Drinking water is a crucial provision for our survival and well-being. However, it is often taken for granted. The environmental objectives in Sweden appear insufficient to ensure drinking water with good quality, because the objectives lack clear protective descriptions, which allow municipalities to determine how to interpret and ensure drinking water. The purpose of this study is to investigate barriers and opportunities for sustainable management of drinking water sources in a tourist region. In order to fulfil the purpose, the study identifies vulnerabilities in the municipal drinking water system with the help from scenario analysis of climate change and tourism development. The study also presents relevant adaptation solutions. The DPSIR framework was used as a tool to categorize and describe the studied problem and was based on a literature study and a mapping of the study area. Åre ski resort was used as a case, and it is supplied with drinking water from two groundwater beds infiltrated by Åresjön (a lake, part of a river). Åresjön is included in an objective to keep drinking water quality standards.     The results show that climate change and tourism development reduces surface and groundwater quality, primarily by increasing microbiological particles. Increases in the number of tourists combined with insufficient monitoring of groundwater levels and infiltration capacity knowledge are unsustainable and are expected to reduce the amount of water in the large groundwater beds. The identified most vulnerable parts of the drinking water system are within the municipal planning process, water production and wastewater treatment. Therefore, the various adaptation solutions address these issues. Direct and indirect adaptations are necessary to ensure sufficient drinking water of good quality until 2100. Tourism development is the main driver for affecting drinking water (if no adaptation measures are implemented). / <p>20180623</p>

Submitted by Lucienne Costa (lucienneferreira@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-03-23T17:19:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RICARDO DA CUNHA CORREIA LIMA - TESE (PPGRN) 2017.pdf: 7969849 bytes, checksum: fd8ce7fe6de0c51c5a626249abf8395f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-23T17:19:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RICARDO DA CUNHA CORREIA LIMA - TESE (PPGRN) 2017.pdf: 7969849 bytes, checksum: fd8ce7fe6de0c51c5a626249abf8395f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-26 / A desertificação é um fenômeno de escala global caracterizado pela degradação das terras nas zonas áridas, semiáridas e subúmidas secas para o qual concorrem fatores de ordem ambiental, social, econômica e institucional. Definir um conjunto de ações para seu enfrentamento requer o conhecimento das complexas relações estabelecidas entre a sociedade e o meio ambiente de modo a identificar e monitorar as causas e consequências do processo. A modelagem dessa realidade permanece um desafio para pesquisadores em todo o mundo, especialmente no Brasil, em virtude da grande quantidade de aspectos a serem considerados para os quais nem sempre há informações confiáveis e disponíveis. Procurando reduzir essa lacuna, o presente estudo estruturou um sistema de avaliação e comparação espacial da desertificação para os 32 municípios das microrregiões geográficas do Seridó paraibano e potiguar a partir de um conjunto de 27 indicadores recomendados na literatura relacionada, organizados segundo o modelo conceitual DPSIR - força motriz, pressão, estado, impacto e resposta. Os indicadores, discretos ou continuamente distribuídos, foram calculados, normalizados, ajustados à relação direta ou inversa com a desertificação, ponderados por especialistas de diferentes áreas do conhecimento e organizados em planos de informação do tipo raster. Técnicas de análise de decisão multicritério incorporadas a um sistema de informações geográficas foram utilizadas para desenvolver índices multicriteriais de desertificação, para cada categoria DPSIR, como instrumentos de avaliação das causas estruturais, causas diretas, susceptibilidade, consequências e respostas da sociedade para o problema. Os resultados apontaram que causas estruturais do processo, entre elas a concentração de terra, desigualdade social e cultura do consumo, mantêm 49,7% da área estudada em níveis de severidade moderado, forte ou muito forte de desertificação. Já as causas diretas, representadas pelo desmatamento e manejo inadequado da terra, afetam 19,7% da área com a mesma gravidade. Quanto à susceptibilidade ambiental, econômica e social, 83% da área está sujeita a iniciar ou agravar processos de desertificação em níveis de severidade moderado, forte e muito forte. Os impactos do processo, observados pela migração do campo para a cidade e pelo declínio da participação da agropecuária no PIB municipal, ocorrem com igual gravidade em 73,5% da área. Por fim, apenas 19,9% da área está relativamente preparada para enfrentar o problema através da organização do poder público e da sociedade civil em virtude dos níveis baixo e muito baixo de desertificação registrados. Numa avaliação global, considerando simultaneamente os 27 descritores do problema, observou-se que 59,7% da região está submetida a níveis moderado, forte ou muito forte de desertificação. Diante dos resultados alcançados, o estudo em questão sugere a promoção de ações governamentais e da sociedade civil para ampliar o acesso da população rural, nas áreas mais afetadas, à terra, à programas de geração ou transferência de renda, à educação básica universalizada, à assistência técnica agroecológica, à programas de recomposição da vegetação nativa, à serviços de proteção social dos contingentes que migram para as cidades, entre outras iniciativas, visando o enfrentamento do processo de desertificação e mitigação de suas consequências. / Desertification is a global phenomenon characterized by the degradation of land in the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas for which environmental, social, economic and institutional factors compete. Define a set of actions to address it requires knowledge of the complex relationships established between society and the environment to identify and monitor the causes and consequences of the process. The modeling of this reality remains a challenge for researchers worldwide, especially in Brazil, due to the large number of aspects to be considered for which there is not always reliable and available information. To reduce this gap, this study structured a system of evaluation and spatial comparison of desertification for the 32 municipalities of Seridó geographical microregions in Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte from a set of 27 indicators recommended in the related literature, organized according to the conceptual model DPSIR - forces, pressures, state, impacts, and responses. The indicators, either discrete or continuously distributed, were calculated, normalized, adjusted for the direct or inverse relationship with desertification, weighted by experts from different areas of knowledge and organized into raster type information plans. Multicriteria decision analysis techniques incorporated into a geographic information system were used to develop multicriteria desertification indexes for each DPSIR category as instruments for assessing the structural causes, direct causes, susceptibility, consequences and society’s responses to the problem. The results pointed out that the structural causes of the process, including land concentration, social inequality and consumption culture, hold 49.7% of the area in a moderate, strong or very strong level of desertification. Direct causes, represented by deforestation and inadequate land management, affect 19.7% of the area in the same way. Regarding environmental, economic and social susceptibility, 83% of the area is subject to initiate or aggravate desertification processes at moderate, strong and very strong levels. The impacts of the process, observed by migration from the countryside to the city and by the decline of agriculture and livestock’s contribution to local GDP, occur equally in 73.5% of the area. Finally, only 19.9% of the area is relatively prepared to tackle the problem through the organization of government and civil society. In an overall assessment, 59.7% of the region is subjected to moderate, strong or very strong levels of desertification, considering all the 27 descriptors of the problem. Most of the region, according to the study, demand actions of governments and society to expand rural population access to land, income generation or transfer programs, universal basic education, agroecological technical assistance, native vegetation recovery programs, social protection services for the contingents that migrate to the cities, among other initiatives, aiming to confront the desertification process and mitigate its consequences.

The increasing quantity of post-consumer products results in pollution and excess waste. In order to reduce this impact, environmental legislation related to the issue gradually releases governments and holds private companies accountable for the management of reverse flows of post-consumer products. Logistics involves the process that makes products reach into the hands of the end consumer as well as the return. In the automobile market, the manufacturer is responsible for the production chain and for the recycling of its components. Due to legal requirements, the various actors in the production chain seek to operate in the automotive tire reverse post-consumer logistics chain and its management. The Solid Waste Act establishes that manufacturers, distributors and traders are obliged to take care of the collection and destination for recycling. Post-consumer reverse logistics for automotive tires is important for sustainability because it provides benefits to companies, society and the environment. Based on the foregoing, this research had as general objective to analyze the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the reverse logistics of post-consumption of waste tires in Aracaju / SE, aiming to subsidize the management of waste tires through indicators, a tool used to generate a index to measure the sustainability of the system being analyzed. Regarding the paradigm, the present research is classified as critical. This thesis has an applied and pragmatic nature, since it seeks political solution at the level of public policies, changes in consumer behavior and recycling. It is a survey of indicators and descriptive indexes. The characterization of the productive chain of waste tires in Aracaju / SE was carried out and a matrix of sustainability indicators was constructed based on the DPSIR method. Sustainability indicators were measured and a scale was developed to create a sustainability index. The environmental, social and economic sustainability indexes were classified as poor in the proposed scale, which proves that the chain of reverse logistics management of waste tires in Aracaju does not meet the sustainability assumptions. Thus, the problem of the negative externality of waste tires is an exercise of neoclassical economics, does not solve the problem of sustainable disposal, however the reverse logistics when it comes to the internalization of this externality gave economic visibility, which would be a cost of opportunity to recycle in Aracaju. In this way, it was proposed to propose actions aimed at assisting in the management and final destination of tires in the reverse logistics chain, contributing with future research, which could be used in the integrated management and environmentally sound management of solid waste. Other products subject to reverse logistics. / A crescente quantidade de produtos de pós-consumo tem como consequência a poluição e excesso de resíduos. Com o objetivo de reduzir esse impacto, as legislações ambientais relacionadas ao tema desobrigam gradativamente governos e responsabilizam empresas privadas pelo gerenciamento dos fluxos reversos dos produtos de pós-consumo. A logística envolve o processo que faz com que os produtos cheguem até as mãos do consumidor final, bem como o retorno. No mercado automobilístico, o fabricante é responsabilizado pela cadeia produtiva e pela reciclagem de seus componentes. Devido a exigências legais os diversos atores da cadeia produtiva buscam atuar na cadeia de logística reversa de pós-consumo de pneus automotivos e seu gerenciamento. A Lei de Resíduos Sólidos estabelece que fabricantes, distribuidores e comerciantes sejam obrigados a cuidar do recolhimento e destinação voltados à reciclagem. A logística reversa de pós-consumo de pneus automotivos é importante para a sustentabilidade porque propicia benefícios para as empresas, para a sociedade e para o meio ambiente. Com base no exposto, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo geral analisar a sustentabilidade ambiental, social e econômica da logística reversa de pós consumo de pneus inservíveis em Aracaju/SE, visando subsidiar o gerenciamento de pneus inservíveis por meio de indicadores, ferramenta utilizada para gerar um índice voltado a mensurar a sustentabilidade do sistema em análise. Com relação ao paradigma, a presente pesquisa se classifica como crítica. A presente tese possui natureza aplicada e pragmática, uma vez que busca solução política em nível de politicas publicas, mudanças no comportamento de consumo e reciclagem. Trata-se de um levantamento de indicadores e índices descritivos. Foi realizada a caracterização da cadeia produtiva de pneus inservíveis em Aracaju/SE e construída uma matriz de indicadores de sustentabilidade com base no método DPSIR. Foram mensurados indicadores de sustentabilidade e elaborada uma escala voltada à criação de um índice de sustentabilidade. Os índices de sustentabilidade ambiental, social e econômico foram classificados como péssimos na escala proposta, o que comprova que a cadeia de gerenciamento de logística reversa de pós-consumo de pneus inservíveis em Aracaju não atende aos pressupostos de sustentabilidade. Assim, o problema da externalidade negativa dos pneus inservíveis se trata de um exercício de economia neoclássica, nao resolve o problema do descarte sustentável, no entanto a logística reversa quanto se trata da internalização dessa externalidade deu visibilidade econômica, o que seria um custo de oportunidade para reciclar em Aracaju. Dessa forma, visou-se propor ações voltadas a auxiliar no gerenciamento e destinação final de pneus na cadeia de logística reversa, contribuindo com futuras pesquisas, que poderão ser utilizadas na gestão integrada e no gerenciamento ambientalmente adequado dos resíduos sólidos, servindo inclusive como modelo para outros produtos sujeitos à logística reversa. / São Cristóvão, SE

A pesar de la importancia de los parques nacionales para la conservación de la biodiversidad y de paisajes únicos y representativos de la biosfera, la gestión de muchas de estas áreas enfrentan serias dificultades, determinadas por una variedad de deficiencias, entre las cuales destacan sistemas de monitoreo que no abordan de manera integral sus principales problemas de gestión. La presente investigación examina los factores influyentes dentro de la efectividad de manejo de estas áreas, utilizando las metodologías DPSIR, ANP y ARS, con miras a proponer nuevos enfoques metodológicos que contribuyan a incrementar la eficiencia en pro del cumplimiento de sus objetivos de conservación. El enfoque DPSIR permitirá organizar un conjunto de factores influyentes a considerar en el sistema de gestión y aclara las relaciones de causa-efecto hacia una gestión más eficaz y eficiente, mediante la identificación de las fuerzas motrices, presiones, estado, impactos y respuestas en el sistema de gestión. El Proceso Analítico de Redes (ANP) se utiliza para modelar el problema de decisión y la red de criterios y alternativas estructuradas en grupos, a fin de priorizar su importancia en función de los objetivos de manejo. Este enfoque proporciona un lenguaje común de gestión para una mejor integración del sistema de gestión en los otros sistemas de la administración pública, con la activa participación de los principales actores, incluyendo las comunidades locales. El Análisis de Redes Sociales (ARS) servirá para describir las relaciones existentes entre todos los actores vinculados entre sí en forma significativa con el manejo y conservación del área protegida, documentando los patrones estructurales que surgen entre ellos dentro de la compleja red de interacciones del Parque Nacional, con influencia o autoridad en su manejo. / Díaz Martín, D. (2015). Aplicación de las metodologias DPSIR, ANP y ARS en el manejo y conservacion del Parque Nacional Waraira Repano, Venezuela [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/48804

Στην παρούσα εργασία πραγματοποιείται οικολογική αξιολόγηση των εκβολικών οικοσυστημάτων των ποταμών Εύηνου και Πείρου που εκβάλλουν στον Πατραϊκό κόλπο. Αποτελούν συνδυασμό χερσαίων και υγροτοπικών περιοχών με σημαντική οικολογική αξία και λειτουργίες. Ο Εύηνος σχηματίζει τυπικό δέλτα σε αντίθεση με τον Πείρο, στην περιοχή εκβολής του οποίου οι συνθήκες δεν ευνοούν μια τέτοια διαδικασία. Στόχοι της μελέτης ήταν: η καταγραφή και χαρτογράφηση των τύπων οικοτόπων στις επιμέρους περιοχές με τη χρήση των GIS, η μελέτη των ανθρωπογενών δραστηριοτήτων και των επιπτώσεών τους στη δομή των οικοτόπων, η εκτίμηση της κατάστασης τους με τη βοήθεια δεικτών οικολογικής αξιολόγησης και τελικά, η ανάπτυξη κατάλληλου διαχειριστικού σχεδίου. Για την πραγματοποίηση της εργασίας αυτής προηγήθηκαν επισκέψεις και στα δύο εκβολικά οικοσυστήματα, φωτογραφήσεις, καθώς και συλλογή και προσδιορισμός φυτικού υλικού από τους κυριότερους τύπους βλάστησης. Για την αναγνώριση των τύπων οικοτόπων χρησιμοποιήθηκε ο Τεχνικός Οδηγός Χαρτογράφησης του δικτύου NATURA 2000. Για την εκτίμηση της οικολογικής κατάστασης των εξεταζόμενων περιοχών εφαρμόστηκαν τα κριτήρια της ποικιλότητας, φυσικότητας, σπανιότητας, απειλής και δυνατότητας αποκατάστασης στο επίπεδο των οικοτόπων και των συνδυασμών τους σύμφωνα με την Οδηγία 92/43/ΕΟΚ. Επιπλέον, εφαρμόστηκε η ανάλυση DPSIR σε επίπεδο λεκάνης απορροής των υπό μελέτη ποταμών, με έμφαση στα εκβολικά τους συστήματα, με τη χρήση 45 δεικτών. Οι τύποι οικοτόπων, η αξιολόγηση με βάση τα κριτήρια και οι πιέσεις-επιπτώσεις σε κάθε περιοχή μελέτης οπτικοποιήθηκαν σε ψηφιακούς χάρτες με τη χρήση των GIS. Καταγράφηκαν 322 taxa στο δέλτα του Εύηνου και 225 taxa στις εκβολές του Πείρου, εκ των οποίων τα 112 είναι κοινά μεταξύ των περιοχών μελέτης. Πραγματοποιήθηκε περιγραφή και χαρτογράφηση 22 φυσικών και 3 ανθρωπογενών τύπων οικοτόπων. Οι κυριότερες αλλοιώσεις που καταγράφηκαν ως αποτέλεσμα της μακροχρόνιας ανθρώπινης παρουσίας είναι: η έντονη διάβρωση και οπισθοχώρηση της ακτογραμμής, η επέκταση των καλλιεργούμενων εκτάσεων εις βάρος των φυσικών και η έντονη ρύπανση των υδάτων. Από την αξιολόγηση προέκυψε ότι οι οικότοποι στις δύο περιοχές βρίσκονται σε μια μέτρια έως καλή κατάσταση διατήρησης, με την περιοχή του Εύηνου να λαμβάνει την υψηλότερη βαθμολογία ως προς τα κριτήρια. Το πλαίσιο DPSIR ανέλυσε την επικρατούσα κατάσταση και ανέδειξε τη σοβαρή υποβάθμιση που υφίστανται τα εκβολικά συστήματα. Συμπερασματικά, τα GIS αποτέλεσαν ένα σημαντικό διαχειριστικό εργαλείο, καθώς επιτρέπουν τη συνεχή καταγραφή των διαχρονικών αλλαγών και την εκτίμηση του βαθμού αλλοίωσης των δύο εκβολικών οικοσυστημάτων με σκοπό τη διατήρηση και την προστασία τους. / In the present study an ecological evaluation of the estuary ecosystems of the rivers Evinos and Piros flowing into the Gulf of Patras was carried out. They constitute a combination of terrestrial and wetland areas with significant ecological value and functions. Evinos forms a typical delta unlike Piros, in the estuarine region of which the conditions do not favor such a process. The objectives of the study were: the recording and mapping of habitat types in each area with the use of GIS, the study of human activities and their impact on the structure of habitats, the assessment of their state with the use of indicators of ecological value and finally, the development of an appropriate management plan. For the accomplishment of this study visits to both estuarine ecosystems, photography and collection and identification of the plant material from the main vegetation types was performed. For the identification of habitat types the Technical Guide for Mapping of the network NATURA 2000 was used. To assess the ecological status of the areas concerned the criteria of diversity, naturalness, rarity, threat and replaceability were applied, at the level of habitats and their combinations, according to the Directive 92/43/EEC. Moreover, the DPSIR analysis was applied at the basin level of the studied rivers, with emphasis on their estuarine systems. The habitat types, the evaluation based on the criteria and the pressures-impacts on each of the studied areas were visualized into digital maps using GIS. 322 taxa were recorded for the Evinos delta and 225 for the mouth of Piros, of which 112 are common among the study areas. Description and mapping of 22 natural and 3 anthropogenic habitat types was carried out. The main alterations that were recorded as a result of long-term human presence are: the intense erosion and retreat of the coastline, the expansion of cultivated land at the expense of natural one and the strong water pollution. Assessment revealed that the habitats in both regions are at a moderate to good conservation status, with the area of Evinos receiving the highest rating concerning the above criteria. The DPSIR framework analysed the present state and highlighted the serious degradation that occurs in estuaries. In conclusion, the GIS are an important management tool, as they allow the continuous recording of the diachronic changes and the evaluation of the degree of deterioration of both estuary ecosystems in order to conserve and protect them.

En France, les phénomènes de périurbanisation imposent une réflexion sur les conditions d'un développement urbain durable. En zone languedocienne, dans un contexte de forte attractivité démographique, l'urbanisation rapide et mal maîtrisée se fait aux dépens des terres agricoles les plus productives de la région, sur la plaine littorale. L'évolution des demandes sociales et les enjeux autour de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale interrogent sur la façon dont les politiques de planification périurbaine intègrent le foncier agricole. Pour objectiver les débats et appuyer les décisions, les instances agricoles expriment des besoins urgents en indicateurs spatialisés. L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une démarche de co-construction d'un système d'indicateurs pour suivre les processus d'artificialisation des terres. Modélisation systémique et concertation itérative ont été retenues comme les approches adaptées pour guider le processus de constitution et de sélection des indicateurs. Cette recherche revisite le modèle DPSIR en l'adaptant au concept de système territorial et propose d'organiser la participation des acteurs pour garantir une légitimité d'utilisation des indicateurs. L'application de la méthode, inscrite dans des impératifs d'opérationnalité, porte sur la production et la mise à disposition en ligne d'un ensemble organisé de 141 indicateurs spatialisés liant l'évolution du capital foncier à celle de la tache artificialisée languedocienne.

Without a comprehensive understanding of anthropogenic pressures on the water environment, it is difficult to develop effective and efficient strategies to support water management in a proactive way. A broader systems perspective and expanded information systems are therefore essential to aid in systematically exploring interlinks between socioeconomic activities and impaired waters at an appropriate scale. This thesis examined the root causes of human-induced water problems, taking the socioeconomic sector into account and using systems thinking and life cycle thinking as the two main methods. The European DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State of the Environment-Impacts-Responses) framework was also used as a basis for discussing two kinds of approaches to water management, namely state/impacts-oriented and pressure-oriented. The results indicate that current water management approaches are mainly state/impacts-oriented. The state/impacts-oriented approach is mainly based on observed pollutants in environmental monitoring and/or on biodiversity changes in ecological monitoring. Employing this approach, the main concern is hydrophysical and biogeochemical changes in the water environment and the end result is reactive responses to combat water problems. As a response, a pressure-oriented approach, derived from a DPR (Drivers-Pressures-Responses) model, was developed to aid in alleviating/avoiding human-induced pressures on the water environment. From a principal perspective, this approach could lead to proactive water-centric policy and decision making and the derivation of pressure-oriented information systems. The underlying principle of the DPR approach is that many root causes of human-induced water problems are closely related to anthroposphere metabolism. An industrial ecology (IE) perspective, based on the principle of mass/material balance, was also introduced to trace water flows in the human-oriented water system and to account for emissions/wastes discharged into the natural water system. This IE-based perspective should be used as part of the basis for developing pressure-oriented monitoring and assessing impacts of human-induced pressures on recipient waters. While demonstrating the use of the pressure-oriented approach, two conceptual frameworks were developed, for water quantity and water quality analysis, respectively. These two frameworks could help motivate decision makers to consider water problems in a broader socioeconomic and environment context. Thus they should be the first step in making a broader systems analysis in any given river basin, regarding setting systems boundary and identifying data availability. In this context, a combined hydrological and administrative boundary is suggested to monitor anthropogenic processes and organise socioeconomic activity statistics. / QC 20120515

A linear model of consumption − produce-use-dispose − has constantly increased the pressure on the environment in recent decades. There has been a great belief that technology will solve the problem, but in many cases it is only partly contributing to the solution. For a full solution, the root causes of problems need to be identified. The drivers-pressures-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework allows the drivers of a specific problem to be identified by structuring the causal relations between humans and the environment. A state/ impact-based approach can help identify pressures and drivers, and make what can be considered an end-of-pipe response. Rather than that mainstream approach, this thesis adopts a pressure-based driver-oriented approach, which could be considered a proactive approach to environmental resource management. In physical resource management, material flow analysis (MFA) is one of the tools used for communication and decision support for policy response on resource productivity and pollution abatement. Here, element flow analysis (EFA), a disaggre- gation of MFA for better mass balance, was applied in pollution control and resource management. The pressure-based driver-oriented approach was used to model element flows and thus identify the drivers of problems in order to improve pollution control and resource management in complex systems. In one case study, a source-storage-transport model was developed and applied in five lakes in the Stockholm region to identify the drivers of copper pollution by monitoring the state of the environment through element flow modeling linking diffuse sources and fate in the lakes. In a second case study, a system dynamics modeling approach was applied in dynamic element flow modeling of the global mobile phone product system to investigate the drivers for closing the material flow loop through a sensitivity analysis. In a third case study, causal loop diagram modeling was used for proactive resource management to identify root causes of a problem in a complex system (product systems of physical consumer goods) by qualitatively analyzing unintended environmental consequences of an improvement action. In the case study on lakes in the Stockholm region, the source-transport-storage model proved capable of predicting copper sources through monitoring the sediment copper content in the heavily copper-polluted lakes. The results also indicated how the model could help guide policy makers in controlling copper pollution. The system dynamics study proposed an eco-cycle model of the global mobile phone product system by tuning the drivers, which could lessen the pressures on resources by decreasing the resource demands for production and increasing resource recovery at product end-of- life. The causal loop diagram study showed that a broader systems approach is required to understand and identify the drivers for proactive resource management in a complex system, where improvement actions can lead to unintended consequences. / <p>QC 20150420</p>

Academic studies of sustainable fashion, and the discourses of actors in business and policy, under-define fashion as a system by treating the social and ecological aspects of fashion separately. This reduces the potential for academic findings to provide knowledge useful for transformation of the fashion system and obstructs desired outcomes from policy and business responses to fashion’s negative social and environmental impacts. Understanding how fashion works as a system presents a challenge to transdisciplinary efforts for transformation towards sustainability. In this Licentiate, I explore ways to look at fashion using a feminist critical realist social-ecological system approach. I develop a theoretical framework to understand the fashion system, and particularly to understand what is keeping it unsustainable. I view fashion as a ‘nested’ social-ecological system with inseparable social and biophysical parts.  I use a feminist lens characterized by diversity; this draws attention to gaps, what is known, missing and absent. To show that social aspects and material aspects are intertwined and cannot be studied independently of each other, I use critical realism as a metatheory. I bring its idea of a stratified reality and the model of the four-planar social being to the social-ecological system approach that forms the core of my work. I combine Ostrom’s frequently used general framework for analysing social-ecological systems with a policy-oriented framework for sustainable development. Drawing from these two frameworks I develop a five principles for a strategy framework for sustainable fashion. In summary, applying the strategy framework within the theoretical framework enables thinking more deeply about the structure and implications of knowledge contributions when taking a social-ecological perspective on actions for sustainability.  The two papers in this licentiate thesis examine the effects of ontological standpoints that allow environmental impacts of textile fibres to be analysed in isolation from the cultural and social aspects of fashion.    Paper 1, ‘Making Resilient Decisions for Sustainable Circularity of Fashion’, is recently published in the journal Circular Economy and Sustainability (Palm et al. 2021). It aimed to show how current circularity responses to global sustainability challenges have so far fallen short. The current path of the expanding fashion industry is fraught with accelerated material throughputs and increased disposal and waste, contributing to human-driven environmental changes at planetary scale. In addition the fashion industry has issues of poor working conditions, modern-day slavery, and justice. By representing a Driver – State – Response framework as an adaptive cycle of a social-ecological system, it makes it clear that reducing planetary pressure from the global fashion and textiles industry requires greater recognition of the system’s social drivers. This paper was a step towards the iterative development of my sustainable fashion framework.   Paper 2, ‘Reviewing and defining the concept of Sustainable Fashion: a critical social-ecological approach’, is included as an early-stage draft manuscript. It aims to provide a starting point for discussions towards a coherent science-business-policy definition of the concept of sustainable fashion itself. Using the five theoretically grounded principles of my strategy framework, I examine the manifold definitions related to sustainable fashion such as eco fashion, green fashion, ethical fashion, slow fashion, organic fashion and cradle-to-cradle-fashion. Critical realism’s idea of absence structures this paper.  This thesis contributes to knowledge of what a nested inseparable social-ecological system fashion is, enriching ontological descriptions for resilience research more generally.  Also, it provides concrete guidance for transdisciplinary efforts with business and policy working to decrease fashion’s negative impacts on humans and the planet, by showing that fruitful responses pay attention to social activities beyond the industry value chain, not just material flows within. Finally,  I hope my research serves as a contribution to propaedeutics of the field of sustainable fashion, i.e. giving an introductory understanding of the reality and the possibilities of fashion for people and planet. / <p>The work presented here was part of a consortium research project between Stockholm Resilience Centre and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, initiated and funded by H&amp;M Group, the Swedish public limited company. Celinda Palm, Sarah Cornell and Tiina Häyhä’s employment was part-funded through this project.</p>

Acknowledging the necessity of a detailed understanding of the dynamics and contributions of wetlands in decision making processes, this research aims to identify the trade-offs between human interventions and human well-being in wetlands. Being one of the thirteen Ramsar Sites of Turkey and providing various ecosystem functions, Kizilirmak Delta was determined as the case study area of the research. Following the literature review on wetlands and their valuation, an assessment framework was developed for analyzing the trade-offs in the Kizilirmak Delta. Following this framework, first the importance, values and functions of the delta were defined by evaluation of its ecological, socio-cultural and economic structures and function analysis. Then, the pressures on the delta and their impacts were analyzed through DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impacts and Responses) Framework by action analysis. Finally, the trade-offs in the delta were calculated in monetary terms through valuation of the functions of the delta. Because of time and data constraints only a small portion of the functions of the delta was quantified in monetary terms. Calculated functions of the delta provide 753.531.772 TL worth of services that constitutes the 34 % of total GDP of the delta. This value was accepted as the cost of trade-offs in the delta, because the pressures on the delta would result in the loss of this value.