Thesis (PhD (Public Affairs))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

After the Rio United Nations Conference on Enviroment and Development, the need of sustainable development obtained recognition from the vast majority of countries and organization. Human society entered a new development period. More and more people know about sustainable  development. Education for sustainable development is a concern for the world where university can make a  contribution. Students who are the majority in a university, their knowledge, awarenss and action will play an important role to promote sustainable development.   The purpose if this thsis is to study if there is any difference in students' knowledge and awareness on sustainable development in university, based on the comparison betweet freshmen and seniors. Through the comparison, this will explore if students' knowledge and awareness is influence  to their action. This thesis does a literature review to understand deeply about sustainable development and explores students' knowledge, awareness and actions of sustainable development through questionnaire.  The analysis of data from the questionnaire indicates that their knowledge and awareness influences their actions. The freshmen and seniors have difference in knowledge and awareness. Knowledge of students on sustainable development appears to have increased slightly during years study. However, as the knowledge increased, there is not much difference in their knowledge and awareness of sustainable development. Based on the different degree of knowledge and awareness, seniors appear to do better than freshmen in their actions.

This thesis is about the making of futures – in the sense of planning, through which the world of tomorrow is crafted, and in the sense of images of the future, developed through the futures studies approach of backcasting. The point of departure for the thesis is that more visionary and strategic forms of planning are needed if the challenges of sustainable development are to be met, and that backcasting, through its long-term, integrative and normative character, can be a helpful tool towards this end. The thesis explores how backcasting can be used when planning for sustainability by looking into three areas of problems and possibilities. The first of these concerns target setting, for which was found that both backcasting and planning tend to use targets that are elusive, rendering it difficult to understand what is included in the target and what is omitted. As a way to rectify this, a framework of methodological considerations for target setting is presented (Paper I). There is also a need for further methodological development on how to set targets for environmental aspects other than energy and GHG gases. The second area concerns the identification of measures and actors, where both backcasting and planning were found to have the problem of being techno-biased and/or taking a rather superficial approach to ‘the social’ which means that the socio-technical complexity of everyday life is left unattended (Paper II). This has consequences in terms of delimiting the scope of measures identified and proposed and of the potential of these to result in intended changes. Two approaches are suggested to deal with this: a methodology for developing socio-technical scenarios, in which an iterative identification of objects and agents of change is a central trait (Paper III), and a service-orientated energy efficiency analysis, in which the social logic of energy use is highlighted (Paper IV). The third area concerns how backcasting can be used in a more explorative approach to the governance of change, instead of leaving this unaddressed and/or unaltered (Paper V). In relation to this, the institutional and political dimensions of planning for sustainability are emphasised, with the focus on path dependency, discursive power and critical junctures (Paper VI). The connection described between the fields of backcasting and planning for sustainability study and practice is thus beneficial for planning by showing how this could be made more visionary and strategic, while also contributing to the theoretical and methodological advancement of backcasting. One of the main contributions of the thesis is the exploration of how backcasting studies could benefit from including the question of ‘Who?’: Who could make the changes happen? Who should change (whose) lifestyle? Who (what group/s in society) benefits and who loses from the images of the future that are developed? And who is invited to take part in the making of futures and whose futures are being heard? Including the question of ‘who’ highlights the normative character of sustainable development and makes issues of environmental justice and equity visible. The formulation of images of the future is also a question of resources and ultimately of power. In relation to this there is a need for groups of society besides those in power to be encouraged to develop their images of the (sustainable, desired) future, and to give room for these in policy-making and planning. The openness of the future renders desirability and ethics, and not probability, the basis on which the feasibility of images of the future must be assessed. / <p>QC 20120514</p> / SitCit / ICT as a motor for transition

Earlier, sustainable development was perceived as a hindrance to economic growth. This seems not to be the case today because strategies towards sustainable development are becoming more common, especially in nonprofit organizations. Sustainable development is about creation of strategies that include wellbeing of present and next generations. This shows that it is important for today’s organizations to be sustainable. However, stakeholders have a part to play in this since they are capable of influencing organizations towards sustainable development. To these influences organizations respond either in a proactive or defensive way. As a result the purpose of this study is to investigate the stakeholders’ influences on sustainable development in a nonprofit organization and how this nonprofit organization responds to these influences strategically. After looking at previous literature about relevant concepts, three research questions were formulated. This study is a case study where in five in-depth interviews have been carried in a Swedish nonprofit organization with an ongoing project about sustainable development. In the course of the study it became clear that there are several important aspects to consider when thriving for sustainability. Furthermore, some stakeholder groups possess more power to influence sustainable development and the organizational response might not have to be exclusively proactive or defensive. Lastly results of this study show that important identified factors of sustainability in this organization are economic, environmental and social. The internal stakeholders are the ones influencing sustainable development in this particular organization and the organization responds by creation of proactive strategies.

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa are often connected with forced resettlement, marginalization and exclusion from the decision-making process of the local community. Therefore this study investigates the level and kind of community involvement in the TFCA process in Swaziland by performing nine semi-structured interviews in five different communities. The results show that the TFCA process in Swaziland is not quite like the situation described in the rest of southern Africa. They demonstrate that although the community projects in Swaziland’s TFCAs might not be completely gender sensitive and still have to develop in terms of their sustainability, they are on the right track. Most communities are autonomous regarding the governance of their development, either through community boards or traditional structures. Additionally, it is obvious that there are a lot of ideas on and possibilities for development in the communities that need to be encouraged.

This study investigates the underlying factors of what connects gender and social status with environmental exploitation in the Tunisian society. It starts from an Ecofeminist theoretical basis, which explores the male domination over women and the natural environment. Furthermore, it uses a top-down and a bottom-up approach to test the hypothesis of the study. The top-down approach relies on Dryzek’s discourse analysis while the bottom-up approach is based on empirical data and Schwartz’s seven cultural value orientation theory. Through the discourse analysis elements of a Sustainable Development environmental discourse were identified. Moreover, Schwartz’s culture value orientation theory showed that even though Tunisian women live in harmony with nature, because the society emphasizes values such as embeddedness and hierarchy, the culture is not likely to promote equality. Thus, the hypothesis of the study was fulfilled, i.e. there is a relationship between the subordination of the Tunisian woman and the degradation of the environment.

Tour guides are one of the most visible players in tourism but little scholarly attention has been given to the links that tour guides may have with sustainable development. This study addresses the gap by promoting an understanding of how tour guides can assist in moving tourism in a sustainable direction. Sustainable development is expected to improve the quality of life for all people without causing undesirable ecological and socio-cultural outcomes. As a central agent in the entire tourism system, tour guides have a variety of roles to play in response to the expectations of the various tourism stakeholders. A literature review suggests that tour guides can contribute to destinations'sustainable development by exerting their functions on experience management, resources management and local economic promotion. Interpretative guiding is the means by which tour guides can realize these above potentials. A case study was conducted in Hainan, China. The guiding performance there was examined to see whether and to what extent tour guides are contributing to the achievement of local sustainability. It was discovered that the tour guides in Hainan do not exert (well) their expected functions either in enhancing enjoyable experiences for tourists, in supporting local resource conservation, or in promoting the healthy development of the local economy. Their potentials are blocked by the issues and problems of instant money-making-centered guiding conduct, below-cost group receiving industry practices and unfair remuneration system for the guides, absence of protection measures to ensure the guides’ interests, opportunism in guiding and lenient certificating requirements, lack of professionalism and effective training, ineffective monitoring measures, and limited awareness of sustainable development. In order to better the situation, unhealthy travel and trade industry practice should be banned; effective certificating, training and monitoring measures should be developed and implemented; tour guides’ personal interests should be protected and local awareness of sustainability, in particular that of the industry members, should be fostered. Serious efforts of the government administration as well as industry members and tour guides are required if tour guides are to fulfill their potential as agents of sustainable development.

There are many factors associated with an urban environment that enrich or  diminish the experience of the environment. These factors have a significant influence on how  an urban morphology is appraised within the social, economical, and environmental  framework. One of such factors is the urban transport system that represents the mobility of  the people and accessibility to public services. This thesis is an assessment of a current  transport system in Kathmandu city centre in comparison to Kathmandu Sustainable Urban  Transport Project (KSUTP) promoted by Ministry of Physical Planning and Works in  cooperation from Asian Development Bank (ADB). The study aims to find the optimal  strategic alternative between the current system and KSUTP. The focus area is the historic  city centre, because of its cultural, historical, architectural, and aesthetical significance.    Two methods are used for two different purposes; first to measure people’s appraisal and  second, to evaluate action alternatives. Measurement of Experience in Environment from  Results of Core affect Investigation (MEERCI) is used to measure people’s appraisal and  experience of the urban characters of Kathmandu city centre. The results from this survey will  provide a background on people’s assessment of the city environs, and collected data from  field work will be used in Generic Multi-Attribute Analysis (GMAA) model to determine the  best strategic plan for developing sustainable urban transport system for Kathmandu city  centre. The hard facts and figures are collected from authorities, ministries, and previous  researches, which is then entered into the model to evaluate the optimal alternative.     It is concluded that improvements in the current transport system in Kathmandu city centre,  with the implementation of KSUTP, will result in better environment for the local population,  local economy, public services, and transport facilities. In short, the quality of life will be  enhanced with an upgrade in the urban transport system.

The purpose of this study was to investigate young people’s environmental attitudes in India. The study had a special focus on the factor of exposure to nature and nature degradation in environmental attitudes formation. Attitudes are of a great importance in education. The investigation was conducted using a qualitative method based on observations and in depth interviews. The subjects were selected from a village in northern India and from Delhi, which is the capital of India. The subjects from the village area were exposed to nature and nature degradation in their daily lives and were expected to have biocentric or eco-centric environmental attitudes (to view humans as part of nature). In addition, Indian traditions and religions were expected to be more preserved in this area compared to Delhi. Hinduism, which is the dominant religion in India, is considered biocentric. In contrast, the subjects from Delhi were not exposed to nature and nature degradation daily and were expected to have anthropocentric or late anthropocentric environmental attitudes (to view humans as separated from nature). Also, these subjects were greatly influenced by industrialization and western influences. Western religions and cultures are considered anthropocentric. The results indicated a difference in environmental attitudes between the subjects in the village area who were exposed to nature and nature degradation and the subjects in Delhi, who were not. The subjects in the village area tended to have a biocentric or eco-centric view on nature and the subjects from Delhi tended to have a late anthropocentric view. This thesis argues for a biocentric view in environmental education and suggests establishing a positive relationship to nature as a part of environmental education, mainly through outdoor environmental education.

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