The 2nd World Sustainability Forum

Call for Papers

Research concerned with sustainability and sustainable development is progressing fast. Simultaneously, activities within industry, government and academia are becoming more globalized. Successful research requires interaction with multiple partners around the world. We are facing an obvious need for new types of communication within our scientific community. Sciforum.net electronic conferences provide a platform for fast exchange of the latest research findings, as well as a possibility for global meetings with no limitations related to traveling.

The World Sustainability Forum 2012 (WSF-2012) will cover timely research topics concerned with sustainability and sustainable development. The conference will include nine topical sessions focusing on:

1. Environmental Sustainability (Section A).
2. Corporate Sustainability Strategy (Section B).
3. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy (Section C).
4. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources (Section D).
5. Sustainable Urban Development (Section E).
6. Sustainable Development Policy and Practice (Section F).
7. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation (Section G).
8. Remote Sensing for Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity (Section H)
9. General and Related topics (Section I)

This inter- and multi-disciplinary conference aims to examine, explore and critically engage with issues related to recent insights and advances in these topics. In particular, the conference will encourage both theoretical and practical debates surrounding environmental, economical and social contexts for those who want to go beyond the buzzword.

The conference will be completely free of charge―both to attend and for authors to publish―and is sponsored by MDPI and the scientific journal Sustainability. Selected papers will be published in the journal Sustainability.

The 2nd World Sustainability Forum Conference will be held at www.sciforum.net, a new platform developed by MDPI to organize electronic conferences for scholars.

Please submit your abstract with max 2500 character (in English) by September 10, 2012. Abstracts should be submitted online at https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf2/page/call. All submissions will be reviewed by our scientific committee. For accepted abstracts, a full draft paper should be submitted by October 15, 2012.

Paper Submission Guidelines

For information about the procedure for submission, peer-review, revision and acceptance of conference proceedings papers, please refer to the section "Instruction for authors":

https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf2/page/instructions

Conference Chairs

Marc Rosen

[Not defined]

Sessions

A. Environmental Sustainability
B. Corporate Sustainability Strategy
C. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy
D. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources
E. Sustainable Urban Development
F. Sustainable Development Policy and Practice
G. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation
H. Remote Sensing for Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity, Sustainable Agriculture
I. Related Topics

Instructions for Authors

Submission

Submissions should be done by the authors online by registering with www.sciforum.net, and using the "New Submission" function once logged into system.

1. Scholars interested in participating with the conference can submit their abstract (about 200-300 words covering the areas of manuscripts for the proceedings issue) online on this website until 10 September 2012.

2. The Conference Committee will pre-evaluate, based on the submitted abstract, whether a contribution from the authors of the abstract will be welcome for 2nd World Sustainability Forum.

All authors will be notified by 25 September 2012 about the acceptance of their abstract.

3. If the abstract is accepted for this conference, the author is asked to submit his manuscript, optionally along with a PowerPoint and/or video presentation of his/her paper, until the submission deadline of 15 October 2012.

4. The manuscripts and presentations will be available on https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf2/page/call for discussion and rating during the time of the conference 1 – 30 November 2012.

5. The Open Access Journal Sustainability will publish the proceedings of the conference as a Special Issue. After the conference, the Conference Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in this Special Issue. Five of the manuscripts with the highest scientific quality will be published free of charge following a successful peer-review.

Proceedings Paper
Manuscripts for the proceedings issue must have the following organization:

First page:
Title
Full author names
Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
(Acknowledgements)
References

Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to the PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should count at least 3 pages (incl. figures, tables and references). There is no page limit on the length, although authors are asked to keep their papers as concise as possible.

Presentation Slides
Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the Manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly in the website using Sciforum.net's proprietary slides viewer. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as for any traditional conference where research results can be presented. Slides should be converted to the PDF format before submission so that our process can easily and automatically convert them for online displaying.

Video Presentations
Besides their active participation within the forum, authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. If you are interested in submitting, please contact the conference organizer – [email protected] to get to know more about the procedure. This is an unique way of presenting your paper and discuss it with peers from all over the world. Make a difference and join us for this project!

Submission of Manuscripts
Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://sciforum.net/conference/wsf2/page/call by registering and logging in to this website.

Accepted File Formats:

MS Word: Manuscript prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the World Sustainability Forum Microsoft Word template file must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make the layout very difficult.

LaTeX: ensure to send a copy of your manuscript as a PDF file also, if you decided to use LaTeX. When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use the MDPI LaTeX template files.

Manuscript Preparation

Paper Format: A4 paper format, the printing area is 17.5 cm x 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).

Formatting / Style: The paper style of the Journal Sustainability should be followed. You may download a template file to prepare your paper. The full titles and the cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [4] or [1-3], and all the references should be listed separately and as the last section at the end of the manuscript.

Authors List and Affiliation Format: Authors' full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle name can be added. For papers written by various contributors a corresponding author must be designated. The PubMed/MEDLINE format is used for affiliations: complete street address information including city, zip code, state/province, country, and email address should be added. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties, who provided only minor contributions, should be listed under Acknowledgments only. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.

Figures, Schemes and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full color graphics will be published free of charge. Figure and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and a explanatory title must be added. Tables should be inserted into the main text, and numbers and titles for all tables supplied. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, a figure or a scheme.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

It is the authors' responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here "The authors declare no conflict of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under "Acknowledgments" section. It is the authors' responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here "The authors declare no conflict of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under "Acknowledgments" section.

Copyright
MDPI AG, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe that authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting a Communication paper to this conference, you retain the copyright of your paper, but you grant MDPI AG the non-exclusive right to publish this paper online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your paper to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher (if required by that publisher).

List of accepted submissions (82)

Id	Title	Authors	Presentation
sciforum-002672	Supplier Selection in Electrical and Electronic Industry from a Sustainable Point of View Atefeh Amindoust , Shamsuddin Ahmed , Ali Saghafinia Submitted: 01 Sep 2012 Abstract: Show Abstract	Atefeh Amindoust , Shamsuddin Ahmed , Ali Saghafinia	N/A	Show Abstract
One of the most notable paradigms increases the productivity of the firms is managing the supply chains and supply chain management (SCM) has come to play a critical role as a key to optimize the business activities under recent agile improvement of network technology and economic globalization. One of the crucial challenges for purchasing department in SCM is supplier evaluation and selection. On the other hand, sustainable development has become a buzzword that received a lot of attentions by policy makers, the popular press, and journals in different scientific fields as an interdisciplinary issue. During the last two decades, sustainability issue has acquired a dominant place in SCM and now is being discussed seriously. Thereby, sustainable purchasing and sustainable supplier selection will be fertile areas for research. Since the Electrical & Electronic industry (E&E) is an important contributor to the economy of worldwide business, the supplier selection issue in E&E industry is considered in this work. First, among the extensive range of supplier selection literature in different industries, supplier selection papers in E&E industry is derived. Then, reviewing and going through these papers, a comprehensive framework for supplier selection criteria considering sustainability in E&E industry is proposed. Finally, the real case study from E&E industry of Malaysia is applied and the proposed framework is utilized to select the best suppliers in the mentioned company. It is worthy to note that, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is applied in this case to rank the suppliers.
sciforum-002714	What Do the IUCN Categories Really Protect? A Case from the Alpine Regions in Spain Lorena Muñoz , Vera Hausner Submitted: 07 Sep 2012 Abstract: Show Abstract	Lorena Muñoz , Vera Hausner	N/A	Show Abstract
Protected area (PA) coverage is used as an indicator of biodiversity protection worldwide. The effectiveness of using PAs as indicators has been questioned due to the diversity of designations included in such measures, especially those PAs established for other purposes than biodiversity protection. Although international standards have been developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the policies on the ground have been developed independently of the IUCN categories. This makes the use of IUCN categories dubious measures of biodiversity conservation. The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) developed a framework for the evaluation of management effectiveness of PAs, based on six stages (context, planning, inputs, process, outputs and outcomes). This evaluation method has often been confined to the study of outputs and outcomes. Generally, monitoring of populations and biodiversity has been the most commonly used approach for evaluation, but such evaluations are costly and do not always allow for comparisons of parks. A management plan is crucial for effective management of the parks and for guidance on how biodiversity should be prioritized against other goals. The evaluation of management plans using standardized coding schemes and content analysis is a useful tool that can be reproduced in other studies, allowing comparisons between different parks, regions and countries. In addition, it allows the detection of management weaknesses from the beginning of the protection process. We therefore analyzed the aims and the regulations in management plans of alpine PAs in Spain, as a first step for evaluating the conservation performance. We used content analysis and CAiv to assess how aims and regulations vary in relation to three explanatory factors: IUCN categories, Vegetation Zones and Autonomous Communities. We found the aims of many parks to be vague, without clear indication on how to prioritize biodiversity goals. Furthermore only 45% of the alpine PAs actually have a management plan, which strengthens our argument about unclear guidance of PA management. Although aims could partly be related to IUCN categories, the regulations showed no clear relationship to international policies, which reflects that aims are not necessarily implemented in practice. The overall weak correspondence in management practices among PAs indicated that management is influenced by other factors than international standards. Devolution to Autonomous Communities could be one explanation for the large variation in management practices among parks. The Spanish Constitution passed in 1978 allowed Autonomous Communities declaring and managing PAs and resulted in a sudden declaration of many PAs, and also in a large difference in the development of protection in different parts of the country. In addition, the lack of policies that have coordinated the PA management of central and local governments has probably contributed to the large variation of aims and regulations. We did not find any effect of the alpine versus Mediterranean mountain vegetation zones on management policies. The analysis of management plans shows that clearly defined aims are needed. Aims are, however, not sufficient. Management practices also need to correspond to the prioritizations made in management plans. Obviously there also need to be a management plan for each park to guide prioritizations among a diversity of aims. Information about aims and management practices is needed to apply protected areas coverage as a measure of biodiversity protection. Finally, such evaluations of management plans could not replace the analyses of impacts on biodiversity, but is an important first step in evaluating management effectiveness.
sciforum-002694	Environmental Policies Assessment and Management: the Case of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive in the Waste Sector Tiberio Daddi , Maria Rosa De Giacomo Submitted: 05 Sep 2012 Abstract: Show Abstract	Tiberio Daddi , Maria Rosa De Giacomo	N/A	Show Abstract
The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive has been for the first time published in 1996 (Council Directive 96/61/EC). It was amended in 2008 and now it has been replaced by the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) n.75/2010. The IPPC Directive represents one of the main important policy tool of European Union to manage the emissions of industrial activities and to achieve a higher level of protection of environment as a whole. The Directive asks to the Competent Authorities to issue an unique permit for the industrial installations where are included limits, monitoring frequencies and operational requirements referred to all environmental aspects (water emissions, air emissions, soil, etc.) In literature we can find several studies about policies assessment. In this framework we can observe that not so many authors have studied the IPPC Directive. In addition the papers related to the assessment of the IPPC Directive are referred mainly to discuss about the effectiveness of the Directive in the implementation of Best Available Techniques (BAT) and the improvement of environmental performance of the companies in the scope of the Directive. Besides the few papers or technical reports focused on the implementation of the IPPC Directive from a legislative and administrative perspective have never studied in depth the contents of the issued permits. The objective of our paper is to bridge this gap presenting the results of an empirical research carried out by the authors in the framework of an European project named MED IPPC NET. The authors investigated 62 IPPC permits of landfill sector issued in seven European Regions: Andalusia and Valencia (Spain), Tuscany, Piedmont and Sicily (Italy), West Macedonia (Greece) and Slovenia. The research aimed to identify the differences in the Emissions Limit Values, monitoring frequencies, operational requirements imposed to installations of the same sector but with permits issued in different Competent Authorities. The results demonstrate relevant disparities not always justifiable by the flexibility given by the Directive to the Member States and Competent Authorities to implement the Directive.
sciforum-002605	Management of natural lake water resources: problems and solutions Arkadi Parparov , Gideon Gal Submitted: 26 Aug 2012 Abstract: Show Abstract	Arkadi Parparov , Gideon Gal	N/A	Show Abstract
Conceptually, water resources management means optimization of a goal function which integrates requirements and, and constraints, of, interconnected hydrological, ecological and economic aspects of the water resource management. Establishment of the goal function should allow combining of the economic activities, hydroecological studies and economic valuation within a holistic methodological framework. The set of the management measures allowing the optimization of the goal function under a pre-condition of conservation of the ecosystem services in some predefined reference/desirable state defines sustainable management policy.The examples of the natural waterbodies for which such a goal function has been established are extremely rare if at all they exist (unknown to us). In this presentation, we outlined a methodological framework for sustainable water resource management comprising of ecological monitoring, quantified water quality and an ecosystem model. We tested the proposed framework on the subtropical Lake Kinneret (Israel), a major national water resource. Methodologically, this study linked the economic activities in Lake Kinneret and its watershed (i.e. nutrient loads and water supply regimes) with lake water quality, sustaining of which was considered the management objective. Based on analysis of the monitoring data and model scenario simulations we established quantitative relationships between changes to lake water level and nutrient loading and water quality. We assessed a set of values of nutrient loads from the watershed and water levels that will allow conservation of the lake water quality within predefined limits thereby defining limits for a sustainable management policy for the lake water resources. The defined sustainable management policy is in good correspondence with the loads and permissible water level ranges estimated from lake-based monitoring . Our approach to assessment of the sustainable management policy was based on a single, hydroecological criterion: the necessity to sustain lake water quality within a desirable, reference state. However, in reality, the sustainable management policy should be focused on a social-ecological system and not an aquatic ecosystem per se. Therefore, water resources management should be based on multi-criteria; it should also account for the economic aspects (costs and benefits for society) of the problem. Establishment of the quantitative relationships between economic activities, water quality and total economic value of water resources is a challenging scientific problem. Its solution will be a pivotal step towards adaptive water resources management.
sciforum-002783	Survey of Household Energy Use in a Toronto Rental High-rise Multi-unit Residential Building (MURB) Miles Roque , Vera Straka , Alan Fung Submitted: 09 Sep 2012 Abstract: Show Abstract	Miles Roque , Vera Straka , Alan Fung	N/A	Show Abstract
This paper discusses occupant\'s household energy use, behaviour and satisfaction in one of Toronto\'s rental high-rise multi-unit residential building (MURB). A survey was conducted between April 8 and May 5 2012 with a sample population of 49 residents. The survey consisted of 51 questions about occupant\'s characteristics, appliance and electrical types and usage, heating and cooling equipment, water use, lighting fixtures and usage, indoor environment, thermal comfort, and their lifestyle. Results show that the surveyed population\'s socio-demographics in this paper are similar to occupant predictor trends of household energy use behaviour found in literature. Amongst the surveyed households, for example, older-aged respondents were found to spend more time using their appliances per day and also owning older appliances/devices. Male respondents were found to own and use their appliances/electrical devices more than female respondents as well. Lastly, a similar trend was found for respondents with a longer residency in the building. A comparison analyses between the survey results and a Canadian national household energy use for high-rise apartment dwellings found in Natural Resources Canada\'s survey, SHEU 2007, were also conducted. This survey found that the surveyed respondents are well below the national average on ownership and usage of appliances and electrical devices. Lastly, a correlation analyses showed that seasonal temperature satisfaction within respondent\'s apartment unit is strongly correlated with respondent\'s thermal comfort; for example, satisfaction of the apartment unit temperatures during the summer and how the temperature enhances their thermal comfort was found to have a r= 0.86, p< 0.01. The survey also found that the respondents were dissatisfied with the summer temperatures of their apartment unit compared to the winter temperatures. These results suggest that specific demographics (e.g. males, older-aged, or longer residency respondents) own or use their appliances compared to other occupant characteristics. Furthermore, indoor environment satisfaction can be improved by temperature adjustments within respondent\'s apartment units during the summer. This survey identifies opportunities for improving resident\'s indoor environment satisfaction and household energy use. The concept of tenant engagement and education strategies can further facilitate similar analysis by comparing the energy use and behaviour before and after implemented strategies. Further analysis can also be conducted by assessing respondent\'s survey results to their energy consumption.

Full List

List of Authors (137)

Ahmad Abdelrahman

Murni Ahmad

Shamsuddin Ahmed

Daniel Albiero

Cristina Allione

Avit Bhowmik

Carmen Bulucea

Roberto Callarotti Callarotti

Valentina Castellani

Lucia Ceccherini Nelli

Ya-Ju Chang

Lei CHEN

Guna Ciemleja

Monika Culakova

Tiberio Daddi

Maria Rosa De Giacomo

Claudia De Giorgi

Laurence Delina

Antonio García-Olivares

Ahjond Garmestani

Ineta Geipele

Olivia Green

Sponsors and Partners

Media Partners

Proceedings & Editors

Conference Chair

Marc A. Rosen

Section Chairs

Terence J. Centner

Michael J. Heckenberger

Christopher Koroneos

Jesus Martinez-Frias

Sharon Megdal

Daniele Riccio

Miklas Scholz

Judith Tisdall

John P. Ulhøi

Production Editors

Julio A. Seijas

M. Pilar Vázquez Tato

CD-ROM edition

ISBN: 3-906980-28-6

Published in 2013 by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Rates for CD-ROM archive edition

CHF 100 before the conference

CHF 150 after the conference

CHF 250 per year for non-participants and for institutions

Please place the order by e-mail: Billing

Chair of the 2nd World Sustainability Forum

Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen

University of Ontario

Institute of Technology (Oshawa, Canada)

Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Sustainability

Scientific Advisory Committee

Dr. Philipp Aerni, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

Dr. Kenneth Aizawa, Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, USA

Prof. Dr. Devrim Akca, Isik University, Istanbul, Turkey

Prof. Dr. Sanjai Bhagat, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

Dr. Ni-Bin Chang, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Prof. Dr. Terence J. Centner, University of Georgia, Athens, USA

Dr. Brian Deal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, USA

Prof. Dr. Alexandra Drizo, CEO PhosphoReduc LLC & University of Vermont, Burlington, USA

Prof. Dr. Michael J. Falkowski, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA

Prof. Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner, Technical Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Prof. Dr. Jesus Martinez-Frias, CSIC-INTA, Madrid, Spain

Dr. Timothy R. Green, USDA-ARS, Agricultural Systems Research Unit, Fort Collins, USA

Dr. David I Gustafson, Monsanto Senior Fellow & Interim Director, International Life Sciences Institute, Washington, USA

Prof. Dr. Charles A.S. Hall, State University of New York, Syracuse, USA

Prof. Dr Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

Dr. Jorge Herkovits, National Council of Science and Technology, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dr. Rainer Hofmann, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand

Dr. Meg Holden, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada

Dr. Monzur A. Imteaz, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

Prof. Dr. John L Innes, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, Canada

Dr. William T. Jackson, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, USA

Prof. Dr. Daniel M. Kammen, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Dr. Alexander Kokhanovsky, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Prof. Christopher Koroneos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

Prof. Dr. Robert W. Marans, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Dr. Ingrid M. Martin, California State University -Long Beach, Long Beach, USA

Dr. Sharon B. Megdal, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

Dr. Gonzalo Pajares, University Complutense of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Prof. Paul Phillips, University of Northampton, Northampton, United Kingdom

Dr. Pallav Purohit, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

Prof. Daniele Riccio, University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy

Dr. Duccio Rocchini, Edmund Mach Foundation, IASMA Research and Innovation Centre, S. Michele all'Adige, Italy

Prof. Dr . Miklas Scholz, University of Salford, England, United Kingdom & Editor-in-Chief of the journal of Water

Dr. Alistair Smith, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA

Dr. Delyse Springett, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Dr. Salvatore Stramondo, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy

Dr. Judy Tisdall, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Prof. Dr. John Parm Ulhøi, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Dr. Paul Upham, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Dr. Frank Witlox, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Prof. Dr. Tetsuji Yamada, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA

Organizing Committee

Dr. Shu-Kun Lin (Basel, Switzerland)
Dr. Brietta Pike (Basel, Switzerland)
Mr. Thomas Schurter (Basel, Switzerland)

List of Keynotes & Videos

Sustainable city

This video is an addendum to the paper "Circular Urban Systems: tracing innovation processes" submitted to section E: Sustainable Urban Development and prepared by Anne-Lorène Vernay and Rajbeer Singh.

Energy Sustainability

This video contains a Keynote Presentation for the 2nd World Sustainability Forum, prepared by our Chairman Prof. Dr. Marc Rosen from the Institute of Technology of the University of Ontario, Canada.

Industry location assessment for multinational enterprises

This video is an addendum to the paper "Industry location assessment for multinational enterprises in Latvia" submitted to section E: Sustainable Urban Development and prepared by Tatjana Staube and Ineta Geipele.

A. Environmental Sustainability

Prof. Dr. Miklas Scholz, University of Salford, UK
Dr. Judith Tisdall, La Trobe University, Australia

Session Chairs

Professor Miklas Scholz, The University of Salford

Professor Judy Tisdall

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Submissions

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B. Corporate Sustainability Strategy

Prof. Dr. John P. Ulhøi, Aarhus University, Denmark

It’s long pass the point where it should be debated if or why corporations should take the issue of sustainability serious. Translating the principle of sustainable development into a corporate context, however, implies, that it cannot be handled as yet another ‘bolt-on’ issue. Rather it needs to be a truly integrated part of the founding values, purposes and action-directing strategies of the entire corporation and its activities. This session will highlight recent developments in and/or innovative cases of sustainable business models and strategies at the operative, tactical and/or at the strategic level. We welcome empirical grounded contributions, theoretical and/or new methodological contributions (or combinations thereof) from different sectors and/or geopolitical regions that may help advance our conceptual and methodological toolbox.

Session Chair

Professor John Ulhoi

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Submissions

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C. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy

Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, USA
Prof. Dr. Terence J. Centner, University of Georgia, USA

Due to evidence that current economies are unsustainable, various efforts are being made to develop sustainable economies. Yet, proponents struggle to define what is meant by sustainability, particularly, in relation to contested social and cultural values. The session welcomes ideas for social values that might be incorporated into parameters for sustainable economies on topics that could include equity, empathy, education, human rights, poverty, health, environmental qualities, energy, and nutrition. We welcome ideas for a dialogue on socio-cultural values, including diverse gender, race and class-based differences, which should be considered in devising parameters for sustainability studies, such as climate change, ecological diversity and integrity, socio-economic development, urbanism, and environmental justice.

Session Chairs

Professor Michael Heckenberger

Professor Terence Centner

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D. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources

Prof. Dr. Jesus Martinez-Frias, CSIC-INTA, Spain

This session aims to merge two topics of maximum scientific, technological and social-cultural interest (the so called twin pillars of sustainable energy policy): the objective of efforts to diminish the amount of energy required to provide products and services and the energy which comes from natural resources, which are naturally replenished . Energy is one of the hot themes of Rio+20 where one of the key questions is: How can we provide access to clean energy for everyone, and make sure that the energy we produce doesn’t contribute to climate change? It is well known that the more we use renewable energy, the more we benefit the environment, which has positive returns for everybody’s way of life. The session will describe the state-of-the-art, highlighting recent developments in both “pillars”. We also welcome contributions on advances in analytical techniques as well as other multidisciplinary issues from an earth and planetary perspective.

Session Chairs

Professor Jesus Martinez-Frias, Instituto de Geociencias, IGEO (CSIC-UCM)

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E. Sustainable Urban Development

Dr. Michael J. Heckenberger, University of Florida, USA

The idea of sustainable urban development dates to the early 20th century, but radical 20th century changes in global population (<10% in 1900; >50 % in 2012) and associated size and distribution of cities and land-use, even in most remote areas of the globe, underscores the critical importance of urban sustainability, including global ecology and climate change. This session addresses major themes in urban studies in terms of sustainability, such as history and form, urban development and planning, environmental and social justice, socio-cultural diversity, public space and land-use, and the aesthetics and representations of urban life, and the tension between scientific models and applications and the diversity and socio-cultural rights of local groups and contexts, including minorities, marginalized groups and other vulnerable groups that comprise the majority of people affected by contemporary urbanism.

Session Chair

Professor Michael Heckenberger

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F. Sustainable Development Policy and Practice

Prof. Dr. Christopher Koroneos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Prof. Dr. Sharon Megdal, University of Arizona, USA

The term \'sustainable development\' was defined by the report entitled Our Common Future released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), the United Nations Brundtland Commission, as the development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The concept of sustainable development takes into consideration the three constituent parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and sociopolitical sustainability. All these three dimensions must be given equal weight. Thus, some key issues that must be taken into consideration to ensure that development was sustainable, could be:

• Water Issues
• Energy
• Food Security
• Environmental Degradation
• Climate Change
• Population and Human Resources
• Industry
• Issues of Urban Living
• North-South Dialogue
• Economic Development and Environment
• Trade and Environment

Session Chairs

Professor Christopher Koroneos

Dr. Sharon Megdal, University of Arizona

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Submissions

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G. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation

Prof. Dr. Marc A. Rosen, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada

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H. Remote Sensing for Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity, Sustainable Agriculture

Prof. Dr. Daniele Riccio, University of Napoli Federico II, Italy

A new generation of Remote Sensing sensors is being operational to map, monitor and analyze the Earth. New available configurations and operational modes increase the flexibility of these sensors that are now able to obtain data, images and products within a wide range of space, time and frequency resolution and coverage. This unprecedented development in the remote sensing sensors requires definition of new techniques and algorithms to support Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity, as well as Sustainable Agriculture.

Main purpose of this Session is to provide a reference of modern remote sensing techniques for sustainable management of land, biodiversity, and agriculture. A remarkable advance for the exploitation of remote sensing data in monitoring applications.

The 2nd World Sustainability Forum

Part of the World Sustainability Forum series

1–30 Nov 2012

Call for Papers

Conference Chairs

Sessions

Instructions for Authors

List of accepted submissions (82)

List of Authors (137)

Sponsors and Partners

Media Partners

Proceedings & Editors

Chair of the 2nd World Sustainability Forum

Scientific Advisory Committee

Organizing Committee

List of Keynotes & Videos

Sustainable city

Energy Sustainability

Industry location assessment for multinational enterprises

A. Environmental Sustainability

Submissions

B. Corporate Sustainability Strategy

Submissions

C. Social Values for a Sustainable Economy

Submissions

D. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources

Submissions

E. Sustainable Urban Development

Submissions

F. Sustainable Development Policy and Practice

Submissions

G. Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Innovation

Submissions

H. Remote Sensing for Sustainable Management of Land and Biodiversity, Sustainable Agriculture

Submissions

I. Related Topics

Submissions