Various municipal solid waste management (MSWM) innovations have emerged in developing countries in face of the challenges posed by increasing waste generation and poor MSWM practice. We present a methodology to assess the potential sustainability impact of MSWM innovations in a holistic manner. The Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (LCSA) framework and the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) facilitated the methodology development. The result of applying the methodology to the case of waste bank (WB) in Bandung City shows that WB potentially generates the greatest sustainability impact in the resource recovery phase and the smallest impact in the collection and final disposal phase. All negative impacts could arise in the economic dimension. Surprisingly, WB as a national strategy to achieve 3Rs would not effectively solve Bandung City’s landfill problem. Almost all SDGs would benefit from the WB program under the assumed conditions. This methodology will facilitate the decision-making in MSWM by (1) comparing available innovations to find the optimal solution, (2) identifying the hot spots and taking measures to combat the negative impacts, (3) providing the basis for monitoring the implementation process and the ex-post performance assessment.
The economic valuation of environmental resources is considered to be an important theoretical tool for decision-making on the allocation of scarce natural resources. However, its practical (political) use is often questioned. Within the paper the usefulness of the widely used contingent valuation method for local tourism strategies is defended. The results from two pilot Czech-German comparative case studies undertaken in the border Euro-region Elbe/Labe are presented and their political relevance explained.
Growing awareness of environmental and social issues in economic development contributes to move the idea of sustainable development forward. Since 2008, the Joint International Master in Sustainable Development offers an international and interdisciplinary approach to the hotly
debated topic. It combines the strengths of the eight partner universities in Europe, Asia and Africa.
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