<p>In agreement with Agenda 21, Baltic 21 Education and the UN decade for education for sustainable development 2005-2014, Sweden has agreed to reform its educational system in order to support a sustainable development. This thesis aims to examine the implications of education for sustainable development from the perspective of teachers of grade seven to nine by identifying the possibilities, difficulties and knowledge that exists around the concept today. This has been done by combining a literature review and a qualitative case-study, which was conducted through five indepth interviews with teachers. The purpose of these interviews was to identify a few different opinions regarding what sustainable development could imply in the reality of the school and classroom. The most important results derived from this study were: Firstly, that there exist problems in applying education for sustainable development in schools today. The reason for this is a lack of understanding of the need for dealing with sustainable development in schools, as well as a lack of understanding of what education for sustainable development implies for education. The second result of importance was that the teachers who took part in the case-study had knowledge and experiences that could easily be combined with education for sustainable development, but that there is a need for teacher education and training on several levels to increase the possibilities of successfully implementing education for sustainable development in the Swedish school-system.</p> / <p>I enighet med bland annat Agenda 21, Baltic 21 Education och FN:s årtionde för utbildning för hållbar utveckling ska Sverige omorientera sina utbildningssystem så att de stödjer en hållbar utveckling. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vad utbildning för hållbar utveckling innebär för lärare i grundskolans högre årskurser,genom att identifiera och undersöka anknutna möjligheter, svårigheter och erfarenheter. Detta har gjorts utifrån en teoretisk litteraturstudie och en kvalitativ fallstudie. Den teoretiska studien baserades på vetenskaplig litteratur såväl som internationella och nationella styrdokument, överenskommelser och undersökningar et cetera. För fallstudien genomfördes fem djupintervjuer med lärare. Detta syftade till att identifiera några olika åsikter om vad perspektivet utbildning för hållbar utveckling kan innebära i skolans verklighet. De viktigaste resultaten som framkom ur denna studie var att det idag förekommer problem med att tillämpa utbildning för hållbar utveckling i skolvärlden. Detta beror dels på bristfällig förståelse för behovet av hållbar utveckling i skolan, och bristfällig förståelse för innebörden av utbildning för hållbar utveckling. Dessutom framkom att de intervjuade lärarna hade mycket kunskap och erfarenhet som är förenlig med utbildning för hållbar utveckling, men att det kommer att behövas lärarfortbildning och utbildning på olika nivåer för att lyckas integrera perspektivet i skolverksamheten.</p>

<p>Sedan en tid tillbaka har en kommun i Stockholmsområdet infört motorisk screening för samtliga barn i förskoleklass. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka tio pedagogers uppfattningar och upplevelser av denna screening. Utifrån ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer som sedan analyserades. Resultatet visar att pedagoger upplever motorisk screening som meningsfull samt att de ser ett starkt samband mellan barns motoriska färdigheter och deras skolprestationer. Det framkommer även tydligt att pedagogerna i föreliggande studie delar kommunens strävan att det är betydelsefullt att tidigt upptäcka barn med motoriska svårigheter och erbjuda dem rätt stöd och åtgärder. Däremot visar resultatet att vissa pedagoger ser den motoriska screeningen som ett pedagogiskt hjälpmedel, medan andra pedagoger uppfattar screeningen som ett konkurrensmedel.</p>

Stress kan påverka den fysiska och psykiska hälsan när en obalans mellan de krav som ställs och förmågan att hantera dessa sker. Arbetsrelaterad stress är en konsekvens av hög arbetsbelastning i förhållande till individens förmåga. Tandhygienister behandlar många patienter per dag och det ställs höga krav på ekonomiska intäkter. Samtidigt ska hög kvalitativ vård ges till patienter. Därför var syftet med denna litteraturstudie att undersöka om tandhygienister upplevde stress i sitt arbete och hur stress påverkade deras fysiska och psykiska hälsa.   Utifrån sex sökningar i databasen PubMed hittades åtta vetenskapliga artiklar, som ligger till grund för denna litteraturstudie. Metoderna som användes i de inkluderade studierna var: enkätstudier, intervjustudier och fysisk undersökning.   Samtliga artiklar visade att stress påverkade den fysiska och psykiska hälsan negativt. Stress påverkade den fysiska hälsan genom bland annat muskuloskelettala besvär i nacke, axlar, rygg och handleder.  Faktorer som påverkade den fysiska hälsan var, operationsstolar, arbetslivserfarenhet samt antalet patienter som behandlades per dag.   Den psykiska hälsan påverkades genom bristande kontroll över tidbok, social isolering, och dålig återkoppling från chefer. Arbetsrelaterad stress och muskuloskelettala besvär var två anledningar till varför tandhygienister sjukanmälde sig.   Slutsatsen med studien är att arbetsrelaterad stress har en negativ påverkan på tandhygienisternas fysiska och psykiska hälsa. Stress leder till muskuloskelettala besvär i bland annat nacke, axlar, rygg och handleder, samt otrivsel på arbetet och sjukanmälningar.

<p>Despite the globally growing interest in corporate responsibility (CR), there is little practical as wellas academic knowledge of CR practises in the media sector. The aim of this study is to make acontribution to the evolving understanding of what CR implies in the media sector by applying astakeholder approach to a case study, which is Alma Media, a Finnish media corporation. Firstly,from the corporate perspective, the objective of this study is to provide Alma Media with a CRagenda, based on the CR priorities defined in stakeholder interviews. Secondly, from a moretheoretical point of view, this study aims to evaluate the stakeholder theory as a means of definingthe CR characteristics of the media sector in Finland.The main body of the primary data is collected by 44 stakeholder interviews, supportedby participant observation at the case company. The data is structured with content analysis andanalysed according to the stakeholder categorisation of Mitchell, Agle and Wood (1997) in order toprioritise between the different stakeholders and their CR interests.The findings indicate Alma Media’s CR priorities are a mix of media ethics (reliability,responsible journalism, journalistic integrity), traditional CR issues (environment, personnel) andcultural responsibility (locality, citizenship). Most stakeholder demands concerns environmentalresponsibility. To understand media CR on a general, global level, further research is needed toconfirm the findings of this study and, particularly, to highlight the international differences andsimilarities in media CR.Concerning the theoretical objective of the study, the study concludes that the Mitchell,Agle and Wood model helps to identify the priority stakeholders and CR issues but fails to capturethe multi-dimensional nature of the power attribute and the role of stakeholder networks in themanagement of CR. Thus, stakeholder theory provides valuable insight into CR management butfurther research on stakeholder network models is needed.</p>

<p>Water governance in South Africa is challenged by natural as well as socially constructed water scarcity. 15 years after the transition from Apartheid to the new democratic era, this paper shows that water resources are still distributed along racial lines. Based on a case study in rural KwaZulu Natal, results indicate that outcomes of water policies which aimed at redressing historic inequalities have not yet been able to create the expected benefits for the disadvantaged black farming community. This paper uses an ecosystem service (ESS) approach to assess how those benefits that are derived from different water-related ecosystem services (WES) developed in the smallholder community and its adjacent commercial farming area. The change in the distribution of water for household use, water for irrigation, water flow regulation and water for scenic beauty is further discussed in regards to its response to water policies on local and national level. Hereby, the paper addresses the research need to provide insight into ESS responses to policy outcomes, which in turn is expected to reveal challenges and opportunities for policy makers to incorporate the complex yet important interactions between social and ecological systems into their decision making. Practically, this paper contributes by making gaps in ESS utilization between smallholder and commercial farmers explicit. Focusing on the material aspects of equality, i.e. the redistribution of water resources is argued to be neither feasible nor unequivocally desirable in the near future. Rather, I encourage capacity building to increase possibilities of the smallholder farmers to effectively use existing resources.</p>

<p>This thesis aims to determine what CSR issues stakeholders in the wind power industry careabout and how stakeholders want to be involved in these issues. The objective is furthermoreto test and improve the theory of stakeholder involvement – the normative idea thatstakeholder management should strive for maximum stakeholder involvement.The study is carried out using a case study, o2, an important actor in the wind power industryin Sweden. Five stakeholder groups are included in the study, customers, capital providers, inthe form of a major bank and a private equity company, NGO’s and lastly regulators.The study contributes directly to the stakeholder management practices in the wind powerindustry by giving guidance on how to prioritize among different stakeholder groups as wellas to the untested theory of stakeholder involvement by applying the theory to a real casestudy.The result of the study suggests that stakeholders value environmentally related CSR issuesmore than socially related CSR issues. In particular the issues of emissions and flora & faunaare classified as the most important CSR issues for the wind power industry to manage.Furthermore, the theory of stakeholder involvement is shown to be misleading for thestakeholders closest to the company, the once with a direct contractual stake (customers andcapital providers). However, it is shown to be directly applicable, and useful, to thestakeholders more external to the company (NGO’s and regulators).</p>

<p>On-going and future climate change is universally acknowledged. Climate changeincorporating global mean temperature rise, impacts on global hydrology and ecosystems willaffect human society and global economy. Corporations will encounter a changing world,most likely including negative effects on business and the global markets, influencingdevelopment and economic growth. Some companies will likely face increasing threats, whileothers may be less affected or may even benefit from direct or indirect change.Affected by climate change interruptions to every-day-business may come as a result or evenbe unavoidable in some regions. Business as usual may therefore not be an option. CorporateClimate Change Adaptation offers companies a solution for responding to climate change andthe interconnected uncertainties, adjusting to noticed or expected climate change effects,focusing on avoiding negative consequences and/or possibly taking advantage of newopportunities.With the aim of studying corporate awareness and understanding of climate change as well ason-going Corporate Climate Change Adaptation a case study including interviews with eightSwedish fashion and textile companies was conducted, supplemented by a literature reviewand discussions with line-of-business and monitoring organizations.Presented in this master’s thesis, the study established that Swedish fashion and textilecompanies show awareness and acceptance of the climate change issue, agreeing to thatclimate change will have ecological and social consequences. However, Swedish fashion andtextile companies, portraying a greatly varying focus on climate change issues, seem only toshow limited understanding of climate change effects regarding natural resources, and docommonly not connect climate change to their own status, to their business activities,processes, supply chains or corporate needs. Displaying low proactivity none of theinvestigated eight Swedish fashion and textile companies had started to adapt to on-going orfuture climate change or plan for future adaptation. The Swedish fashion and textilecompanies, it seems, will need an alarum for the process of Corporate Climate ChangeAdaptation to start.</p>

<p>Political consumers, by using their consumerism to make political statements, constitute a potential force in changing global consumption patterns towards more sustainable ones. Thus new insights concerning this specific group and its ways of searching for information prior to a purchase decision might help understand the mechanisms behind sustainable consumption choices. This study is based on a series of twelve personal qualitative interviews conducted with Swedish consumers of sustainable goods. These interviews confirmed certain characteristics known to political consumers, such as a high level of commitment, high standards regarding information and the frequent use of labelling schemes. Furthermore this study has shown the complexity experienced by this group of consumers regarding sustainability claims and the role of a chosen “sustainability champion” in helping make sense of this complex information. Finally this study reminds of the significance of respecting the consumer and his trust for a message as well as the need for simple and clear information tools to distinguish proper sustainable goods from others.</p>

<p>Debatten om affärsetik och företagets sociala ansvar i globala sammanhang med olika naturliga, ekonomiska och kulturella förutsättningar har fått en mer framträdande roll i och med globalisering. Syftet med denna studie är att fastställa hur kulturella och lokala förutsättningar påverkar arbetet inom Corporate Social Responsibility genom att undersöka och jämföra CSR arbetet på hotell i kulturellt och geografiskt olikartade länder. Data för indikatorer för avfallsproduktion, vattenförbrukning, energianvändning, jämlika anställningsmöjligheter, yrkesutbildning och facklig organisering samlades in från hotell i Sverige, Norge, Danmark, Island, Storbritannien, Kina, Saudiarabien, Oman, Egypten och Förenade Arabemiraten och jämfördes mot benchmarks.</p><p>Data från hotellen i de olika länderna jämfördes mot Hofstedes analys av kulturer för att undersöka eventuella samband mellan kulturella aspekter och CSR-arbete. Resultaten visar att det finns en omvänd korrelation mellan Maktdistans och facklig organisering, och även mellan Maskulinitet och andel kvinnor i tjänstemannapositioner. Dessa samband är framförallt tydliga på hotell i Skandinavien och Mellanöstern. Resultaten visar även att politiska system och nivå av ekonomisk utveckling kan påverka nivån på CSR-arbetet. Skandinaviska hotell låg närmare benchmarknivåer med avseende på alla indikatorer jämfört med hotellen i Mellanöstern, vilket bekräftar slutsatser från tidigare studier som visat att utveckling och socialdemokratisk dominans har positiv påverkan på CSR-aspekter. Vidare visar resultaten att äganderättigheter, lokala traditioner och samhällsförväntningar kan påverka CSR arbetet.</p><p>Slutligen visar resultaten, samt bristen på resultat, vikten för hotell att använda sig av ett gemensamt mätningssystem och konsekventa enheter, och av att ha ett centralt rapporteringssystem för miljö- och arbetsfrågor. Utan ett system för att utvärdera och jämföra nivån på CSR-arbetet på olika hotell är det omöjligt att fastställa den relativa effektiviteten av olika satsningar på miljö och arbetsfrågor och därmed svårare att uppnå effektivitet och framgång inom CSR-arbetet.</p>

<p>Frölunda-Aspvik Säteri, a company just outside Stockholm within the agriculture and forestry sector, has developed a business idea around countryside tourism as a complement to their existing business. The idea is to offer a high quality and functional way of living in small cottages surrounded by beautiful nature and landscape of cultural importance. There will also be a range of additional activities available such as hunting, canoeing, cycling etc. The project should be done with minimum impact on the surrounding environment and the importance of the ecological system should be at the forefront of all business decisions. At present the company wants to have a better understanding of what the future trends are within tourism, how its business idea fits in with future trends within tourism and how to stay competitive.</p><p>The purpose of this research paper is to identify the social driving forces that have an impact on people’s lifestyle and choice of holiday destination in the future, and present how these factors affect the travel industry. The result will then be used to evaluate the feasibility of Frölunda-Aspvik´s business idea around tourism. </p><p>A literature study has been carried out and the result of that has then been used to evaluate the company´s business idea. The main future trends are that tourists will have higher expectations, be more quality conscious and expect greater diversification regarding how they spend their holiday. This leads to travellers becoming more sophisticated. The reason can be explained by a higher disposable income and levels of education, better health, increased experience of travel and that people’s needs and expectations become more heterogeneous and individual. Many prefer several but shorter vacations spread out over the year. Time efficiency will also be crucial where demand for a combination of holiday, relaxation and various types of activities will increase. The health aspect will become more important where spa- and health destinations will be favoured. Outdoor activities and nature experiences will increase in popularity but also tourist products that are more intellectual and creative. More people expect peace and quiet where the primary purpose of the holiday is to escape from everyday life. Concern for the environment will be more significant as will the search for a deeper meaning beyond material possessions where also authenticity emerges as a selection criterion regarding tourist products and destinations.</p><p>The conclusion of the study is to further develop Frölunda-Aspvik Säteri’s intentions to benefit from future tourism by extending its activities to include holiday facilities to compliment its existing business. From the study, it is clear that the company will be able to fulfil some of the needs of what future tourists value most. However, the company should also take into consideration other external factors that have not been included in this report which are stemming from ecological, economical, political and technical origin. In some cases, particularly in a longer perspective, the impact of threats such as climate changes, increasing oil prices and downturn in the economy could imply more threats to company. These should be looked at in more detail if they decide to realise its business plan within tourism.</p>