptive technical solutions and building capacity across the sector for future government replanting programmes. The resulting adaptive technical packages were then detailed and objectified by the academic consortium and are part of a participatory plant breeding approach adapted to the natural rubber industry. On-station and on-farm experimental plans have been set up to facilitate the drafting of projects for setting up field trials based on these outcomes. Research played a dual role as both knowledge provider and facilitator, guiding a co-learning process rooted in social inclusion, equity and ecological resilience. The initiative highlighted the potential of rubber cultivation to contribute to climate change mitigation and food sovereignty, provided that it can adapt through sustainable practices like agroforestry. Continued political and financial support is essential to sustain and scale these innovations. Full article

The rapid rise of the silver economy in the new era has become a new driving force for socio-economic development. From the perspective of Marxist political economy theory, this paper analyzes the intrinsic logic of the silver economy’s development through three dimensions: surplus value, labor market, and capital. The study finds that the silver economy in the new era faces challenges such as insufficient supply of high-quality elderly care services, simultaneous shortages in both total talent quantity and structural imbalances, and contradictions between capital’s profit-seeking nature and social welfare. By introducing the multiple streams model, the paper elucidates the coupling process of these three streams and the timing of policy window openings. It proposes targeted strategies, including strengthening technological innovation, deepening labor market reforms, and optimizing capital allocation, to promote the robust development of China’s silver economy and inject strong momentum into sustainable and high-quality economic growth. Full article

This article explores the role of the European Union (EU) as a normative gender actor promoting women’s participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) within the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region. In a context marked by global inequality and overlapping international efforts, this paper assesses the extent to which EU-driven Europeanisation influences national gender policies in non-EU states. Using a postfunctionalist lens, this research draws on a qualitative analysis of EU-funded programmes, strategic documents, and a detailed case study encompassing Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. This study highlights both the opportunities created by EU initiatives such as Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, and regional programmes like EU4Digital and the challenges presented by political resistance, institutional inertia, and socio-cultural norms. The findings reveal that although EU interventions have fostered significant progress, structural barriers and limited national commitment hinder the long-term sustainability of gender equality in STEM. Moreover, the withdrawal of other global actors increases pressure on the EU to maintain leadership in this area. This paper concludes that without stronger national alignment and global cooperation, EU gender policies risk becoming symbolic rather than transformative. Full article

Deep-sea mining presents a critical sustainability paradox; it offers access to essential minerals for the technologies of the green transition (e.g., batteries, wind turbines, electric vehicles) yet threatens fragile marine ecosystems. As the terrestrial sources of these materials face mounting geopolitical, environmental, and ethical constraints, undersea deposits are increasingly being viewed as alternatives. However, the extraction technologies remain unproven at large scales, posing risks related to biodiversity loss, sediment disruption, and altered oceanic carbon cycles. This paper explores how deep-sea mining might be reconciled with sustainable development, arguing that its viability hinges on addressing five interdependent challenges—technological readiness, environmental protection, economic feasibility, robust governance, and social acceptability. Progress requires parallel advancements across all domains. This paper reviews the current knowledge of deep-sea resources and extraction methods, analyzes the ecological and sociopolitical risks, and proposes systemic solutions, including the implementation of stringent regulatory frameworks, technological innovation, responsible terrestrial sourcing, and circular economy strategies. A precautionary and integrated approach is emphasized to ensure that the securing of critical minerals does not compromise marine ecosystem health or long-term sustainability objectives. Full article

This article reframes sustainability transitions by positioning the deliberate deactivation of fossil fuel infrastructures—such as coal plants, oil fields, and pipelines—as a central mechanism of systemic change. While prevailing approaches often emphasize renewable energy and innovation, they tend to neglect how existing fossil systems are actively maintained by powerful networks. We argue that sustainability transitions require not only building alternatives but also deactivating entrenched fossil infrastructures. To address this gap, we propose an analytical framework that conceptualizes deactivation as a contested socio-political process shaped by antagonistic interactions between fossil blocs—coalitions of incumbent agents defending fossil infrastructures—and emerging deactivation networks working to disable and dismantle them. Drawing on six illustrative cases from diverse contexts, we examine the legal, institutional, narrative, and spatial mechanisms through which deactivation is either enabled or obstructed. We also introduce an interdisciplinary methodology that combines path tracing, social network analysis, and qualitative comparison to analyze how these dynamics between fossil blocs and deactivation networks evolve over time. This article contributes to the sustainability transition literature by demonstrating that the deactivation of fossil infrastructures is a political, material, and justice-oriented process, one that is essential to ending fossil fuel dependency and enabling sustainable futures. Full article

Colombia is a megadiverse, multiethnic, and multicultural country with a tremendous socio-ecological systems (SESs) diversity, which faces essential challenges arising from human activities, low levels of sustainable economic development, poverty, and social inequality rates, and the persistence of multiple forms of military, political, and social violence. Understanding the resilience of this complex system is both fundamental and challenging due to the contradictory effects of economic development and regional ecosystem degradation. This research proposes the Socio-Ecological Resilience Integrated Index (SERII) to assess historical changes in socio-ecological resilience in Colombia’s departments (political-administrative units) between 1985–2022. The SERII considers the trade-offs between ecosystems, social systems, and production systems, providing a complete perspective of integrated management with a geographic resolution at the level of general political-administrative units. The results reveal a spatial variation in the SERII, with worse conditions in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Colombian Amazon (on the country periphery) and better conditions in departments of the country center. From 1985 to 2022, the SERII experienced a decrease (51.5%), driven by ecosystem degradation, increased extractive activities (illegal and illegal), and the persistence of military, political, and social violence. While the limitations of the proposed indicator are described, the SERII effectively replicates the overall resilience of Colombia’s departments to external shocks and allows for suggesting regional management priorities for the targeted promotion of sustainable development. Full article

Refugee settlements are often positioned around natural borders, which often have a heightened danger of environmental hazards. Here, we aim to better understand why settlements are in environmentally vulnerable land and what social and physical factors contribute to this phenomenon. To do this, we present a holistic narrative that maps climate threats among displaced populations in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh, while contextualizing environmental vulnerability by incorporating historical and social constraints. Using ArcGIS, an online mapping program, we illustrate the overlap between different climatic events and how these vulnerabilities compound and intensify one another. We also discuss the history of natural migration and settlement pertaining to the physical landscape and the sociopolitical reasons refugees remain in environmentally vulnerable areas. Overall, we find an emerging trend that may be broadly applicable to instances of forced displacement; physical settlement locations near international borders demarcated by landforms may be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and extreme climate events. However, physical, social, and political reasons often cement these locations. Recommendations include enhancing the resilience of refugee camps through infrastructure improvements, sustainable land management, and reforestation efforts, which would benefit both the environment and local and refugee communities. Full article

Land subsidence significantly threatens vulnerable coastal environments. This study aims to explore how Semarang’s government, local communities, and researchers address land subsidence and its role in exacerbating flood risk, against the backdrop of ongoing efforts within flood risk governance. Employing an integrated mixed-methods approach, the research combined quantitative geospatial analysis (InSAR and land cover change detection) with qualitative socio-political and governance analysis (interviews, FGDs, field observations). Findings show high subsidence rates in Semarang. Line of sight displacement measurements revealed a continuous downward trend from late 2014 to mid-2023, with rates varying from −8.8 to −10.1 cm/year in Karangroto and Sembungharjo. Built-up areas concurrently expanded from 21,512 hectares in 2017 to 23,755 hectares in 2023, largely displacing cropland and tree cover. Groundwater extraction was identified as the dominant driver, alongside urbanization and geological factors. A critical disconnect emerged: community views focused on flooding, often overlooking subsidence’s fundamental role as an exacerbating factor. The study concluded that multi-level collaboration, improved risk communication, and sustainable land management are critical for enhancing urban coastal resilience against dual threats of subsidence and flooding. These insights offer guidance for similar rapidly developing coastal cities. Full article

Scientific research in Amazonia plays a fundamental role in identifying pathways to sustainable development for the region, addressing the challenges posed by climate change, preserving its unique ecosystems, and aligning with societal challenges and rights advocated by its diverse populations. This paper encompasses a broad range of scientific publications, spanning from 1977 to 2024, and highlights key research areas, analyzing their results and trends to inform future developments. It also identifies areas that require deeper investigation. The results emphasize a focus on agricultural, biological, and environmental sciences. On the other hand, there is a need for more extensive research within the social sciences. As shown, research on indigenous land rights, cultural heritage, and the socio-economic impacts of environmental disruptions is essential for developing comprehensive conservation strategies. Furthermore, research on governance, policy, and socio-political dynamics in Amazonia can provide innovative approaches to addressing the challenges and opportunities for its people, biodiversity, and role in climate regulation, as demonstrated by the findings. The strategic research fields identified in this paper provide a guide for future studies and policy development aimed at protecting the forest and its inhabitants. This study emphasizes the need for approaches that integrate both natural and social sciences as essential for addressing the complex ecological and socio-economic challenges that continue to shape the contemporary research landscape. Furthermore, this paper highlights the importance of unity and cooperation among Amazonian countries and research institutions in achieving these goals. In this context, reinforcing long-term, large-scale research programs such as the LBA (Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia) and the Scientific Panel for the Amazon (SPA) are crucial to advancing integrated, policy-relevant science for the sustainable future of the region. Full article

The change in the socio-political formation of Russia from a socialist planned system to a capitalist market system significantly influenced agriculture and one of its components—arable land. The loss of the sustainability of land management for arable land led to a reduction in sown areas by 38% (from 119.7 to 74.7 million ha) and a synchronous drop in gross harvests of grain and leguminous crops by 48% (from 117 to 61 million tons). The situation stabilized in 2020, with a sowing area of 80.2 million ha and gross harvests of grain and leguminous crops of 120–150 million tons. This process was not formalized legally, and the official (legal) area of arable land decreased by only 8% from 132.8 to 122.3 million ha. Legal conflict arose for 35 million ha for unused arable land, for which there was no classification of its condition categories and no monitoring of the withdrawal time of the arable land from actual agricultural use. The aim of this study was to resolve the challenges in the method of retrospective monitoring of soil–land cover, which allowed for the achievement of the aims of the investigation—to elucidate the history of land use on arable lands from 1985 to 2025 with a time step of 5 years and to obtain a detailed classification of the arable lands’ abandonment degrees. It was also established that on most of the abandoned arable land, carbon sequestration occurs in the form of secondary forests. In the course of this work, it was shown that the reasons for the formation of an array of abandoned arable land and the stabilization of agricultural production turned out to be interrelated. The abandonment of arable land occurred proportionally to changes in the soil’s natural fertility and the degree of land degradation. Economically unprofitable lands spontaneously (without centralized planning) left the sowing zone. The efficiency of land use on the remaining lands has increased and has allowed for the mass application of modern farming systems (smart, precise, landscape-adaptive, differentiated, no-till, strip-till, etc.), which has further increased the profitability of crop production. The prospect of using abandoned lands as a carbon sequestration zone in areas of forest overgrowth has arisen. Full article

The management of public health projects in a BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible) environment, exemplified by the ongoing war in Ukraine, presents unprecedented challenges due to fragile systems, heightened uncertainty, and complex socio-political dynamics. This study proposes an AI-driven framework to enhance the resilience and effectiveness of public health interventions under such conditions. By integrating a coupled SEIR–Infodemic–Panicdemic Model with war-specific factors, we simulate the interplay of infectious disease spread, misinformation dissemination, and panic dynamics over 1500 days in a Ukrainian city (Kharkiv). The model incorporates time-varying parameters to account for population displacement, healthcare disruptions, and periodic war events, reflecting the evolving conflict context. Sensitivity and risk–opportunity analyses reveal that disease transmission, misinformation, and infrastructure damage significantly exacerbate epidemic peaks, while AI-enabled interventions, such as fact-checking, mental health support, and infrastructure recovery, offer substantial mitigation potential. Qualitative assessments identify technical, organisational, ethical, regulatory, and military risks, alongside opportunities for predictive analytics, automation, and equitable healthcare access. Quantitative simulations demonstrate that risks, like increased displacement, can amplify infectious peaks by up to 28.3%, whereas opportunities, like enhanced fact-checking, can reduce misinformation by 18.2%. These findings provide a roadmap for leveraging AI to navigate BANI environments, offering actionable insights for public health practitioners in Ukraine and other crisis settings. The study underscores AI’s transformative role in fostering adaptive, data-driven strategies to achieve sustainable health outcomes amidst volatility and uncertainty. Full article

While interest in indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in Latin American housing has been growing over the past decade, the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted its critical importance due to increased residential occupancy time, exposure to indoor pollutants, and their implications for health. Recognising the climatic, cultural, infrastructural, and socio-economic diversity of the region, this study presents a bibliometric review of research and policy advances with the aim of examining progress towards effective pathways for sustainable housing, focusing on the integrated vision of energy efficiency, IEQ, and regulations as the key thematic axes. This review, conducted using the Scopus database, synthesises findings, methodological practices, and policy developments from 2013 to 2023. Based on the qualitative thematic analysis of studies included in the narrative synthesis, the results reveal that energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality frameworks in the region are still insufficient and fragmented, hindering improvements in residential energy efficiency and thermal comfort, particularly in low-income housing. This study underscores the urgent need for updated public policies with the explicit incorporation of IEQ and health indicators, stronger enforcement of energy efficiency and building regulations, and the improved dissemination of IEQ benefits to promote sustainable governance. Further research on evaluating the long-term impacts of implemented policies and interventions in public health is also essential to address ongoing social, political, and environmental challenges in the region. Full article