Non-governmental organisations (NGO) have been recognised as important actors when it comes to achieving a sustainable development. Cooperation between the state and NGOs is desirable and this thesis is a contribution to the knowledge about the cooperation between NGOs and the state. The objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the cooperation between environmental NGOs and the Moldovan state. The environmental NGOs that are chosen are based in Chisinau and have worked with waste management and recycling. Further the thesis also aims to suggest factors that can affect the nature of the relationship     between the chosen actors. To achieve this I carried out a case study of four environmental NGOs that are based in Chisinau. A representative from each NGO was interviewed about the organisation and its relationship to the state. Theories about clientelism and synergy were then used to analyse the results. I have come to the conclusion that there is a positive attitude towards cooperation with the state but at the same time the NGOs strive to maintain their independence from the state. In addition to this there are certain factors such as trust, availability of resources, and the characteristics of the NGOs can influence the nature of the relationship. This study is a contribution to the knowledge regarding NGO-state relationships and can be used as a base for further studies on this subject. This subject is important to study as NGOs have been identified as important actors in achieving a sustainable development and governments are encouraged to cooperate with them.

Every country, nation and continent across the world has its own history. That history could be bad or good, according to what happened in that country or continent. Thus, the history of many countries and continents across the world was characterized by internal conflicts, quarrels, disputes, aggressions, wars etc..among its population or by external conflicts or wars against other countries. The impact and consequences of these conflicts and wars were so many and were mostly negative. Indeed, the African continent especially the great lake region has experienced up to now internal and external conflicts and wars. These repetitive internal and external conflicts and wars have negative impacts on the development of those countries. For example Burundi has internal conflicts between Tutsi and Hutu and is involved in an external conflict (war) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C). Uganda is also fighting against the rebels in the North and it is also fighting in the D.R.C. Thus, Rwanda as a country located in Africa, moreover situated in the great lake region has not escaped the internal and external conflict and wars. The history of Rwanda is characterized by different wars since the time of its expansion up to the recent different ethnic wars (1959 , 1960, 1962, 1963, 67, 73 and the genocide of 1994) . The impact of these repetitive wars especially the genocide on Rwanda's socio-economic, cultural, administrative, political, development was so wide and negative. The researcher's contribution through this research consisted in identifying what the impact of national unity has had on sustainable development in Rwanda after seven years in power of the so-called "government of national unity" . Rwandan politicians, the ordinary population or friends of Rwandans together should stand up to fight for building and consolidating the national unity of Rwanda. This research had aimed to identify and to clarify what impact national unity in Rwanda has had on sustainable development, after the genocide of 1994. The research had also as specific objectives to: * Verify if there is national unity in Rwanda; * Identify the different factors that influence national unity in Rwanda; * Verify if the Rwandan administrative system allows sustainable Development; * Identify the factors that influence sustainable development in Rwanda; * Identify the impact that national unity has on sustainable development in Rwanda; *Propose recommendations. This study also aimed to answer four complementary questions not isolated variables. Each allowed one to explain the other and vice versa. These questions are: • Is there national unity present in Rwanda? • Which basic factors for national unity were in Rwanda? • Does the Rwandan administrative system allow sustainable development? • What were the factors in favour of sustainable development present in Rwanda? • What was the impact of national unity on sustainable development present in Rwanda? However, the probable answers to the above questions constitute the hypotheses of the research. These are as follows: • There is a unity among Rwandans. • Rwandan national unity is influenced by political, social, economic and demographic factors. • The Rwandan administrative system allows sustainable development. • The democratic state, the state based on the rule of law, media freedom and the people's participation in national planning are the factors that influence sustainable development positively; • The impact of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda is measured by the improvement or positive social, economic and political change that can be noticed in Rwanda after the genocide of 1994. • National security, peace, good governance, popular education are the other ingredients for sustainable development in Rwandan. For the methodological framework, the researcher used different methods and techniques. So far, historico-comparative, systemic, structural-functionalist and dialectic methods have been used. Documentary research and investigation (enquiry) by questionnaire and interviews with interview-guide have been used as techniques for collecting data in the field. All interviews were tape recorded. The research is delimited in space and time. In space, the study is limited to the country of Rwanda. In time the delimitation of the study starts from 1994 (after the genocide) up to now. However, running the research all over the country was quite impossible, because of the lack of money and time. So far the representative sample of politicians, the military, journalists, civil and public societies and the ordinary people within five provinces have been chosen as a sample and were taken as the respondents. In this research, all objectives were reached and hypotheses accepted or confirmed. The theoretical framework of the research explored precisely the theme of national unity for sustainable development in general and in Rwanda in particular. The first part of the study is composed of the general introduction, methodology, literature review and the theoretical framework. The literature review defines different concepts and key words relative to unity and sustainable development that will be used in the research. It gives the sources, typologies and forms of conflicts, defines wars and their impact, typology of violence, peace, sustainable development and the issues of unity and development in Rwanda. The theoretical framework defines different theories of conflict, cohesion, democratic peace and development. The second part of the study concerns the exploration of the topic "The impacts of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda". Done within a sociological framework, the study has reached sufficient results. Regarding the hypotheses, which are subject to verification, the responses from all sampled provinces are in agreement and therefore confirm the hypotheses. Regarding the hypothesis of the need for a "democratic state, state based on the rule of law, media freedom and the participation of people in national planning are imperative for sustainable development"; this was confirmed by 64,4% of the politicians, 72,4% of representatives of the military, journalists, civil and public societies and 63,5% of the ordinary population. The respondents stated that presently Rwanda is slowly becoming a democratic state, with the application of the rule of law and media freedom. However, they also mentioned that peoples' participation in national planning is still at the lower stage. All respondents confirmed that Rwandan national unity facilitates, promotes and encourages the bilateral collaboration between people, between people and authorities and between authorities themselves. The involvement and participation of the people in national planning and protection of national developmental project for future generation; lead to sustainable development. They also confirmed that the Rwandan national unity has improved and influenced positively Rwandan social, economic and political systems. Lastly, good governance, security, peace, unity and popular education were also cited as the other ingredients of national unity and sustainable development. From this study one can see that national unity in Rwanda has a positive impact on sustainable development, and all factors have played their role. The consequences of Rwandan conflicts are: 1. Social; 2. Economic; 3. Political; 4. Judicial. Indeed, after conducting this research, the researcher acquired a technical experience about dealing with people, and authorities. The researcher has verified that the quantitative (with questionnaire) technique that was used, reached limited results. With direct questions that held different possibilities of responses, the respondents had a tendency to give suggested responses, which responses are not often in correspondence with what they feel exactly. However, with the qualitative research (direct interviews with a tape recorder) and the researcher's experience of being a Rwandan who had lived in the country before, during and after the genocide allowed one to collect different information that allowed one to verify the hypothesis. That experience allowed the researcher to collect rich and viable information on the impact of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

Nature is in many ways considered a source to both physical and mental health among people. Trends in today’s society reveal that children become more distanced to nature. Seen from the perspective of sustainable development this trend is considered crucial: it is of importance that children in their early ages experience nature positively in order to develop a dedication towards environmental issues as adults. The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers use outdoor learning as an educational tool. Research data were collected through a series of interviews. Teachers from two different primary schools were interviewed, and one of the schools is oriented towards outdoor education. The data were analyzed based on the teachers’ ideas of children’s attitudes towards, and possibilities to, spending time in their natural surroundings. The results show that all participating teachers are of the opinion that children today generally spend less time outdoors. This could partly be connected to the increased range of technical products that makes spending time indoors more appealing. The parents’ influence in terms of passing on their attitudes towards nature to their children is considered an important factor. The teachers use their understanding of the pupils’ needs of outdoor experiences as a starting point in their outdoor educational activities. All participating teachers emphasize health, outdoor activities, environmental education and both personal and social development as significant parts of outdoor education. Our conclusion based on this study emphasizes the ability to mediate sustainable approaches towards nature as an important part of teachers’ work in outdoor education. The teachers are committed to their work with passion and consequently they provide positive nature experiences to the pupils. Perhaps emotion and empathy for nature is the most significant part of what teachers pass on to their pupils through outdoor education with an aim for sustainable development.

According to the Bruntland Commission, sustainable development requires consumers in industrialized nations to reduce significantly their consumption of resources. This research brings a new perspective to the reduction of discretionary consumption, using both theoretical and empirical approaches. Demarketing programs have often been unable to achieve sustained reductions in consumption. It is argued here that they have incorrectly treated demand reduction as a variation on the usual marketing problem of building demand, when it is (1) more complex than typical marketing problems, and (2) essentially similar to clinical habit change problems. The dissertation reviews the literature on habits and automated processes, introduces the concept of “habit-like” behavior, and argues that reducing discretionary consumption can often be framed as a habit-change problem. The Prochaska and DiClemente (1984) Revolving Door Model of Behavior Change (RDM) describes how people change habitual behaviors in clinical situations. Study 1, an energy conservation (cold water laundry washing) survey (n=340), using a decisional balance framework, indicated that the RDM generalizes to demarketing situations and that it is consumers’ perceptions of the importance of disadvantages, not advantages, that influence consumption reductions. The research develops new theory to explain habit-like behavior changes. Based on previous theory and findings on automated processes, it is proposed that changing habit-like behavior proceeds in three steps: de-automation, volitional behavior change, and consolidation. Study 2 was a laboratory experiment (n= 117) in which two demarketing approaches (the traditional approach and the habit-change approach) competed in two situations (when the consumption behavior targeted for change was under volitional control, and when it was habit-like). Contrary to expectations, a persuasive message supplemented by limited practice of the new behavior was more effective when the old behavior was volitional than when it was habit-like, suggesting that the disadvantages of changing are more evident to people whose behavior is habit-like. There are two important practical implications: that (1) segmentation based on the RDM stages of change may be more powerful than other approaches; and (2) it is more important to address disadvantages of reducing consumption than to emphasize advantages.

Environmental degradation is one of the most important problems facing by Chinese people. This unsatisfactory situation majorly lies in the weak implementation of environmental laws. The essential reason causing the ineffective enforcement of Chinese environmental law is people’s distorted cognition about the relation between human being and the environment. As an important principle of international environmental law, the sustainable development principle emphasizes intra-generational and intergenerational equality, aiming to realize a balance of environmental interest and socie-economic interest, which could become the guideline of the reformation of Chinese environmental law enforcement mechanism. At last, this paper analyzes the solutions to appeared problems, which are underpinned by the sustainable development principle. The ultimate purpose is to promote rational policies and responsible conducts of governments, to foster enterprises’ voluntary compliance with environmental law and to foster citizens’ environmental awareness.

Environmental degradation is one of the most important problems facing by Chinese people. This unsatisfactory situation majorly lies in the weak implementation of environmental laws. The essential reason causing the ineffective enforcement of Chinese environmental law is people’s distorted cognition about the relation between human being and the environment. As an important principle of international environmental law, the sustainable development principle emphasizes intra-generational and intergenerational equality, aiming to realize a balance of environmental interest and socie-economic interest, which could become the guideline of the reformation of Chinese environmental law enforcement mechanism. At last, this paper analyzes the solutions to appeared problems, which are underpinned by the sustainable development principle. The ultimate purpose is to promote rational policies and responsible conducts of governments, to foster enterprises’ voluntary compliance with environmental law and to foster citizens’ environmental awareness.

With the rise of Internet and a changing social environment corporations legitimacy has been questioned (see Palazzo and Scherer, 2006). Frauds and scandals, both financial and environmental has put pressure on corporations to communicate their business operations and increase transperancy. Food retail inSweden have had several crises, the most recent the so called horesemeat scandal. This study starts in a literature review and describes some theories in CSR and legitimacy. The aim of the study is to investigate how consistent corporate communication is in regard to legitimacy. A framework adapted from Castello and Lozano(2011) was used to perform a content analysis. CEO statements and sustainability policies has been studied from three Swedish food retailers, Axfood, Coop and ICA. The study argues that there is a high degree of inconsistency in corporate communication when these two documents are analysed. This might indicate that sustainable development has not entered the board rooms in effect. It also indicates that while CEO’s are communicating pragmatic and institutional legitiamacy, the sustainability policies are moving into moral legitimacy.

There is growing evidence of multiple links between human health and the practice and products of agriculture through a complex set of factors including environmental change, exposure to a variety of natural and human-origin stressors, social position, changing behavior, occupation, and access to services. However, in policy initiatives, agriculture and health are often pursued in an unconnected manner. In India’s context, this has immense significance as nearly seventy percent of the total population is involved directly or indirectly with agriculture. The need to be aware of the health implications is therefore especially important. The objective of the study was to examine the changing agricultural scenario in India and the consequences for health. A survey was carried out in 2009, in six villages in Karnataka state, India. The data were collected by in-depth interviews, focus groups discussion, participant observation, laboratory tests (mercury and pesticide residues in rice, and nitrate and fluoride in groundwater) and secondary materials. India has undergone a rapid transformation in agriculture and has achieved remarkable success in food production. The nation has followed the strategies of the popular ‘Green Revolution’, including promotion of high yielding seeds, monoculture, extensive use of agrochemicals and large scale management of land and water resources. Modern agriculture has improved the socioeconomic and nutritional status of the population. However, the traditional coarse cereals and pulses have been replaced by mill-polished less nutritious rice. Extensive mechanization of agriculture activities has meant reduced physical stress, but fatal accidents and injuries have increased considerably. Along with already existing malnutrition, overweight/obesity has emerged as a new public health challenge. The changing landscape with much standing water and extensive use of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer has augmented the mosquito population, resulting in greater incidence of vector borne diseases such as malaria and Japanese encephalitis. Agrochemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, are applied in excess and often in an irrational manner, without following any norms. Drinking water is contaminated with nitrate and fluoride. Rice samples contain pesticide residues and mercury. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-04 18:17:42.911

The overall aim of the thesis is to contribute with knowledge about the conditions for preschool children’s meaning making with regard to sustainable development. With a focus on critical actions, the thesis explores how education is executed and how a critical action may be conducted in a preschool practice. Different teaching situations in preschool have been analysed in order to determine how and which actions are privileged in the various situations, what the consequences of these actions are, and what kind of conditions that enable children to develop critical action competence. The results show that teachers affect children’s meaning making by directing actions toward a specific learning content. The conditions in which children learn action competences for sustainable development may be affected by which actions are privileged or excluded in the situation. The analyses of conditions for children to act critically in this thesis are when: the teacher aims the attention towards a pluralistic teaching content, where the content consists of value judgments. variations of views are highlighted – by the help of other children or from example different viewpoints in a book. children have the courage or/and feel safe expressing contradicting views. Although the situations in which children act critically are few and far between in the empirical material, they do exist and are important to highlight, especially as few other studies explore what meaning making processes look like when critical actions are privileged. The thesis therefore contributes to the research by providing analyses of situations in which children act critically in preschool.

This thesis provides an analysis of a community based conservation project in northern Kenya and also considers broader theoretical questions relating to the establishment of successful environmental partnerships. In East Africa, pastoralist communities are threatened by the erosion of their resource base, delicately balanced ecosystems are being progressively degraded, and the conflict between wildlife conservation and other forms of land use is escalating. The challenge faced by rural communities is to achieve socioeconomic growth in conjunction with environmental conservation and social stability. Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDP's) and Ecotourism projects have been attempted in underdeveloped areas with the objective of enhancing biodiversity conservation through approaches which endeavour to address the needs, opportunities and constraints faced by rural communities. The hope is that communities will develop a vested interest in maintaining biodiversity (wildlife) on their land so as to sustain the income it generates. While some successes have been recorded, critical analysis by researchers suggests that a number of problems beset such projects and few have met their objectives. The case study examined here is both an ICDP and an Ecotourism project. It is a community based conservation effort on the communally owned II Ngwesi Group Ranch, in the Laikipia district, in semi-arid/arid Maasailand in northern Kenya. This area sustains important wildlife populations but as human population pressures increase the future of the permanent and migratory animals that occupy this land is in question. An initiative was undertaken in 1996 by the community in partnership with the neighbouring private ranch to build a lodge on the land and to start protecting an area for tourism use. The aim of this thesis is to examine the project as an example of an environmental partnership and consider what implications the partnership itself might have for future initiatives. The II Ngwesi project is categorised according to the environmental partnership theory, which assisted in describing some of its operating features and success factors. The thesis argues that, in thinking about how to achieve a working management of natural resources in similar contexts, careful consideration must be given to the nature of environmental partnerships that often constitute the basis of ICDP/ecotourism projects. These factors can be taken into account in developing more successful initiatives in the future. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.