Marine issues develop in complex social contexts, usually involving a large number of sectors, actors, and users. Achieving sustainable marine governance requires a continued and context-specific structure of interdisciplinary knowledge, inter-sectorial interaction as well as inter-institutional coordination that generates daunting challenges to government, stakeholders and civil society. In this sense, it is imperative for marine governance structures to pay close attention to social sustainability factors, such as recognition of socio-cultural diversity, representation in decision-making and distribution of ‘goods’ and ‘bads’, which have commonly been overlooked in environmental governance in general and marine governance in particular. Costa Rica’s territorial sea is an important source of income for a myriad of communities on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. During 2019 and 2020, the Responsible Fishing Marine Area and Marine Management Area of Barra del Colorado were created under the expectation of serving the social and ecological needs of the community. Taking this into consideration, this study aims to examine how social sustainability was handled in the formation process of the two resource management areas, which involved participation of institutional and civil society actors from 2010 until 2019. This study first analyses the concept of marine governance and its relationship to social justice. The concept of social sustainability is explained and I then develop a social sustainability conceptual framework. Secondly, the methodology and methods are described. The choice of the empirical case is described in the next section and I next give a brief overview of Barra del Colorado’s social and economic characteristics and background. Further, an analysis of the process to consolidate the Responsible Fishing Marine Area and the Marine Management Area of Barra del Colorado through the social sustainability framework is conducted. Last, the results of the analysis are discussed and the main findings are presented. Through this analysis, the process of consolidation was assessed against the normative social sustainability theory, concluding that the process was found lacking regarding its social sustainability due to a series of government-related issues, that affected the representation, recognition and distribution of the process.

2019 reviderades Sveriges spellag, vilket betydde att nya spelbolag kunde söka licens för att verka på den svenska spelmarknaden. Revideringen tillkom i hopp om att de spelbolag som tidigare riktat sig mot svenska konsumenter istället skulle söka licens för att verka på den svenska spelmarknaden. I maj 2020 finns 71 licensierade spelbolag på den svenska spelmarknaden. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur spelbolag på den svenska spelmarknaden arbetar med spelansvar samtidigt som de har ett stort vinstintresse, samt se om det sker en löskoppling av spelansvar till följd av detta.    Studiens forskare har genom dold deltagande observation undersökt 30 av 71 licensierade spelbolag i deras arbete med spelansvar. Därtill har tre semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med anställda på spelbolagen Svenska Spel, ATG och Unibet med syfte att få bättre förståelse för dess spelansvarsarbete. Studiens forskare har även intervjuat Anders P Håkansson i egenskap av extern part med övergripande förståelse för spelbranschen.    Studiens empiriska data från nämnda metoder analyseras med hjälp av teorier inom Corporate Social Responsibility och etik. Studien bidrar med en generaliserbar bild av den svenska spelmarknaden efter revideringen av spellagen 2019. Empirin påvisar att det förekommer löskoppling av spelansvaret på den svenska spelmarknaden. Den empiriska datan vittnar också om skillnader mellan hur utlandsbaserade och svenskbaserade spelbolag arbetar med sitt spelansvar. / In 2019, the swedish government revised the gambling law, which led to new gambling companies to enter the swedish market and to apply for a swedish gambling license. The revision was the effect of many years of foreign gambling companies operating illegally. In may 2020 there was 71 licensed gambling companies on the swedish market. The purpose of this study is to investigate how gambling companies operate with responsible gambling while they want to be as profitable as possible, and to see if they use decoupling as a consequence of that.   The researchers of the study have through hidden participation observation investigated 30 of 71 licensed gambling companies and how they work with responsible gambling. In addition. three semi-structured interviews has been conducted with employees of the gambling companies Svenska Spel, ATG and Unibet with the purpose to get a better perception how they work with responsible gambling. Furthermore has the researchers of this study interviewed a scientist in responsible gambling as an external part with an overall perception of the gambling industry.   The study's empirical data from the methods mentioned above has been analyzed using theories in Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics theories. The study contributes with a generalizable picture of the swedish gambling market following the revision of the gambling law in 2019. The result demonstrates that there is decoupling of responsible gambling on the swedish gambling market. Additionally the result indicates differences in how foreign-based and swedish-based gambling companies handles responsible gambling.

Increasingly, third-world countries are relying on ecotourism to boost their economies. Similar to other forms of tourism, ecotourism as a business initiative is perceived to contribute positively to economic development. However, tourism service providers generally do not deliver satisfactory services to ecotourists due to misunderstanding the segment’s needs and the customer traits. In emerging countries such as South Africa, which has a conducive economic environment for tourism businesses, some provincial departments such as the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism has set objectives to make the Limpopo province a preferred ecotourism destination. These have been propagated by service providers who passively participate in ecotourism yet claim to be ecotourism service providers. Moreover, the attitude of passiveness by service providers is derived from insufficient knowledge of the ecotourist. This set the foundation for the current study, which sought to provide detailed profiles of ecotourists in the Capricorn District Municipality in order to gain a clear understanding of the ecotourists visiting the Limpopo province. The study reviewed theoretical and empirical works conducted by tourism scholars. The study was developed on a descriptive research design and employed a quantitative approach. It made use of self-administered questionnaires with a sample of 295 participants selected from tourism establishments and attractions in the region, utilising convenience and purposive sampling methods respectively. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24 and Microsoft Office Excel was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, cluster analysis and Chi-square tests were conducted to analyse the data of the study. The findings revealed demographic, psychographic and behavioural descriptors associated with the ecotourists in the Capricorn District Municipality. In addition, information sources preferred by ecotourists in the Capricorn District Municipality were identified. It is envisaged that the findings of the study will be of value to ecotourism service providers as they will provide a sound understanding of ecotourists and thereby help to deliver satisfactory ecotourist experiences. This will ultimately provide valuable input for the planning of the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in promoting the Limpopo province as a preferred ecotourism destination in South Africa.

Thesis (MCOM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Responsible investment combines shareholder’s objective of financial performance with environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when making investment decisions. Responsible investment has become necessary because most companies neglect the impact of their operation on the environment; society while focusing on short-term profits. Moreover, the collapse of big companies due to poor governance also demand that they focus on the need to strengthen good corporate governance. This study examines whether SA mutual funds companies listed on the JSE incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in making investment decisions. The study further examines the relationship between selected ESG factors and financial performance measured using ROE. A total of 28 companies where SA mutual fund companies have invested their funds were sampled and studied between 2007 and 2017. Secondary data was used whereby raw data was collected from the annual, integrated and sustainability reports of the selected companies’ websites and the IRESS database. Although many ESG factors could influence responsible investment such as climate change, waste and pollution, deforestation, working conditions, local community, bribery and corruption, however, some of these factors cannot be easily quantified. Hence, this study focused on one component per ESG factor that can be quantified. All these factors are required to have a deeper understanding of responsible investment. This study adopts the quantitative research method and adds to the growing number of studies by examining the relationship between independent variables represented by water usage (environmental), employee health and safety cost (social) and gender diversity (governance) and dependent variable which is financial performance measured by ROE. The Stata statistical software utilising the panel data method was used to analyse the data. The iii | Page study results show a positive and insignificant relationship between water usage and ROE, a positive an insignificant relationship between employee health and safety cost (number of work-related fatalities) and ROE and negative and insignificant relationship between the percentage of women on corporate boards and ROE. The results show that UN PRI guideline that encourages responsible investments is not followed by South African (SA) mutual fund companies. This study recommends that SA mutual funds companies follow the UN PRI educate different stakeholders as to the importance of incorporating ESG factors in business operations and the benefits thereof. Future studies can consider incorporating ESG indicators other the ones presented in this study.

In this study, attitudes and perceived implications for quality of life of environmentalists were explored, with a specific focus on the domestic use of renewable energy sources. A systems theoretical approach was followed in conjunction with a qualitative methodology in order to place the attitudes and perceived implications for quality of life in context with the systems in which they exist. The in-depth data that was collected by means of face-to-face interviews was analysed in a qualitative and systems theoretical framework. The three stages of analysis of the data are described and this culminates in a discussion of the six identified pattern categories. The conceptual discussion that follows are based on these six pattern categories. The participants' learned attitude toward the environment, the role of responsibility and its influence on perceived quality of life, risk perception as inhibitor of action, renewable energy and the perception of self, renewable energy as available medium and the possibility of change of attitude toward renewable energy sources are discussed in depth. The interaction between the energy-consumer system and the energy-environment system is explored and placed within the larger context. The recognition of a difference in a system, the interactive parts thereof, the transactional process between the systems and the collateral energy added by either or both of the systems, transactional processes and the required feedback loops, the difference that makes a difference and the description of transformation processes expose a hierarchy of logical types inherent in the system. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / MA (Research Psychology) / unrestricted

In recent years there has been an increasing trend of investors to search for and invest in more sustainable assets. Given this fact, the question arises whether these investors are paid back a premium for their investment, or whether they trade in a lower return but intentionally do something “sustainable”. And on top of that, are more sustainable assets less volatile and more resistant to fluctuations of the market, or is there an inverse correlation?Whilst research within equities, in general, has led to a wide range of research output on risk and performance in regard to the companies’ Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) rating, research within the Real Estate industry is still rather scarce. By utilizing a variety of risk and performance indicators, this work has looked at a wide range of in Europe publicly traded Real Estate companies, over a period of 5 years. By relying on data from different ESG data providers, the author of this work has come to rather mixed results both in regard to performance as well as risk, depending on the dataset used. These mixed results can be partially explained by the difference in the assessment of ESG data and the grading methods of the dataset providers. Lastly, a large lack of data on ESG reporting of the analyzed firms has been observed during the course of this work. This fact has unfortunately condensed the scope of this study. However, it is expected that through public regulations, obliging companies to publish data on ESG, this issue will be resolved, leading to more extensive studies on this field in the future. / Under de senaste åren har det funnits en ökande trend bland investerare att söka efter och investera i mer hållbara tillgångar. Med tanke på detta faktum uppstår frågan gällande huruvida dessa investerare får tillbaka en premie för sin investering, eller om de utsätts för en lägre avkastning, dock med en medveten avsikt att göra ett mer ”hållbart” val. Utöver detta, är mer hållbara tillgångar mindre volatila och mer motståndskraftiga mot fluktuationer på marknaden, eller gäller snarare ett motsatt samband? Medan forskning inom aktier generellt sett har lett till ett brett utbud av forskningsresultat inom risk och prestation med avseende på företagets Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG), så är fastighetsbranschen i sin helhet ett relativt outforskat område. Genom att använda en mängd olika risk- och prestationsindikatorer har denna studie analyserat flera datauppsättningar kring börsnoterade fastighetsföretag i Europa, under en 5 års period. Genom att förlita sig på data från olika ESG-dataleverantörer har författaren till detta arbete kommit till ganska blandade resultat med avseende på prestanda och risk, beroende på vilken datauppsättning som analyserats. Dessa blandade resultat kan delvis förklaras av skillnader i bedömning av ESG-data och graderingsmetoderna hos datauppsättningsleverantörerna. Slutligen har en stor brist på data om de analyserade företagens ESG-rapportering observerats under arbetets gång. Detta faktum har tyvärr minskat omfattningen av denna studie. Det förväntas dock att denna fråga kommer att lösas genom offentliga regleringar som tvingar företag att publicera data om ESG, vilket kan leda till mer omfattande studier på området i framtiden.

Purpose – BecauseThe purpose of this thesis is to investigate what methods financial institutions use to inform and encourage their existing and potential clients to choose more sustainable and responsible investment alternatives. The thesis should also identify some key determinants of private investors’ choice of sustainable and responsible investments (SRI), with focus on the effect of limited knowledge and access to information about SRI has on private investors’ choice. Methodology – In this thesis, both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used to collect significant data. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with three representatives from different financial institutions. A questionnaire was distributed and answered by 36 respondents. Quantitative data was collected using a questionnaire, the processed and analyzed by using a comparison analysis of percentages. Findings – Overall, the thesis finds that financial institutions have limited focus on private investors and lack of concrete methods to provide private investors with relevant information and thus increasing the level of knowledge about SRI. Furthermore, the results indicate that earning steady financial returns by considering social responsibility is one of the motivations to invest in SRI. Women are more likely to choose SRI than men and millennials prefer SRI more compared to other generations. Limited knowledge and limited access to useful information are considered as strong obstacles for private investors when considering SRI. Research limitations – Since the sample size was very small, it’s probable that the respondents’ opinions and approach to SRI cannot represent the view of the entire population. Because of the sample size there’s an enormous variation in response patterns. Therefore, the results and conclusions need to be taken cautiously. / Syfte – Syftet med denna uppsats syfte är att undersöka vilka metoder som finansiella institutioner använder för att upplysa och uppmuntra både befintliga och potentiella kunder att välja mer hållbara och ansvarsfulla investeringsalternativ. Uppsatsen ska även identifiera faktorer som påverkar privata investerares val av hållbara och ansvarsfulla investeringar, med fokus på effekten av begränsad kunskap och tillgång till information. Metod/tillvägagångssätt – I denna studie har både kvalitativa och kvantitativa forskningsmetoder använts för att samla in data. Kvalitativa data samlades in genom intervjuer med tre representanter från olika finansiella institutioner. En enkät har distribuerats och besvarats av 36 respondenter. Kvantitativa data insamlades med hjälp av ett frågeformulär, sedan bearbetades och analyserades informationen med hjälp av en jämförelse av procentsatser. Iakttagelser – Sammantaget finner tesen att finansiella institutioner har begränsad fokus på privata investerare och bristen på konkreta metoder för att ge privata investerare med relevant information och därmed öka kunskapsnivån om SRI. Vidare tyder resultaten på att jakten efter stabil avkastning på längre sikt, genom att ta samhällsansvar är den främsta motivationen att investerare väljer SRI. Kvinnor och millenniegeneration är mer benägna att välja SRI än män och andra generationer. Begränsad kunskap och tillgång till relevant information betraktas som en stark barriär för privata investerare att välja SRI. Forskningsbegränsningar – På grund av att urvalets storlek är väldigt liten, är det troligt att de svarandes åsikter och förhållningssätt till SRI inte kan representera hela befolkningen. Urvalets storlek gör också att det finns stora variationer i svarsmönster. Därför bör resultaten och slutsatserna tas med stor försiktighet.

This thesis investigates the two investment strategies Dogs of Dow and The Magic Formula. We test how the strategies perform when getting weighted to ESG scores and also if they outperform OMXSPI during the years 2012-2022. What we find in our study is that when returns are risk adjusted, both Dogs of Dow and The Magic Formula and their ESG weighted portfolios outperform the benchmark during the period. We also conclude that ESG weighted portfolios yield lower returns than equally weighted Dogs of Dow and The Magic Formula portfolios. The portfolio that produce the highest return was the equally weighted Dogs of Dow portfolio. For the value at risk we find that on a five percent significant level, the portfolios observe values from -1,55% to -1,69%.

Media are considered to be the public's primary source of information regarding mental illness. Evidence suggests that media representations of people with psychiatric disorders are frequently negative and contribute to their stigmatization. On the other hand, media can play an important role in reducing this stigmatisation by providing adequate information about this topic and engaging in antistigma campaigns. Up to now there was no standardised measurement of the stigma of mental illness in print media using clearly operationalized definitions. The objectives of this project were twofold; to develop a standardised and objective instrument to measure stigma of mental illness in print media; and to conduct an analysis of the current coverage on mental health/illness issues in Czech, Croatian, and Slovak print media. The development of the Picture of Mental Illness in Newspapers (PICMIN) instrument was based on the principles of content analysis, a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from text to the kontext in their use. The instrument consists of eleven descriptive and five analytical categories. The most interesting findings based on the analysis of media representations of mental illness were; a similarly high level of stigmatizing articles across countries, clearly...

There is no clear consensus about whether green investments perform better, worse orequal to conventional brown investments. With the rising popularity of socialinvestments, it becomes increasingly important to understand these investments. Therecent launch of the MSCI Climate Paris Aligned Indices (CPAI) aim to illustrate thedevelopment of an economy that is in line with the requirements and goals of the ParisAgreement from 2015. In this research we aim to find out whether the MSCI Europe,USA and EM Climate Paris Aligned Indices outperform their parent indices. We do thisby comparing performance measures such as the net return, standard deviation of netreturns and Sharpe ratio. We further conduct an ordinary least squares regression to testwhether the betas and Jensen´s alphas of the CPAI differ significantly from their parentindices.The results show that only the USA CPAI clearly outperforms its parent index. This isdue to it having a higher Sharpe Ratio and Jensen’s alpha as well as higher monthly netreturns and a lower standard deviation compared to its parent index. The regressionshows that it does perform better than the parent index. The results for the EM CPAIshow that it performs in a similar way as its parent index. It has a higher monthly netreturn but also slightly higher standard deviation which leads to an equally large Sharperatio. Neither the estimated Jensen’s alpha nor the beta are significantly different fromthose of its parent index and thus the hypothesis of it performing equally as well as itsparent index cannot not be rejected. Lastly, the Europe CPAI has a higher Sharpe ratio,Jensen’s alpha and monthly net returns than its parent index, but it also exhibits a higherstandard deviation. The regression indicated that it performs in a similar way as itsparent index, no difference could be proven. In conclusion, this means that all CPAIperform at least equally as well as their parent indices, if not better.