Millions of people in the world, particularly women and people in sub-Saharan Africa, suffer from hunger and poverty. Three of the major 2015-2030 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to eliminate hunger through food security and sustainable agriculture, eradicate poverty, and achieve gender equality through women’s empowerment. Shea trees and their associated fruit and butter can play a major role in each of these three SDGs for women and their families throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Shea trees are located over a wide expanse stretching more than 5,000 kilometers across over eighteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These trees produce fruit that encase a kernel within a nut from which shea butter can be extracted. Shea butter production is unique in that it is predominately controlled by women and they utilize the profits they earn from selling the nuts or butter for items to support their families such as purchasing grain for depleted stores during the hungry season and paying for children’s school fees or clothing. Shea butter is also cited as a sustainable oil compared to other world oils such as peanut, palm, soybean, or cocoa butter which require heavy land use land change and fertilization while shea trees often grow in existing fields or fallows without fertilization, application of pesticides, or clear cutting of forests. However, shea butter production is still human and material energy intensive, requiring substantial amounts of firewood to heat and dry the shea nuts and the shea tree distribution and associated shea butter production and role in African livelihoods is under threat from the increasing effects of globalization and climate change. Thus, this dissertation fills in important research gaps in the existing literature on shea (Vitellaria paradox and nilotica) and sustainable development by developing and implementing methods to model food security, energy, and climate and cultural impacts of a process using shea butter production as a case study. To begin, the first comprehensive shea tree land suitability model to estimate potential shea production and amount of women collectors was created using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that combined eight parameters: land use, temperature, precipitation, elevation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), soil-type and soil-drainage. Even under conservative estimates, the model produced an extensive shea tree suitability area of 3.4 million square kilometers with 1.8 billion trees in 23 countries and over 18 million women collectors, encompassing a total population of 112 million. Next, this dissertation improved the global application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a tool used to measure the entire environmental impacts of a process from extraction of materials through end-of-life stages, by utilizing a hybrid-LCA methodology that incorporated human energy and embodied energy and emissions from firewood of five traditional and improved shea butter production processes common throughout West Africa. When the LCA results of shea butter production were compared to other LCA studies of world oils, shea butter performed better in abiotic depletion and human toxicity impact categories as well as global warming potential when indirect land use land change was considered. Nevertheless, a large amount of human and firewood embodied energy and emissions were involved in shea butter production. However, mechanization of certain production steps was found to significantly reduce human energy without increasing total embodied energy. Furthermore, improved cookstoves modeled in this dissertation could reduce global warming potential, human toxicity, and embodied energy by 77-78%, 15-83%, and 52% respectively. These results would not have been captured in traditional LCA methodology and this was the first study to compare process-based and economic input-output LCAs in a developing country with very different reliance on and accessibility to resources than developed countries. Finally, an in-depth ethnographic study was conducted in this dissertation, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the importance of shea butter to African’s livelihoods in the context of food security and climate change. Shea butter was found to have a vital role in the maintenance and development of social bonds between female friends and family as well as an integral role in all religious and traditional ceremonies including a special shea ceremony. Additionally, 93% of survey respondents agreed there has been a decrease in shea fruit yields during their life time, 80% of which believed this was attributed to decreased rainfall. Moreover, 83% of 181 shea trees sampled were found to have an invasive vine species, drying out and/or have large worms. Therefore, recommendations derived from this dissertation for development agencies, governments and industry include further research on and promotion of: parkland management, preservation, and regeneration as well as reduction in the amount of human energy and firewood in shea butter production by providing better access of women collectors to mechanization, improved cookstoves, and transportation (i.e. donkey carts and bicycles) for harvesting shea fruit. Overall the research developed in this dissertation contributed significantly to the existing literature on shea and developed methods and a framework that has applications for achievement of the UN’s SDGs for 2030 particularly to obtain food security.

Globally, there is still a large number of people without access to safe drinking water; a known health risk. In rural areas of countries like Peru, when potable water systems are built the responsibility for maintaining these systems is given to volunteer water committees. Despite its prevalence as a management model, there is a consensus that community management alone cannot ensure sustainable water service. Therefore, the overall goal of this research is to assess the sustainability of community-managed water systems in rural areas of the department of Amazonas, Peru. Specifically, this research examines two mechanisms that have been shown to improve the sustainability of rural water systems: 1) monitoring for asset management and service delivery, and 2) provision of long-term external support. In Amazonas, three sustainability assessment tools have been used recently to monitor the service level and management of water systems. These assessment tools are: the Rural Water and Sanitation Information System (SIASAR, in Spanish), Tracers in Rural Water and Sanitation (Trazadores, in Spanish), and the Diagnostic Survey for Water Supply and Sanitation (Diagnostico, in Spanish). The three tools were assessed using a question mapping technique as well as a sustainability assessment tool evaluation matrix. This analysis identified the SIASAR assessment tool to be the most appropriate for ensuring sustainability of rural water supply systems. This research also used the data collected with the SIASAR and Trazadores assessment tools to assess the state of community-managed rural water systems in Amazonas. The analysis showed that 81% of systems in the SIASAR analysis and 58% of systems in the Trazadores analysis have deficiencies that are beyond the ability of the water committee to overcome. In recent years, the Peruvian government has prioritized the creation of an office in each district dedicated to providing external technical support to local water committees. This office, called the Área Técnica Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento (ATM), is charged with formalizing and training water committees which are given the name, Juntas Administradoras de los Servicios de Saneamiento (JASS). In order to examine the provision of long-term external support provided by the ATM to the JASS, field research was conducted in six districts in Amazonas. Valuable anecdotal evidence was provided by the field research that helped to form recommendations for strengthening the capacity of the ATM office at the local municipal level. The results of this research demonstrate that currently a large number of community-managed rural water systems in Amazonas are not sustainable but that the prioritization of monitoring and external support is an encouraging sign. If these mechanisms continue to be prioritized then it is highly likely that water systems throughout Amazonas and Peru will become more sustainable, bringing benefits to millions of Peruvians in rural areas.

Anaerobic digestion is the process by which organic carbon is converted into biogas in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Both of these products are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Therefore if anaerobic reactors are improperly maintained and biogas is leaked or intentionally released into the atmosphere because biogas production exceeds household demand, these reactors may become generators of greenhouse gas emissions instead of sustainable energy producers. The objective of this research was to develop a framework to assess if the demand for biogas by a rural adopter of an anaerobic digester matched with the associated local gas production. A literature review of the energy required to prepare commonly consumed food of rice and beans was conducted to establish required household biogas volumes. This review determined that 0.06 m3 of methane was required to prepare a half a kg of rice (on a dry weight basis) and 0.06 m3 of methane was required to prepare a half a kg of beans (on a dry weight basis). Furthermore an analysis of occupants of a rural Panamanian town was performed along with a design model for rural anaerobic reactor gas production to determine if an overproduction of biogas would occur if anaerobic reactors were built for families who owned swine. It was determined using this approach that all of the fifteen household would experience an overproduction of biogas based on household demand of methane and therefore would risk the release of greenhouse gases. Household size ranged from one to seven occupants and swine ownership ranged from one to fifteen per household. The differences of biogas supply with respect to demand from these fifteen situations ranged from 0.09 to 0.35 m3 of a biogas with 40% methane and 0.27 to 6.17 m3 of excess biogas with a methane content of 70% per household per day. An average of 0.45 m3 of a biogas with 40% methane per household per day was calculated and 0.87m3 for 70% methane for all fifteen households, excluding one outlier. However, because this research uses a model based on plug flow reactor mechanics, results may produce varied results from other studies concerning small scale anaerobic digestion.

Potential synergy effects and conflicts, so-called interactions, between a climate action that aims to mitigate the climate impact and five targets of the Sustainable Development Goals are identified in this study. The climate action is Conscious material choices for the frame, and the materials assessed are climate improved concrete and domestic wood. Standard concrete is used as the business as usual scenario. A pre-school building is used as an example building to demonstrate the difference in the climate impact of a frame made from the two materials assessed in the study. Life cycle assessments (LCA) of the frames shows that the domestic wood frame has a lower climate impact than the climate improved concrete frame.Two methods are used in this study. The first method is making an LCA for transportation of the materials assessed to see the environmental impact, and there is one scenario for each material where the transportation method is by a truck and one that is by train. The second method used for the study is a goal interaction scoring-method from “A draft framework for understanding SDG interactions” by Nilsson et al. (2016) that gives the interactions a score based on specific criteria. The scores are visualised in a colour coordinated matrix. The interactions generate synergies if the sums of the scores in the matrix are positive and will likely help accomplish the target. If the sums of the scores in the matrix are negative, it indicates that there are conflicts that could endanger the possibilities to reach the target.LCA of the transport scenarios shows that when the transportation distance is long, the climate impact is lowest when transporting as much as possible of the materials by train. Transporting the domestic wood for the frame by train (for longer distances) has a lower climate impact than transporting the climate improved concrete. For shorter distances, there is not a significant difference between transportation by truck or by train. The climate improved concrete gets score 0, meaning that there are neither positive nor negative interactions for the chosen material for the frame. The domestic wood gets the score +8, which indicates that there are synergies. Both the climate improved concrete and the domestic wood should not interfere with the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goal’s targets. However, the domestic wood for the frame generates more synergies and by choosing the domestic wooden frame for a building using a train as a transportation of the material when possible has the lowest environmental impact of the assessed materials for the frame. / <p>2020-06-08</p>

This research aims to explore the links between cross-sector collaboration, a holistic multi-stakeholder approach, and Sustainable Development, and identify whether such a holistic approach can lead to better collaboration processes, and ultimately results. Specifically, it focuses on sustainability in relation to food, through the lense of a qualitative case-study on the city of Malmö, which aims to identify and implement a more sustainable food system through the development of a Food Partnership where diverse stakeholders from across society are invited to actively engage in the process on a relatively equal basis. The study explores these theoretical concepts through the research question: How can a cross-sector collaboration with a holistic multi-stakeholder approach be developed and sustained in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals?The research uncovers the key factors which should be considered in order to form a holistic and long-term partnership, and based on these factors, an analytical framework is developed and used to assess the empirical findings and develop recommendations for the Malmö Food Partnership.This thesis provides a theoretical contribution by bridging the research gap between the concepts of cross-sector collaboration, a holistic multi-stakeholder approach and Sustainable Development. Furthermore, it also provides a practical contribution with its analytical framework model, which can be adapted to future partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals in urban settings.

In this dissertation I address urban sustainability with a focus on loss of cultural heritage and ecological knowledge by expanding the concept “extinction of experience” (EoE). Conceptualized by conservationist Robert Michael Pyle, EoE is the loss of nature experiences leading to apathy towards biodiversity and degradation of the common habitat. I expand upon Pyle’s formulation of the concept by considering the EoE cycle as an indirect driver that amplifies biodiversity losses. Additionally, I introduce the analysis of interrelated losses of biological and cultural diversity in relation to EoE. With a biocultural approach I discuss that EoE is tied to the infrastructural inertia within the global urban economy. I propose that addressing the EoE cycle is critical in that as a complex and multi-faceted process, it cements threats to biological and cultural diversity as permanent fixtures within society by obscuring their significance in light of economic development. This cycle remains a hidden problematic in that it perpetuates the environmental crisis while making such losses invisible within day-to-day lifestyle habits, constructing an emerging urban culture within the global economy that is ignorant of ecological processes and sustainability requirements. I frame the implications of EoE with an analysis of the newly proposed revisions of the UN Sustainable Development Goals voted on in September 2015 to prioritize local ecological knowledge and biocultural heritage.

The United Nations member states adopted and signed the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, establishing a framework for global discussion on sustainable development. The inclusion of 'Economic Growth' in these goals begs the question of what constitutes sustainable economic growth in the eyes of the UN. This insight, in conjunction with the ongoing debate about the growth paradigm, growthism, and the limits to growth, is, to put it mildly, fascinating and worth examining. Numerous studies conducted on this issue reveal that conventional economic growth is unsustainable and that alternative strategies must be used to bring about a paradigm shift. The purpose of this research is to determine whether traits of a competing discourse known as 'Degrowth' may be detected in the United Nations' discourse of sustainable economic growth. Whilst sustainable development has been a prominent topic for decades, Degrowth can be perceived as a more recent, less mainstream, and even radical discourse. The discourse emphasizes the limits to growth and advocates for democratically-led shrinking in production and consumption with the goal of achieving equality, justice and ecological sustainability. In order to accomplish the research project’s objective, the discourse and key characteristics of Degrowth are explored.  The study was conducted as a qualitative case study (design) using document analysis as the method. The analysis was guided by the theoretical lens combining Dryzek’s discourse analysis approach and Cosme et al.’s framework. By examining solely documents produced by the UN itself, this analysis concluded that while there are some parallels between the UN’s discourse of sustainable economic growth and Degrowth, there is a distinct difference between the two. The SDGs represent the traditional understanding of sustainable development, a discourse in which it is believed that economic growth can and will be decoupled from ecological degradation and that growth, in fact, is the key to poverty eradication, whereas Degrowth represents a school of thought in which the capitalistic system is viewed as the culprit to a majority of issues at hand and that decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation has been declared as debunked.

This thesis investigates the utilisation of maternal health care in Zambia, where despite being a signatory to the Safe Motherhood Initiative and Millennium Development Goals, which are aimed at improving maternal health, indicators of maternal health continue to perform poorly. The need to understand crucial factors in improving maternal health motivated the current research, especially since there is a dearth of literature in this area in Zambia. The thesis focuses on two aspects of maternal health care: antenatal care (ANC) and facility-based deliveries, to answer two broad questions. Firstly, what factors determine the use of ANC in Zambia? Secondly, to what extent has the abolition of user fees affected facility-based deliveries? An assessment of the factors, which explain the utilisation of ANC in Zambia, using three sets of comparable datasets reveals that, while there are differences in the factors explaining the decision to use ANC and the frequency of visits over time, the decision to seek ANC and the frequency of use is low among the poor and less educated, and there are marked regional differences in utilisation. The most appropriate econometric specification for antenatal visits, according to different performance indicators, was the two-part model, which differs from recent research favouring more complex methodologies. The analysis is further extended through the inclusion of supply-side factors and the examination of individual and community level factors associated with inadequate and non-use of ANC, following the adoption of the focused ANC approach in Zambia. To incorporate the supply side factors, the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey was linked to administrative and health facility census data using geo-referenced data. To assess the factors associated with (1) the inadequate use of ANC (defined as three or less visits), and (2) the non-use of ANC in the first trimester of pregnancy, we specify two multilevel logistic models. At the individual level, the woman’s employment status, quality of ANC received and the husband’s educational attainment are negatively associated, while parity, the household childcare burden and wealth are positively associated with inadequate utilisation of ANC. Both individual and community level characteristics influence inadequate use and non-use of ANC in the first trimester; however, community level factors are relatively stronger in rural areas. Although ANC is an important facet of maternal care, it occurs before delivery, but does not necessarily provide much information with respect to delivery decisions. Therefore, the thesis investigates delivery decisions, as well, in particular, the effect of user fee removal in rural areas of Zambia on facility-based deliveries. To account for regional differences, we employ a Seemingly Unrelated Regression model incorporating an Interrupted Time Series design. The analysis uses quarterly longitudinal data covering 2003q1-2008q4. When unobserved heterogeneity, spatial dependence and quantitative supply-side factors are controlled for, user fee removal is found to immediately increase aggregate facility-based deliveries, although the national trend was unaffected. Drug availability and the presence of traditional birth attendants also influence facility-based deliveries at the national level, such that, in the short-term, strengthening and improving community-based interventions could increase facility-based deliveries. However, there is significant variation and spatial dependence masked in the aggregate analysis. The results highlight the importance of service quality in promoting facility-based deliveries, and also suggest that social and cultural factors, especially in rural areas, influence the use of health facilities for delivery. These factors are not easily addressed, through an adjustment to the cost of delivery in health facilities. Additionally, we analyse the effect of user fee abolition on the location of childbirth, focussing on deliveries that occur in public health facilities using household survey data. To elicit the causal relationship, we exploit the relative change in fees across health districts within a difference-in-differences framework. Surprisingly, although reductions in home deliveries were observed, as expected, reductions in public health facility-based deliveries were also uncovered, along with increases in deliveries at private health facilities. However, these findings were statistically insignificant; suggesting that the abolition of user fees had little, if any, impact on the choice of location for childbirth. The statistically insignificant, but unexpected, causal effects further suggest that the removal of user fees have unintended consequences, possibly the transference of facility costs to the client, which would deter the utilisation of delivery services. Therefore, abolishing user fees, alone, may not be sufficient to affect changes in outcomes; instead, other efforts, such as improving service quality, could have a greater impact. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Economics / unrestricted

Efforts to remove and recover nutrients from wastewater are motivated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges of Engineering. Of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), multiple SDGs relate to managing nutrients in wastewater. SDG 6, which is to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” contains targets that aim to improve water quality by reducing pollution, halve the amount of untreated wastewater released to the environment, and increase recycling and safe reuse of wastewater (UN, 2017). SDG 2 seeks to improve food security and SDG 12 seeks to sustainably manage natural resources. Similarly, the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges of Engineering highlight managing the nitrogen cycle and providing access to clean water (NAE, 2019). Centralized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have historically been designed to remove nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphorus) and other contaminants prior to discharge. Modern wastewater treatment practices integrate recovery of resources including nutrients, energy, and water. The many available technologies, coupled with competing priorities, can complicate community decision-making on the choice of technology and the scale at which to implement the technology (i.e. building, community, or city), as well as determining how new upstream treatment may affect existing downstream treatment. Technologies that recover energy or manage nutrients such as anaerobic digestion, struvite precipitation, and microbial fuel cells can be implemented at a variety of scales in urban settings and may also be viable for influent types such as agricultural waste. Therefore, the overall goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the achievement of multiple sustainable development goals through the removal and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of influents at a variety of scales. One type of decision-making tool that assists in the choice of nutrient management technologies is a House of Quality. I developed a tool based on the House of Quality that integrated multiple priorities at three scales in a sewershed and produced rankings that generally align with current wastewater treatment practice. Accordingly, top-ranked city-scale technologies are those commonly employed (e.g. A2O, oxidation ditch) that use the dissolved organic carbon present in the wastewater to drive denitrification. Similarly, conventional treatment (e.g. flush toilet connected to a sewer) is ranked highest at the building scale because of its easy maintenance, small footprint, and inoffensive aesthetics. However, future trends such as technology development will likely affect the technologies, weightings, and scores and therefore improve the ranking of novel and emerging technologies. This trend may be amplified by the implementation of test beds, which can provide opportunities to improve the technical characteristics of developing technologies while minimizing risk for municipalities. The House of Quality planning tool was utilized in an in silico case study to analyze nutrient management technologies at three scales across the Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility sewershed in Hillsborough County, FL. The study demonstrated that employing treatment technologies upstream from the centralized wastewater treatment (i.e. building-scale source separation and community-scale technologies) could reduce nitrogen loading to the mainstream treatment train by over 50%. Sidestream treatment (i.e. the liquid effluent of anaerobic digestion that typically recycles back to the beginning of the mainstream treatment process) has minimal impact in nitrogen reduction, but is effective in reducing phosphorus loading to the mainstream due to high quantities of phosphorus recycling back to the head of the plant. These results can inform decision-makers about which context-specific nutrient management technologies to consider at a variety of scales, and illustrate that sidestream technologies can be the most effective in reducing phosphorus loading while building- and community-scale technologies can be most effective in reducing nitrogen loading to the centralized treatment plant. Struvite precipitation and microbial fuel cells (MFCs) can be used in combination to manage nutrients and recover energy in sidestreams of centralized WWTPs. Because the liquid effluent from engineered struvite precipitation often contains high concentrations of total nitrogen, I constructed and demonstrated a fixed-film nitrification reactor and a two-chambered MFC to further reduce total nitrogen and recover energy. The primary benefit of the MFC in the technology demonstrated here is not its ability to produce energy, but rather its ability to remove additional nitrogen through nitritation and denitritation. The sidestream nutrient removal prevents nutrients from returning to mainstream treatment, reducing operational costs. Such improvements to wastewater treatment processes can facilitate the transition to the resource recovery facility of the future by becoming a net-energy producer while also achieving the simultaneous benefits of nutrient recovery/removal and reduced costs associated with mainstream treatment. Nutrients and energy can also be recovered in agricultural settings. In this dissertation I studied an agricultural waste treatment system comprising a small-scale tubular anaerobic digester integrated with a low-cost, locally produced struvite precipitation reactor. This study investigated two digesters that treated swine waste in rural Costa Rica. I also facilitated construction of a pilot-scale struvite precipitation reactor that was built on site using local labor and local materials for approximately $920. Local products such as bittern (magnesium source) and soda ash (base) allowed for the production of struvite, a fertilizer that can replace synthetic fertilizer for rural farmers. Liquid-phase concentrations of PO43–-P and NH4+-N in agricultural wastewater increased by averages of 131% and 116%, respectively, due to release from the swine waste during anaerobic digestion. Despite this increase in liquid-phase concentrations, an average of 25% of total phosphorus and 4% of total nitrogen was removed from the influent swine manure through sedimentation in the digesters. During struvite precipitation, an average of 79% of PO43–-P and 12% of NH4+-N was removed from the waste stream and produced a solid with percentages (mass basis) of Mg, N, P of 9.9%, 2.4%, and 12.8%, respectively, indicating that struvite (MgNH4PO4) was likely formed. The treatment system offers multiple benefits to the local community: improved sanitation, removal of nutrients to prevent eutrophication, recovery of struvite as a fertilizer, and production of a final effluent stream that is suitable quality to be used in aquaculture. These are examples of how, more generally, quantifying nutrient recovery from agricultural waste and understanding recovery mechanisms can facilitate progress toward multiple sustainable development goals by improving sanitation, promoting sustainable management of wastes and natural resources, improving food security, and supporting local ecosystems. Managing nutrients from a variety of influent types at different scales can contribute to the achievement of multiple sustainable development goals. Worldwide trends of population growth and resource depletion highlight the need for models to easily allow decision-makers the ability to understand the fate of nutrients and implement infrastructure accordingly.

Cities are growing at unprecedented rates and are expected to be home to 70% of the world’s population in 2050. In this process, they face challenges such as densification, rapid population growth and loss of land and ecosystem services. Cities also have to remain livable and accessible to all. In 2014, the Swedish Public Health Agency declared that it would aim to close all avoidable health inequalities within one generation. In order to reach these objectives while also complying with the Sustainable Development Goals, urban green infrastructure (UGI) has been increasingly viewed as a powerful instrument that cities can utilize to help them meet their sustainability and human health targets. As nature-based solutions, UGI can greatly contribute to building resilience in urban areas by providing a number of ecosystem services. Simultaneously, UGI have also been shown to possess equigenic functions – the capacity to support the health of the least advantaged population groups equally or more so than the most privileged. This study has therefore aimed to operationalize a methodology to help identify optimal locations for developing and managing UGI in Stockholm with the aim of prioritizing health and minimizing impacts on existing ecosystems. This was done by drawing on 3 spatial datasets (land-cover, health and healthcare consumption, socioeconomics) and combining them using a GIS. The resulting maps are made for individual as well as aggregated health indicators. They display multiple optimal location clusters that were often located in the outer parts of the city, notably in the north-western and south-eastern boroughs. The inner-city however, showed little need for equigenic UGI improvements. The results and the implications of this methodology are discussed in relation to several aspects of UGI, including quality, quantity and accessibility, gentrification and UGI’s role in the smart city. Suggestions for future research building on this methodology are also provided.