This thesis discusses the role of Environmental Impact Assessments in the implementation of the concept of sustainable development within the realm of North-South tensions regarding responsibilities for environmental conservation. Environmental Impact Assessments provide opportunities for realizing sustainable development not only because they operationalize the integration principle of sustainable development by facilitating the equilibrium between development and environmental conservation objectives, essential for ecological sustainability, but also because, in allowing for public participation in the assessment process, they promote the realization of the civil right of participation in public affairs, an essential component of good governance required for sustainable development to thrive. However, the thesis scrutinizes the reality in developing countries of adopting Environmental Impact Assessments. They are not yet accorded a lot of value because it is foreign technology imported from the North, which must be adopted often as a conditionality to that much needed development assistance, which often does not take into account cultural realities in developing countries and which inadvertently plays a role in the growth of Third World debt, corruption and erosion of sovereignty in the Third World. It argues, therefore that the utility of Environmental Impact Assessment in the realization of global sustainable development is limited by the existence of these realities unless modifications are made in the implementation of Environmental Impact Assessments in developing countries.

This thesis examines the concept of sustainable development with a primary focus on its advancement and implementation at a local level. The local level is identified as the site where significant potential exists for people to engage directly in the practice of sustainable development. Community is analysed as the social network where meaningful associations between people and place are established. The cultural transformation of values and ideologies that frame development trajectories is examined as an important means for achieving lasting change towards sustainable development. This work is based on original ethnographic research that was conducted on the Isle of Gigha, Scotland following the community buy-out of the island that occurred in 2002. While working with the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust and the development process for the island, research was carried out, employing the methods of participatory action research and co-operative inquiry, over a year and a half. This research concentrated on analysing the social processes that were enacted on the Isle of Gigha to increase the community’s ability to better plan and manage a programme of sustainable development. The idea of sustainable development for Gigha that recognises the natural heritage and cultural heritage as its primary assets is a strongly supported ideal among the members of the community. However, to formulate social processes that allowed for the active participation of the island’s population in development planning proved difficult, requiring regular scrutiny and revision. Community development engenders sustainability because the important criteria for individual support of sustainable development—which includes active participation and citizenship, care for the environment, and human well-being—are learned at a local level through a strong and supportive community. Three social processes are identified from the Gigha case study as significant for the ability of people at a local level to participate in sustainable development: forms of decision making, planning sustainable development, and the professional facilitation of community-led development. These social processes establish the three main themes of this work. Though this work focuses extensively at a local level, it also acknowledges that a thorough examination of sustainable development requires a critical analysis of global development trends and the ideologies that frame and define meanings of development and social progress. Thus, each of the three social processes is approached through three distinct analytical lenses: a critical analysis of socio-cultural development trends, a local analysis based on the Gigha case study, and a discussion of how these processes can be strengthened to establish social systems/infrastructures that encourage sustainable practices and behaviours. The majority of works discussing sustainable development describe the scientific and technological pathways for its increase. It is argued in this work that significant improvements for sustainable development require social change and direct transformation of values/ideologies that frame our understanding of the world and humanity’s development within it. This work examines how the identified social processes can be structured to support experiential learning and critical praxis at a local level thus creating a stronger understanding of the sustainable development imperative. An analysis of the agency and capacity of communities to produce their own programmes of sustainable development is presented in order to demonstrate how individual values of ownership, responsibility and accountability are engendered to create a stronger awareness and commitment towards transformative social change. This analysis also addresses how professionals/practitioners can facilitate this type of lasting change towards sustainability.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and generate quantifiable measures of sustainability elements that apply to manufactured products in terms of environmental, social and economic benefits. This paper presents a new comprehensive methodology for sustainability evaluation of a new product at the design and development stage focusing on consumer electronics products through a Sustainability Scoring method. A new product is evaluated for its integral elemental and the overall sustainability contents impacting the product when it reaches the end-of-life by considering the entire life-cycle including the effective residual use of recovered materials in the subsequent life-cycles of the same or different products. This procedure can also be used by design engineers to assess a given product in comparison with a similar product, such as a prior or a subsequent model, or one from a competitor. The proposed six major integral sustainable elements are: products environmental impact, societal impact, functionality, resource utilization and economy, manufacturability and recyclability/remanufacturability. Each of these elements has corresponding sub-elements and influencing factors which are categorized using appropriate weighting factors according to their relative importance to the product.

In order for the Vredefort Dome to be declared, and to exist as a World Heritage site, it is imperative that the tourism product owners in the area realise their roles as custodians of this precious site. This proposition leads to the main aim of this study, namely to develop an integrated tourism development strategy for the Vredefort Dome as a proposed World Heritage site. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aim, a thorough literature review was conducted. The goal of the literature study was to investigate the birth and growth of sustainable development based on Agenda 21. This literature review revealed that the three-legged chair of sustainable development has more profound foundations than the obvious economical, social and environmental aspects. Each one of these aspects consists of various elements that are interrelated. In order to formulate a strategy for sustainable tourism development, this interrelation between aspects was analysed and the following conclusions were drawn: Sustainable tourism development is an integrated system Education, poverty alleviation, health and insight into human settlements and demographics are the cornerstones of social well-being Climate change, land resources, deforestation, drought, mountain development, agriculture, biodiversity, freshwater resources, toxic chemicals and waste are central concerns in environmentally sensitive development 0 Institutions involved such as the different levels of Government, as well as aspects such as fair trade, economic enhancement programmes and economic measuring are essential elements of economic sustainability. The custodians of the present generation in the Vredefort Dome should realise their role in this complicated and integrated system and therefore the practices at present were evaluated as well as the future view regarding sustainable practices. In order, then, for sustainable tourism development to realise in the Vredefort Dome, the following strategies were formulated to assist product owners to achieve sustainability: Assisting to alleviate poverty in the VFD with a view to a sustainable future and supporting sustainable livelihoods Improving participation that would be true to the demographic composition in the VFD Protecting and promoting human health in the VFD Promoting education and training in the VFD Promoting sustainable human settlement development in the VFD-area Following an integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development Conserving the biological diversity in the VFD Acquiring support from national, provincial and local levels of government Establishing a system that guarantees supply that is coherent with fair trade in tourism Establishing an economic enhancement system that will contribute to the well-being of the VFD community Reducing leakage and other purchasing practices. The results of the empirical study indicated that tourism stakeholders are prepared to improve the present situation in the Vredefort Dome and are willing to adjust their businesses practices in the future. These changed practices addressed some strategic issues and the strategies above would give direction to this proposed World Heritage site to become more sustainable. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

In May 2003, the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was identified in Alberta, and the impact was immediately devastating on farmers and rural communities across Canada. Not only were farmers faced by the impacts of BSE, they were also contending with record low farm incomes, changing commodity prices, and overall rural depopulation. One grassroots adaptation to this rural crisis is the adoption of Holistic Management (HM) by farmers in western Canada. Although growing in popularity, HM has yet to be systematically assessed in the literature. The overall objectives of this study were to characterize HM; to assess to what degree it simultaneously addresses environmental, economic, and social priorities; to examine the impacts caused by the BSE crisis on HM and non-HM producers; and to explore the potential of HM for adapting and dealing with future crises. This was carried out through a questionnaire that was mailed to 784 HM producers across western Canada. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of survey data showed that HM allowed producers to systematically address all three pillars of sustainability (environment, economic, and social). In particular, the social aspect emphasized in the practice of HM was unique compared to other approaches to agricultural sustainability that focus on economic and/or environmental priorities. When comparing HM producers to non HM producers, the HM producers were less impacted by the BSE crisis. Indeed, holistic managers described how the occurrence of BSE and subsequent consequences to the entire industry actually made them more resilient. The key factors that helped HM producers adapt to the BSE crisis were community involvement, within the family and larger community, and farm management. New farm practices, such as rotational grazing, and the HM clubs to support these new farm innovations/practices also aided producers in adapting to the BSE crisis. The results of this study demonstrate the value of alternative community based approaches that address agricultural challenges in a truly holistic and sustainable manner.

This dissertation explores the connection between sustainability and dominant images of the future in contemporary film. The research uses an ecofeminist visual interdisciplinary methodology to investigate the importance of vision/images of the future in guiding the creation of ecologically sound and socially just futures, and how films, as a source of dominant imagery, may be interfering with our ability to envision positive futures as well as provide opportunities for positive visions. The research is in two parts: 1) a visual studies analysis of contemporary films based on critical futures studies (Causal Layered Analysis) ecofeminism, and 2) and interviews with filmmakers. The visual analysis explores and problematises patterns of images of the future in film, especially those of natural landscapes, animals, plants, human settlements, food, and water as well as racial and gender roles within human society. The interview data documents the filmmakers’ experiences within film industry and their commentary on the filmmaking process and practices. The research participants’ words also inform the exploration of opportunities for the transformation of the filmmaking industry. Filmmaking is theorised as a technology, based on Ursula Franklin’s interdisciplinary work on technology as systems of practice, and Albert Borgmann’s philosophy of technology. This dissertation argues that we need visions of sustainable, diverse, and socially just futures to inspire and guide our actions in the present, and that films can contribute to positive imagery. The research explores barriers to envisioning sustainable futures, such as dystopic Hollywood film images and scientific/ environmental professional and scholarly practices that discourage visioning work. As well as exploring why it is important that societies have visions of ecologically and socially just futures, and how the filmmaking industry can be part of the sustainability revolution. / Graduate

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Microfinance is perceived to be one of the poverty alleviation mechanisms in poor countries today. This study was set out to find out what impact microfinance has on the livelihoods of women in Kakondo sub-county, Rakai district in Uganda. The reason why the focus was put on women was to find out whether these women can manage to sustain their livelihoods on a long term perspective through the process of acquiring microfinance credit. In order to find out what impact microfinance has, a group of women from the same borrowing group (all BRAC microfinance borrowers) were interviewed. As speculated, the results from the study showed that microfinance credit does really play a key role in helping the poor cope with poverty however, as microcredit on its own does not alleviate poverty, which also brings us to the fact that these women can improve their livelihoods however sustainability on a long term perspective is doubtful.

Cities evolve in a rhizome-like fashion interconnected nodes accelerating the flow of information, rate of innovation, and the accumulation of wealth, but also making apparent new inequalities and informal economies. Since the '70s, the green and feminist movements, and self-help housing, are challenging the duality of Western discourse, scientific methods, and the separation between working and living. The creation of productive livelihoods and self-sufficient households---including local food production---can help restore local cultural and ecological habitats in the urban milieu. Sustainability is redefined as maintaining, improving and restoring local household productivity levels. This multi-disciplinary study considers the evolution of technological, social and artistic innovation; it considers housing as a fluid interface between human and biological systems, thus a social organization defined by its human ecology. Overall productivity performance is measured in terms of cultural and biological diversity, and leisure time produced.