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Abstract Whilst higher education institutions are often being referred as sustainability change agents, employees of such organizations have an essential role towards promoting low-carbon practices amongst students, who are also influenced by the attitudes and behaviours of teachers. For this, employees of higher education institutions need to properly understand their personal carbon emissions along with reduction mechanisms, in order to instil such knowledge and skills to students. However, previous studies focused principally on estimating carbon emissions of higher education institutions to set reduction targets, rather than emphasizing on the human factor related to reduction of greenhouse gases. Furthermore, limited studies have been undertaken to estimate the carbon footprint of employees of higher education institutions. Taking cognizance of these gaps, this paper investigates the perceptions and behaviour pertaining to personal carbon emissions of employees of higher education institutions through answering different research questions, in order to conceptualize a carbon management framework. To achieve this purpose, a survey was conducted in different higher education institutions in Mauritius and involved 440 employees. Results revealed that carbon emissions of this target group are influenced by demographic factors and nature of activities. In addition, the average carbon footprint of participating employees was found to be approximately two times higher than the per-capita carbon footprint of the inhabitants of the island. These findings also mean that more efforts are needed at different levels in order to better engage employees of higher education institutions to reduce their personal carbon footprints. For this, a carbon management framework has been proposed in this study. Highlights • Studies perceptions and behaviour of employees of HEIs on personal carbon emissions. • Analyses motivations and barriers for employees of HEIs to reduce carbon emissions. • Provides quantitative results on personal carbon emissions of employees of HEIs. • Proposes a carbon management framework to help employees reduce personal emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangroves are amongst the richest ecosystems in the world providing valuable goods and services to millions of people while enhancing the resilience of coastal communities against climate change induced hazards, especially island nations. However, these mangroves are severely affected by many anthropogenic activities. Therefore, understanding the spatial variability of mangroves in island nations is highly essential in the events of ongoing climatic change. Thus, this study assessed the use of remote sensing techniques and GIS to map and monitor mangrove cover change at selected sites, namely Le Morne and Ferney, on the tropical island of Mauritius. Freely available 2013 SPOT-5 and 2023 Sentinel 2A images were retrieved and processed using ArcGIS Pro tools and SNAP; mangroves were mapped based on Google Earth Pro historical imagery and ground truthing at the respective sites. Following the application of selected vegetation indices, GLCM and PCA analysis, mosaicked images were classified using the Random Trees algorithm. Kappa values of all the classified images were in the 90 s; Le Morne showed a significant increase in mangrove cover over the decadal scale with main class change from mudflat to mangroves. This study demonstrates how geo-spatial tools are crucial for monitoring mangroves as they provide spatially explicit and time sensitive information. Decision makers, researchers, and relevant stakeholders can utilize this data to bolster tailored mitigation and adaptation strategies at specific sites, thereby enhancing resilience to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last decades, Sustainable Development has been encouraged to be integrated into the operations of business organisations. Businesses are being blamed to cause environmental degradation and social problems because of their unsustainable activities. However, to know whether businesses are implementing sustainable strategies in their operations, a Business Sustainability Performance Assessment (BSPA) is required. As a result, many approaches, tools, and techniques have been devised to assess sustainability performance at the business level. Therefore, this study aims at identifying the various sustainability assessment approaches, tools, and techniques at the business level. A systematic literature review was conducted whereby 38 related articles from 2000 to 2021 were obtained and analyzed. Following the review, 5 different approaches were identified namely: application of established guidelines; normative framework; management system; index system; and rating/ranking system. Under each approach, there are different tools. In all, 88 tools were obtained. Furthermore, 9 techniques were identified and classified into 4 functional categories. Techniques such as Fuzzy Logic, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, and Principle Component Analysis were predominantly favoured by researchers. However, there was no consensus on which method or tool is best for BSPA. A bibliometric analysis found that 60% of studies used the environmental, social, and economic dimensions for performance assessment. Results demonstrated that the application of BSPA approaches, tools, and techniques had been receiving attention across various industries and the application was more toward industry-generic context rather than industry-specific. Finally, the paper presents key research issues on BSPA and proposes future studies based on reported data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As human beings are becoming increasingly dependent on technology, the relationship of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with the natural environment is continuously degrading. In the past, ICT was often regarded as a low-carbon enabler but its widespread adoption has adversely turned it into a power drainer. The negative consequence is climate change, which is a complex social problem with rebound effects on human beings. Taking cognizance of this problem, it is becoming vital for each and every computer user to contribute and reduce the growing carbon footprint of ICT. This work identifies and analyses the key contributors in diminishing the carbon footprint of ICT before investigating into the adoption process by end users via a proposed Knowledge-Implementation-Effect Cycle. The relationship between the key contributors and the adoption process by end users is studied via nine research questions to identify key limitations and finally recommend potential solutions to further help in reducing the ICT carbon footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the IT industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in many countries over the past years, its relationship with the natural environment has not been given much consideration. This growing industry has as main negative impact on the environment, climate change in the form of global warming, caused by the emissions of carbon in the air. Green IT relates Information Technology and the environment by promoting studies, development of techniques for improving energy efficiency and reducing waste in the full life cycle of computing in the IT. This paper discusses the effects of the growing IT industry on the environment along with a review of existing work in Green IT. A conceptual framework for energy consumption and reduction using system dynamics modelling is also proposed which links the different locations within an IT organisation where most of the energy consumption takes place and a case-study is given that illustrates the application of the conceptual framework in a small in-house software development company consisting of ten employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations due to climate change like rising sea levels, recurring storm surges and changing wave conditions coupled with unsustainable development along the coast are exacerbating coastal populations' vulnerability to coastal dangers globally. The ecosystem based solution to achieve sustainable development is increasingly advocated in the last two decades to leverage nature's robust adaptive capacity to change and protect people against its negative consequences. Mangroves protect and maintain a rich marine biodiversity in the tropics and subtropics and are crucial carbon sinks. The present study thus analyses mangroves' role as ecosystem-based technique to reduce disaster risk and adapt to climate change using Mauritius, a small island state, as case study, particularly the coastal protective and climate change adaptive capacities of the two local species Rhizophora mucronata Lam. and Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (L.) Lam. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines were used to retrieve resources from Google Scholar, Web of Science and ScienceDirect for the 2002 to 2022 period. A total of 41,789 records were identified and through a robust screening and filtering process only 50 studies were deemed relevant to the present study. In this context, key attributes of mangrove forests were found to be in reducing coastal flood risk, sheltering coastal regions during storms and stabilizing the coast. This study lays the foundation to consider Rhizophora and Brugueira as robust nature based solutions for Mauritius which will be of key importance to decision makers, researchers and the public at large to consider restoring degraded mangrove sites and promote ecosystem-based approaches to reduce disaster risk, adapt to climate change, enhance marine spatial planning and better coastal zone management. • Vulnerability of coastal zones is increasing globally due to climate change and unsustainable development • The role of mangroves as nature based solution for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation is reviewed • The PRISMA guidelines are used to retrieve relevant resources for the period 2002 - 2022 • Rhizophora and Brugueira species effective nature based solution for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation • Adds to scientific research and promotion of mangroves as nature based solution in policy making and management strategies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]