and holistic perspectives on corporate sustainability*

Social Experiments in Innovative Environmental Management: The emergence of ecotechnology Human production needs are met through the use of modern technology that is increasingly recognised as a threat to the planetary ecosystem and social sub-system. In light of this recognition, there is evidence that a planned transition towards more sustainable technological infrastructure is occurring across various production sectors. This change is often associated with re-orientating technology based on the concept of sustainable development and national-level strategies such as ecological modernisation, which prescribes phasing-out environmentally malignant conventional technology for cleaner post-industrial solutions. There is evidence, however, that a transition towards cleaner technological options is occurring at the local level. In southern Ontario, Canada ecological technology (ecotechnology) has been adopted in smallscale agricultural and educational facilities for the management of manure and domestic sewage. Ecotechnology is designed to meet human production requirements and to restore the environment through combining natural systems and engineered components to achieve cleaner production. Two types of ecotechnologies were investigated during this research: constructed treatment wetlands for the management of manure and greenhouse-based biological technologies for the management of domestic sewage. These options are novel and can be expected to encounter barriers resulting from a selection environment favouring pre-existing technological options that have previously become established. The overall objective of the research was to identify key factors both driving and constraining the adoption and implementation of the ecotechnology across four case studies. This obj...

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The “truth ” is elusive when dealing with complex, dynamic systems (Kay et al. 1999). Researchers, natural resource managers, and environmental practitioners face a number of challenges, including how to deal with information “fuzziness,” how to reconcile seemingly contradictory data, how to smooth over geographic and spatial variability or “lumpiness, ” and how to consolidate information gathered at different spatial scales. One proposed solution has been to amalgamate different types of knowledge, such as by working across disciplines, combining qualitative and quantitative information, and linking formal and local knowledge in a complementary manner. But this approach is no panacea for ecosystem assessments involving complex systems, and new challenges arise when attempts are made to combine knowledge in this way. The techniques to combine different forms of knowledge and data from disparate sources, different spatial scales, and indeed different worldviews are neither well developed nor validated. The Southern African Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (SAfMA,

Institutional arrangements have a profound impact on the use and management of multiple use commons. The emergent question is whether existing institutional arrangements governing multiple use commons are meeting sustainability needs and delivering desirable outcomes for stakeholders and communities. Sustainability has posed particular challenges to the rationality of bureaucratic organization and decision making. The emerging paradigm for sustainability governance emphasizes systems approaches, adaptive management, incentives, collaborative governance, decentralization, communicative planning, and conflict resolution. However, in many cases, the delivery of these approaches in practice requires substantial institutional change and this must be based on a deeper understanding of the relationships between institutions and behavior. Using Australia’s Outback Environments as the context for study, this paper will outline a general approach for understanding institutions in multiple use contexts and evaluating institutional efficacy in multiple use commons. The methodology proposed combines the Ostrom (2003) framework, an adaptation of the ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems

Understanding links between catchment management and community health demands consideration of complex bio-physical, socio-economic, and public health relationships. These relationships cut across a spectrum of health, environment and development considerations and highlight the need for appropriate and integrative modes of inquiry and decision making. What can Participatory Action Research (PAR) contribute towards achieving an integrated approach to catchment management and community health issues? In addition to a methodological overview of Participatory Action Research, this paper reviews other participatory, community, action, and ecosystems-based methods. Commonalities in principles and methods are highlighted across a number of

The essays by Allen et al and Peterson present a number of challenges to readers of this volume. For some, the theoretical framework for ecosystem management that is endorsed by the authors – a variant of what may be called the “ecosystem approach to ecosystem management ” (Crober, 1999; Kay et al., 1999) – will be unfamiliar, and there

The common approach to modeling geographic phenomena is based in the objectoriented paradigm. A paradigm that is argued here to be inappropriate and even unable to capture the spatio-temporal essence of the “things ” we model. These phenomena include migration, erosion, urban sprawl, percolation, and development, which form the basis of a geographer’s education in processes as opposed to objects. Modeling such phenomena as a collection of objects that undergoes change upon a spatial plain ignores that change defines the process. An alternative basis for modeling spatio-temporal phenomena is proposed that involves developing a conceptual framework that takes change as its core, a framework defined by process. The redefinition of modeling rudiments recommends new approaches to observation and measurement of geographic phenomena in order to develop an example of modeling geographic phenomena as processes. 1.

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