Small-scale fishers (SSFs) are among the most vulnerable socio-economic groups because of their high dependence on marine resource harvesting. While small-scale fisheries employ the overwhelming majority of the world's fishers and contribute substantially to the global catch, they are, on the whole, marginalised and ignored. Despite their importance in providing food security and livelihoods in coastal communities, state management authorities routinely neglect small-scale fisheries in favour of industrial fisheries. In South Africa, the exclusion of small-scale fishers is intricately linked with the oppressive policies of the apartheid government, which limited access to the fisheries for the largely Black and Coloured smallscale fishers. Changes within fisheries management practices led to the development of management tools that moved away from conventional resource-centred strategies, to management approaches that recognised the complexity of natural and ecological processes inherent within small-scale fisheries. Many of these new approaches have been embraced in South Africa's new small-scale fisheries policy. The policy represents a long line of arguably failed attempts at reforming South African fisheries undertaken by the South African government. While the policy is unique in the scale of participation by the small-scale fishers themselves it is still faced with the hurdle of implementation. The adoption of the individual rights approach embodied by the individual quota (IQ) system in the post-apartheid reforms has led to divisions within the community. Fishing rights benefited a small elite and disenfranchised many more fishers for whom fishing was a livelihood, but were excluded from the rights allocations. The new small-scale fisheries policy is widely acknowledged as progressive and carries the hope of inclusion for small-scale fishers along South Africa's coasts. After decades of disenfranchisement and individual rights allocations, the major challenge in the new policy's implementation will be dealing with the range of complex and unique communities in which the policy will be carried out. The purpose of this study was to establish a profile of the Lamberts Bay small-scale fisher groups and their perceptions regarding the new small-scale fisher policy, in order to inform the policy's implementation in Lamberts Bay.

The City of Cape Town is under increasing pressure to develop sustainable urban policies and plans to be able to mitigate and prepare for impacts of environmental change. Both city practitioners and academic researchers in Cape Town believe that one knowledge base is not sufficient to attempt to address the 'wicked problems' associated with environmental change, and that there is a need for collaboration among different knowledge types. This case study considers the value of facilitating an engaged interaction between academics and practitioners in order to co-produce knowledge that can be more relevant and useful for addressing sustainable urban planning challenges. A process of qualitative research by means of interviews with practitioners and researchers within the Cape Town Knowledge Transfer Programme revealed that a more engaged interaction between the researchers and the practitioners, who are the likely users of that research, generates more valuable knowledge and solutions for addressing sustainable urban planning challenges. This case study found that the engaged interaction was immeasurably valuable for both of the institutions, as well as the knowledge produced during the interaction, and the individuals involved in it. The results and implications for partnerships between academic researchers and city practitioners is discussed.

abstract: Prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, ecotourism represented the tourism industry’s fastest growing segment with projections estimating that ecotourism would become the world’s largest tourism type by 2030. While the tourism industry will need several years to rebound, if historic trends tell us anything, it is that ecotourism will continue to represent a large portion of the overall industry and will continue to grow at a rate that outpaces all other tourism types. In theory, ecotourism promotes sustainable socioeconomic development while also minimizing negative environmental impacts. Unfortunately, research suggests that this is not always true, and many examples exist of ecotourism causing more harm than good. In order to combat these potential negative impacts, the ecotourism industry has become increasingly reliant on ecotourism certification programs to act as an assessment tool that identifies ecotourism’s best practitioners while minimizing false advertising present within the industry. Despite these beliefs in the efficacy of certification, there is a lack of empirical research to actually support certification as an effective assessment tool. Furthermore, little research has been conducted that assesses the impacts that certification itself has on ecotourism businesses (both certified and uncertified) and the local communities dependent on ecotourism. My dissertation employs a mixed methods design and combines qualitative and quantitative research methods spanning multiple geographic scales to develop an understanding of certification programs as they exist today and to discern the impacts that certification itself may cause for all those either directly or indirectly involved in ecotourism. My findings ultimately suggest that certification reform is needed if certification programs are expected to be the assessment tool ecotourism experts claim them to be. Specifically, as certification exists presently, there is: no universal guideline or standard for existing certification programs to follow, a disconnect between the advertised benefits certification offers and the actual benefits received, and a lack of market penetration both amongst ecotourists and ecotourism businesses. Each of these must be addressed before certification can live up to its full potential. Furthermore, I found that certification may impact community socioeconomic dynamics, particularly by creating or exacerbating community wealth distribution. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2020

The objective of this dissertation is to determine whether bamboo culms or stems are suitable for use as a construction material for permanent structures, from an engineering as well as a sustainability perspective. A secondary objective is to establish whether this would be a suitable building technology for South Africa. The research is desk-top in nature and involves reviewing articles in online journals and publications and collating the information into a coherent form. Eleven species of bamboo commonly used in construction worldwide are selected for investigation of their material and engineering properties. Based on the variations found in the various species of bamboo, approaches to engineering modelling and design of bamboo structures are detailed and discussed. Furthermore, four case studies are presented that illustrate the various areas where bamboo construction is currently used. Finally, research is done regarding the level of the South African bamboo industry, including whether a bamboo species currently exists in South Africa that would be suitable for construction purposes. The preliminary literature review indicated that there is a lack of scientific or structural information regarding bamboo as a building material from an engineering or materials perspective, both globally as well as in South Africa. Although a substantial amount of information was subsequently found on the various aspects of bamboo as a structural material, the information varies widely between sources, which is ascribed to variations in test methods as well as to the location of the species being tested. The design codes and standards from various countries for bamboo design and construction are briefly reviewed. For countries where there is currently no bamboo design code or standard, such as South Africa, it is recommended that the International Standard, ISO 22156, be used as a design basis, using specific material properties relevant to the local species. Many publications state that bamboo is a sustainable building material, comparing favourably with other building materials. However, quantitative proof was found to be either lacking or unclear. Different methods were used in the publications to evaluate bamboo from an environmental perspective, making it difficult to compare and evaluate the different reports and results. However, despite the different methods, it appears that bamboo can be regarded as an environmentally favourable material, provided that local species are used in construction. The four case studies presented demonstrate that bamboo culms are suitable for use in large structures, such as bridges or trusses, as well as for smaller structures such as buildings or houses. They also illustrate the issues that can occur if the design intent is not understood or correctly carried out during construction. South Africa has one bamboo species considered suitable for construction, namely Bambusa balcooa, which is grown in various parts of the country. The properties of the South African plants have not been established as yet. However, theoretical engineering and material properties as determined elsewhere in the world indicate that this is a viable construction material. Further areas of research are the establishment of the material and engineering properties of the local South African bamboo species Bambusa balcooa, as well as further research into the behaviour of bamboo in fire conditions.

A problem facing over 41 million Americans today is food insecurity [15]. The root of this problem lies in the inequitable distribution of healthy and affordable food to low-income neighborhoods because of an industry that is profit-based and lacks a physical connection between the production and consumption of food. Even though 82 percent of consumers live in cities, food is produced in rural areas and transported several times before arriving in the consumer’s hands [03]. Grocery stores are profit-based and invest in locations with higher buying power, resulting in a lack of access to food in low-income areas. In order to create a new attitude around providing food for underserved neighborhoods, the design of a new, highly-visible, sector of food processing must be independent from the existing profit-based food industry. This consolidated and localized system should not only serve as an equitable distributor of food but also as the beacon of security and example of efficiency that the contemporary food system lacks. This thesis explores the utilization of urban resources, in the physical reconfiguration and consolidation of the elements of the contemporary food chain. The resulting solution aims to create an efficient, self-sustaining, and accessible source of nutrition in low-income neighborhoods. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

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Sustainable surfing events are a recent phenomenon and there is little to no academic literature reflecting this development. Sustainable event management (SEM) is the integration of sustainability principles and practices into event production to produce an event that goes beyond economic longevity and fulfils important social, cultural, and environmental roles that people value. This research explores the current practices and issues surrounding the implementation of SEM into surfing events held in Hawaii, USA and in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa. The thesis follows a qualitative case study approach using semi-structured interviews, participant observation and documentary evidence. Findings demonstrated that the key obstacles to implementing sustainable event management principles and practices include limited access to capital, lack of government support, resistance to change, the absence of a common vision, and a lack of education and awareness. This study revealed the importance of context in a hosting community's journey towards sustainable event production. Overcoming these obstacles requires engagement of the private sector, influence of local champions, involvement of NGOs, trusting relationships between local and external event stakeholders, access to technology and resources, and the strategic use of media to promote sustainability awareness to all event stakeholders. Based on these findings, recommendations for improving the sustainability performance of surfing events include the development of a formal policy, education and training for event staff, a media campaign focused on sustainability issues, and in-depth engagement with the local hosting community. How the enabling or inhibiting factors play out on the ground depends on the variety of factors previously highlighted. In practice, there are linkages across SEM practices and many work in concert to enhance the overall sustainability performance. Theoretically, the implications of this research lie in its contribution to a growing body of knowledge pertaining to the surfing industry's transition towards more sustainable business operations. Practically, this information can be used to inform policy, set goals, carefully examine alternatives, establish effective factors to enable SEM, and encourage sustainable decision-making and actions. Other surfing communities can learn from the experiences of the event stakeholders in Hawaii and Jeffreys Bay to improve their efforts of hosting a sustainable surfing event. Overall, this knowledge can promote a more balanced dissemination of sustainability thinking and practices within the global surfing events sector.

This research investigates how the ASK (Assessment of Sustainability Knowledge) Scale, developed by Zwickle and Jones (2018), can be used to assess the current state of sustainability knowledge at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). The goal of this research is to identify an assessment process that is efficient and meaningful for SIUC in future planning and programming. To answer the research questions, students were surveyed online in Spring 2020 using the ASK Scale survey. The survey consisted of all 12 unaltered questions from the ASK Scale, in addition to questions about participant’s year in school and major. The questions from the survey were analyzed using Microsoft Excel to find the results. This study found that the average ASK score among students at SIUC is 8.61 (out of 12.00), which shows that students who took this survey do possess a relatively high sustainability literacy. The results show that students at SIUC have the highest understanding of the social domain of sustainability (average score 84.63%), followed by the environmental domain (average score 74.11%), while the economic domain was the lowest (average score 59.17%). This shows that SIUC has ample opportunity to integrate the concepts of economic sustainability into their curriculum and programming. The research also found that students at SIUC are experiencing an increase in sustainability knowledge as they move through their academic career. This research shows that the ASK Scale can be used as an effective tool for assessing students’ current sustainability literacy.