Bücher von Walter Leal Filho

This volume describes the thinking on sustainable development and a variety of initiatives across Europe, illustrating regional efforts to foster sustainable communities and ecological and social innovation. It contains various contributions which showcase examples of thinking, economic and social structures and in consumption and production patterns needed, to implement the SDGs.This book is part of the "100 papers to accelerate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals initiative".

​This volume provides an overview of the ways sustainable development issues as a whole, and the SDGs in particular, are perceived and practiced in a variety of countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region. It also discusses the extent to which its many socio-economic problems hinder progresses towards the pursuit of a sustainable future, and documents successful experiences from across the region.

Sustainability is now a widely spread concept, and much progress has been achieved since the 1970s, when it started to be widely discussed. At present, many international organizations and scientists are active in implementing sustainable development as a whole and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular. Nevertheless, the main research agenda is being led by some countries, providing a good opportunity for other nations and regions which have not yet been so active, to bring their viewpoints to the global discussion. One of these regions is Latin America. Consistent with the need for more cross-sectorial and cross-cultural interactions among the various stakeholders working in the field of sustainability in Latin America and beyond, this book pursues two main aims: a) to provide research institutions, universities, NGOs, government agencies, and enterprises from the region with an opportunity to present their works in the field of sustainability and b) to document and promote ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of sustainability projects, especially successful initiatives and good practice across the Latin America region. Last but not least, a further aim of the book is to present methodological approaches and experiences deriving from case studies and projects, which aim to show how sustainability may be enhanced in practice.

Humanity will have to cope with many problems in the coming decades: for instance, the world population is likely grow to to 8,8 billion people by 2035. Also, changing climate conditions are negatively affecting the livelihoods of millions of people. In particular, environmental disasters are causing substantial damages to properties. From a social perspective, the inequalities between rich and poor nations are becoming even deeper, and in many countries, conflicts between national and international interest groups are intensifying.The above state of affairs suggest that a broader understanding of the trends which may lead to a more sustainable world is needed, especially those which may pave the way for future developments. In other words, we need to pave the way for sustainable futures.Consistent with this reality, the proposed Encyclopedia of Sustainability Futures aims to identify, document and disseminate ideas, experiences and visions from scientists, member of nongovernmental organisations, decision-makers industry representatives and citizens, on themes and issues which will be important in pursuing sustainable future scenarios. In particular, the publication will focus on scientific aspects, as well as on social and economic ones, also considering matters related to financing and infra-structures, which are important in pursuing a sustainable future.The Encyclopedia of Sustainability Futures will involve the contributing authors in line with theprinciple of co-generation, from across a wide range of disciplines, e.g. education and social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, the arts, languages etc, with papers adopting a long-term sustainability perspective, with a time horizon until 2050. The focus will be on themes which are felt as important in the future, and the chapters are expected to interest and motivate a world audience.This book is part of the "100 papers to accelerate the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals initiative"!

This book includes information, experiences, practical initiatives and projects around the subject matter and makes it available to a wide audience. It addresses the scientific, social, political and cultural aspects of climate change impacts and respective solutions in an integrated and coherent way.Climate change as a global phenomenon imposes new challenges for survival. Extreme weather events including heat waves, storms, droughts as well as rising sea levels, warming oceans and melting glaciers threaten people's livelihoods and communities, ecosystems and habitats. Furthermore, it affects the entire food chain and increases competition for natural resources fuelling socioeconomic tensions. The results of the latest IPCC report highlight the urgent need for combating climate change. The adaptation measures to be undertaken range across sectors, thematic fields and geographical locations.Based on this need, the book focuses on the high-quality, interdisciplinary contributions on the scientific, social, economic, political and cultural aspects of climate change challenges and solutions

This book contains a set of papers which explore the links among climate change, health, and hazards and demonstrate how they interact. It emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address climate risks. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human-induced climate change is known to be causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in nature and is affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks. Climate change is also negatively influencing health and is mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. The world is also facing significant climate hazards over the next two decades, with global warming expected to soon reach 1.5°C. Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which may be irreversible. There is therefore a perceived need for publications which may foster a greater understanding of how climate changeconnects to human health and the role played by hazards in this context. It is against this background that this book is being prepared.

This book focuses on 'educating the sustainability leaders of the future' and will contribute to the further development of this fast-growing field. As the title suggests, it presents practical experiences related to education, research and extension, the so-called third mission, whereby universities conduct outreach to society as a whole (e.g. to local communities, organisations, industry, and other groups) with the aim of documenting such experiences and making them available to a wide audience. This book is produced by the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR), through the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and contains inputs from authors from across all geographical regions. It gives a special emphasis to the participation of future generations on sustainability efforts. The book also discusses examples of initiatives coordinated by universities but involving civil society, the private sector, and public sector (including local, national, and intergovernmental bodies). In particular, it describes practical experiences, partnerships, networks, and training schemes for building capacity aimed at fostering the cause of sustainable development at institutions of higher education. Thanks to its design and the contributions by experts from various areas, it provides a welcome contribution to the literature on sustainable development, and it inspires further works in this field.

This book contains a set of papers which explore the subject matter of human and planetary health at various anglesThe year 2015 was a special year in the field of human and planetary health. In that year, the report, produced by the Rockefeller Foundation and the journal The Lancet, called "e;Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission  on planetary health"e; was launched. Also in 2015, the World Health Organization and the Secretariat of the Convention on  Biological Diversity published the report "e;Connecting global priorities: biodiversity and human health:  a state of knowledge review"e; with over 100 contributors, meant to guide future joint actions. Both documents comprehensively address the need for a better understanding of the connections between human health and ecosystems and the risks associated with damages to the integrity of the planet. The period in which humanity finds itself right now, the Anthropocene, is a risk one since mankind is putting the planet under considerable pressure. These elements have led to the emergence of a new field of research, namely planetary health. Planetary health seeks to address a very concrete and urgent contemporary problem, namely the need to understand, quantify, and act in order  to reverse the effects of human population growth and the acceleration of socioeconomic activities  on the environment and, inter alia, the disturbances in the Earth's natural ecosystems and how these, in turn, impact human health and well-being. Anthropic disturbances in natural ecosystems are characterized by changes in climate, land use, changes in the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle, chemical pollution of soil, water and air, reduction in the availability of drinking water, loss of biodiversity, destruction of the ozone layer, and ocean acidification, among others. In all these areas, there is a perceived need to document and promote examples of initiatives and good practice, which may change current trends. This book addresses this need. It documents experiences, case studies, and projects which explore the connections between human and planetary health and illustrates examples which show the consequences of ecosystemic disturbances to the health and well-being of humanity, with the emergence of new diseases, worsening of infectious diseases and increase in chronic non-communicable diseases related to the deterioration of the current food system, hyper-urbanization, microbial resistance, climate-led migration and zoonoses, among others.  Planetary health is a new effort to deal with the question of sustainability and human life on the planet under an increasingly integrative, transdisciplinary, and global perspective, since the problems of this planetary crisis cross geopolitical borders and academic boundaries and affect humanity as a whole. This book provides a contribution to this emerging field. Thanks to its design and the contributions by experts from various areas, it provides a welcome contribution to the literature on planetary health, and it inspires further works in this field.

This book describes initiatives and concrete examples on sustainable food production worldwide. In the current world scenario, where nations all over the world are struggling to accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure sustainable patterns for all, this book provides a contribution towards a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the cross-cutting issues related to Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. This interdisciplinary book supports the efforts to engage a commitment from all fields of science, to work together to provide knowledge that could help to address SDG2 (No hunger) and lead to the promotion of quality of life, by means of a more sustainable food production, and improved food security. This book is expected to fill the gap of publications in this field. It gives a special emphasis to a state-of-the-art descriptions of approaches, methods, initiatives and projects from universities, stakeholders, organizations and civil society across the world, regarding cross-cutting issues in sustainable food production. It includes examples of policies and practices case studies, examples of projects, institutional policies, innovative methods and tools and research outputs, which highlight the interdependence between sustainable agriculture and food security issues. It is expected that the "e;Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security"e; will make the many benefits of sustainable food production clearer and, inter alia, lead to an increase in the emphasis provided to this central theme. 

This work presents the findings of an extensive study on the state-of-the-art regarding the problem of food waste in Belarus, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.