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The country’s unique philosophy is expressed by Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) as the guiding principle of development. Bhutan is at a crossroads: It can maintain the current pattern of development—with rising inequality—or develop a vibrant private sector to generate jobs and diversify the economy, building resilience to future external shocks. The overarching priority of this Country Partnership Framework (CPF) is job creation. This CPF presents an integrated framework of WBG support to help Bhutan achieve inclusive and sustainable development through private sector–led job creation.

We analyze past and anticipated future trends in crop yields, per capita consumption, and population to estimate agricultural land requirements globally by 2050 and 2100. Assuming “business as usual,” higher-income countries are expected to show little or no net growth in cropland by the end of the century, even in the face of moderate climate change. In contrast, in lower-income countries, we project that land requirements will grow dramatically, and climate change will likely double this expansion. Although economic growth is often considered to work in opposition to conservation, accelerating economic development in lower-income countries, which would help alleviate poverty and increase standards of living, would also greatly reduce potential cropland expansion in lower-income countries, even with climate change, owing to slower population growth and improved crop yields that more than offset increased per capita consumption. Combining economic development in low-income countries with reduced consumption in high-income countries could dramatically shrink global cropland requirements by the year 2100 even with moderate climate change. Such a remarkable reduction in cropland area would have enormous benefits for both biodiversity and global climate change.  All of the data files are analyzed using R.

Study PopulationThe target population of the study were women aged 18 years to 69 years from households in Mwea East sub County that have experienced climate change events. As shown in table 3.1 below, the total population of female in Mwea East sub County in this age category was estimated at 38,734 (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)Volume III, table 2.5, (2019).Sample SizeA sample size of 449 respondents was determined as adequate for statistical analysis for the study using an online sample size calculator (calculator.net, 2021). 95% confidence level and 4.6% margin of error was used to calculate the sample size of 449 respondents determining the level of accuracy of the sample from the total estimated population of 38,734 women aged 18-69 years in Mwea East sub County.Data CollectionThe administration of the questionnaire was done by the Principal Investigator (PI) along with the KIIs, which were conducted after the questionnaire had been administered. The questionnaires were administered by 11 data collection assistants who were trained by the researcher. One of the 11 data collectors was the team leader. The researcher collected data in 5 of the households to demonstrate and practice the data collection process. Data AnalysisQuantitative and qualitative data were analyzed and triangulated to validate the findings. The quantitative data was analyzed using a combination of the IBM SPSS techniques including frequencies, cross-tabulations, bivariate statistics, means, correlations and descriptive ratio statistics. Qualitative data from both respondents and key informants’ interviews were documented using filed notes and thematically analyzed. The analysis from both sets of data was then merged to present the results. Study PopulationThe target population of the study were women aged 18 years to 69 years from households in Mwea East sub County that have experienced climate change events. As shown in table 3.1 below, the total population of female in Mwea East sub County in this age category was estimated at 38,734 (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)Volume III, table 2.5, (2019).Sample SizeA sample size of 449 respondents was determined as adequate for statistical analysis for the study using an online sample size calculator (calculator.net, 2021). 95% confidence level and 4.6% margin of error was used to calculate the sample size of 449 respondents determining the level of accuracy of the sample from the total estimated population of 38,734 women aged 18-69 years in Mwea East sub County.Data CollectionThe administration of the questionnaire was done by the Principal Investigator (PI) along with the KIIs, which were conducted after the questionnaire had been administered. The questionnaires were administered by 11 data collection assistants who were trained by the researcher. One of the 11 data collectors was the team leader. The researcher collected data in 5 of the households to demonstrate and practice the data collection process. Data AnalysisQuantitative and qualitative data were analyzed and triangulated to validate the findings. The quantitative data was analyzed using a combination of the IBM SPSS techniques including frequencies, cross-tabulations, bivariate statistics, means, correlations and descriptive ratio statistics. Qualitative data from both respondents and key informants’ interviews were documented using filed notes and thematically analyzed. The analysis from both sets of data was then merged to present the results.

In recent years, in order to promote the independent development of the new energy vehicle industry, Chinese government has decided to reduce the consumption subsidies for new energy vehicles until the subsidies are completely withdrawn. The reduction of consumption subsidy has a great impact on the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the whole vehicle market. However, does the reduction of this subsidy also have an impact on other enterprises in the new energy vehicles industry chain? This paper tests this problem using data from 2016 to 2018, and finds, through empirical analysis, that during the period of subsidy decline, the profitability of component enterprises is significantly positively correlated with this subsidies, while the r&d investment of enterprises is significantly negatively correlated with this subsidies. The results show that in terms of profitability, the reduction of consumer subsidies not only has an impact on the whole vehicle industry of new energy vehicles, but also has an adverse impact on the core component companies in the industrial chain. However, in terms of r&d, the reduction of subsidies has more negatively strengthened the input and attention of R&D in component companies.

An important outcome of a university business education is to shape individuals who are capable of working in and operating businesses that deliver economically profitable, socially responsible and ecologically viable services. In preparing future sustainable tourism workers, universities also need to design curricula that develop students’ skills in critical thinking and acting with a sense of ethics and empathy. Research evidence indicates, however, that students often graduate without these skills. A potential reason for this is the design of tourism curricula based on weaker conceptualisations of sustainability (e.g. triple bottom line) as opposed to stronger conceptualisations of sustainability (more holistic and inclusive approaches). Another possible reason could be that educators are not successfully cultivating students’ abilities to think in more complex ways about sustainability nor are they adequately acknowledging the ways in which their students make sense of a complex concept such as sustainability. To add to the complexity of the sustainability phenomenon, there is growing international pressure on the tourism industry by the United Nations (UN) to work towards achieving the 17 global sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. Despite recognition that tourism can help contribute towards the SDGs, a UN report provides evidence that tourism policymakers are not actively and sufficiently engaging with the SDGs. The UN’s recognition of the tourism industry’s ability to advance the SDGS through economic growth (SDG 8) is further problematic, even if this is seen as sustainable economic growth. The term ‘sustainable development’ has long been contested as a weaker form of sustainability due to its progrowth and development emphasis. Given the current global overtourism crisis, it seems more important than ever that universities pay attention to how sustainable tourism is being interpreted and implemented. This is necessary if educators are to truly encourage stronger sustainability mindsets in future tourism workers and change makers. Therefore, the overarching aim of this thesis is to explore how conceptualisations of strong sustainability amongst university students can be strengthened. This study is the first to explore the usefulness of variation theory in strengthening conceptualisations of strong sustainability amongst university tourism students. It provides the tourism literature with evidence of: 1) the conceptualisation of sustainability currently being integrated into undergraduate tourism courses by universities internationally; 2) the benefits of phenomenography as a research approach for studying qualitative difference in understanding concepts such as sustainability and sustainable tourism; 3) the viability of using a learning study approach to develop ‘stronger’ understandings of sustainability; and 4) the potential of variation theory to explain how individuals acquire understandings of sustainability. The empirical research is presented in three studies to address three main research objectives. The first research objective was ‘to identify the conceptualisations of sustainability currently being used in university undergraduate sustainable tourism courses internationally’. The first study, in Chapter III, identifies whether ‘strong sustainability’, sustainability skills and the SDGs are currently underpinning 60 international sustainable tourism courses. Chapter IV ‘explores the different ways in which tourism students, academics and industry practitioners currently conceptualise sustainability’ by conducting phenomenographic interviews with 20 participants. A continuum of less to more complex understandings of sustainability was then developed to identify qualitatively different ways of understanding sustainability. The third research objective was ‘to investigate alternate teaching and learning approaches that might encourage stronger conceptualisations of sustainability amongst undergraduate tourism students’. Chapter V, discusses how the continuum explored in Chapter IV was used in an Australian university sustainable tourism course, underpinned by variation theory, to implement a learning study to enhance students’ understandings of sustainability and the conceptual complexity of the term sustainability. The findings revealed that internationally, sustainable tourism courses do not include ‘very strong’ conceptualisations of sustainability, and that sustainability pedagogies (such as systems and holistic thinking) are not widely used. Phenomenographic interviews with (predominantly Australian-based) lecturers, students and industry workers initially revealed four qualitatively different ways of understanding sustainability ranging from weak to very strong understandings of sustainability. Whilst many tourism lecturers seemed to show understandings of moderate to strong sustainability, very few showed very strong sustainability conceptualisations. This implies that some tourism courses may potentially be designed and underpinned by a weak to moderate articulation of sustainability. These interviews also revealed that industry owners tended to demonstrate a much stronger sustainability understanding than tourism lecturers. Most industry owners had a longer-term focus and key motives centred on giving back to society and a ‘pay-it-forward’ attitude towards the environment. Further findings in the learning study revealed that variation theory offers a valuable teaching and learning strategy to help develop more complex conceptualisations of ‘very strong’ sustainability within a university tourism course. Based on these findings, a number of implications for theory and practice are examined. These include recommendations regarding the design of sustainable tourism courses such as strengthening the sustainability conceptualisations underpinning them; better integration of the SDGs; and the development of critical and systems thinking skills. The three studies also provide examples for use in practice. For example, in Chapter III, a questioning strategy is provided. The phenomenographic continuum in Chapter IV provides a teaching and learning tool for educators to incorporate into sustainability courses to help students’ understandings of the phenomena. Chapter V provides insight into how this continuum can be incorporated into a learning study and provides practical ways of using variation theory. By implementing the continuum into teaching and learning activities, both educators and industry can develop deeper and stronger conceptualisations of sustainability for the tourism industry. Limitations of the study are discussed, and recommendations put forward for future research. In addition, ways in which educational institutions and governments can use the findings of the study to enhance teaching and learning, both in the classroom and industry workplaces, are discussed. Such enhancements will provide a foundation of ‘strong sustainability’ mindsets within our future tourism industry, which in turn will contribute to the 2030 SDGs being achieved.

Achieving reductions in global anthropogenic emissions necessary to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will require significant reductions in energy demand. However, there are concerns that energy demand reductions involving lifestyle and behavioural changes might negatively impact peoples’ wellbeing. The work in this thesis studies the impacts of how people spend their time – commonly known as time-use – to try to understand whether this is the true, or whether energy demand could be reduced while improving wellbeing. Using the UK as a case study, this issue is examined by determining the energy use and wellbeing attributes of different activities and lifestyles, by modelling the impacts of shifts in time-use between activities, and by comparing the importance of three specific changes that might impact future energy use and wellbeing. Firstly, based upon existing literature it is identified that there is a need to better understand the combined energy and wellbeing impacts of different activities and lifestyles. Combining UK time-use and energy consumption data, the energy intensity, enjoyment and sociability of time is studied. Comparing these metrics for different activities suggests that since the most enjoyable (and in some cases sociable) activities are generally the least energy-intensive, acceptable (or popular) lifestyle changes might exist that reduce national energy use and improve wellbeing. However, studying changes between 2000 and 2015 shows that while the population’s time became less energy-intensive, there was little change in average enjoyment and a reduction in sociability. Segmenting the population by age reveals that an ageing population could present a challenge since energy use broadly increases with age-group while social contact reduces. However, comparing occupations highlights opportunities for specific actions that could improve wellbeing and reduce energy use, while regional differences suggest that wellbeing might be improved without increasing energy use. Having determined the energy intensity and wellbeing associated with different uses of time, the impacts of possible time-use changes are then studied. Acknowledging the difficulty in trying to predict how people might choose to re-allocate time in different situations, a sensitivity-based approach is used to study the impacts of a wide range of possible shifts in time between activities. The approach is then applied to explore the impacts of extreme lifestyle changes associated with COVID-19 lockdown measures in the UK and validated against real-world observations during the pandemic. While activity changes associated with lockdown measures reduce energy use, there are varying implications for peoples’ wellbeing, with the youngest appearing to be most negatively impacted but those able to work from home potentially benefiting. Although lockdown measures prevented some of the most enjoyable and sociable activities from happening, alternative activity changes could be supported in future that reduce energy use while improving wellbeing. Finally, time is used as a basis to compare the importance of different types of changes and help to prioritise actions. This is demonstrated by studying the combined impacts of three example changes – greater home working, changes in commuting transport modes and car intensity – on office workers’ energy use and wellbeing. The results show that working from home could have a greater impact upon office workers’ average energy use and enjoyment than changes to commuting modes, but that the social contact provided by the office could be difficult to replace. The study also demonstrates different ways that energy savings might be achieved through home working, shifts in commuting modes and changes to vehicle intensity. This approach could be used more widely to compare a broader range of changes, understand their interactions and different ways to achieve outcomes, and help to identify those changes that are most important to reduce energy use and improve wellbeing. The work presented in this thesis shows that time-use can be used as a basis to examine energy demand and wellbeing together. Using time-use to link these issues enables trade-offs or co-benefits due to different uses of time to be determined and allows rebound effects to be considered. The results suggest that reducing energy use can be achieved at the same time as improving wellbeing. The hope is that the approaches and findings presented in this thesis can provide a basis for wider discussion and a platform for future work to support climate change mitigation strategies that are positive for both the environment and society.

The study was designed to assess the impact of participation of Port Harcourt indigenous women in poverty eradication programmes in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study used questionnaires to elicit responses from 385 indigenous women randomly selected in a multi-stage technique. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that majority (58.3%) of the women were members of a cooperative society, 63.5 percent were members of community-based organizations (CBO) while 60.9 percent were members of “Esusu” (rotator credit schemes). About 66.3 percent of the women had engaged in jobs aimed at poverty alleviation. Only 6.0 percent identified that they were not members of any poverty alleviation programmes (PAP) by government. It was found that after joining the PAP, 75.5 percent of them experienced an increase in income of 36.6 percent. Significant differences existed in the income of the women after joining poverty alleviation programmes. It was therefore recommended that more programmes designed to alleviate poverty in Rivers State should target indigenous women; government should also establish entrepreneurship capacity-building programmes to enable women to bring out their optimal input while participating in the poverty eradication programmes. Consilience, No 14 (2015): Issue Fourteen: 2015

Air and sea transport power the global economy. Since the vast majority of trade is physical, it must travel by plane or ship to reach its market. In fact, high value, time-sensitive goods usually fly through at least two airports, and almost every container passes through at least two seaports. When ports are efficient, people receive the goods theyre waiting for, sellers receive payment, and global economic development is strengthened. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) push this development forward with greater speed and richer benefits. In this issue, handshake turns its attention to air and sea transport (expect a companion issue on road and rail in October 2012). In the air, we deconstruct myths surrounding airport PPPs, learn brutally honest lessons from experiences in airline privatization, and revisit the liberalization of African skies. For seaports, the authors examine private investment, glimpse the post concession era, and witness the PPP evolution.

A survey of firms involved in lignite mining and/or conversion resulted in estimates of their expenditures to in-state entities. An input-output model was applied to estimate secondary and total impacts of the direct expenditures. Direct expenditures totaled $806.8 million for 2007 and were estimated at $995.4 million for 2008. The total (direct plus secondary) contribution to the North Dakota economy was estimated to be $2.4 billion for 2007 and $2.8 billion for 2008. State tax revenues resulting from industry activities totaled $89 million in 2007, and industry direct employment totaled 3,882. In addition, economic activity resulting from the industry was estimated to support more than 21,000 jobs in other sectors of the state economy.