The American Public Health Association APHA defines a "sustainable food system" [] [] as "one that provides healthy food to meet current food needs while maintaining healthy ecosystems that can also provide food for generations to come with minimal negative impact to the environment. A sustainable food system also encourages local production and distribution infrastructures and makes nutritious food available, accessible, and affordable to all.

Further, it is humane and just, protecting farmers and other workers, consumers, and communities. It recommends the Mediterranean diet which is associated with health and longevity and is low in meat , rich in fruits and vegetables , low in added sugar and limited salt, and low in saturated fatty acids; the traditional source of fat in the Mediterranean is olive oil , rich in monounsaturated fat.

The healthy rice-based Japanese diet is also high in carbohydrates and low in fat. Both diets are low in meat and saturated fats and high in legumes and other vegetables; they are associated with a low incidence of ailments and low environmental impact. At the global level the environmental impact of agribusiness is being addressed through sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

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At the local level there are various movements working towards local food production, more productive use of urban wastelands and domestic gardens including permaculture , urban horticulture , local food , slow food , sustainable gardening , and organic gardening. Sustainable seafood is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired.

The sustainable seafood movement has gained momentum as more people become aware about both overfishing and environmentally destructive fishing methods. As global population and affluence has increased, so has the use of various materials increased in volume, diversity and distance transported. Included here are raw materials, minerals, synthetic chemicals including hazardous substances , manufactured products, food, living organisms and waste.

Developed countries' citizens consume an average of 16 tons of those four key resources per capita, ranging up to 40 or more tons per person in some developed countries with resource consumption levels far beyond what is likely sustainable. Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of dematerialization , converting the linear path of materials extraction, use, disposal in landfill to a circular material flow that reuses materials as much as possible, much like the cycling and reuse of waste in nature.

Synthetic chemical production has escalated following the stimulus it received during the second World War. Chemical production includes everything from herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers to domestic chemicals and hazardous substances. Although most synthetic chemicals are harmless there needs to be rigorous testing of new chemicals, in all countries, for adverse environmental and health effects. International legislation has been established to deal with the global distribution and management of dangerous goods. The classification of the toxic carcinogenic agents is handle by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Every economic activity produces material that can be classified as waste. To reduce waste, industry, business and government are now mimicking nature by turning the waste produced by industrial metabolism into resource. Dematerialization is being encouraged through the ideas of industrial ecology , ecodesign [] and ecolabelling. In addition to the well-established "reduce, reuse and recycle", shoppers are using their purchasing power for ethical consumerism. The European Union is expected to table by the end of an ambitious Circular Economy package which is expected to include concrete legislative proposals on waste management, ecodesign and limits on land fills.


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On one account, sustainability "concerns the specification of a set of actions to be taken by present persons that will not diminish the prospects of future persons to enjoy levels of consumption, wealth, utility, or welfare comparable to those enjoyed by present persons". The developed world population is only increasing slightly but consumption levels are unsustainable.

The challenge for sustainability is to curb and manage Western consumption while raising the standard of living of the developing world without increasing its resource use and environmental impact. This must be done by using strategies and technology that break the link between, on the one hand, economic growth and on the other, environmental damage and resource depletion.

A recent UNEP report proposes a green economy defined as one that "improves human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities": The report makes three key findings: However, there is a period of job losses in transition, which requires investment in re-skilling and re-educating the workforce".

Several key areas have been targeted for economic analysis and reform: Historically there has been a close correlation between economic growth and environmental degradation: This trend is clearly demonstrated on graphs of human population numbers, economic growth, and environmental indicators. There is concern that, unless resource use is checked, modern global civilization will follow the path of ancient civilizations that collapsed through overexploitation of their resource base. In economic and environmental fields, the term decoupling is becoming increasingly used in the context of economic production and environmental quality.

When used in this way, it refers to the ability of an economy to grow without incurring corresponding increases in environmental pressure. Ecological economics includes the study of societal metabolism, the throughput of resources that enter and exit the economic system in relation to environmental quality. Exactly how, if, or to what extent this can be achieved is a subject of much debate. In the International Resource Panel , hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP , warned that by the human race could be devouring billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year—three times its current rate of consumption—unless nations can make serious attempts at decoupling.

By comparison, the average person in India today consumes four tons per year. Sustainability studies analyse ways to reduce resource intensity the amount of resource e. There are conflicting views whether improvements in technological efficiency and innovation will enable a complete decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation.

On the one hand, it has been claimed repeatedly by efficiency experts that resource use intensity i. For example, there are certain minimum unavoidable material requirements for growing food, and there are limits to making automobiles, houses, furniture, and other products lighter and thinner without the risk of losing their necessary functions. Consequently, long-term sustainability requires the transition to a steady state economy in which total GDP remains more or less constant, as has been advocated for decades by Herman Daly and others in the ecological economics community.

A different proposed solution to partially decouple economic growth from environmental degradation is the restore approach. Participants in such efforts are encouraged to voluntarily donate towards nature conservation a small fraction of the financial savings they experience through a more frugal use of resources. These financial savings would normally lead to rebound effects, but a theoretical analysis suggests that donating even a small fraction of the experienced savings can potentially more than eliminate rebound effects. The economic importance of nature is indicated by the use of the expression ecosystem services to highlight the market relevance of an increasingly scarce natural world that can no longer be regarded as both unlimited and free.

However, this only applies when the product or service falls within the market system. One approach to this dilemma has been the attempt to "internalize" these "externalities" by using market strategies like ecotaxes and incentives, tradeable permits for carbon, and the encouragement of payment for ecosystem services. Community currencies associated with Local Exchange Trading Systems LETS , a gift economy and Time Banking have also been promoted as a way of supporting local economies and the environment. Treating the environment as an externality may generate short-term profit at the expense of sustainability.

For example, industrial waste can be treated as an "economic resource in the wrong place". The benefits of waste reduction include savings from disposal costs, fewer environmental penalties, and reduced liability insurance. This may lead to increased market share due to an improved public image. The idea of sustainability as a business opportunity has led to the formation of organizations such as the Sustainability Consortium of the Society for Organizational Learning , the Sustainable Business Institute, and the World Council for Sustainable Development.

One school of thought, often labeled ecosocialism or ecological Marxism, asserts that the capitalist economic system is fundamentally incompatible with the ecological and social requirements of sustainability. By this logic, market-based solutions to ecological crises ecological economics , environmental economics , green economy are rejected as technical tweaks that do not confront capitalism's structural failures.

Sustainability issues are generally expressed in scientific and environmental terms, as well as in ethical terms of stewardship , but implementing change is a social challenge that entails, among other things, international and national law , urban planning and transport, local and individual lifestyles and ethical consumerism. Social disruptions like war , crime and corruption divert resources from areas of greatest human need, damage the capacity of societies to plan for the future, and generally threaten human well-being and the environment.

A major hurdle to achieve sustainability is the alleviation of poverty. It has been widely acknowledged that poverty is one source of environmental degradation. It is therefore futile to attempt to deal with environmental problems without a broader perspective that encompasses the factors underlying world poverty and international inequality.

According to the UN Population Fund, high fertility and poverty have been strongly correlated, and the world's poorest countries also have the highest fertility and population growth rates. For example, teaching water treatment to the poor by boiling their water with charcoal , would not generally be considered a sustainable strategy, whereas using PET solar water disinfection would be. Also, sustainable best practices can involve the recycling of materials, such as the use of recycled plastics for lumber where deforestation has devastated a country's timber base.

Another example of sustainable practices in poverty alleviation is the use of exported recycled materials from developed to developing countries, such as Bridges to Prosperity 's use of wire rope from shipping container gantry cranes to act as the structural wire rope for footbridges that cross rivers in poor rural areas in Asia and Africa. According to Murray Bookchin , the idea that humans must dominate nature is common in hierarchical societies.

Bookchin contends that capitalism and market relationships, if unchecked, have the capacity to reduce the planet to a mere resource to be exploited. Nature is thus treated as a commodity: Whereas most authors proceed as if our ecological problems implementing recommendations which stem from physical, biological, economic etc. A pure capitalist approach has also been criticized in Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change to mitigation the effects of global warming in this excerpt:.

In regards of the United States of America, The Government and the Economy has had a long lasting impact on the environment, but in a problematic way. Policy issues regarding the environment has shown that the country regards the protection of the environment as a "second hand issue. For the government, one cost might be the loss of public confidence and trust, while a firm might lose market share and profitability []. Deep ecology is a movement founded by Arne Naess that establishes principles for the well-being of all life on Earth and the richness and diversity of life forms.

The movement advocates, among other things, a substantial decrease in human population and consumption along with the reduction of human interference with the nonhuman world. To achieve this, deep ecologists advocate policies for basic economic, technological, and ideological structures that will improve the quality of life rather than the standard of living.

Those who subscribe to these principles are obliged to make the necessary change happen. Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, underground metals, and minerals 2. Reduce dependence upon synthetic chemicals and other unnatural substances 3. Reduce encroachment upon nature. One approach to sustainable living , exemplified by small-scale urban transition towns and rural ecovillages , seeks to create self-reliant communities based on principles of simple living , which maximize self-sufficiency particularly in food production. These principles, on a broader scale, underpin the concept of a bioregional economy.

Other approaches, loosely based around New Urbanism , are successfully reducing environmental impacts by altering the built environment to create and preserve sustainable cities which support sustainable transport and zero emission housing. Residents in compact urban neighborhoods drive fewer miles, and have significantly lower environmental impacts across a range of measures, compared with those living in sprawling suburbs. With more diversification between people, this increases people's happiness and leads to a better standard of living.

The concept of Circular flow land use management has also been introduced in Europe to promote sustainable land use patterns that strive for compact cities and a reduction of greenfield land take by urban sprawl. Large scale social movements can influence both community choices and the built environment. Eco-municipalities may be one such movement.

The eco-municipality movement is participatory, involving community members in a bottom-up approach. In Sweden, more than 70 cities and towns—25 per cent of all municipalities in the country—have adopted a common set of "Sustainability Principles" and implemented these systematically throughout their municipal operations. There are now twelve eco-municipalities in the United States and the American Planning Association has adopted sustainability objectives based on the same principles.

There is a wealth of advice available to individuals wishing to reduce their personal and social impact on the environment through small, inexpensive and easily achievable steps.


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  • Application of social sustainability requires stakeholders to look at human and labor rights, prevention of human trafficking, and other human rights risks. The international community has identified many industries whose practices have been known to violate social sustainability, and many of these industries have organizations in place that aid in verifying the social sustainability of products and services.

    Resources are also available for verifying the life-cycle of products and the producer or vendor level, such as Green Seal for cleaning products, NSF for carpet production, and even labeling of Organic food in the United States. The cultural dimension of sustainability is known as cultural sustainability. Important in the advancement of this notion have been the United Nations , Unesco , and in particular their Agenda 21 and Agenda 21 for culture now also known as Culture 21 , a program for cultural governance developed in — and coordinated by United Cities and Local Governments UCLG , created in Sustainability is central to underpinning feelings of authenticity in tourism.

    Feelings of authenticity at a tourist site are thus implicitly linked to sustainable tourism; as the maximisation of existential "felt" authenticity at sites of limited historical provenance increases the likelihood of return visits. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Sustainability and environmental management. Sustainable energy , Renewable energy , and Efficient energy use. Food , Food security , and Category: Ecological economics , Environmental economics , and Green economy. Peace , Social justice , Environmental justice , and Environmental ethics. Reduce encroachment upon nature 4.

    Agenda 21 for culture and United Cities and Local Governments. Sustainability portal Sustainable development portal Environment portal Earth sciences portal Ecology portal Renewable energy portal Energy portal. United Nations Agenda 21 Applied sustainability Appropriate technology Carfree city Circles of Sustainability Cradle-to-cradle design Ecopsychology Environmental issue Environmental racism Extinction Human overpopulation Introduced species Micro-sustainability Pledge two or fewer campaign for smaller families Resource efficiency Sociocultural evolution Sustainability and systemic change resistance Sustainable capitalism Sustainable city Sustainable design Sustainable development Sustainable Development Goals Sustainable forest management Sustainable living Sustainable sanitation Sustainability science Sustainability standards and certification Sustainability studies World Cities Summit.

    Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice. Towards an engaged approach". Environment, Development and Sustainability. Check date values in: Retrieved 16 February From bibliometric analysis to a conceptual framework and future research directions". Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Daily practices, contextual motivations and subjective values". Journal of Consumer Behaviour. Is Sustainability Still Possible? The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

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    Environment; Our Common Future, Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable Development; Paragraph 1". United Nations General Assembly. Retrieved 1 March Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century. A Definition for Environmental Professionals". Journal of Environmental Sustainability -Volume 1. Sustainable Agriculture and Value networks. Journal of Management and Sustainability , Retrieved on: American Society of Civil Engineers. What is Sustainable Development? Sustainable Development Submitted manuscript.

    For the Common Good: Capitalism as if the world mattered. A Strategy for Sustainable Living. The Journey Metaphor and Environmental Sustainability". Defining and predicting sustainability PDF. Challenges to the Sociology of Development". Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice: Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development". The Nature of Sustainability. Chelsea Green Publishing, , p. Hendrix, Sustainable Backyard Polyculture: Designing for ecological resiliency. Sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world. Holling, Adaptive environmental assessment and management.

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      Archived from the original PDF on 3 February Journal of Animal Science. A significant barrier for many forest managers in developing countries is that they lack the capacity to undergo a certification audit and maintain operations to a certification standard. Although a majority of forests continue to be owned formally by government, the effectiveness of forest governance is increasingly independent of formal ownership.

      Thus, decentralization of management offers an alternative solution to forest governance. The shifting of natural resource management responsibilities from central to state and local governments, where this is occurring, is usually a part of broader decentralization process. The major key to effective decentralization is increased broad-based participation in local-public decision making. In , the World Bank report reveals that local government knows the needs and desires of their constituents better than the national government, while at the same time, it is easier to hold local leaders accountable.

      Many reasons point to the advocacy of decentralization of forest. They are often short of resources, may be staffed by people with low education and are sometimes captured by local elites who promote clientelist relation rather than democratic participation. Broadly speaking, the goal of forest conservation has historically not been met when, in contrast with land use changes; driven by demand for food, fuel and profit.

      The development of National Forest Funds is one way to address the issue of financing sustainable forest management. Appropriate use and long-term conservation of forest genetic resources FGR is a part of sustainable forest management. Genetic diversity in forests also contributes to tree vitality and to the resilience towards pests and diseases. Furthermore, FGR has a crucial role in maintaining forest biological diversity at both species and ecosystem levels.

      Selecting carefully the plant material with emphasis on getting a high genetic diversity rather than aiming at producing a uniform stand of trees, is essential for sustainable use of FGR. Considering the provenance is crucial as well. For example in relation to climate change, local material may not have the genetic diversity or phenotypic plasticity to guarantee good performance under changed conditions. A different population from further away, which may have experienced selection under conditions more like those forecast for the site to be reforested , might represent a more suitable seed source.

      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. January Learn how and when to remove this template message. Criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management.

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      Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture. Implications for sustainable forest management in Europe" PDF. Bioversity International , Rome, Italy. Agroforestry dehesa Analog forestry Bamboo forestry Close to nature forestry Community forestry Ecoforestry Energy forestry Mycoforestry Permaforestry Plantation forestry Social forestry Sustainable forestry Urban forestry.

      Coppicing Forest farming Forest gardening Logging Manufacturing lumber plywood pulp and paper sawmilling Products biochar biomass charcoal non-timber palm oil rayon rubber tanbark Rail transport Tree farm Christmas trees Wood engineered fuel mahogany teak Woodworking. Forestry portal Environment portal Ecology portal Earth sciences portal Biology portal Sustainable development portal. Retrieved from " https: Sustainable forest management Habitat management equipment and methods Forest certification Forest governance Forest conservation Forest management.

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