• A multicriteria approach to evaluating habitat change in urban areas: an example from the Black Country (UK)

      Young, Christopher; Jarvis, Peter (Ashurst: WIT Press, 2003)
      THE BOOK: The pressure on land resources in densely populated industrialized countries is now immense. Multifunctional management is therefore a prerequisite for the sustainable use of landscapes, and the only general strategy that may address the problems created by constantly growing demands on resources arising from production, residence, dumping of waste, habitat, ecosystem services, and recreation. This volume focuses on the discussion and research recommendations relating to three different aspects of future landscape research concerning planning and management: Monitoring Multifunctional Landscapes; Biodiversity Versus Landscape Diversity in Multifunctional Landscapes; and Complexity of Landscape Management. (WIT Press)
    • A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ABU DHABI PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATION

      Suresh, Subashini; AL SHEBLI, AHMED (2016)
      Fear of global, social and environmental catastrophes has led to most developed and developing economies to embrace sustainability as a desirable public policy goal. Therefore, the Abu Dhabi government has made public commitments to transform along a more sustainable trajectory and assigned the public sector the collective responsibility of leading this transformation. Henceforth, public sector organisations have to embrace sustainable practices, re-orient their activities to achieve wider societal sustainable outcomes and govern others to act more sustainably. However, little is known about how public sector organisations are responding to this encouragement in the Abu Dhabi. The aim of this research is to explore how Abu Dhabi public sector organisation is embedding sustainability strategies for improved competitiveness. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, qualitative research method was adopted to collect and analyse data. Semi-structured interviews with 60 professionals were used to collect data which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The study concluded that the concept of sustainability is perceived as a distinct concept. It is suggests that an organisation wide awareness-raising training programme on the concept of sustainability needs to be to developed and deployed. Also, there is a need for cross-sector collaboration to capture and share best and worst practices related to transformative change towards sustainability. The lack of leadership skills for successful deployment of sustainability initiatives is one of the most important challenges for organisation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and deliver a bespoke training framework to address, improve and measure the effectiveness of leadership skills for driving change towards sustainability. Green technology has enormous potential to enable Abu Dhabi public sector organisation to meet its sustainability goals. It is recommended that future research on mobile applications for sustainability should focus on user readiness aspects, as well as organisation readiness for adoption and usage patterns of mobile devices. Overall, it is evident from the empirical findings that the outlook of improved sustainability initiatives efforts from the Abu Dhabi public sector organisation is quite promising at present. A strategic framework for transformative change towards sustainability was developed and validated. It is recommended to explore the level of embeddedness of sustainability initiatives in the public sector between developed and developing countries. This should lead to a generation of benchmark data and best practices in addressing global sustainability issues.
    • Agro-environmental lessons from the 'sustainable highland agriculture in South-East Asia' (SHASEA) project

      Fullen, Michael A.; Booth, Colin A.; Panomtaranichagul, Mattiga; Subedi, Madhu; Li, Yongmei (Taylor & Francis, 2011)
      To promote sustainable agro-environmental development in the highlands of South-East Asia, an international multidisciplinary research team examined the effectiveness of selected agronomic and soil conservation treatments (both modified and novel cropping practises) using farmer-managed runoff plots. The study sites were located in the highlands of Yunnan Province (Wang Jia Catchment), China and Mae Honson Province (Pang Mapa District), Northern Thailand. Project lessons relating to co-operation, research partnerships, time horizons, multidisciplinarity, income generation, information dissemination and education are discussed.
    • Agro-environmental project duration and effectiveness in South-east Asia

      Subedi, Madhu; Fullen, Michael A.; Hocking, Trevor J.; McCrea, Alison R.; Milne, Eleanor (IP Publishing, 2010)
      Considerable emphasis has been placed on developing technologies for agricultural sustainability. Many bilateral projects are working to achieve this outcome. A desk review was conducted to study the importance of project duration for the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural projects. Longer-duration projects were successful in addressing more holistic issues than short projects. However, funding agencies tend to fund shorter-duration projects, so projects become progressively shorter. At the same time, the number of projects implemented each year is increasing. Despite the decrease in total development assistance, increases in project numbers, particularly since 1986, appear to be at the cost of project duration. Short project duration was one of the most cited reasons for not completing essential dissemination activities for wider adoption, whereas longer- duration projects were usually considered more successful in addressing more holistic issues. It is difficult to produce tangible outputs from agricultural and soil conservation projects within five years. Considering the slow changes in the system and in agricultural and environmental sustainability, the authors suggest that project developers should be advised to plan for a minimum of 5–10 years, depending on the nature of activities. It is time for funding agencies to reconsider their tendency to fund shorter-duration projects.
    • An awareness-adoption matrix for strategic decision making in agricultural development projects: a case study in Yunnan Province, China

      Subedi, Madhu; Hocking, Trevor J.; Fullen, Michael A.; McCrea, Alison R.; Milne, E.; Wu, Bozhi; Mitchell, David J. (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2009)
      Significant achievements have been made in generating sustainable agricultural technologies in developing countries. Usually, these new technologies have been more effective in increasing production and productivity than existing technologies. However, many new technologies considered ‘effective’ have not been successful in alleviating the associated sustainability problems, due to poor adoption by targeted users. Success of any novel technical intervention should be judged on the basis of how widespread adoption is in the target area by targeted users. In this context, a case study identified the factors affecting farmers’ adoption of improved technologies extended by an agricultural development project in a rural Village in Yunnan Province, China. Initial adoption/adaptation of project technologies was influenced by farmers’ awareness of the technology. Farmers were more aware of polythene mulch, contour cultivation, intercropping and tree planting technologies than others. This led to a comparatively high initial uptake of polythene mulch, contour cultivation, sweet chestnut, and intercropping technologies. Farmers had inadequate knowledge about some Project technologies, the adoption of which was particularly low. This reveals the need for increasing farmers’ awareness about the rationale for Project technologies to achieve greater adoption/adaptation of project technologies by farmers over wider areas. Farmers’ testing of the technology leads to better adoption/adaptation compared to mere awareness. However, considerable time and resources are required for testing/trying technologies. This justifies the usefulness of comparatively quick and less resource demanding options for awareness creation. Development of effective cropping technologies is important for sustainable agricultural development. The success of any agricultural development project, especially in terms of improving sustainability, depends on how widely those improved technologies are adopted/adapted by farmers in the targeted region. Therefore, farmers’ adoption of technologies should be a key criterion for judging the success of any project. The awareness-adoption matrix is a useful tool to guide research and development projects to achieve expected adoption/adaptation of technologies. Use of the matrix helps identification of weak and strong aspects of research and development projects and thus assists strategic decision-making.
    • An evaluation of the introduction of modified cropping practices in Yunnan Province, China, using surveys of farmers' households

      Subedi, Madhu; Hocking, Trevor J.; Fullen, Michael A.; McCrea, Alison R.; Milne, E.; Mitchell, David J.; Wu, Bozhi (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V., 2009)
      Problems associated with land degradation are serious in China. Sloping land in South China has experienced a decline in crop productivity by 30-60% due to soil erosion and it has been predicted that most topsoil will be lost within the next 100 years if current erosion rates continue. Considering these situations, an agro-environmental research and development project (Sustainable Highland Agriculture in South-East Asia – SHASEA) was conducted in a catchment in Yunnan Province, China, to address the objectives of increasing crop productivity in sustainable and environmentally-friendly ways. A range of cropping practices was developed and implemented in a rural upland catchment (Wang Jia). At the end of the project, farmers were surveyed to evaluate project effectiveness. All farmers from Wang Jia Catchment, who were involved in project implementation, were surveyed. A sample of farmers working in an adjacent catchment (not associated with the project) was surveyed for comparative purposes. Farmers had different perceptions of the cropping practices employed. Contour cultivation was preferred and likely to be adopted. Others practices such as straw mulching and intercropping were seen as less appropriate and unlikely to be adopted. Polythene mulch was recognized as effective, but likely to be adopted only if financial returns were favourable. The availability of relevant information had an important impact on the extent of technology testing by farmers and their willingness to adopt the practices in the future.
    • Confocal imaging to reveal the microstructure of soybean processing materials

      Preece, Katherine E.; Drost, Ellen; Hooshyar, Nasim; Krijgsman, Ardjan; Cox, Phil; Zuidam, Nicolaas J. (Elsevier, 2014-09-22)
      Sustainable production of food products for human consumption is required to reduce negative impacts on the environment and to consumer’s health. Soybeans are an excellent source of nutritive plant proteins; aqueous extraction yields part of the available oil and protein from the legume. Many studies have been conducted which detail the various processing parameters and their effects on the extraction yields, yet there is little data on the localisation of nutritive components such as oil and protein in the fibrous unextracted by-product. Here we show a novel confocal laser scanning microscopy investigation of soybean processing materials and the physical effects of thermal treatment on the materials microstructure upon aqueous extraction. Various features, more specifically oil, protein (including protein aggregation) and cell wall structures, are visualised in the fibrous by-product, soy slurry and soy extract, with their presence both in the continuous phase and within intact cotyledon cells. Thermal treatment reduced the protein extraction yield; this is shown to be a result of aggregated protein bodies in the continuous phase and within intact cotyledons cells. Knowledge of the processing material microstructures can be applied to improve extraction yields and reduce waste production.
    • Creating Sustainable Innovation through Design for Behaviour Change: Full Project Report

      Niedderer, Kristina; Mackrill, James; Clune, Stephen; Lockton, Dan; Ludden, Geke; Morris, Andrew; Cain, Rebecca; Gardiner, Edward; Gutteridge, Robin; Evans, Martyn; et al. (University of Wolverhampton, CADRE, 2014-10-31)
    • Creating Sustainable Innovation through Design for Behaviour Change: Summary Report

      Niedderer, Kristina; Mackrill, James; Clune, Stephen; Lockton, Dan; Ludden, Geke; Morris, Andrew; Cain, Rebecca; Gardiner, Edward; Gutteridge, Robin; Evans, Martyn; et al. (University of Wolverhampton, CADRE, 2014-09-18)
    • Effect of desulphurised waste on long-term porosity and pore structure of blended cement pastes

      Khatib, Jamal M.; Wright, Lee; Mangat, Pal S. (Elsevier, 2016-06-16)
      This paper presents some results on the porosity and pore size distribution of cement paste containing simulated desulphurised waste (SDW) cured for 90 d. The SDW was chosen for the investigation due to the variability in chemical composition of real desulphurised waste as explained in previous papers. The SDW is a combination of 85% fly ash and 15% gypsum. The cement in the pastes was replaced with 0, 20 and 40% SDW. The water to binder ratio was 0.5. The binder consists of cement and SDW (by weight). After 90 d of curing, the porosity and pore size distribution tests were conducted on the pastes. Increasing the amount of SDW leads to an increase in the pore volume of the paste. There is no clear trend on the effect of SDW on the size of the pores.
    • Effectiveness of an agricultural technology research and development project for increasing sustainability of cropping systems in upland areas of Yunnan Province, China

      Fullen, Michael A.; Mitchell, David J.; McCrea, Alison R.; Milne, E.; Zhi, Wu Bo; Cuddy, Michael P.Hocking, Trevor J.; Subedi, Madhu (University of Wolverhampton, 2006)
      Continued increase in population and escalating environmental degradation have changed the priorities of agricultural development projects in developing and emerging countries towards both increasing production or productivity and improving sustainability. The long-term success of these development projects, especially in terms of improving sustainability, depends on how widely those improved practices which are shown to be effective in achieving the technical objectives, are adopted/adapted by farmers in the targeted region. In these terms, many projects in recent years may be considered to be relatively unsuccessful. This study aimed to investigate the factors contributing to the effectiveness of agricultural technology research and development projects in improving the sustainability of cropping systems in upland areas of China, together with the factors that might limit their effectiveness. This has involved both a review of recent projects carried out in the region and detailed monitoring and evaluation of one such project carried out in South West China – the SHASEA project. The SHASEA Project was implemented in Wang Jia catchment in Yunnan Province using holistic and multi-disciplinary approaches to address the twin objectives of increasing productivity of maize, wheat and soybean in a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. It introduced into the catchment a range of novel or modified cropping practices, which had been evaluated in plot studies over the preceding six years, together with biological and engineering measures designed to stabilise large scale soil movements in lateral gullies and the main stream. The SHASEA Project was successful in achieving its short-term scientific and technical objectives, but was too short to determine the level of adoption by farmers in the locality. The present study has used a range of approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of this Project, to monitor the biological, environmental and socio-economic impacts and investigate the perceptions of the farmers about the Project and the likelihood of their adoption of the recommended practices. Participatory approaches were used wherever possible, including detailed household surveys, PRA workshops and discussions with Key Informants. Field surveys and direct observations were also made, together with a limited economic analysis of the modified cropping practices introduced into the catchment. It was found that the farmers had different perceptions about the range of practices introduced into the catchment. Some were clearly preferred, such as contour cultivation and were likely to be adopted, while others were seen as inappropriate, such as straw mulching and intercropping, and were unlikely to be adopted. The benefits of an innovative, integrated cropping system, INCOPLAST, were not fully appreciated by the farmers. Other practices would only be adopted if the financial returns were favourable, such as the use of polythene mulch. Longer-term measures, such as tree planting schemes, were regarded favourably, but adoption would still depend on economic returns and related issues such as land security. An irrigation scheme was suggested by the farmers, but after installation it was not used extensively for the staple crops in the catchment. It was found that farmers planned to use the irrigation for higher value crops such as tobacco, after the end of the Project. It has been concluded that, despite the technical and scientific success of the Project, long-term adoption of many of the practices introduced into the catchment will be low, unless considerable incentives are used or much more effective dissemination techniques employed. It is considered that the outcomes would have improved considerably if participatory approaches had been used from the outset, to engage farmers more fully with the project, to ensure that the practices introduced were as appropriate as possible, to achieve greater ownership of the objectives and outcomes, leading to higher adoption rates. More emphasis should have been given to the dissemination of the outcomes at farmer level outside the catchment of study and there should have been more involvement with the regional policy makers and extension officials throughout the programme. Longer-term improvements in sustainability at the catchment level have not yet been demonstrated. These outcomes are discussed within the context of other agricultural projects carried out in South East Asia and other developing regions. Based on the outcomes and conclusions from this study, a series of recommendations are made which are presented as good practices for future agricultural development projects in South East Asia.
    • Foreign Aid, Urbanization and Green Cities

      Li, Jun (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
    • Modeling the population and industry distribution impacts of urban land use policies in Beijing

      Niu, Fangqu; Li, Jun (Elsevier, 2017-11-15)
      Capable tools are desired for urban spatial policies planning in China to safeguard its sustainable development strategy. This study develops an activity-based Land Use/Transport Interaction (LUTI) model to forecast the urban activity impacts of the land-use policies. Essentially, its endogenized and interactive features in residential and employment distribution modeling mark it out from the traditional Lowry models. The LUTI model proposed consists of four models, i.e., a transport sub-model, a residential location model, an employment location model and a real estate rent model. It is then applied to the Beijing metropolitan area to characterize the urban activity evolution trend under the land use policies of recent years. The results show that with the increasing number of floorspace developed on the outskirts, more residents and employers are relocating there and sub-centers are formed to divide the service of central Beijing. This trend is consistent with the objective of government planning to develop more sub-centers around central Beijing by decentralizing industries to guide residential population growth patterns. The model provides a capable planning tool for urban spatial policy makers and demonstrates its first success in Beijing scenario.
    • Review of waste management in the UK construction industry

      Adjei, Solomon D. (2016-07)
      The construction industry is considered the world over as a major contributor to the high rates of waste generation in developed countries. The negative influence of waste generation on the environment, natural resources, and the profitability of firms puts increasing pressure on the industry to reduce the waste it generates. The pressures to reduce waste are heightened by current trends demanding sustainable management of waste for the purposes of economic, social, and environmental gains. Literature on factors influencing waste management (WM) suggests government legislation is the most critical success factor for ensuring waste is sustainably managed. A review of the literature however indicated that researches holistically investigating the practices of construction firms and the extent to which these practices meet the intended outcomes of government legislation on waste are not present. Thus this research was undertaken to holistically investigate WM practices in the UK construction industry, to identify best practices and the extent to which they meet the intended outcomes of government WM legislation ad policy. The study adopted a multiple case study design to examine WM approaches, strategies and practices at both the corporate and project level within construction companies. Four construction companies who had won awards for their sustainability and environmental performance were purposefully selected to investigate best practice WM. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, passive observations, and documentary analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that the drivers for WM in the construction industry are: economic considerations; company sustainability agenda; company image; client requirements; environmental concerns; government legislation; moral and social demands; industrial benchmarking; environmental concerns; and the requirements of standards. Regarding the influence of legislation, the results revealed that government legislation plays a secondary role in influencing WM as clients are interested in using only compliant firms. Best practices targeting design to reduce waste through standardisation and prefabrication; on-site segregation through multi-skip provision; supply take back schemes; intensified site education; and the use of incentives were identified to lead to improved WM. The results also indicated that company sustainability agenda is the most influential driver for achieving sustainable construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E) WM. The findings highlighted the importance of having a clear vision and structure for WM at the corporate level alongside strategies to be implemented on projects to ensure sustainable WM is achieved. To help construction firms in achieving sustainable WM, which is the ultimate goal of government legislation, a best practice framework has been developed based on the findings from the study and evaluated using semi-structured interviews with selected target participants. The framework presents a coherent and systematic approach for achieving sustainable WM in construction companies by providing a roadmap for instituting measures at both corporate and project levels, taking into account factors that are likely to promote or inhibit the achievement of sustainable WM.
    • Sustainable procurement strategies for competitive advantage: an empirical study

      Suresh, Subashini; Renukappa, Suresh; Akintoye, Akintola; Egbu, Charles (ICE Publishing, 2016-01-20)
      Procurement plays a key role in sustainability as policies and practices need to extend beyond organisations’ boundaries to incorporate their whole supply chains. There is, however, a paucity of empirical research on sustainable forms of procurement initiatives currently being implemented in the UK construction sector to improve competitiveness – which is the core driver of this paper. In order to achieve this aim, a mixed research methodological approach was adopted to collect and analyse data. The findings are based primarily on quantitative data obtained from 53 completed postal questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 17 professionals from 12 UK construction organisations. As revealed by this study, sustainable procurement is becoming increasingly important in the UK construction sector. The paper concludes that the process of integrating sustainable procurement initiatives into existing business models is often a complex issue. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore the drivers and impediments associated with the successful integration of sustainable procurement initiatives into existing construction business models. It is also suggested that there is a need for cross-sector collaboration to capture and share best and worst practices relating to sustainable procurement strategies.
    • The development of sustainable cropping systems in the highlands of South-East Asia: general lessons for development projects

      Fullen, Michael A. (Brazil: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), 2005)
      Soil conservation in the highlands of South-East Asia is essential for sustainable agro-environmental development. The effectiveness of soil conservation treatments developed in runoff plots was investigated in farmer-managed plots on a natural catchment. This was achieved by the development and scientific evaluation of modified and novel cropping practices in a representative highland catchment in Yunnan Province, China. Wang Jia Catchment covers 40.1 hectares near Kedu, in Xundian County, north-east Yunnan (25o28'N, 102o53'E). The initial project consisted of an evaluation of the effects of modified cropping practices on maize productivity and soil properties. This programme was extended to investigate ways of increasing the productivity of maize, wheat and soybean on fragile slopes in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. The approach incorporates modified and novel agronomic and soil conservation measures, with the evaluation of their agricultural, environmental and socio-economic impacts using multidisciplinary approaches. This European Union funded project involved an international research team from Belgium, China, Ireland, Thailand and the U.K. Five co-ordinated work packages were implemented. Involving: (1) Background agricultural and environmental assessment of Wang Jia Catchment. (2) Implementation and evaluation of modified and novel cropping systems for wheat, maize and soybean in the catchment. (3) Cost-benefit analyses of the socio-economic impacts of the changed cropping practices. (4) Comparative scientific evaluation of the cropping techniques in the highlands of northern Thailand. (5) Dissemination of project outcomes and establishment of training programmes for best practice in highland rural development. The lessons of the Project for promoting sustainable agro-environmental development in tropical and subtropical highlands include: (1) Recognizing the importance of both ‘north-south’ and ‘south-south’ co-operation in development projects, (2) Integrating local people as full partners in the research programme, (3) Matching the different ‘time horizons’ of the different stakeholders and (4) Developing multidisciplinary teams, including biophysical scientists and socio-economists.
    • Towards the reformation of Abu Dhabi to be an environmentally sustainable city

      Heesom, David; Al Kaabi, Saif (University of Wolverhampton, 2011)
      Abu Dhabi, the Capital City of United Arab Emirates, evolved through various stages since its formation. However, unlike other Golf cities, policy makers, planners, and designers sought to guide its growth and development towards a sustainable responsive city. Sustainability has become a central theme of policy and practice, and the design of the built environment is playing a major role towards this. Abu Dhabi developed the World renowned City of Masdar, as a model of sustainable development and design, and established the Estidama Rating System to enforce specific sustainable applications. This aim of this study is to examine the cost-effectiveness of shifting the development of Abu Dhabi from a conventional approach to a sustainable one. In particular, it sought to determine whether vernacular design and architecture could help to address the quest for a sustainable city. The methodology adopted for this research was based on quantitative and qualitative approaches. Three buildings were selected to determine the cost-effectiveness of the proposed sustainable solutions. 1. Masdar building was studied to represent what is classified as a sustainable prototype. 2. Educational Building of Abu Dhabi Police Academy, which has an open courtyard at the centre of the building, represents a vernacular design. 3. Administrative Building of Abu Dhabi Police Academy, which has a closed atrium in the centre without any skylight, represents a conventional building design. The research involved an environmental investigation of power consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, indoor and outdoor temperature, indoor and outdoor relative humidity, and levels of indoor carbon dioxide. Monitors were installed in the three prototype buildings for a period of time, and the results of the readings were compared and analysed. In addition, a questionnaire survey was used to determine the impact of the three buildings on sustainable lifestyles and attitudes. Ninety users of the three buildings responded to the questionnaire. Their responses were also compared and analysed. The results of the monitoring of the thermal performance, power consumption and carbon dioxide levels indoors confirmed that most indoor temperature readings were similar due to the use of air-conditioning in the three buildings. However, cooler temperatures were recorded in similar rates in the alleyways of Masdar and in the courtyard of the Police Academy Educational building. In some cases, courtyard spaces in the Educational Building in the Police Academy recorded even lower temperatures than those of Masdar. These readings were much higher than those of the outdoor exposed temperature, whether in Masdar or in the Police Academy outdoor spaces. Considering that the cost per square meter of the Masdar prototype was almost the double of the other prototypes, these findings challenged the cost-effectiveness of the prevailing Masdar City approach. The results also highlighted the importance of the architectural heritage of Abu Dhabi to address the sustainability agenda, including its implications on planning and building regulations. The findings of the questionnaire survey revealed that there were no significant differences between user responses of Masdar and the Police Academy buildings. These also questioned the cost effectiveness of the Masdar prototype. However, the results also confirmed that the lack of awareness of the sustainability agenda for the users of the three buildings, thus highlighting the wider implications on the sustainability agenda.
    • Use of farmers' indicators to evaluate the sustainability of cropping systems on sloping land in Yunnan Province, China.

      Subedi, Madhu; Hocking, Trevor J.; Fullen, Michael A.; McCrea, Alison R.; Milne, E.; Wu, Bozhi; Mitchell, David J. (Elsevier, 2009)
      Diversity in the biophysical and socio-economic attributes of agricultural systems makes them uniquely niche based. Farmers are expert in local biophysical and socio-economic situations and can contribute in developing pragmatic indicators of agro-environmental development. During evaluation of an agricultural research project in Yunnan, China, local farmers were capable of evaluating the effects of modified technologies on existing cropping systems and discussed their attitudes to the interventions using their own indicators. Farmers' response can be grouped into seven major aspects: i) effects on income, ii) effects on production resources, iii) effects on crop management, iv) existing local knowledge about the technology, v) availability of inputs, vi) access to information, and vii) socio-economic conditions of farming households. Farmers concluded that environmental conditions in the experimental catchment in comparison to an adjacent untreated catchment were better in terms of soil and water losses, vegetation cover and natural resources, infrastructures and catchment management, use of environmentally-friendly technologies, and crop productivity. Success in soil and water conservation programmes depends on the efforts of the farmers and other local users and their greater involvement helps to identify more pragmatic indicators. Furthermore, it increases ownership of the programme, enhances interactions with the project scientists, increases farmers' awareness of agro-environmental problems and their possible consequences. These development will enable scientists to develop better targeted interventions and increase the likelihood of adoption of tested technologies by local communities. The use of paired adjacent catchments improved evaluation activities and is proposed as good practice for future catchment improvement programmes.
    • "We're not a bottomless pit": food banks' capacity to sustainably meet increasing demand

      Iafrati, Steve; Email: s.iafrati@wlv.ac.uk (Policy Press, 2018-03-31)
      Based on research with 21 food banks across eight local authority areas in England, this article examines the sustainability of food banks in their attempts to balance demand and supply. Against a background of multiple deprivation and welfare reforms in the UK, food banks are becoming increasingly important for growing numbers of people. However, at a time when food banks' ability to meet this increasing demand is close to capacity, this article examines how social purpose is a core element in food banks' understanding of sustainability. With food banks having little control over the level of demand, and supply being increasingly close to capacity, if demand exceeds supply, sustainability will necessitate either denying demand or expanding supply.