333.7 Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt
Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
- Dissertation (82)
- Bachelorarbeit (13)
- Masterarbeit (9)
- Arbeitspapier (8)
- Habilitation (1)
- Research Paper (1)
Sprache
- Englisch (64)
- Deutsch (49)
- Mehrsprachig (1)
Schlagworte
- Nachhaltigkeit (34)
- Biodiversität (8)
- Sustainability (7)
- Landwirtschaft (6)
- Energiewende (4)
- Erneuerbare Energien (3)
- Kulturlandschaft (3)
- Lüneburg (3)
- Pestizid (3)
- Suffizienz (3)
Institut
- Fakultät Nachhaltigkeit (52)
- Nachhaltigkeitsmgmt./-ökologie (20)
- Institut für Nachhaltigkeitssteuerung (INSUGO) (12)
- Institut für Nachhaltige Chemie und Umweltchemie (INUC) (9)
- Institut für Ökologie (IE) (9)
- Frühere Fachbereiche (6)
- Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften (4)
- Institut für Ethik und Transdisziplinäre Nachhaltigkeitsforschung (IETSR) (3)
- Chemie (2)
- Fakultät Kulturwissenschaften (2)
Wetterstationen
(2017)
Die Arbeiten dieser Anthologie wurden im Rahmen von Wetterstationen, einem Projekt mit fünf internationalen Partnern, das vom Kulturprogramm der Europäischen Union gefördert wird, in Auftrag gegeben. Schriftsteller und Schüler an den fünf Standorten nahmen an dem Projekt teil und der vorliegende Band enthält eine Auswahl ihrer Arbeiten.
Among all attenuation processes, biodegradation plays one of the most important role and is one of the most desirable processes in the environment. To assess biodegradation, a variety of biodegradation test procedures have been developed by several international organizations. OECD guidelines for ready biodegradability testing represent one of the most prominent group of internationally used screening biodegradation tests (series 301A-F). These tests are usually very simple in their designs and allow for the fast and cheap screening of biodegradability. However, because of their stringency, the test conditions are not close to simulating environmental conditions and may lead to unrealistic results. To overcome these limitations, OECD introduced simulation tests which are designed to investigate the behavior of chemicals in specified environmentally relevant compartments. Despite the fact that simulation tests give more insight into the fate of chemicals in the environment, they are not applied frequently as they are often tedious, time consuming and expensive. Consequently, there is a need to provide a new biodegradation testing method that would combine complex testing environment as in simulation tests, easiness in handling and good data repeatability as in screening biodegradation tests. Another challenge is an adaption of the existing biodegradation testing methods to new types of samples, i.e. mixtures of transformation products (TPs). The research on the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment gained momentum in the 1990s; since then, it has been growing. Their presence in the environment is a wellestablished fact. A wide range of pharmaceuticals is continuously detected in many environmental compartments such as surface waters, soils, sediments, or ground waters. After pharmaceuticals reach the natural aquatic environment they may undergo a number of processes such as: photolysis (under direct sunlight), hydrolysis, oxidation and reduction reactions, sorption, biodegradation (by bacteria of fungi), and bioaccumulation. These processes, may cause their elimination from aquatic environment, if reaction is complete, or creation of new compounds i.e., transformation products (TPs). What is more, processes, like chlorination and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), such as H2O2/UV, O3/UV, TiO2/UV, Fenton, and photo-Fenton, or UV treatment which might be applied in water or wastewater treatment, may also lead to the TPs introduction into aquatic environment. The research on the TPs brings many new challenges. From one side, there is a constant need for the the development of a sensitive and reliable analytical separation, detection, and structure elucidation methods. Additionally, there is a need for the preparation of appropriate assays for the investigation of properties of new compounds, especially those answering the question if TPs pose a higher risk to the aquatic ecosystems than their parent compounds. Among numerous groups of pharmaceuticals, two are of great importance: antibiotics since they might promote emergence and maintenance of antimicrobial resistance in the aquatic environment; and cytostatic drugs. Cytostatic drugs can exert carcinogenic, mutagenic and/or teratogenic effects in animals and humans. The challenges of biodegradation testing presented in this thesis, encompasses these different areas of interest and was divided into three objectives: 1) Identification of the knowledge gaps and data distribution of the two groups of pharmaceuticals antibiotics and cytostatic drugs (article I); 2) Increasing the knowledge on biodegradation of cytostatic drugs and their TPs (articles II, III, and IV) and 3) Establishment of a biodegradation test with closer to simulation tests conditions, that could be affordable and to support better understanding on processes in water sediment interface construction - screening water-sediment test. Further validation of the test with an insight into sorption and desorption processes (articles V and VI).
Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit ist der Eintrag landwirtschaftlich genutzter Pflanzenschutzmittel, die in großen Mengen in der Bundesrepublik ausgebracht werden, in Buchenwälder untersucht worden. Hintergrund ist die, seit Ende der 1970er Jahre geführte Debatte über die Ursachen neuartiger Waldschäden. Trotz intensiver Forschungen sind die Gründe dieser Waldschäden immer noch ungeklärt.
Collaborative governance is a promising approach to address the difficult challenges of sustainability through global public and private partnerships between diverse actors of state, market and civil society. The textile and clothing industry is an excellent example where a variety of such initiatives have evolved to address the wicked sustainability challenges. However, the question arises whether collaborative governance actually leads to transformation. In this dissertation, the author therefore questions whether and how collaborative governance in the textile sector provides space for, or pathways to, sustainability transformation. In three scientific articles and this framework paper, the author uses a mixed-methods research approach and follows scholars of sustainability science towards transformation research. First, he conducts a systematic literature review on inter-organizational and governance partnerships before diving into a critical case study on an interactive collaborative governance initiative, the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (Textiles Partnership). The multi-stakeholder initiative (MSIs) was initiated by the German government in 2015 and brings together more than 130 organizations and companies from seven stakeholder groups. It aims at improving working conditions and reducing environmental impacts in global textile and clothing supply chains. In two empirical articles, the author then explores learning spaces in the partnership and the ways in which governance actors navigate the complex governance landscape. For the former, he uses a quantitative and qualitative social network analysis based on annual reports and qualitative interviews with diverse actors from the partnership. Then, he uses qualitative content analysis of the interviews, policy documents and conducts a focus group discussion to validate assumptions about the broader empirical governance landscape and the social interactions within. Finally, in this framework paper, he uses theories of transformation to distinguish forms of change and personal, political and practical spheres of transformation, and reflects on the findings of the three articles in this cumulative dissertation.
This study aims to answer four main research questions regarding the roles, strategies, barriers, and representation of the media and environmental nongovernmental organisations (ENGOs) in environmental communication in Malaysia. From a theoretical lens, this study has incorporated the essential concepts of media, ENGOs, and environmental communication from both Western and Asian, particularly Malaysian perspectives as primary points of reference. For the purpose of this study, a total of 13 interviewees from Media A and Media B and 11 interviewees from ENGO A and ENGO B were chosen for the qualitative interview while 2,050 environmental articles were collected as samples from Media A´s and Media B´s newspapers along with ENGO A´s and ENGO B´s newsletters from the period 2012 to 2014 for the quantitative content analysis. Specifically, the findings from interview confirmed that both the Malaysian media and ENGOs have shared quite similar roles in environmental communication, particularly in environmental legitimacy (creating trust, credibility, and relationships with the public), in democracy (acting as a watchdog and mobilising the public sphere), and in constructing public mind about environmental problems. Pictures undoubtedly were one of the most vital tools in social construction, especially for presenting the reality of the environmental problems to the public. This was in harmony with the results of the quantitative content analysis, where more than 60% of pictures were found on environmental articles in media newspapers and ENGOs newsletters. Malaysian media and ENGOs have shared two common strategies in environmental communication, namely campaigning and collaboration with other stakeholders, while the ENGOs have two extra strategies: advocacy and lobbying strategies. Malaysian media and ENGOs also have collaborated with each other and the level of collaboration between them was at the coordination (medium) level. Both social actors especially the media were also relied heavily on their sources for environmental articles and the result of quantitative content analysis showed that the government was the main source for media newspapers, whereas other ENGOs and laypersons were the main sources for ENGOs´ newsletters. There are also colossal barriers faced by both Malaysian media and ENGOs throughout the process of environmental communication and some of the barriers faced by both media and ENGOs include the problem with limited knowledge of the environment, while some other barriers, like media laws and ownership, were only faced by the media; other barriers such as funding problems were specifically faced by the ENGOs. In terms of representation of environmental information, the Malaysian media make more presentations on environmental problems, especially on topics like floods, wildlife and water crises in their newspapers, while ENGOs have given more attention to environmental effort topics such as conservation and sustainable living in their newsletters. Surprisingly, not only the media but also the ENGOs used the same (news) values like timeliness, proximity, and impact as criteria for the selection of environmental issues for their publications. Other factors such as the background of the organisation and the interest of journalists or editors also influence the selection of environmental issues. It is hoped that the proposed theoretical framework of this study can serve as a crucial guideline for the development of environmental communication studies, especially among the media and ENGOs not only in Malaysia but also in other (Southeast) Asian regions that share a similar background.
Das Ausrichten der Abwasserentsorgung erfolgt in engen kommunalpolitischen und rechtlich-ökologischen Grenzen. Dabei werden weder die Rahmenbedingungen analysiert oder hinterfragt noch werden anhand akzeptierter Ziele langfristige Konzepte zur Ausgestaltung der Abwasserentsorgung entwickelt. Die Diskussion um die Wahrnehmung von Aufgaben durch die öffentliche Hand oder durch private Träger ist vielmehr durch die Kontroverse zwischen Effizienz und hoheitlicher Aufgabenerfüllung geprägt. Die gegenwärtige Problemhandhabung wird den komplexen Zusammenhängen, die mit der Abwasserentsorgung verbunden sind, nicht gerecht. Die schlechte Finanzsituation der Kommunen sollte genutzt werden, um zu neuen Formen der Aufgabenerfüllung zu gelangen.
Agrobiodiversität besitzt vielfältigen ökologischen, ökonomischen und sozio-kulturellen Wert. Sie ist eine grundlegende Voraussetzung für zukünftige Nutzungen und steht gleichzeitig in einem besonderen Verhältnis zu menschlichem Handeln. Zwar basiert Agrobiodiversität auf Natur, sie ist jedoch wesentlich durch landwirtschaftliche Tätigkeiten gestaltet worden und kann ohne weitere Nutzung durch den Menschen nicht erhalten und erneuert werden. Die vorliegende Dissertation analysiert die Gestaltung gesellschaftlicher Naturverhältnisse in der ländlichen Entwicklung am Beispiel der nachhaltigen Nutzung von Agrobiodiversität. Schutz und Nutzung von Agrobiodiversität wird hierfür in einem ersten Schritt als sozial-ökologisches Phänomen konzipiert. Daran schließen sich Analysen auf agrarpolitischer und landwirtschaftlich praktischer Ebene an. Anhand einer Analyse der der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik der Europäischen Union (GAP) und im speziellen der Politik zur ländlichen Entwicklung wird deutlich, dass eine programmatische Orientierung an Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung besteht und das Paradigma einer multifunktionalen Landwirtschaft integrierende Ansätze bietet. Diese Ansätze werden jedoch weiterhin vor dem Hintergrund einer unhinterfragten Logik realisiert, die davon ausgeht, dass naturerhaltendes Wirtschaften nicht wettbewerbsfähig sein kann. Die GAP löst somit die hierarchische Trennung zwischen Schutz und Nutzung von Agrobiodiversität nicht auf. Trotz der Wirkmächtigkeit der GAP kann mittels der Fallstudie "Arche-Region Flusslandschaft Elbe" an einem konkreten Beispiel aus der landwirtschaftlichen Praxis dargestellt werden, wie nachhaltige Agrobiodiversitätsnutzung umgesetzt wird. Aus den Ergebnissen der Fallstudie werden abschließend Schlussfolgerungen für eine Weiterentwicklung der Politik zur ländlichen Entwicklung und EU-Agrarpolitik im Allgemeinen abgeleitet.
Neben dem Klimawandel und der Verstädterung zählt der Verlust biologischer und kultureller Vielfalt mit unberechenbaren Konsequenzen für die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemdienstleistungen zu den größten Herausforderungen der Zukunft, auch in UNESCO-Biosphärenreservaten, die Modellregionen für nachhaltige Entwicklung sind. Deshalb wurden durch die vorliegende Studie erstmalig Ökosystemdienstleistungen im UNESCO-Biosphärenreservat Schaalsee erfasst und bewertet. Dort sind insgesamt 39 Ökosystemdienstleistungen nachzuweisen, wobei räumliche Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Zonierung zu beobachten sind: Je strenger der Schutzstatus, desto geringer ist die Anzahl an nutzbaren Ökosystemdienstleistungen. Mittels Q-Methode wurden fünf unterschiedliche Werteperspektiven auf die bereitgestellten Ökosystemdienstleistungen identifiziert: 1) Übereinstimmung mit der Biosphärenreservats-Idee, 2) Regionalität mit dem Streitpunkt Kultur, die als a) entbehrlicher Luxus oder b) elementarer Lebensinhalt wahrgenommen wird, 3) Landwirtschaft und Nostalgie sowie 4) Vorsorge durch natürliche Regulierungsleistungen. Alle Perspektiven stimmen darin überein, dass die Vielfalt der Natur und sauberes Trinkwasser sowie die meisten regulierenden Ökosystemdienstleistungen von großer Wichtigkeit sind. Die Ergebnisse der Erfassung können als Grundlage zur weiteren Untersuchung der Ökosystemdienstleistungen im UNESCO Biosphärenreservat Schaalsee verwendet werden.
Jedes Jahr landen weltweit rund 1,3 Milliarden Tonnen Lebensmittel auf dem Müll. Deren Produktion verbraucht knapp ein Drittel des globalen Ackerlandes sowie 250 Kubikkilometer Wasser und entlässt dabei mehr als drei Milliarden Tonnen Kohlendioxid in die Atmosphäre. Gleichzeitig leidet mehr als ein Zehntel der
Weltbevölkerung an Hunger und Unterernährung. Deshalb ist es erklärtes Ziel der Europäischen Kommission, die Zahl der entsorgten Lebensmittel bis 2020 in der EU zu halbieren. Dieses Vorhaben ist für Bäckereien besonders ehrgeizig, da Brot und Backwaren meist nur einen Tag lang verkauft werden können. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit innerbetrieblichen Potentialen an der Schnittstelle von Produktion und Verkauf zur Vermeidung von Lebensmittelabfällen. Außerdem liefert sie einen konkreten Konzeptvorschlag zur Optimierung des innerbetrieblichen Bestellprozesses.
Existing institutions no longer appear to be sufficiently capable to deal with the complexity and uncertainty associated with the wicked problem of sustainability. Achieving the required sustainability transformation will thus require purposeful reform of existing institutional frameworks. However, existing research on the governance of sustainability of sustainability transformations has strongly focused on innovation and the more "creative" aspects of these processes, blinding our view to the fact that they go hand with the failure, decline or dismantling of institutions that are no longer considered functional or desirable. This doctoral dissertation thus seeks to better understand how institutional failure and decline can contribute productively to sustainability transformations and how such dynamics in institutional arrangements can serve to restructure existing institutional systems. A systematic review of the conceptual literature served to provide a concise synthesis of the research on "failure" and "decline" in the institutional literature, providing important first insights into their potentially productive functions. This was followed up by an archetype analysis of the productive functions of failure and decline, drawing on a wide range of literatures. This research identified five archetypical pathways: (1) crises triggering institutional adaptations toward sustainability, (2) systematic learning from failure and breakdown, (3) the purposeful destabilisation of unsustainable institutions, (4) making a virtue of inevitable decline, and (5) active and reflective decision making in the face of decline instead of leaving it to chance. Empirical case studies looking at the German energy transition and efforts to phase out coal in the Powering Past Coal Alliance served to provide more insights on (a) how to effectively harness "windows of opportunity" for change, and (b) the governance mechanisms used by governments to actively remove institutions. Results indicate that the lock-in of existing technologies, regulations and practices can throw up important obstacles for sustainability transformations. The intentional or unintentional destabilisation of the status quo may thus be required to enable healthy renewal within a system. This process required active and reflective management to avoid the irreversible loss of desirable institutional elements. Instruments such as "sunset clauses" and "experimental legislation" may serve as important tools to learn through "trial and error", whilst limiting the possible damage done by failure. Focusing on the subject of scale, this analysis finds that the level at which failure occurs is likely to determine the degree of change that can be achieved. Failures at the policy-level are most likely to merely lead to changes to the tools and instruments used by policy makers. This research thus suggests that failures on the polity- and political level may be required to achieve transformative changes to existing power structures, belief-systems and paradigms. Finally, this research briefly touches on the role of actor and agency in the governance of sustainabilitytransformations through failure and decline. It finds that actors may play an important role in causing a system or one of its elements to fail and in shaping the way events are come to be perceived.
Through the expansion of human activities, humanity has evolved to become a driving force of global environmental change and influences a substantial and growing part of natural ecosystem trophic interactions and energy flows. However, by constructing and building its own niche, human distance from nature increased remarkably during the last decades due to processes of globalization and urbanization. This increasing disconnect has both material and immaterial consequences for how humans interact and connect with nature. Indeed, many regions across the world have disconnected themselves from the productivity of their regional environment by: (1) accessing biological products from distant places through international trade, and (2) using non-renewable resources from outside the biosphere to boost the productivity of their natural environment. Both mechanisms allow for greater resource use then would be possible otherwise, but also involve complex sustainability challenges and lead to fundamentally different feedbacks between humans and the environment. This dissertation empirically investigates the sustainability of biophysical human-nature connections and disconnections from a social-ecological systems perspective. The results provide new insights and concrete knowledge about biophysical human-nature disconnections and its sustainability implications, including pervasive issues of injustice. Through international trade and reliance on non-renewables, particularly higher-income regions appropriate an unproportional large share of global resources. Moreover, by enabling seemingly unconstrained consumption of resources and simultaneous conservation of regional ecosystems, increasing regional disconnectedness stimulates the misconception of decoupling. Whereas, in fact, the biophysically most disconnected regions exhibit the highest resource footprints and are, therefore, responsible for the largest environmental damages. The increasing biophysical disconnect between humans and nature effectively works to circumvent limitations and self-constraining feedbacks of natural cycles. The circumvention of environmental constraints is a crucial feature of niche construction. Human niche construction refers to the process of modifying natural environments to make them more useful for society. To ease integration of the chapters in this thesis, the framework paper uses human niche construction theory to understand the mechanisms and drivers behind increasing biophysical disconnections. The theory is employed to explain causal relationships and unsustainable trajectories from a holistic perspective. Moreover, as a process-oriented approach, it allows connecting the empirically assessed states of disconnectedness with insights about interventions and change for sustainability. For a sustainability transformation already entered paths of disconnectedness must be reversed to enable a genuine reconnection of human activities to the biosphere and its natural cycles. This thesis highlights the unsustainability of disconnectedness and opens up debate about how knowledge around sustainable human niche construction can be leveraged for a reconnection of humans to nature.
Traditional farming landscapes typically support exceptional biodiversity. They evolved as tightly coupled social-ecological systems, in which traditional human land-use shaped highly heterogeneous landscapes. However, these landscapes are under severe threats of land-use change which potentially pose direct threats to biodiversity, in particular through land-use intensification and land abandonment. Navigating biodiversity conservation in such changing landscapes requires a thorough understanding of the drivers that maintain the social-ecological system. This dissertation aimed to identify system properties that facilitate biodiversity conservation in traditional farming landscape, focusing specifically on birds and large carnivores in the rapidly changing traditional farmland region of Southern Transylvania, Romania. In order to identify these properties, I first examined the effects of local and landscape scale land-use patterns on birds and large carnivores and how they may be affected by future land-use change (Chapters II-V). Second, to gauge the role of particular traditional land-use elements for biodiversity I focused on the conservation value of traditional wood pastures (Chapters VI-VIII). Third, I took a social-ecological systems approach to understand how links between the social and ecological parts of the system affect human-bear coexistence (Chapters IV and IX). Bird diversity was supported by the broad gradients of woody vegetation cover and compositional heterogeneity. Land-use intensification, and hence the loss of woody vegetation cover and homogenization of land covers, would thus negatively affect biodiversity. This was especially evident from predictions on the distribution of the corncrake (Crex crex) in response to potential future land cover homogenization. Here, a moderate reduction of land cover diversity could drastically reduce the extent of corncrake habitat. Further results showed that the brown bear (Ursus arctos) would mainly be affected by land-use change through the fragmentation of large forest blocks, especially if land-use change would reduce habitat connectivity to the presumed source population in the Carpathian Mountains. Moreover, this dissertation revealed that large carnivores (brown bear and wolf, Canis lupus) may have important and often ignored roles in structuring the ecosystem of traditional farming landscapes by limiting herbivores. Wood pastures were found to have a high conservation value. The combination of low-intensity used grasslands with old scattered trees provided important supplementary habitat for different forest species such as woodpeckers and the brown bear. Worryingly, current management of wood pastures differed from traditional techniques in several aspects, which may threaten their persistence in the landscape. The majority of people had a positive perception on human-bear coexistence. The use of traditional sheep herding techniques combined with the tolerance of some shepherds to occasional livestock predation facilitated coexistence in a region where both carnivores and livestock are present. More generally, the genuine links between people and their environment were important drivers of people´s positive views on coexistence. However, perceived failures of top-down managing institutions could potentially erode these links and reduce people´s tolerance towards bears. Through the consideration of two different animal taxa, this dissertation revealed six important system properties facilitating biodiversity conservation in traditional farming landscapes. Similar proportions of the main land-use types (arable land, grassland, and forests) support species richness at the regional scale possible through habitat connectivity and continuous spill-over between land-use types. Heterogeneous landscapes can further support biodiversity through complementation and supplementation of habitat at the landscape scale. Gradients of woody vegetation cover and heterogeneity, supported biodiversity at both local and landscape scales possibly through the provision of a wide range of resources. The heterogeneous character of the landscape is tightly linked to traditional land-use practices, which also maintain specific traditional land-use elements and facilitate human-carnivore coexistence. Top-down limitation of large carnivores on herbivores possibly enhances vegetation growth and tree regeneration. The genuine links between humans and nature support human-bear coexistence, and these links may form the core of people´s values and sustainable use of natural resources.
Gentechnische Anwendungen werden in den USA über einen vertikalen Verfahrensansatz geregelt, der meist zu einer Gleichbehandlung konventioneller und genetisch veränderter Lebens- und Futtermittel führt. Im Gegensatz dazu resultiert die strengere europäische Regulierung mit ihrem horizontalen Verfahrensansatz in einer grundsätzlichen Unterscheidung konventioneller und genetisch veränderter Lebens- und Futtermittel. Diese Unterschiede bergen im Kontext bilateraler Handelsabkommen ein erhebliches Konfliktpotential, das sich durch die derzeit in Verhandlung stehende Transatlantische Handels- und Investitionspartnerschaft noch verschärfen könnte. Trotz starker Geheimhaltung zeichnet sich ab, dass in dem Abkommen der vertikale Verfahrensansatz bevorzugt wird. In Verbindung mit den ebenfalls diskutierten Investor-Staat-Schiedsgerichten könnte dies langfristig die europäischen Gentechnikregulierungen aufweichen oder mit hohen Klagen auf Schadenersatz von US-amerikanischen Investoren einhergehen.
This paper-based dissertation deals with the concepts of economic heterogeneity and environmental uncertainty from different perspectives, and at multiple levels of abstraction. At its core sits the observation that heterogeneity and uncertainty are deeply entangled, for there would be no uncertainty without heterogeneity of options to act regarding multiple future states of the world. At the same time, heterogeneity - in the form of diversification - has been suggested as a way to reduce uncertainty in portfolio theory (Markowitz 1952). The dissertation evolves around two research foci: (1) methodological implications of heterogeneity of scientific theories in the face of empirical data (Paper 1), and (2) two different forms of uncertainty are considered, environmental risk (Paper 2) and Knightian uncertainty (Paper 3). Paper 1 develops a new framework for model selection for the special case of fitting size distribution models to empirical data. It combines Bayesian and frequentist statistical approaches with the criterion of model microfoundation, which is to select, all other things considered being equal, the model that comes with a suitable micromodel, that explains, from the perspective of the individual constituent, the genesis of the overall size distribution. The approach is subsequently illustrated with size distribution data on commercial cattle farms in Namibia. We find that the double-Pareto lognormal distribution fits the data best. Our approach might have the potential to reconcile one of the oldest debates in current economics, i.e. the one about the best model to describe and explain the distribution of economic key variables such as income, wealth and city sizes in a country. The second paper revisits the Namibian commercial cattle farm data and uses it to put some theories from the agricultural economics literature regarding farm management under environmental risk to an empirical test. We focus on the relations between inter-annual variability in rainfall (environmental risk), risk preferences, farm size and stocking rate. We demonstrate that the Pareto distribution - which separates the distribution into two parts - is a statistically plausible description of the empirical farm size distribution when ´farm size´ is operationalized by herd size, but not by rangeland area. A statistical group comparison based on the two parts of the Pareto distribution shows that large farms are on average exposed to significantly lower environmental risk. Regarding risk preferences, we do not find any significant differences in mean risk attitude between the two branches. Our analysis confirms the central role of the stocking rate as farm management parameter, and shows that environmental risk and the farmer´s gender are key variables in explaining stocking rates in our data. Paper 3 develops a non-expected-utility approach to decision making under Knightian uncertainty which circumvents some of the conceptual problems of existing approaches. We understand Knightian uncertainty as income lotteries with known payoffs but unknown probabilities in each outcome. Based on seven axioms, we show that there uniquely (up to linear-affine transformations) exists an additive and extensive function from the set of Knightian lotteries to the real numbers that represents uncertainty preferences on the subset of lotteries with fixed positive sum of payoffs over all possible states of the world. We define the concept of uncertainty aversion such that it allows for interpersonal comparison of uncertainty attitudes. Furthermore, we propose Renyi´s (1961) generalized entropy as a one-parameter preference function, where the parameter measures the degree of uncertainty aversion. We illustrate it with a simple decision problem and compare it to other decision rules under uncertainty (maximin, maximax, Laplacian expected utility, minimum regret, Hurwicz).
Heating is most important part of thermal energy demand, and accounts for large amounts ofenergy consumption in cold regions. Renewable energy sources will be of great importance inorder to cover future energy demands. However, their intermittency is rightly considered asinconvenient. Thus, a more effective management of demand, coupled with efficient storagesystems is required. Based on this perception, thermal systems coupled with electricityproduction have been efficiently designed, they are the so called “combined heat and power”(micro-CHP). Nonetheless, heat losses from the thermal part of their system lead to electricityfluctuation. Therefore, the use of micro-CHP in combination with a volume-efficient and nearlylossless heat storage system to counteract electricity fluctuations is a viable solution.The heat storage system in this work is based on reversible thermochemical reactions, suchas dehydration and hydration of inorganic salts, which exhibits very high energy density (up to628 kWh·m-3 of storage material). The chosen inorganic salt (SrBr2·6H2O) reacting with purewater vapour operates within a closed system. The objective of this work is to design a systemthat thermodynamically matches the combination with micro-CHP. Therefore, investigationshave been performed from the material at micro-scale to the system at lab-scale. Models weredeveloped on the basis of heat and mass transfer with chemical reaction and were done in orderto numerically analyse the system. Experiments were additionally performed to consolidate thenumerical tools for future studies. Characterization experiments have been designed and tested.Thermo-physical properties (thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, permeability, chemicalkinetics) of the reactive salt were then determined to be used as parameters into the sodeveloped models.The numerical simulations lead to the time-space evolution of heating fluid, reactive bedtemperatures and reactor pressure. The originality of this study is to model the coupled heat andmass transfer with chemical reaction on a 3D geometry to be close to the reality. Results help tonumerically and experimentally analyse the thermochemical heat storage performances. Thebed energy density is experimentally found to be 531 kWh·m-3 of salt hydrate. Based on thecondensation temperature during the experimentation, a reactor energy density of 140 kWh·m-3and a storage capacity of 65 kWh with a thermal efficiency of 0.78 are obtained. This systemproves the recovery capacity of more than 2/3 of the input energy. Various aspects of design andrecommendation for optimisation aspect that could help during prototype development aretaken into account and addressed. Comparison simulation-experiment is then performed anddiscussed, showing encouraging results, even if limited at lab-scale.
It is understood among research and policy makers that addressing unsustainable individual consumption patterns is key for the vision of sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Consumption (ESC) is attributed a pivotal role for this purpose, aiming to improve the capacity of individuals to connect to and act upon knowledge, values and skills in order to respond successfully and purposefully to the demands of sustainable consumption. Yet despite political, scientific, and educational efforts and increasing awareness in the general population, little has been achieved to substantially change behavioral patterns so far. As part of the explanation for this shortcoming, it has been argued that current ESC practices have neglected the personal dimension of sustainable consumption, especially the affective-motivational processes underlying unsustainable consumption patterns. Against this background, this cumulative thesis is guided by the question how personal competencies for sustainable consumption can be defined, observed, and developed within educational settings. Special attention is given to mindfulness practices, describing the practice of cultivating a deliberate, unbiased and openhearted awareness of perceptible experience in the present moment. Drawing upon an explorative, qualitative research methodology, the thesis looks at three different mindfulness-based interventions aiming to stimulate competencies for sustainable consumption, reaching out to a total number of 321 participants (employees and university students). In this thesis, the author suggests to define personal competencies for sustainable consumption as abilities, proficiencies, or skills related to inner states and processes that can be considered necessary or sufficient to engage with sustainable consumption (SC). These include ethics, self-awareness, emotional resilience, selfcare, access to and cultivation of personal resources, access to and cultivation of ethical qualities, and mindsets for sustainability. The thesis holds that the observation of personal competencies benefits from a combination of different methodological and methodical angles. When working with self-reports as empirical data, a pluralistic qualitative methods approach can help overcoming shortcomings that are specifically related to individual methods while increasing the self-reflexivity of the research. Moreover, it is suggested to let learners analyze their own personal statements in groups, applying scientific methods. The products of the group analyses represent data based on an inter-subjectively shared perspective of learners that goes beyond self-estimation of personal competencies. In terms of developing personal competencies for SC, it can be concluded that mindfulness practice alone is not sufficient to build personal competencies for SC. While it can stimulate generic personal competencies, individuals do not necessarily apply these competencies within the domain of their consumption. Nevertheless, mindfulness practice can play an important role in ESC, insofar as it lays the inner foundation to engage with sustainability-related issues. More precisely, it allows learners to experience the relevance of their inner states and processes and the influence they have on actual behaviors, leading to a level of selfawareness that would not be accessible solely through discursive-intellectual means. Furthermore, participants experience mindfulness practice as a way to develop ethical qualities and access psychological resources, entailing stronger emotional resilience and improved well-being. In order to unleash its full potential for stimulating personal competencies for SC, however, the findings of the thesis suggest that mindfulness practice should be (a) complemented with methodically controlled self-inquiry and (b) related to a specific behavioral change. In this vein, self-inquiry-based and self-experience-based learning – two pedagogical approaches developed during the period of research for this thesis – turned out to be promising pedagogies for educational settings striving to stimulate the development of personal competencies for SC.
Increasingly, researchers are expected to work in collaborative interdisciplinary teams to tackle more complex and interrelated problems. However, the prospect of collaborating with others, from different disciplines, exerts countervailing forces on researchers. There is the lure of transcending the limitations of one's own knowledge, methods and conventions, belonging to diverse intellectual communities and tackling, together, ambitious research topics. On the other hand, there is the risk that collaborating across disciplinary boundaries will be taxing, confounding at times, with no guarantee of success. This thesis is about collaborative interdisciplinary research from the perspective of a formative accompanying researcher. The author accompanied an interdisciplinary research team in the field of sustainability over three years for the duration of a collaborative project. Formative accompanying research (FAR) is an approach to "research into research" that learns about, with and for a collaborative interdisciplinary team. The author found - through immersion in the literature, her own daily experiences of collaborating, and her observations – that interdisciplinary collaboration is very difficult. It requires a basic understanding and appreciation of other disciplines and methods, as well as the skills to integrate research inquiries and findings across diverse epistemologies. It also requires awareness that collaborative interdisciplinary research is more than an intellectual task of knowledge creation. Other factors matter, such as interpersonal relationships, power differentials, different research tempos and a sense of belonging. And these factors have an impact on processes and outcomes of collaborative knowledge creation. Knowing this implies a willingness to keep learning and to tolerate discomfort so as to cultivate deeper levels of collaborative capacity. The author discovered that in these deeper levels lie skills for staying with inevitable tensions, for talking and listening to generate new understanding together, and for applying a researcher's frank curiosity to oneself too. A formative accompanying researcher, who is part of the team she is researching, has to navigate delicate terrain. In this thesis, the author develops a FAR methodology that takes seriously the questions of positionality and relationality, and reflects on the experiences of putting these into practice. A FAR practice involves remaining in dynamic movement between observing and participating, between exercising curiosity and care, and between the researchers' own sense of impartiality and investment in relation to the issues at hand. There is merit in furthering the methodology and practice of FAR on its own terms. This includes attending to the skills required by a formative accompanying researcher to remain oriented within the concentric circles of research, relationship and loyalty that make up a collaborative team. There is also the question of how FAR, and other forms of research into research, can help to advance collaborative interdisciplinary research. The author argues for creating the conditions in research teams that would enable treating collaboration as a capacity to develop, and that would facilitate team members' receptivity to learning with FAR. Furthermore, she explores dilemmas of intervening as a formative accompanying researcher and of sustaining dynamic positionality over the long-term.
The research aims to assess the sustainability of rural electrification efforts based on off-grid photovoltaic (PV) systems in three Andean countries: Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. Although deployment of off-grid PV solutions for rural electrification began in the early 1990s in the Andean region, most of the projects turned out to be unsustainable and did not last. Prior efforts have addressed the different issues and barriers that plagued these projects and inhibited their sustainability. However, these prior analyses were mostly quantitative; systematic qualitative evaluations have been scarce. In this thesis, the researcher addresses the following research question: "Are the rural electrification programs (based on off-grid PV Systems) in the Andean countries sustainable?" In order to answer this research question, he conducted an exhaustive qualitative document analysis complemented by semi-structured expert interviews. The interviewees included experts from different ministries, project managers from leading Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), public and private companies ' representatives, supervisors, and researchers. Although the author also describes several relevant PV-based electrification efforts in the Andean countries, the research was aimed at providing an overall picture of the rural electrification efforts in these countries, rather than measuring the success or failure of specific projects. The gathered information allowed me to assess the sustainability of rural electrification efforts in the Andean countries. This assessment was based on a set of indicators corresponding to the four dimensions of sustainability considered in this thesis: institutional, economical, environmental, and socio-cultural. It was found that Ecuador and Chile have consistently failed to ensure mechanisms for the operation and maintenance of the deployed off-grid systems, which has made these solutions in poor Chilean and Ecuadorian communities inevitably unsustainable. Although Peru has adopted a cross-tariff scheme, the Peruvian case shows that ensuring the funding of off-grid PV solutions is not enough. Peruvian officials appear to be unaware of the importance of local participation (local values and lifestyles are constantly disregarded) and most of the projects have been designed without the participation and engagement of the communities, which has often led to project failures and payment defaults. Although each country has its particular challenges, it was found that the three Andean countries have consistently neglected the importance of strong formal institutions with a flexible and decentralized structure, which in turn significantly compromised the rural electrification effort in these countries.
Responsibility for sustainability is an action guiding concept which relates the abstract norm of sustainability with concrete action contexts. It thereby specifies what bearers of responsibility ought to do. In this thesis, I introduce the concept of responsibility to economic theory, focusing specifically on individual and governmental responsibility for sustainability. Some of the questions I examine are: how should responsibility be distributed among agents? How can agents, who are responsible for several normative aims, solve trade-offs? Do governmental policies affect individuals’ ability to assume responsibility? How can individuals efficiently induce governments to act responsibly? In Paper 1, A utilitarian notion of responsibility for sustainability, I conceptualize and formalize a utilitarian notion of responsibility for sustainability which I then relate to established normative criteria for assessing intertemporal societal choice. I show that responsibility for sustainability can be unambiguously conceptualized in economic models. Furthermore, I affirm that responsibility may provide action guidance even if the aim of sustainability is not feasible. In Paper 2, Verantwortung von Konsumenten für Nachhaltigkeit, I study consumers’ responsibility for sustainability. Particularly, I specify crucial components of this responsibility in order to analyze the relation of consumers’ private and political responsibility. I show that the responsibility for sustainability of consumers comprises three indispensable obligations of which only one concerns consumers’ consumption choices. In Paper 3, Regulation of morally responsible agents with motivation crowding, I focus on the impact of governmental policies on the motivation of an individual to assume moral responsibility. In particular, I study the regulation of a morally responsible individual with motivation crowding in the context of a negative externality. I show that combining consumption taxes with the provision of perfect information is, in many cases, superior to consumption taxes alone. In Paper 4, Endogenous Environmental Policy when Pollution is Transboundary, I examine how individuals which form lobby groups affect the determination of environmental policy when governments seek not only to maximize welfare, but simultaneous maximize support by lobby groups. More specifically, I consider the case in which two countries are linked through transboundary pollution. Environmental policies adopted by self-interested governments may be more stringent than by social welfare maximizing governments. Furthermore, due to the interaction of distortions the space of optimal policies increases: politically optimal tax rates may be too high or too low to optimally internalize the environmental externality.
Conflicts between intragenerational and intergenerational justice in the use of ecosystem services
(2012)
The principle of sustainability contains two objectives of justice regarding the conservation and use of ecosystems and their services: (1) global justice between different people of the present generation ("intragenerational justice"); (2) justice between people of different generations ("intergenerational justice"). International sustainability policy attaches equal normative importance to both objectives of justice. Accordingly, environmental philosophers ethically justify that people living today and people living in the future have equal rights to certain basic goods, including ecosystems and their services (e.g. Feinberg 1981, Visser’t Hooft 2007). Whereas ideal theories of sustainability and justice do not recognize interdependencies between intragenerational and intergenerational justice, conflicts in attaining the justices possibly arise in policy implementation. Identifying and preventing such conflicts is fundamental to devise an ethically legitimate, politically consistent and actually effective sustainability policy. This dissertation systematically investigates conflicts between intragenerational and intergenerational justice in the use of ecosystem services. Human wellbeing depends on the services provided by ecosystems. Yet, humans substantially degrade world’s ecosystems, and therewith cause the loss of important ecosystem services (MEA 2005: 26ff.). The idea of sustainability demands to use ecosystem services in accordance with the two objectives of intragenerational justice and intergenerational justice. Reality, however, is far from attaining these objectives: Both today’s global poor and future persons are, resp. will be, disproportionately affected by the loss of vital ecosystem services (MEA 2005: 62, 85). Especially severe affected are the rural poor who directly depend on local ecosystem services for food, income and health. The political discourse on the relationship between the objectives of intra- and intergenerational justice in the use of ecosystem services (‘justice-relationship’) is blurred. Further, the political discourse lacks a common understanding of justice in ecosystem-use and a systematic reflection on the actual ‘justice-relationship’, such as on the factors that cause conflicts between the two justices. In this dissertation, I investigate the ‘justice-relationship’ along three central questions: • What conception(s) of justice can adequately address the distribution of access rights to ecosystem services? • How must sustainability policy be designed to enhance both intragenerational and intergenerational justice in the use of ecosystem services? • (How) Can economics be helpful for characterizing and assessing trade-offs between the two justices? I approach these questions both generally and by the example of a case study, the MASIPAG farmer network in the Philippines. Methodologically, I combine a normative and a positive analysis of the relationship between intra- and intergenerational justice in the use of ecosystem services: The normative analysis serves the explication, justification and reflection of the norms underlying the ‘justice-relationship’; the positive analysis serves the description of the ‘justice-relationship’ in the sustainability discourse and in practical contexts, as well as the provision of explanations on the determinants of the ‘justice-relationship’. As methodological approach, I apply the “comprehensive multi-level approach” as developed by Baumgärtner et al. (2008) – investigating the ‘justice-relationship’ simultaneously on the three levels of (i) concept, (ii) model and (iii) case study.
Die Senkung der Abgasemissionen von Dieselmotoren ist ein zentraler Bestandteil der Motoren-Entwicklung. Die positive Beeinflussung kann auf verschiedene Arten erfolgen. Zum einen werden durch die Optimierung der innermotorischen Verbrennung die Abgasbestandteile gesenkt. Zum anderen kann mit Hilfe von Abgasnachbehandlungs-systemen der Ausstoß von umweltschädlichen und toxikologischen Abgasbestandteilen minimiert werden. Die Rückführung von Abgas in den Frischluft-Massenstrom (Abgasrückführung, AGR) ist eine konstruktive Maßnahme zur Reduktion von Stickstoffoxid-Emissionen bei Dieselmotoren. Bei diesen Abgasrückführungs-Systemen ist das AGR-Ventil ein zentraler Bestandteil und wird häufig mit einem Kühler kombiniert. Je nach Abgaskonzept des Motors werden Hoch- oder Niederdruck-Abgasrückführung - d.h. das Abgas wird vor oder nach dem Abgasturbolader entnommen - oder eine Kombination aus beiden System eingesetzt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die Wechselwirkungen und Einflüsse von Ablagerungen in Turbo-aufgeladenen Dieselmotoren betrachtet. Der Schwerpunkt der Untersuchungen wird auf das Teilgebiet dieser Ablagerungen im Hochdruck-AGR-System gelegt, da der zu untersuchende Volkswagen Motor in Fahrzeugen zur Einhaltung der Abgasemissionsstufe Euro 5 mit einer wassergekühlten Hochdruck-AGR und einem Abgasnachbehandlungssystem ausgerüstet ist. Das Abgas der Hochdruck-AGR wird direkt vor dem Abgasturbolader entnommen und wieder der Frischluft-Ansaugstrecke zugeführt. Das entnommene Abgas wird dabei nicht durch Abgasnachbehandlungs-Systeme gereinigt, sondern alle Abgasbestandteile werden über den Kühler und über das Ventil geführt. Dabei kann es zu Verschmutzungen kommen, die potentiell die Kühlleistung, sowie die zurück geführte Abgasmasse und das Brennverfahren beinträchtigen könnten. Im Laufe der Arbeit wird die Arbeitsweise der genannten Abgasrückführung und der verschiedenen Brennverfahren im Dieselmotor eingehend beschrieben. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden drei Aspekte der genannten Verschmutzungen bzw. Ablagerungen im AGR-System näher untersucht. Erster Aspekt: Zunächst werden die physikalischen und chemischen Ablagerungs-mechanismen aufgezeigt, die zu Verschmutzungen bzw. zu Ablagerungen in AGR-Systemen führen können. Zweiter Aspekt: Die Ablagerungen wurden hinsichtlich ihrer chemischen Zusammensetzung untersucht. Es konnte dabei festgestellt werden, dass die gefundenen Ablagerungen vollständig organisch-chemischer Natur sind und zum größten Teil aus Dieselruß, polyzyklischen aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoffen, unverbranntem Kraftstoff, sowie diversen polymeren Strukturen bestehen. Letztere werden in situ durch die vorherrschenden Temperaturen und vorliegenden Molekül-Kombinationen dargestellt. Dritter Aspekt: Die Einfluss-Faktoren und der Mechanismus der Ablagerungsbildung werden beschrieben und in Motor-Funktionsprüfstand- und in Labor-Versuchen nachgestellt. Insbesondere der Einfluss von polyzyklischen aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoffen und der Aufbau von organischen Polymeren auf Basis von Phenol-Aldehyd-Harzen, als auch Netzwerk Bildungsmechanismen mit Biodiesel-Molekülen und Veresterungs-Reaktionen haben sich als signifikante Mechanismen herausgestellt. Darüber hinaus kann ein starker Einfluss der Abgas- und Kühler-Temperaturen nachgewiesen werden. Je größer die Temperaturdifferenz zwischen Kühlwasser-Temperatur und Abgas-Temperatur ist, desto besser werden die chemischen Komponenten auf der Kühler-Oberfläche abgeschieden. Zusätzlich verstärken Abgas-Temperaturen bis zu 800 Grad C die Pyrolyse-Reaktionen und damit die Bildung von Netzwerken aus polyzyklischen aromatischen Kohlenwasserstoffen. In Verbindung mit anschließenden Abkühlphasen werden die kondensierten Abgas-Bestandteile abgekühlt und der Status einer Netzwerk-Bildungs-Reaktion ´eingefroren´. In Zusammenspiel mit Dieselruß-Partikeln wird eine Oberfläche geschaffen, die weitere Abgas-Komponenten aufzunehmen vermag. Die sich daran anschließenden Hoch-Temperatur-Phasen pyrolysieren das organische Material und erzeugen damit eine feste und festhaftende Oberfläche bzw. Isolationsschicht. Die im Abgas enthaltene Wärme kann nicht mehr über den Wärmetauscher abgeführt werden und die Pyrolyse-Reaktionen werden durch steigende Temperaturen an der Oberfläche verstärkt. Die Ablagerungsbildung katalysiert sich selbst.
Insbesondere in den sogenannten entwickelten Ländern findet Nachhaltigkeit immer mehr Anklang. Die meisten dort lebenden Menschen würden sowohl ihre Ziele befürworten, als auch ihre Hindernisse überwinden wollen. Aber wir stellen fest, dass Nachhaltigkeit im Augenblick der Handlungsentscheidung nicht vorrangig behandelt wird. Im Gegenteil, sie wird hinten angestellt. Dieser Aufsatz erklärt, woran es liegt, dass sich Menschen letztendlich kaum mit Nachhaltigkeit emotional identifizieren können - weder im positiven noch im negativen Sinne. Das Erreichen von Nachhaltigkeit kann somit nur dann gelingen, wenn ein Ziel gefunden wird, das Menschen tatsächlich motiviert - und das gleichzeitig Nachhaltigkeit hervorbringt
In theory we pursue a sustainable development, but in reality we do not. An economy based on continuous growth, which evidently is not sustainable, is however the priority model almost everywhere. If we really aim at implementing sustainability, then we must radically change our economic model. Sufficiency - which calls for individuals mainly from so-called “developed countries” not to consume more than is really needed - may offer a useful alternative. We can still find some - last - examples of indigenous peoples living in a sufficient manner, all of them nowadays in those “developing countries”. We could learn at least from them that it is possible to live differently, i.e., in harmony with ourselves and our environment. This would pave the way for their - and for our all - protection, as well as the manner in which we understand at present development politics.
Vorbereitung zur Wiederverwendung: Regelung und Regelungsbedarf - Umsetzungs- und Erfolgsaussichten
(2013)
Wiederverwendung (WV) von Erzeugnissen ist als Ansatz hinsichtlich der Ressourcenschonung zu verstehen. Durch Verwertungsmaßnahmen mit dieser Zielsetzung - Vorbereitung zur Wiederverwendung (VWV) - kann man bewirken, dass einst als Abfall eingestufte Erzeugnisse ihre ursprüngliche Funktion wieder erfüllen, so dass im Prinzip weniger Ressourcen für die Bereitstellung von neuen Produkten beansprucht werden müs-sen. Zumindest theoretisch wäre es dann möglich, nachhaltige Entwicklung mit Wirtschaftswachstum zu vereinbaren. Aus diesem Potenzial ergibt sich die hohe Stellung sowohl von WV als auch von VWV in der so-genannten Abfallhierarchie. Nichtsdestotrotz zeigt die Realität, dass die Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten von WV bzw. VWV bescheiden sind. Auf die Ursachen und Folgen dieses Phänomens geht dieser Aufsatz ein.
Schlüsselwörter: Wiederverwendung, Abfallhierarchie, Effizienz, Suffizienz, Konsum-entenverhalten, Ressourcenschutz, Nachhaltigkeit, Kreislaufwirtschaft
Uranine (sodium fluorescein, UR) has been routinely used in hydrological research to monitor surface and subsurface water flow, transport and mixing processes since the end of nineteenth century. Based on such obtained data, further conclusions can be drawn on the spread and behavior of pollutants (partly on models). Use of UR for qualitative (visual) studies of underground contamination is common, however data available on its environmental behavior (e.g., conversion, degradation or formation and fate of the transformation products, TPs) are incomplete or not readily comparable. UR observations of biodegradation are still speculative. S-metolachlor (SM) is a popular worldwide chloroacetamide herbicide, which highly correspond to the global pesticide use. It is offered on the French market as an effective multicrop herbicide against annual grasses and certain broadleaf weeds under the trade name Mercantor Gold (MG). Photodegradation contributes to the fate of SM in the aquatic environment. TPs were already found in surface and groundwater. However, further fate and assessment of the TPs was not done. Moreover, adjuvants in MG´s formula can affect the solubility, biodegradation, photolysis and sorption properties of the active compound SM. TPs can have different properties (e.g. more mobile, toxic or present at higher concentrations) that enable them to reach the environmental compartments not affected by the parent compound (PC) itself. To assess the ecological impact of pesticides, tracers, and their respective TPs on water organisms, their behavior can be investigated in laboratory screening biodegradation tests. Yet, incomplete data was available on SM, MG and UR transformation or their photo- TPs´ fate in surface and water-sediment systems. The combination of photolysis with aerobic biodegradation in order to identify persistent photo-TPs could provide new insight into the environmental behavior of the selected compounds. Therefore, principle of this thesis was to 1) identify the impact of MG´s adjuvants on the biodegradation, photolysis (Xe lamp) and sorption compared to the SM alone, 2) examine the photolysis and biodegradability of UR 3) monitor the primary elimination (photolysis) of the PCs by HPLC (-UV, -FLD) and measure the degree of mineralization by means of nonpurgeable organic carbon (NPOC) 4) elucidate the photo-TPs of SM, MG and UR by using LCMS/ MS 5) analyze biodegradability of the photo-TPs in order to determine their fate and persistence in aquatic environment 6) conduct in silico toxicity predictions (pesticides) in human (carcinogenicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity) and eco-toxicity (microtoxicity, bioconcentration factor and toxicity in rainbow trouts). SM, MG and UR were found not readily biodegradable in Closed Bottle test (CBT), Manometric Respiratory test (MRT) and in water-sediment test (WST). Chemical analysis of photolysis samples showed higher elimination of SM in MG compared to SM alone whereas UR displayed high primary elimination rate in general. The overall low degree of mineralization indicated that abundant photo-TPs were formed. Furthermore, the photo-TPs were found not biodegradable in performed biodegradation tests. Only small degradation rates for UR could be observed in the CBT and WST. Additionally, in the MRT and WST new bio-TPs were generated from the photo-TPs of SM and SM in MG. Obtained results suggest that the MG formulation did not significantly affect the biodegradation, however it influenced the diffusion of the active substance (SM) to sediment and potentially affected the photolysis efficiency, which might result in faster formation of photo-TPs in the environment. In silico predictions showed that for many endpoints, biotransformation might lead to an increased toxicity in humans and to water organisms compared with the parent compound SM. No indications were found for UR toxicity. Still, target-oriented investigations on long term impacts of photo-TPs from UR are warranted. The present work demonstrates that a combination of laboratory tests, analytical analysis and in silico tools result in valuable information regarding environmental fate of the TPs from selected compounds. Furthermore, it was shown that photo-TPs formed in the aquatic environment should be taken into account not only the parent compound and its decay.
This PhD dissertation thesis aims to analyse and discuss how a company can interact with its supply chain stakeholders to facilitate the development of sustainable supply chains. The research is based on empirical and conceptual work and contributes to the field of corporate sustainability, supply chain management and its intersection. The thesis develops a conceptual framework to analyse four organisational spheres of interaction (inter, intra, supra and sub) in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). Thereby, further insights into risk and opportunityoriented approaches of companies to SSCM are provided.
Intelligent Product Design
(2012)
The aim of this thesis is to generate reality-based hypotheses about the opportunities and obstacles that create the implementation of Cradle to Cradle for the companies Jules Clarysse NV and Steelcase Inc. It discusses further which marketing-mix is appropriate for Cradle to Cradle products. Therefore exploratory expert interviews have been conducted with both companies. The empirical part is introduced by a literature study. From marketing perspective, the Cradle to Cradle approach for product design is investigated while taking into account that academic literature categorizes the concept on the one hand as consistent sustainability strategy, on the other hand as sustainable design. Moreover, the broad use of the expression design, within the literature of the Cradle to Cradle founders, is analyzed. Here, Cradle to Cradle design is holding out the prospect of Triple Top Line growth, rather than meeting only the economic bottom line. In regard of aesthetics, Cradle to Cradle aspires diversity in contrast to prevailing principles of Functionalism and universal design solutions. The ‘hidden‘ design assignment of Cradle to Cradle, service design, is highlighted as sphere that should be progressed. All these considerations form the interview guideline. The interviews serve as reality check whether there result Triple Top Lines and new service models for the companies and explore how aesthetics and tools of the marketing-mix are handled in Cradle to Cradle practice.
In der Umweltanalytik steht die Analyse von potenziellen Schadstoffen im Vordergrund. Häufig ist die negative Wirkungsweise dieser Schadstoffe auf Organismen und Umweltkompartimente bekannt. Dennoch kommt es vor, dass Organismen in einem Ökosystem geschädigt werden, ohne dass dies auf eine bekannte Ursache zurückgeführt werden kann. Der Ansatz der wirkungsspezifischen Analyse greift an diesem Punkt an, da er mit Hilfe von chemisch-analytischen Verfahren die Identifizierung von Schadstoffen mit der Erkenntnis über deren potenzielle Wirkungen auf Organismen mittels Biotests kombiniert. SCHUETZLE UND LEWTAS (1986) stellten fest, dass die Nutzung von Biotests in Verbindung mit analytischen Messungen einen leistungsfähigen Ansatz zur Identifizierung von Umweltschadstoffen darstellt. Sie prägten den Begriff 'Bioassay-Directed Chemical Analysis' (BDCA). Dieses Konzept der 'Biotest-geleiteten chemischen Analyse', oder auch 'Wirkungsspezifische Analyse' genannt, dient folglich der Identifizierung von toxischen Verbindungen in Umweltproben. Es ist verwandt mit dem dreistufigen Konzept 'Toxicity Identification and Evaluation' (TIE) (Toxizität, Identifizierung und Beurteilung), das Ende der 80er Jahre von der amerikanischen Umweltbehörde US-EPA eingeführt wurde.
In dieser Arbeit wird das Thema der Überfischung vor der Küste Westafrikas behandelt. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der industriellen und auf der illegalen Fischerei, welche hauptsächlich von den Industrienationen ausgehen. Hierbei werden die Rechtslage und die Auswirkungen auf die Ökonomie und die Soziologie in Westafrika behandelt. Im Hinblick
auf die intensive Fischerei lautet die zentrale Frage, ob die industrielle und die illegale Fischerei zu einem Zusammenbruch des Fischereisektors in Westafrika führen. Fazit der Arbeit ist, dass die lokalen Fischer und die Arbeiter aus den Weiterverarbeitungsbetrieben massiven Existenzproblemen ausgesetzt sind. Des Weiteren führt der Mangel an Fischereiprodukten zu einer Vielzahl von Problemen in der Bevölkerung, als Beispiel ist hier die Mangelernährung zu nennen. Den Abschluss dieser Arbeit bilden umfassende Lösungsvorschläge aus den Bereichen Recht, Politik und
Sozialwissenschaften.
Verbräuche von Arzneistoffen, die auf das menschliche Nervensystem wirken (Neurologika), unterliegen aufgrund der auf dem Markt befindlichen Arzneistoffvielfalt einem ständigen Wandel. Zudem waren die Haupteintragspfade für Neurologika in die aquatische Umwelt bisher nicht eindeutig geklärt. Haushalte (diffuser Eintrag) und Einrichtungen des Gesundheitswesens (punktueller Eintrag), wie psychiatrische Fachkliniken oder Pflegeheime, wurden als maßgebliche Eintragspfade diskutiert. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es deshalb, Arzneimittelverbräuche und damit verbundene Arzneistoffemissionen durch Haushalte und Einrichtungen des Gesundheitswesens mit Hilfe einer neu entwickelten Methode abzuschätzen. Bei dieser Methode wurde das jeweilige Ausmaß der Emissionen durch die Kalkulation von Abwasserkonzentrationen und den Vergleich von Verbrauchsmengen an Arzneistoffen bestimmt. Im Ergebnis konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich Arzneimittelverbrauchsmuster in psychiatrischen Fachkliniken und Pflegeheimen von denen in allgemeinen Krankenhäusern und Haushalten unterscheiden. Außerdem konnte mit dieser Methode deren jeweiliger Beitrag am gesamten Arzneistoffeintrag in das kommunale Abwasser eingeschätzt und in hohen Mengen in das Abwasser eingetragene Arzneistoffe identifiziert werden. Durch Haushalte wurde das hinsichtlich des Umweltverbleibs und -verhaltens wenig untersuchte Antiepileptikum Gabapentin in hohen Mengen in das Abwasser eingetragen. Die Bedeutung von Einrichtungen des Gesundheitswesens am Arzneimitteleintrag in das kommunale Abwasser konnte für alle untersuchten Einrichtungstypen im Vergleich zu Haushalten als gering eingestuft werden. Bestimmte einrichtungstypische Arzneistoffe, insbesondere Neurologika, können bei regionaler Betrachtung jedoch eine größere Rolle spielen. Insbesondere Quetiapin wurde in psychiatrischen Fachkliniken und Pflegeheimen als Substanz mit hohen Verbrauchsmengen und hohem Emissionspotential identifiziert. Ausgehend von diesen Erkenntnissen wurden Gabapentin und Quetiapin tiefergehend hinsichtlich ihres Verbleibs und ihres Verhaltens in der aquatischen Umwelt charakterisiert. Beide Arzneistoffe wurden bei verschiedenen Startkonzentrationen zur Simulation eines technischen Behandlungsverfahrens mit UV-Licht bestrahlt. Im weiteren Verlauf wurden Gabapentin und Quetiapin und die jeweilige Muttersubstanz im Gemisch mit gebildeten Phototransformationsprodukten hinsichtlich biologischer Abbaubarkeit im Closed Bottle Test und im Manometrischen Respirationstest nach OECD-Richtlinien und hinsichtlich toxischer Eigenschaften im Leuchtbakterientest und im Umu-Test beurteilt. Die Strukturaufklärung von Photo- und Biotransformationsprodukten erfolgte mittels hochauflösender Massenspektrometrie. Im Ergebnis konnten weder Gabapentin noch Quetiapin bei hohen Startkonzentrationen durch Photolyse über 128 min mineralisiert oder vollständig eliminiert werden. Identische Phototransformationsprodukte wurden bei unterschiedlichen Startkonzentrationen für die UVBehandlung gebildet. Die Arzneistoffe Gabapentin und Quetiapin waren nach OECD-Richtlinien im Closed Bottle Test nicht leicht biologisch abbaubar. Die photolytischen Gemische von Gabapentin sind nicht besser als Gabapentin selbst abbaubar und die Phototransformationsprodukte wurden im Closed Bottle Test ebenfalls nicht eliminiert. Auch das photolytische Gemisch von Quetiapin im Closed Bottle Test war nicht besser biologisch abbaubar als Quetiapin selbst. Die Phototransformationsprodukte von Quetiapin und Quetiapin selbst unterlagen beim Closed Bottle Test und im Manometrischen Respirationstest verschiedenen biologischen Transformationsprozessen und führten zur Bildung von verschiedenen Biotransformationprodukten. Das in biologischen Abbautests von Quetiapin maßgeblich gebildete Biotransformationprodukt BTP 398 konnte in diversen Flusswasserproben nachgewiesen werden. Dies lässt sich höchstwahrscheinlich damit erklären, dass BTP 398 unter anderem auch beim humanen Metabolismus gebildet wird. Die Langzeit-Leuchthemmung und die Zellvermehrungshemmung im Leuchtbakterientest stiegen im Verlauf der Photolyse von Gabapentin durch Bildung von Phototransformationsprodukten. Dies deutet auf eine erhöhte Toxizität der Phototransformationsprodukte im Vergleich zu Gabapentin hin. Bei Quetiapin war unter Photolyse keine Abnahme der schon vorhandenen Toxizität beim Leuchtbakterientest zu erkennen. Gabapentin, Quetiapin und deren Phototransformationsprodukte wiesen im Umu-Test keine Genotoxizität auf. …
Ausgehend von epidemiologischen Daten, die häufigere Krankenhauseinweisungen aufgrund von Atemwegsbeschwerden sowie Symptome und Medikamentengebrauch bei Patienten mit Asthma nach Perioden erhöhter Ozonbelastung in der Umwelt zeigen, sollte diese Untersuchung die Frage klären, ob Ozon in umweltrelevanter Konzentration die bronchiale Allergenempfindlichkeit am Tage nach der Exposition zu steigern vermag. Es sollte darüber hinaus geklärt werden, ob dieser Effekt auch die als klinisch relevante allergische Spätreaktion betrifft und ob eine wiederholte Exposition gegenüber Ozon diese Effekte verstärkt oder eine Toleranz induziert. Wesentlich war, dass neben der Lungenfunktionsreaktion die Atemwegsentzündung zum Zeitpunkt der Spätreaktion mittels verschiedener, moderner, nichtinvasiver Verfahren erfasst werden sollte. Zu diesem Zweck wurden 11 Probanden mit allergischem Asthma bronchiale, 22 Probanden mit allergischer Rhinitis und 5 Probanden mit asymptomatischer Atopie jeweils einmalig gegenüber gefilterter Luft (FA), 125 ppb oder 250 ppb Ozon sowie an vier aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen gegenüber 125 ppb Ozon exponiert. Hierbei atmeten die Probanden die Testatmosphäre jeweils für 3 h während intermittierender Fahrradbelastung. Am Morgen nach den einmaligen oder der letzten der mehrmaligen Expositionen erfolgte eine einmalige Allergenprovokation. Neben der Lungenfunktion wurde die unspezifische Atemwegsempfindlichkeit auf inhaliertes Methacholin, die spezifische Atemwegsantwort auf inhaliertes Allergen sowie 6 h nach Allergeninhalation die zelluläre und biochemische Zusammensetzung des induzierten Sputums gemessen. Darüber hinaus wurde nach Ozonexposition sowie zu zwei Zeitpunkten nach Allergengabe die Konzentrationen von Stickstoffmonoxid in der Ausatemluft (eNO) und von Wasserstoffperoxid (H2O2) im Atemkondensat bestimmt. Sowohl die funktionelle wie auch die inflammatorische Reaktion auf Allergen und Ozon zeigten starke interindividuelle Unterschiede. Der deutlichste Abfall des Atemstosses (FEV1) zum Zeitpunkt der Sofortreaktion, und in geringerem Ausmaß auch zum Zeitpunkt der Spätreaktion, war nach vorausgegangener einmaliger, hoher (250 ppb) sowie wiederholter, niedriger (4x125 ppb) Ozonexposition zu beobachten. Diese Effekte erreichten bei einzelnen Probanden ein klinisch relevantes Ausmaß. Ferner waren nach diesen Expositionen im Sputum die Zahlen der eosinophilen Granulozyten und die Konzentration der Laktatdehydrogenase (LDH) sowie diejenigen von Histamin und Tryptase als Marker einer allergischen Reaktion am höchsten. Erhöhte Werte für eNO wurden nach den Expositionen gegenüber FA und 125 ppb Ozon beobachtet, sowie zum Zeitpunkt der Spätreaktion. Das exhalierte H2O2 lieferte keine konklusiven Ergebnisse. Am deutlichsten waren die Einschränkungen der Lungenfunktion in der Regel bei den Patienten mit allergischer Rhinitis. Hingegen war bei den Patienten mit Asthma eine deutlichere Verstärkung der allergischen Atemwegsentzündung durch Ozon zu beobachten. Darüber hinaus fand sich auch ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Konzentration des Gesamt- und spezifischen IgE im Blut und dem Ausmaß der Verstärkung der Allergenantwort durch Ozon. Die Daten der vorliegenden experimentellen Untersuchung zeigen, dass die wiederholte Inhalation von Ozon in einer Konzentration von 125 ppb sowohl die Lungenfunktionsantwort als auch die Entzündungsreaktion auf ein inhaliertes Allergen bei Personen mit vorbestehenden allergischen Atemwegserkrankungen verstärken kann. Die in der Untersuchung verwendete Ozonkonzentration kann als umweltrelevant gelten, da sie die regelhaft gefundenen Spitzenwerte in Gegenden hoher Ozonbelastung repräsentiert. Diese Daten tragen dazu bei, die epidemiologische beobachteten Assoziationen zwischen Ozon und Asthma kausal zu verstehen.
The importance of a social perspective on the relationships between humans and nature has longbeen acknowledged. The field of social-ecological systems research in particular is striving toachieve a holistic understanding of human-nature relationships by balancing social andecological perspectives. Here I sought to develop a social understanding of the Saxon area inCentral Romania, by exploring aspects of human-nature relationships as seen from theperspective of local people. To this end, I employed the concepts of social-ecological systems(SES), ecosystem services (ES) and cultural landscapes to assess perceptions of locals throughempirical case studies.I first conducted a literature review to acquire an overview of a particular type of human-naturerelationship mediated by non-consumptive use and non-use values (“cultural ecosystemservices”). Second, to isolate and address the interaction from the social system to the ecologicalsystem, I investigated the different ways locals perceived the role of landscapes in SouthernTransylvania. I conceptually mapped these landscape preferences by revealing their potentialland use and management implications. Third, to approach the human-nature relationship fromthe ecological system to the social system, I studied the flow of ES to disaggregated humanbeneficiaries. Specifically, I studied which factors, beyond ecosystem processes and functions,influenced nature derived human well-being from the perspective of potential beneficiaries. Iconceptualised the mediating role of a range of contextual factors underpinning the currentdistribution of ES, with regard to the relation between ES and human well-being. Fourth, inorder to explore an example of bidirectional human-nature relationship, I studied the particularcase of human-carnivore coexistence and the suite of mechanisms shaping it.Despite building throughout this thesis a more complex and in-depth understanding of the humandimensions of the studied system, I chose four main cross-cutting themes to explain the human-nature connection in Southern Transylvania. These four themes may serve as pillars of a sociallyminded understanding, as well as potential research and policy foci. First, the values held bylocals are key for understanding the endemic human-nature relationships and should not beoverlooked in future social-ecological assessments or policy interventions. Second, the culturallandscape of Southern Transylvania is both a physical and virtual space of social-ecologicalinteraction fostering human-nature experiences and social-ecological knowledge integration.Third, the identified diversity of the social system in terms of landscape aspirations and ESbeneficiaries is expanding the range of human-nature connections, but at the same time, may infuture be a source of conflict or disconnection if not managed appropriately. Finally, small-scalefarmers, through their interactions with the land and resultant belief system, play a major role inmaintaining the human-nature relationships, but their values and lifestyle are threatened.
Ökologische Nachhaltigkeit in Beherbergungsbetrieben in regionalen Naturparks in der Deutschschweiz
(2014)
Die Bedeutung einer ausgewogenen Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation wächst in der Unternehmenswelt sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf globaler Ebene kontinuierlich. Das Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es, die unterschiedlichen Arten der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation multinationaler Unternehmen (MNE) zu analysieren und den Stellenwert des Herkunftslandes innerhalb der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation von MNE zu ermitteln.
Water is an essential natural resource, yet we are experiencing a global water crisis. This crisis is first and foremost a crisis of governance rather than of actual physical resources. Capacities of single, unitary states are severely challenged by the complex, multi-scalar, and dynamic structure of contemporary problems in water resource management. New modes of governance stress the potential of public participation and scalar restructuring for effective and legitimate environmental decision-making. However, a lack evidence on the actual implementation and instrumental value of novel governance modes stands in stark contrast to the strong beliefs and assumptions that often see these being propagated as ´panaceas´ or ´universal remedies´. With this doctoral dissertation I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the implementation and performance of public participation and scalar restructuring in environmental governance, and particularly to engage in systematic research into the contextual factors that shape the performance of such governance innovations. Based on the conceptual approaches of participatory, multi-level governance and scale, I advance a conceptual framework specifying mechanisms and important contextual factors describing the potential of participation and rescaling to impact on the efficacy of environmental decision-making. Applying this framework, I employ a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative, quantitative, set-theoretic, and review methods, with the aim of maximising the validity of results. Drawing on the institutional frame of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), I first assess the extent and conditions under which participation and rescaling are actually implemented in the European water resource management regime. Subsequent analyses examine whether these governance shifts, where implemented, actually lead to environmentally effective and legitimate political decisions, and foster social outcomes. Results indicate that actual changes in governance structures remain modest, whereas previous institutional structures and experiences prove rather durable. Hence, despite recent shifts distributing authority towards alternative actors and scales, the state has persisted in its role as central authority in the European water resource management regime. To the extent that they were implemented, public participation and rescaling were generally positively related with the environmental effectiveness and legitimacy of political outcomes. The analysis provides a context-sensitive understanding, by unravelling the supposedly linear relationship between governance inputs and outputs to develop a more nuanced picture of the governance process rather as a composition of multiple, interdependent causal mechanisms that, depending on their actual configuration, lead to various outcomes. In this way, particularly the tension between legitimacy and effectiveness of political outcomes is disentangled, with both being seen as the result of distinct but interrelated properties of the governance system and its contextual circumstances. The thesis furthermore provides insights of practical and policy relevance, highlighting the need and potential to take a context-sensitive perspective in policy design and decision-making. The framework paper and the Ph.D. thesis thus together enhance academic understanding of environmental governance and its potential contributions to sustainability transitions.
The food and land use system is one of the most important global economic sectors. At the same time, today's resource-intensive agricultural practices and the profit orientation in the food value chain lead to a loss of biological diversity and ecosystem services, high emissions, and social inequality - so-called negative externalities. From a scientific perspective, there is a broad consensus on the need to transform the current food system. This paper investigates the suitability of True Cost Accounting (TCA) as an approach to inte-grating positive and negative externalities into business decisions in the food and land use system, focusing on the retail sector due to its high market power and resulting influence on externalities along the entire food value chain. For this purpose, a qualitative study was con-ducted with sustainability managers of leading European food retail companies in terms of their annual turnover, sustainable finance experts, and political actors related to environmental and social policy. A sample of N=11 participants was interviewed about the emergence and meas-urement of externalities along the food value chain, the current and future relevance of knowing about externalities for food retail companies, and the market and policy framework necessary for the application of TCA. The data collected was evaluated using the method of qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. Findings show that TCA is a suitable method for capturing positive and negative external ef-fects along the food value chain and thus also for meeting the growing social, political, and financial demands for its sustainable orientation. At the same time, there are still some chal-lenges in the application of TCA, both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. The main challenges at present are the lack of a standardised methodology, data availability, and key performance indicators. Due to the focus on prices, margins and competitors, food retail groups, in particular, emphasise the risk of revenue and profit losses as well as customer churn when applying TCA. Hence, the introduction of TCA in the food and land use system requires the development of measures that are socially acceptable, backed by legal frameworks and promote the scientific development of the methodology. This offers the opportunity to create a level playing field, apply the polluter-pays principle to the entire value chain and support science in developing appropriate indicators as well as a TCA database. Food retail companies can benefit from addressing TCA at an early stage by analysing their value chain to initiate change processes early, identify risk raw materials and products, reduce negative externalities through targeted measures, sensitise customers to the issue and thus differentiate themselves from competitors.
Supporting sustainability transformation through research requires, in equal parts, knowledge about complex problems and knowledge that supports individual and collective action to change the system. Recasting the conditions, characteristics, and modes of research processes that address these needs leads to solution-oriented research in sustainability science. This is supported by systematically analyzing the system’s dynamics, envisioning the desired future target state, and by engaging and designing strategic pathways. In addition, learning and capacity building are important crosscutting processes for co-producing required knowledge. In research, we use sophisticated representations as mediators between theories and objects of interest, depicted as visualizations, models, and simulations. They simplify, idealize, and store large and dense amounts of information. Representations are already employed in the service of sustainability, e.g., in communication about climate change. Understanding them as tools to facilitate processes, dialogue, mutual learning, shared understanding, and communication can yield contributions to knowledge processes of analyzing, envisioning, and engaging, and has implications on the design of the sustainability solution. Therefore I ask, what role do representations and representational practices play in the generation of sustainability solutions in different knowledge processes? Four empirical case studies applying rough set analysis, multivariate statistics, systematic literature review, and expert interviews target this research question. The overall aim of this dissertation is to contribute to a stronger foundation and the role of representation in sustainability science. This includes: (i) to explore and conceptualize representations for the three knowledge processes along selected characteristics and mechanisms; (ii) to understand representational practices as tools and embedded into larger methodological frameworks; (iii) to understand the connection between representation and (mutual) learning in sustainability science. Results point toward crosscutting mechanisms of representations for knowledge processes and the need to build representational literacy to responsible design and participate in representational practices for sustainability.
This PhD thesis examines the connections between sustainability knowledge management (SKM) and sustainability management tools in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While previous literature has established that knowledge is essential for the application of sustainability management tools, the effects of such tools on knowledge management are under-researched in the sustainability context. Drawing on multiple academic papers and utilizing various research methods, including a systematic literature review, several quantitative surveys and a multiple case study approach, the thesis systematically examines how such tools can facilitate the identification, acquisition, conversion, application and retention of sustainability knowledge, and potentially lead to the improvement of SKM effectiveness in SMEs. Furthermore, it examines how support functions for sustainability management tools and SKM correspond with each other. The findings reveal that sustainability management tools facilitate the SKM processes (identification, acquisition, conversion, application and retention), and align with the support factors (e.g. top management support, shared vision, employee qualifications) to advance SKM in SMEs. Particularly, such tools permit the institutionalization of sustainability knowledge into the daily routines and practices in SMEs. Additionally, tools create a support structure for SKM, embedding and preserving sustainability knowledge in documents, policies, procedures and norms for an enterprise´s collective knowledge for sustainability management. The thesis concludes with complementing areas of future research and offers practical implications for SME management.
Vor dem Hintergrund der steigenden Relevanz unternehmerischer Nachhaltigkeit beschäftigt sich die Wissenschaft verstärkt mit der Frage, welche Kompetenzen Entscheider benötigen, um Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien in Unternehmen erfolgreich umsetzen zu können. Denn entgegen der weit verbreiteten Meinung, dass bei der Umsetzung von Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien nur Win-win-Situationen auftreten, stoßen Manager bei der Integration ökologischer und sozialer Ziele ins Ziel-System der Unternehmen auf widersprüchliche ökonomische Rationalitäten (zwischen Effizienz und einzelnen/mehreren Dimensionen von Nachhaltigkeit) und inhärente Konflikte nachhaltiger Entwicklung (zwischen den Dimensionen sozial, ökologisch und ökonomisch). In der Folge entstehen vielfältige dilemmatische Entscheidungssituationen. Um Nachhaltigkeit langfristig in Unternehmen etablieren zu können, müssen die Dilemmata wahrgenommen und bewältigt werden. Voraussetzung hierfür sind vielfältige persönliche Kompetenzen bei den Entscheidern. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die auftretenden dilemmatischen Entscheidungssituationen und den Umgang mit diesen. Darüber hinaus bestimmt sie die für die Dilemma-Bewältigung relevanten Kompetenzen sowie die zur Umsetzung von CS-Strategien erforderlichen Rahmenbedingungen im Unternehmen. Im Ergebnis wird ein Framework zu Dilemmata, den notwendigen Kompetenzen und den Rahmenbedingungen erarbeitet. Basierend darauf werden entsprechende Handlungsempfehlungen gegeben. Der erarbeitete CS-Dilemmata-Kompetenz-Atlas stellt praxisrelevantes Wissen für Unternehmen und Berater zur erfolgreicheren Umsetzung von Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien zur Verfügung.