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En el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de Español como Lengua Extranjera se tiene en cuenta la finalidad que es la comunicación entre usuarios. Esta comunicación se puede abordar gracias a cuestiones de interés global y atendiendo a la multiculturalidad, al multilingüismo, a la multimodalidad y a los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible que tienen un impacto directo en la sociedad, además de contenidos gramaticales y léxicos que incluyen todos los planes formativos. Estos aspectos se pueden implementar en el aula a través de actividades de mediación oral, que hasta ahora ha tenido poca presencia en los manuales de segundas lenguas. En este artículo se realiza una investigación sobre la aparición de mediación oral, mediación escrita y ODS en los manuales más reconocidos en el mundo de ELE; y se propone el diseño de actividades basadas en los ODS, atendiendo los tipos de mediación oral. In the teaching-learning process of Spanish as a Foreign Language, the purpose of communication between users is taken into account. This communication can be addressed thanks to issues of global interest and taking into account multiculturalism, multilingualism, multimodality and the Sustainable Development Goals that have a direct impact on society, as well as grammatical and lexical content that includes all training plans. These aspects an be implemented in the classroom through oral mediation activities,which until now have had little presence in second language manuals. In this article, an investigation is carried out on the oral mediation, written mediation and ODS in the most recognized manuals in the world of ELE; and the design of activities based on the SDGs is proposed, taking into account the types of oral mediation.

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB This study examines the effects of sustainable energy-focused institutional shareholders on corporate sustainable energy performance. It employs a sample of 43 renewable energy mutual funds and 1074 portfolio firms covering 2006 to 2019. To examine this relationship appropriately, the study adopts Petersen's (2009) panel data approach and clusters standard errors by firm and year. The results indicate that institutional investors lead firms to improve their corporate sustainable energy and environmental performance. Therefore, investment decisions adopted by renewable energy mutual funds achieve positive outcomes in the real world. This has policy implications, showing that economic policies focused on financing the transition of the real economy towards sustainability and improving the financial sector's contribution to sustainability goals are being achieved.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about considerable detrimental effects on higher education, especially in developing countries. Ironically, it also contributed positively towards one sustainable development goal (SDG4) through advancement in technology, particularly the implementation and use of digital technology among academics and students. This study focused on the analysis of rural-based universities’ faculty members’ satisfaction with e-learning by seeking answers to two research questions: (1) what are the factors that influence faculty members’ satisfaction with e-learning, and (2) is there a significant difference between instructors’ and students’ satisfaction with e-learning? A combination of the expectation confirmation model (ECM) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) was employed to develop the users’ satisfaction model (USM). A survey design was used in which quantitative data were gathered using a 7-point Likert scale questionnaire. The data were analysed using partial least squares–structural equation modelling, with the help of SmartPLS3. The results showed that 81.9% of the variance in faculty members’ satisfaction with e-learning can be attributed to the seven factors of the model. Multigroup analysis also showed that the USM may be used to predict and explain faculty members’ subgroups’ satisfaction with e-learning.

The dropout rate is one of the determinants of immunization coverage and program performance, program continuity, and follow-up. The dropout rate refers to the proportion of vaccine recipients who did not finish their vaccination schedules, and it is determined by comparing the number of infants who started the schedule to the number who completed it. It is the rate difference between the first and final dosage or the rate difference between the first vaccination and the last vaccine dropout; thus, it denotes that the first recommended dose of vaccine was received, but that the subsequently recommended dose was missed. In India, immunization coverage has shown significant improvements over the last two decades, but full immunization coverage has remained stagnant at 76.5%, of which 19.9% are partially immunized, and 3.6% are children who have been left out. In India, the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is challenged with cases related to dropout in immunization. Although immunization coverage in India is improving, the program is challenged by vaccination dropouts. This study provides an analysis of the determinants of vaccination dropout in India using data from two rounds of the National Family Health Survey. The finding shows that the mother’s age, education, family wealth, antenatal care visit, and place of delivery were some of the variables that significantly contributed to reducing the dropout rate of immunization among children. The findings of this paper show that the dropout rate has reduced over a certain period of time. The overall improvement in the rates of dropout and increase in full immunization coverage could be attributed to various policy measures taken in the last decade in India, which brought structural changes with a positive impact on full immunization coverage and its components.

In Bangladesh, people primarily depend on on-site sanitation facilities (OSSF) with an immense challenge in achieving safe sanitation due to unplanned infrastructure development, improper management of fecal sludge, and inadequate monitoring. The commitment of attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 6.2 (ensuring safe sanitation for all) by 2030 requires immediate attention in the management of fecal sludge for low-middle income countries. This paper presented the findings, challenges, and possible ways forward from a study conducted to provide data for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based fecal sludge management (FSM) at a municipality in the northwest of Bangladesh. A total of 18,808 households and 407 institutions in Saidpur municipality, a non-sewered town in Nilphamari district, were studied to understand the type of containment structures and on-ground desludging practices. The study showed around 10% of containments were connected to the drains illegally, 95% of the people in Saidpur practiced unsafe disposal, and 7% still practiced open defecation. To identify these malpractices, the study also implemented an ICT-based sustainable solution through a web application that enabled the local administrator to have a global look at the sanitation scenario of the municipality. The dashboard was developed to create a total sanitation monitoring system, identify defaulters, allow target-based safe managed sanitation service strategies, and ensure sustainability in FSM. The study highlighted the accessibility of vacuum truck services projecting through a spatial map and identified methods to empty the septic tanks where Vacutag services are unavailable by engaging local pit emptiers. The innovative approach of fecal sludge management will help not only to improve the existing sanitation practices but also raise community awareness to ensure sustainable sanitation system. Altogether, the web system will work as a medium to manage the faecal sludge for the existing co-compost plant where the faeces is converted into organic soil conditioner, creating prospects for a green business mechanism., We acknowledge the sincere help extended by the enumerators residing in Saidpur municipality who played a vital role in the data collection process for the paper.

Long term sustainability of energy is a critically important goal of sustainable development globally. In light of new initiatives such as the UN's Agenda 2030 or the Paris Agreement, assessing the progress of EU countries towards reaching ambitious sustainability goals is inevitable. The aim of the paper is to assess the progress of EU countries toward meeting sustainable development goal on affordable and clean energy. The results of the analysis can be described as balanced and stable, although differences between individual countries are significant in cases of some indicators. Each EU country must, however, take a comprehensive view of SDG7 implementation. Sweden, being the first on the list, as well as Luxembourg, being the last one, both have strengths, yet also areas of improvement. Multi-criteria analysis has thrown a spotlight on the Achilles heel of the EU countries disregard of which might cause serious problems in the future. Web of Science 31 2 1600 1587

For the last few years, cases of applying articial intelligence (AI) to engineering activitiestowards sustainability have been reported. Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) provides a potential to systematicallyreach higher and productivity levels, owing to its holistic perspective and consideration of economic andenvironmental targets. To address the current gap to more systematic deployment of AI with LCE (AI-LCE)we have performed a systematic literature review emphasizing the three aspects:(1) the most prevalent AItechniques, (2) the current AI-improved LCE subelds and (3) the subelds with highly enhanced by AI.A specic set of inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to identify and select academic papers fromseveral elds, i.e. production, logistics, marketing and supply chain and after the selection process describedin the paper we ended up with 42 scientic papers. The study and analysis show that there are manyAI-LCE papers addressing Sustainable Development Goals mainly addressing: Industry, Innovation, andInfrastructure; Sustainable Cities and Communities; and Responsible Consumption and Production. Overall,the papers give a picture of diverse AI techniques used in LCE. Production design and Maintenance andRepair are the top explored LCE subelds whereas logistics and Procurement are the least explored subareas.Research in AI-LCE is concentrated in a few dominating countries and especially countries with a strongresearch funding and focus on Industry 4.0; Germany is standing out with numbers of publications. Thein-depth analysis of selected and relevant scientic papers are helpful in getting a more correct picture ofthe area which enables a more systematic approach to AI-LCE in the future. Funding: Adapt 2030 (Adaptive lifecycle design by applying digitalization and AI techniques to production) (Grant Number: 2019-05589)10.13039/501100001858-VINNOVA, Sweden’s Innovation Agency Adapt 2030

As underlined by OECD and United Nations, as cities are growing in size, they will face challenges in becoming climate neutral, reducing their environmental footprint, and meeting the growing needs of their populations. In cities, the main challenges of sustainable development are concentrated. So, there is a need to identify a new development model in order to make cities more sustainable. This necessity concerns all sectors, including the tourism one, which represents the third largest socio-economic activity in Europe. The tourism sector puts pressure on the city, increasing waste generation, noise and air pollution, and congestion in infrastructure and public areas. In addition, it is organized according to the linear economy model. This linearity is particularly visible in cities as people here tend to choose comfort over sustainability. In this framework, new approaches, strategies, and tools are required in order to make the tourism sector more sustainable, thus reducing its negative impacts on cities. In this perspective, the Human Circular Tourism (HCT) model is proposed. The aim of this study is to provide an operational framework consisting of recommendations, actions, and indicators to effectively operationalize the Human Circular Tourism model and to support public authorities (and other tourism stakeholders) in the identification of efficient policies in the tourism sector.

There is a growing trend for nutrient recovery from wastewater as part of the transition to a circular economy. Most nutrients in household wastewater originate from urine and one way to facilitate reuse of these nutrients is to concentrate the urine into fertiliser products. Urine concentration technologies are still in the development phase and not implemented at scale. The aim of this study was to provide guidance to technology developers and policymakers by assessing the environmental and societal impacts of urine concentration technologies. In particular, it includes practical aspects such as worker safety, space availability and local fertiliser needs that have not been included in previous studies. Future scenarios on implementing three different urine concentration technologies (alkaline dehydration, nitrification-distillation, ion-exchange with struvite precipitation) in a planned residential area in Malmo center dot, Sweden, were developed. The technologies were evaluated using multi -criteria assessment (MCA), with environment, technical, economic and health sustainability criteria derived from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was found that all urine concentration technologies per-formed well against many of the sustainability criteria examined and can contribute to achieving SDGs, espe-cially regarding nitrogen recovery. Specific areas for further development were identified for each technology. An impact assessment on scaling up demonstrated that nitrogen emissions to surface water were significantly reduced when more than 60% of urine in Malmo center dot city was subjected to urine concentration. Nitrogen and phosphorus recovered from recycling only 15-30% of urine in Malmo center dot could supply 50% of Malmo center dot municipality's fertiliser demand.

Green bonds are financial instruments that deliver both returns and environmentally positive outcomes. They can be a key part of strategies to incorporate climate action into financial decision-making and help developing countries meet their Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goal obligations. While their total volume increased, their effectiveness in promoting sustainability - especially in post-pandemic recovery - looks questionable.

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El propósito del siguiente trabajo es estudiar el caso de las migraciones climáticas y su relación con las Naciones Unidas y los diferentes estados que la componen. Parece ser un problema de la actualidad, pero lo cierto es que lleva existiendo desde hace tiempo y nosotros somos provocadores de ello. Millones de personas se han visto forzadas a desplazarse como consecuencia a un conflicto climático. Sin embargo, muchas de ellas no se han visto reconocidas y no han obtenido ningún tipo de ayuda al no tener una definición concreta. Existen diferentes estados en contra de las migraciones climáticas, y otros que tampoco tienen los recursos económicos como para poder ayudar aquellos que se han visto perjudicados por la situación. Asociaciones como ACNUR han establecido diferentes estrategias para poder combatir contra el problema, sobretodo para ayudar aquellos países que no tienen los recursos necesarios para contender la dificultad. Un ejemplo es la India, uno de los países que más migraciones climáticas ha recibido en todo el mundo. Se encuentra en una situación crítica y el estado mantiene una posición negativa ante la controversia. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions is one of 17 SDGs identified by the UN in 2015. The SDGs that supersede the Millennium Development Goals imply continuous multilateral actions to ensure their full and timely implementation. Analysis of the available literature shows that insufficient attention is paid to the international component of SDG implementation. An insufficient examination of Russias participation in international initiatives to implement the SDGs, and SDG 16 in particular, is also noted. This article intends to fill in this gap by presenting the results of an analysis of Russias activities in the international arena, contributing to the implementation of SDG 16. Russia today is one of the key actors in international politics. Russias activities in the international arena, including its participation in multilateral programs of assistance to countries and regions experiencing difficulties in resolving internal conflicts, contribute to the implementation of SDG 16. However, this aspect is not covered in Russias Voluntary National Review for the High-Level Political Forum, nor in available research. The author examines the features of a modern approach to studying the international aspect of the SDGs implementation. Furthermore, the author analyzes Russias activities on the international arena contributing to SDG 16 implementation. The article concludes with the authors observations regarding appropriate steps to increase Russias contribution to SDG 16 implementation.

Esta pesquisa apresenta como o Sistema Fecomércio-RS/Sesc/Senac contribui para o atingimento das metas do Objetivode Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) 4. Para isso, foi realizado um estudo qualitativo por meio de entrevistas, observação participante e análise documental. Entre os resultados, identificou-se uma quarta abordagem que se soma às indicadas por Ruiz-Mallén e Heras (2020), a gestão ativo-transformadora da educação, e se evidenciou que parcerias interatores são medidas relevantes para promover o alcance do ODS 4. This research presents how the FECOMÉRCIO-RS/SESC/SENAC System contributes to achieving the goals of SustainableDevelopment Goal (SDG) 4. To this end, a qualitative study was carried out with interviews, participant observation and documentanalysis. Among the results, a fourth approach was identified that adds to those indicated by Ruiz-Mallén and Heras (2020),the active-transforming management of education, and it was evidenced that interactor partnerships are relevant measuresto achieve SDG 4. Esta investigación presenta cómo el Sistema FECOMÉRCIO-RS/SESC/SENAC contribuye al logro de las metas del Objetivode Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) 4. Para ello, se realizó un estudio cualitativo a través de entrevistas, observación participantey análisis de documentos. Entre los resultados, se identificó un cuarto enfoque, además de los señalados por Ruiz-Mallény Heras (2020), la gestión activa-transformadora de la educación, y se evidenció que las alianzas interactores son medidasrelevantes para promover el logro del ODS 4.

The subject of the study is the systematization and identification of promising areas for makingforecasts for 2022–2030. in order to achieve Ukraine’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDC) on thesubject of ensuring gender equality. The purpose of the study is to identify the most promising areas in the social and humanitarian sphere using analytical data from the Web of Science and Derwent Innovation database platforms. Research methods. Comparative, logical–structural, analytical and systemic analysis. Results of work. The study is aimed at establishing the most promising directions for making forecasts for 2022–2030 with the aim of achieving the CSR by Ukraine, in particular, on the subject of ensuring gender equality. The work was carried out using the international database platforms Web of Science (WoS) and Derwent Innovation for the period 2011–2020. The scope of the results. Economics and management of the national economy, methods and mechanisms for regulating economic processes and their efficiency. Conclusions. The study is based on a comprehensive analysis and systematization of up–to–date data on the development of scientific and technological areas on the topic of ensuring gender equality in the world and Ukraine, obtained using international scientometric and patent databases. Having studied the dynamics of scientific publications and their citation, as well as the dynamics of patenting of relevant areas, we can conclude that the most promising global areas are: gender budgeting; big data; closing the gender pay gap; digital technologies; gender psychology; gender policy; information and communication technologies (ICT).

This book contains the extended abstracts of the scientific communications presented in the 2nd Sustainable Campus Conference (CCS2020), an event promoted by the Portuguese Sustainable Campus Network (RCS, Portugal) that was held online (by videoconference) on October 30th, 2020, and hosted by Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT), Portugal. The CCS2020 provides a forum for reflection and debate on the latest advances in research, innovation and practices in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and the role that the HEI are playing in support of sustainability in their campuses and in today's society. The CCS2020 main theme is "SMART INITIATIVES FOR A SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS" and it aims to serve as a platform for collaboration and exchange of ideas between students, academics, researchers and specialists, in the search for smart and innovative solutions for a more sustainable future. The conference included interventions by the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, João Sobrinho Teixeira, the President of Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, João Coroado and the President of the Municipality of Tomar, Anabela Freitas at the Opening Session and also with the Pro-President for Quality and Sustainability from IPT Natercia Santos and the representative of the Executive Committee of the Sustainable Campus Network, Sandra Caeiro at the Closing Session. The authors who attended the conference came mostly from Brazil and Portugal. To the 2020 Sustainable Campus Conference (CCS) 116 proposals were submitted to be reviewed by the program committee. After a rigorous peer review process, in which each contribution was sent for review by two referees of the Program Committee, 60 papers and 36 posters were included in the program. The papers presented at CCS 2020 address diverse topics, organized in 16 paper sessions (4 blocks of 4 parallel sessions (with 4 paper presentations in each session)) and 2 virtual poster sessions: Smart initiatives and operations for a Sustainable Campus From linear to circular thinking Improving the social and cultural dimension of sustainability on Campus Smart Campus Education for a Sustainable Society Planning, Governance and Communication, EDITOR Instituto Politécnico de Tomar Quinta do Contador - Estrada da Serra 2300-313 Tomar | Portugal e-mail: geral@ipt.pt | web: www.ipt.pt ISBN 978-989-8840-49-3 © 2020 Instituto Politécnico de Tomar

Amongst the lessons that the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, there is at least one lesson for each of these three words: clean air, technology and glocalization. Clean air: research has noticed a link between polluted air and the spread of the virus, in a game where the former helps the latter. Do we need further evidence that polluted air is bad? Technology: smart working, schools, everything during lockdown functions thanks to stable internet and connected devices. Glocalization: small actions can resonate, as a virus can spread if citizens move across countries or go out without wearing masks. To make sure we reach our goals – be them the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the thresholds set by the Paris Agreement, or both – the collaboration between those three elements may be our golden ticket for a greener Planet. The utilization of blockchain technology for the environment, may represent the materialization – or tokenization – of this golden ticket. Creating value directly out of solar energy, exchanging clean energy with our neighbors, improve supply chain management for the sustainable provenance of goods, exchange environment-friendly practices at business and consumer level: these can become reality by using blockchain, thanks to its transparency, decentralization and immutability. But all that glitters is not gold. Blockchain mostly uses the resource-intensive Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. Estimates have shown that to make the famous Bitcoin work, amounts of energy comparable to that of sovereign states are burned. At the same time, changing the consensus algorithm e.g., switching to Proof-of-Stake or Proof-of-Identity, can lower its energy consumption. After around 10 years since its first appearance, blockchain wanders unregulated, either because it is misunderstood or in the name of technology neutrality. To solve the paradox of employing a resource-intensive solution for a greener Planet, has the time come to put blockchain under statutory wings?

This aim of this project is to summarize how child mortality has been explicitly addressed in the context of innovations, allowing to map key concepts, gaps in evidence and research as well as to take the opportunity to explore how this health indicator is discussed as a sustainable development goal (SDG).

Submitted by Everton da Silva Camillo (everton.camillo@unesp.br) on 2022-08-30T14:42:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese-EvertonCamillo.pdf: 14963113 bytes, checksum: 94ce15d05a4b711fefcc1ddd18e807a0 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Satie Tagara (satie@marilia.unesp.br) on 2022-08-30T17:45:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 camillo_es_dr_mar.pdf: 14963113 bytes, checksum: 94ce15d05a4b711fefcc1ddd18e807a0 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2022-08-30T17:45:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 camillo_es_dr_mar.pdf: 14963113 bytes, checksum: 94ce15d05a4b711fefcc1ddd18e807a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2022-08-24 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) O objetivo da pesquisa consistiu em apresentar ações que contribuam para efetivar o Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) 4, denominado Educação de Qualidade, da Agenda 2030 por meio das políticas públicas do livro e leitura latino-americanas. Para tanto, determinou-se o eixo temático em que a pesquisa se assenta; introduziu-se um conceito inicial para o termo políticas públicas do livro e leitura; formulou-se critérios de desenvolvimento sustentável para políticas públicas do livro e leitura; demonstrou-se implicações dos critérios nas metas do ODS 4 da Agenda 2030; definiu-se a promoção sustentável da leitura. Desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa exploratória, descritiva, documental e de natureza qualiquantitativa. Aplicou-se a técnica de análise categorial do método de pesquisa Análise de Conteúdo aos dados coletados. Testou-se as hipóteses da pesquisa por meio do teste qui-quadrado e realizou-se uma análise de correlação dos dados. Os dados quantitativos da pesquisa demonstram que é provável que mais de 80% das políticas públicas analisadas têm conteúdo que não se alinha ao que é proposto pelo ODS 4 da Agenda 2030. Assim, considerou-se que o conteúdo das políticas públicas do livro e leitura de países da América Latina não se vincula às metas desse ODS ao percentual mínimo de 50%. Por outro lado, os dados qualitativos revelam conteúdos oportunos que podem ser levados em conta para estabelecer ações que contribuam para que as políticas públicas do livro e leitura dos países da América Latina cooperem na efetivação do ODS 4. O termo “biblioteca” esteve sub-representado no conjunto de 3.306 formas únicas de palavras das 150 unidades de registro (URs) da pesqusia. O termo em maior evidência foi o “leitura”. Foi proposto um conjunto de ações que podem cooperar na efetivação do ODS 4 da Agenda 2030 e na promoção sustentável da leitura. Assim, a pesquisa é encerrada com duas hipóteses: a) a educação de qualidade e a promoção sustentável da leitura podem ser implementadas no meio social caso o conjunto de ações propostas sejam desenvolvidas nos diferentes níveis de governo (municipal; estadual; federal); b) as políticas públicas do livro e leitura latino-americanas não necessariamente consideram as bibliotecas para promover a leitura, sequer a abordagem sustentável de promoção da leitura. A pesquisa conclui que as políticas públicas do livro e leitura são instrumentos políticos viáveis para garantir o acesso à educação de qualidade e à promoção sustentável da leitura, quanto mais ao se desenvolver ações oportunas nos vulneráveis contextos sociais latino-americanos em que o ODS 4 da Agenda 2030 deve ser mais bem implementado para efetivar mudanças concretas. The study is aimed at highlighting initiatives that, through Latin American public policies for books and reading promotion, help realize Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 of quality education, of the 2030 Agenda. To achieve this, the thematic axis on which the research is based was established; a preliminary definition of the term “public policies for books and reading promotion” was presented; sustainable development criteria were developed for public policies for books and reading promotion; the implications of the criteria for SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda were illustrated; and the sustainable reading promotion was defined. A descriptive, exploratory, documentary, and qualitative-quantitative study was conducted. The gathered information underwent categorical analysis using the Content Analysis research methodology. The chi-square test was used to assess the study hypotheses, and the data was then analyzed for correlation. According to the quantitative survey results, it is likely that more than 80% of the public policies examined had content that is at odds with the recommendations made by SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda. Therefore, it was determined that the substance of public policies for books and reading promotion in countries in the Latin American Region is not at least 50% linked to the objectives of this SDG. The countries in the Latin American Region can work together to accomplish SDG 4 by establishing activities that support public policies for books and reading promotion in their respective regions. On the other hand, qualitative data reveal timely content that can be considered to establish actions that contribute to public policies for the books and reading promotion to cooperate in implementing SDG 4. The term “library” was underrepresented in the set of 3,306 unique word forms from the 150 coding units. The most common term is “reading”. A set of actions was proposed that can collaborate in the realization of SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda and in the sustainable promotion of reading. Thus, the research concludes with two hypotheses: a) quality education and the sustainable promotion of reading can be implemented in the social environment if the set of proposed actions is developed at different levels of government (municipal, state, federal); and b) Latin-American public policies for the books and reading promotion do not necessarily consider libraries to promote reading, in particular the sustainable approach to promoting reading. The study concludes that public policies for the books and reading promotion are viable political instruments to guarantee access to quality education and the sustainable promotion of reading, especially when developing timely actions in the vulnerable Latin American social contexts in which SDG 4 of the 2030 Agenda must be better implemented to achieve concrete changes. CAPES: 001

This study aims to identify the sustainable business practices operationalized in the sustainable business models of manufacturing companies and highlights these companies' contributions to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results outline that a clear sustainable value proposition is operationalized through a large and various range of sustainable practices that, although some of them are legally promoted, are mostly voluntarily adopted. Unlike previous studies, this research shows a widespread commitment not only to the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability but also to the social one, above all to promote workers' well-being, improve the workplaces, and engage the employees. Furthermore, the study reveals an across-the-board dimension of sustainability operationalized by the adoption of local embeddedness strategies, networking development, and creation of a sustainable ecosystem and contributes to extending -and improving all dimensions of- the triple bottom line framework. Finally, the companies investigated contribute to the achievement of 11 of the 17 SDGs by highlighting dimensions in which companies already have a strong impact and those in which they could enhance their practice. Based on these results, this research advances theoretical knowledge and offers practical implications to improve sustainable business management further., The authors wish to express their gratitude to Prof. Claudio Baccarani, Emeritus Professor of Business Management in University of Verona, for valuable comments and for supporting the original research carried out. Open Access Funding provided by Universita degli Studi di Verona within the CRUI-CARE Agreement.

The state of food security in the world, including that of Europe and Central Asia (ECA), was highlighted in 2020 by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the fact that the food security status of millions of people in ECA, particularly the most vulnerable and those living in fragile contexts, would deteriorate if swift action was not taken as soon as possible became apparent. Improving cereal yield is the key for the ECA to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 2.1 to end hunger by 2030. Impressive cereal yield growth has been witnessed within the ECA from 1991 to 2020, but there is still significant variation across the five sub-regions. This paper aimed to analyze the evolutionary trends and convergence of cereal yield in countries of the ECA from 1991 to 2020 for four major cereals: wheat, maize, barley and oats. The findings show that there is strong evidence of σ-convergence and absolute and conditional β-convergence for cereal yield in the ECA, which indicates that countries with low yield in the initial stages have totally experienced higher growth rate, and yield in countries farther away from the steady-state have to have faster growth rate to converge to the steady-state. The presence of club convergence is also identified in terms of geographic location and income level, simultaneously. Therefore, cereal yield in the ECA has converged to the whole and to different groups at the same time, which provides some evidence of agricultural technology spillover effect in the region.

Author(s): Xu, Ming; Daigger, Glen T; Xi, Chuanwu; Liu, Jianguo; Qu, Jiuhui; Alvarez, Pedro J; Biswas, Pratim; Chen, Yongsheng; Dolinoy, Dana; Fan, Ying; Gao, Huaizhu Oliver; Hao, Jiming; He, Hong; Kammen, Daniel M; Lemos, Maria Carmen; Liu, Fudong; Love, Nancy G; Lu, Yonglong; Mauzerall, Denise L; Miller, Shelie A; Ouyang, Zhiyun; Overpeck, Jonathan T; Peng, Wei; Ramaswami, Anu; Ren, Zhiyong; Wang, Aijie; Wu, Brian; Wu, Ye; Zhang, Junfeng; Zheng, Chunmiao; Zhu, Bing; Zhu, Tong; Chen, Wei-Qiang; Liu, Gang; Qu, Shen; Wang, Chunyan; Wang, Yutao; Yu, Xueying; Zhang, Chao; Zhang, Hongliang

The UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey module for water testing was included in the 2016/2017 Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS) for 10 of the 34 provinces. The module's impact on the survey implementation was assessed through interviews and focus group discussions with survey teams. To assess the level of fecal contamination, drinking water from the source and at the point of consumption was tested for Escherichia coli using on-site membrane filtration. On-site testing of water generated significant interest from community members to receive water test results and understand how to keep their drinking water safe from contamination. The inclusion of the module in the ALCS facilitated access of the enumerators to both communities and households. Only 21.0% of households used safely managed drinking water services. A majority of households (58.2%) used water sources contaminated with E. coli, while E. coli contamination at the point of consumption was found in 77.0% of households. E. coli were more frequently detected in water sources used by households with unimproved sanitation. Beside improvement and increased protection of the water supply services, water quality deterioration between source and point of consumption calls for the promotion of safe handling and storage of water at the home. HIGHLIGHTS This study suggests that inclusion of water quality module for SDG 6.1 monitoring into household surveys seems highly feasible.; E. coli contamination of drinking water was found higher at point of use than at point of collection particularly in water sources used by households with unimproved sanitation.; Only 21% of households met SDG criteria of safely managed drinking water services in 10 of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

In line with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs), countries are taking action to achieve their carbon reduction goals. Because countries have limited financial resources, it is important for carbon reduction policies that public expenditure is used effectively. Researchers have neglected to probe the environmental quality in European Union countries by considering environmental protection expenditure and renewable energy consumption. This study expands the literature by investigating the impact of renewable energy consumption and environmental protection expenditure on the load capacity factor, which considers both the supply and demand directions of the environment. Hence, this work contributes to the SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), and SDG 15 (life on land) targets of European Union-22 countries. The study uses the CS-ARDL approach, which considers cross-sectional dependence, endogeneity, and heterogeneity. Empirical analysis showed that environmental protection expenditure is insufficient for European Union economies. In addition, renewable energy consumption contributed to environmental quality. Based on the outcomes, European Union countries should allocate larger budgets from their general budgets for environmental protection. Policies that can attract the attention of the private sector and not just the public sector should be implemented. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Access to resources that is equitable and sustainable provides a critical foundation for community harmony and development. Both natural and human-induced disasters present major risks to sustainable development trajectories and require strategic management within regional and local plans. Climate change and its impacts, including intensified storms, flash floods, and other water-based disasters (WD), also pose a serious and increasing threat. Small, remote communities prone to weather extremes are particularly vulnerable as they often lack effective early warning systems and experience energy insufficiency. Humanitarian engineering provides a transdisciplinary approach to these issues, supporting practical development resources such as renewable energy, which can also be adapted for disaster response. This study details an exploratory investigation of community vulnerability and capability mapping (VCM) that identifies communities with high WD risk and limited response capability which may benefit from risk reduction engagement and program co-development. By presenting criteria appropriate for VCM, we highlight the anthropocentric characteristics that could potentially be incorporated within community-led action as part of a comprehensive scheme that promotes sustainable development.

Background Sub-Saharan Africa, as opposed to other regions, has the highest under-five mortality rates yet makes the least improvement in reducing under-five mortality. Despite the decline, Ethiopia is among the top ten countries contributing the most to global under-five mortalities. This article examines the impact of the number of antenatal care and the timing of first antenatal care on child health outcomes. We specifically investigated if the utilization of antenatal care services positively affects the reduction of under-five mortality. Methods We employ a difference-in-differences design with propensity score matching to identify direct causal effects of antenatal care on under-five mortality based on the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey data of 2011 and 2016. Our sample includes 22 295 women between the ages of 14–49 who had antenatal care visits at different times before delivery. Results The study revealed 1 481 cases of reported under-five mortality. 99.0% of that under-five mortality cases are women who had less than eight antenatal care visits, while only 1% of that is by women who had eight or more antenatal care visits. Antenatal care visit decreases the likelihood of under-five mortality in Ethiopia by 45.2% (CI = 19.2–71.3%, P-value Conclusions To achieve a significant reduction in the under-five mortality rate, Intervention programs that encourages more antenatal care visits should be considered. This will improve child survival and help in attaining Sustainable Development Goal targets.

Only 14 countries are on track to attain the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of reducing premature mortality from Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) by one-third by 2030. This target cannot be reached without reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) which is the major contributor to premature mortality from NCDs. Sustainable and scalable national responses to address both CVDs and their risk factors are urgently needed. Although smoking rates have decreased globally, consumption of alcohol and physical inactivity are on the rise. No country is on course to achieve the target to halt the rise in obesity or to reduce salt intake: targets critical for reducing the diabetes related cardiovascular burden and for hypertension control. Although very cost-effective scalable interventions are available, they are underutilized. Unless pathways selected to tackle CVDs prioritize prevention, primary health care and universal health coverage, countries will fall further behind in the attainment of the SDG target.

PurposeThis study aims to take a holistic perspective to investigate how open innovation supports sustainability and the contribution to the Unite Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on an in-depth single case study of Andriani SpA, a leading Italian company in the food industry. The case is built by triangulating data from direct observations, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe findings show an organization that has developed its competitive advantage by adopting open innovation to embed sustainability in its strategy and business model. The case study complements the understanding of how open innovation can effectively drive strategic renewal and innovation activities to address sustainability objectives in the food industry.Originality/valueThis study contributes to theoretical development by offering new and insightful explanations of firms' strategic behaviour and coevolution toward sustainability via open innovation. It provides practitioners, policymakers, researchers and students with reflections and inspiration about how open innovation may be deployed to support a holistic strategic renewal aimed at sustainability objectives, such as the SDGs, in the food industry.

Objective Elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030 as one of the international Sustainable Development Goals puts the hepatitis B vaccination on the forefront. However, barriers to vaccination reported in various studies are of concern. This study explores the global barriers for effective uptake of Hepatitis-B vaccination. Methods A scoping review of studies reporting hepatitis B vaccination barriers was done using PMC data base and Google scholar search engine. About 803 journal articles and reports on hepatitis B barriers were retrieved but only 36 most relevant items during last 10 years were identified, pile sorted, grouped and analyze. Results Overall 74 barriers have been identified for effective uptake of hepatitis-B vaccines. Most studies focused on non-zero dose of hepatitis B vaccine, One-third of the barriers are related to system issues, one-fourth of the barriers were related to caregiver education or awareness, fear of side effect, migration etc., one-fifth barriers were related to service provider issues like poor out-reach, home visits, poor communication and/relation with the caregivers, failure to identify unimmunized children etc., and other barriers were social-cultural issues. The review reveals limited availability and accessibility to health-facility based immunization, lack of awareness among caregivers, poor communication by the healthcare workers and negative relationships with the beneficiaries, cost of vaccine in private sector, inconvenience time and place of vaccination etc. as the major barriers for hepatitis B vaccination. Barriers varied from country to country. Conclusion Myriad barriers for reduced hepatitis-B vaccine uptake need to be addressed contextually as countries are at different stages of hepatitis-B vaccination implementation.

Fei Qi, Qi Wang Law School, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan Province, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Qi Wang Email hainan-equal-rights-research-group@outlook.comAbstract: The question of how to guarantee the health rights of people with disabilities, and their health equity in particular, is frequently neglected in infectious disease pandemics. The international response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is no exception in this regard. This neglect is related to other forms of marginalization and exclusion, as people with disabilities are generally poorer and more vulnerable than their non-disabled counterparts. Sustainable Development Goal 3 lacks an appropriate human rights language that enshrines equality and inclusivity in pandemic prevention work and related policies and legislation; and, as a result, it does not sufficiently guarantee the health rights of people with disabilities. This paper draws on China’s pandemic prevention work to extract relevant lessons, and seeks to explain how decision-making systems and resource allocation mechanisms impact on the health rights of people with disabilities. It discusses the unique roles of justice and legislation in helping to guarantee the health rights of people with disabilities in an infectious disease pandemic, and concludes that future research should more closely consider how Sustainable Development Goal 16 can support Sustainable Development Goal 3.Keywords: COVID-19, health equity, laws, infectious disease pandemic, IDP, judicature, people with disabilities, sustainable development goal, SDG

There was much euphoria and enthusiasm surrounding the advent of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, but there was little empirical evidence regarding how much would be required of countries to achieve the goals. This article contributes to filling this gap by estimating what Ghana needs in fiscal terms to achieve SDG 4: Quality Education. The article estimated an education gap, which indicates the difference between what pertains to education indicators in Ghana and what SDG 4 sets to achieve. Further, the fiscal capacity needed to address the gap was estimated while taking cognisance of the nation's education budget and fiscal space from tax revenues. The results indicated that Ghana is inefficient in its allocation of education resources.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 16.10.1 proposes an important monitoring agenda for the global recording of a range of violations against journalists as a means to prevent attacks on the communicative functions of journalism. However, the need for extensive collection of data on violations against journalists raises a number of methodological challenges. Our research shows the following issues must be addressed: the lack of conceptual consistency; the lack of methodological transparency; the need for sophisticated data categorisation and disaggregation to enable data to be merged from different sources; the need to establish links to understand causal and temporal relations between people and events; and the need to explore and utilize previously untapped data sources. If we are to strengthen the monitoring of SDG 16.10.1, we propose to develop a robust and reliable events-based methodology and a set of tools which can facilitate the monitoring of the full range of proposed 16.10.1 categories of violations, reconcile data from multiple sources in order to adhere to the established 16.10.1 category definitions, and to further disaggregate the proposed 16.10.1 categories to provide more in-depth information on each instance of a violations. This, we argue, will ultimately contribute towards better understanding of the contextual circumstances and processes producing aggressions against journalists.

Educators can drive educational change and enable children’s learning for sustainable development. Early childhood education is an important component of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and analyzing early childhood educators’ ESD practices can help advance the implementation and realization of ESD. However, the existing overseas studies’ survey instruments do not systematically reflect the basic ideas of ESD. Furthermore, few studies have explored early childhood educators’ ESD practices in China. Therefore, this study established a newly developed and validated instrument, the Early Childhood Educators’ Education for Sustainable Development Practices Scale (ECEESDPS), to assess early childhood educators’ ESD practices. We randomly surveyed 7287 early childhood educators from Shandong Province. The psychometric properties show that the ECEESDPS is a reliable and valid scale that contains four constructs: Values, Content, Competency, and Implementation. The descriptive statistics revealed that educators scored relatively higher for the Values and Implementation constructs, and lower for the Content and Competency constructs. These results suggest that early childhood educators’ ESD practices are generally positive, which correlates with the theoretical background and policies of early childhood education in China. We provide implications for policy development and practical improvement.

This study determined the spatio-temporal changes of urban eco-environmental quality (UEEQ) of a rapidly growing megacity-Dhaka, Bangladesh, based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework. A comprehensive index with the combination of five vegetation indices and four urban indices that met the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework integrated through principal component analysis (PCA) was developed to assess urban eco-environmental quality index (UEQI) in 2000 and 2020. The results found that the high proportion of UEQI in the study area was very poor to poor and clustered in the city center and western periphery. Moran’s I and LISA confirmed the non-randomness pattern of UEQ in the city. The findings could provide a quantitative foundation for decision makers to balance eco-environmental quality and urbanization.

Transient poverty (TP) is a phenomenon that, by its characterisation, references a condition that may not necessarily be permanent. Its occurrence may result from an external shock, such as a severe weather-related event or geographic, national, or global impact on the economy, such as a hurricane, financial crisis, or as most recently, a pandemic. The defining aspects of TP and the needs of those pushed into TP offer an opportunity to address one aspect of poverty, which is of significance given both the disproportionate vulnerability of the poor to external shocks as well as the prohibitive effect of poverty on establishing resilience. Unfortunately, TP is not often assessed and is routinely combined and categorised as ‘poverty’, eliminating an opportunity to address unique aspects of TP and establish policies that may be beneficial to the sub-group. This paper provides a bibliometric evaluation of TP specific to the sustainable development literature, highlighting the research gap and providing a rationale for active research on the social phenomenon regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in general and specifically SDG 1: No poverty. There are three key findings relevant to sustainability. Firstly, there seems to be a disconnection between TP and the sustainable development theory, particularly in a multidisciplinary discussion. Secondly, human action in degrading ecosystems strongly influences TP and exacerbates overall poverty levels. Finally, efforts to tackle transient poverty need to consider issues such as gender, education, health, and political aspects. Based on the findings, items for future research are also presented.

Wo nicht anders genannt, steht dieses Poster unter der Lizenz CC BY 4.0.

The competence-based model focuses on acquiring skills and abilities, yet each student’s individual circumstances condition the way in which they learn, develop, and implement them. Accordingly, there is a growing interest in defining learning activities that consider the diverse range of intelligences, abilities, and prevailing mindsets in each individual in order to promote inclusive education and sustainable development. This article seeks to design a methodology for the teaching–learning resources associated with the nature of the prevailing intelligence in the competence-based model. Thus, the “competence-intelligence-resource triangle” was proposed for promoting inclusive education in the degree in Management Engineering at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). A total of 99 teaching–learning resources, 11 competences, and 9 types of intelligence were combined. As far as the multiple intelligence approach is concerned, the 50 students surveyed prioritized logical–mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and spatial intelligences. As a conclusion, the use of teaching–learning resources designed for promoting different types of intelligence in the competence-based model constitutes an adaptive strategy for the students to successfully acquire competences.

Indexado en Scopus The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were proposed in 2015 to promote worldwide improvements in human wellbeing. Governments have different levels of commitment to the SDGs, reflected in the SDG index, which shows the compliance of each country, detailing each score by SDG. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reports show the advances of global entrepreneurship in various countries, while the Global Competitiveness Report shows their competitiveness. This analysis was based on environmental, social, and economic outcomes of SDGs from the SDG index 2018. We also evaluated data from the Global Competitiveness Report 2018 and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report 2018. A partial least-squares structural-equation-modeling technical analysis was used. It was found that social SDGs (0.796) and environmental SDGs (0.196) had a positive influence on economic SDGs; also, economic SDGs had a positive influence on the continuation of entrepreneurship (0.590) and competitiveness (0.918). The model explained 34.8% of the continuation of entrepreneurship and 84.3% of that of competitiveness. The outcomes of the bootstrapping test were used to evaluate whether the path coefficients were significant. This information can help governments and organizations to recognize the impact of support and promote compliance with SDGs and the continuation of entrepreneurship and competitiveness. Moreover, this information provides the means to analyze the influence of open innovation in accomplishing the SDGs faster. The study’s novelty is the use of the PLS-SEM technique to analyze these worldwide indicators. Revisión por pares

Urban agriculture (UA) initiatives have been increasing in recent years as a nature-based solution for achieving many of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, climate change is expected to have effects on rainfall patterns, which are likely to impact urban food production. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate how issues related to water sources for UA have been addressed in the scientific literature from two different socioeconomic and environmental realities, Brazil and Italy. The method involved a systematic literature review, considering the PRISMA guidelines. The Web of Science database and papers' reference lists were used for retrieving original articles, published in 2000–2020 interval, indexed on scientific databases, and containing data on the typology and quality of water sources used in UA studies. After applying the eligibility criteria, 191 papers were selected – Brazil (108) and Italy (83). The last five years have seen an intensification of studies into issues involving water. Tap water has been identified as an important source of irrigation water for UA, if not the main one. No studies were found that addressed the impact of UA on public water supply systems. The findings point towards more sustainable practices involving the reuse of water and adaptive practices towards water security. We identified that innovative production systems like container farming, aquaponics and indoor agriculture, as well as cultivation of fruit trees, wild edible plants and varieties with low water requirements can represent water-saving options.

This article investigates the role of accounting disciplines in assessing and fostering corporate social performance (CSP) of business organisations to meet the UN Agenda 2030. Drawing from legitimacy theory, this qualitative study analyses if and how non-financial reporting positively affects and fosters CSP practices and outcomes within the cruise industry. Specifically, using a case study methodology, a major cruise company has been analysed outlining its sustainable behaviour, through the manual content analysis of sustainability reports (2016–2017–2018), in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) introduced by the UN Agenda 2030. The findings outline that the cruise company presents a clear sustainability and community orientation and adopts several initiatives, mostly focused on environmental and social issues, addressed to meet the 17 SDGs, where reputation and positive image have been recognised as the major antecedents in the perspective of CSP. This study contributes to the literature giving a broader and different reading of sustainability reporting as a “booster” of the CSP in meeting the SDGs and a further interesting application of the legitimacy theory, and offers managerial implications to systematise the content of non-financial reporting by improving the quality of disclosure to achieve the SDGs, with focus on CSP processes, outcomes and ways.

Universities are rethinking their teaching and research programs and their whole third mission in response to the framework provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But how do universities walk the talk? What are the main strategies and activities undertaken by universities to implement the 2030 Agenda? While the higher education literature has documented the growing number of practices and strategies around SDGs, there have been few attempts to synthesize these scholarly resources. Moreover, the knowledge base revolves around an array of activities, which makes the literature seem fragmented. To fill this gap, the present paper conducts a systematic literature review and derives a method of categorizing activities that can support further knowledge growth. We classified 130 selected papers based on the type of university activities considered (research, teaching, third mission, and managing operations) and the level of the implemented action (macro, meso, and micro). Subsequently, we identified the main gaps in the literature and discussed future research avenues for addressing higher education's role in accomplishing SDGs.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41307-022-00277-x.

The importance of soils to society has gained increasing recognition over the past decade, with the potential to contribute to most of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With unprecedented and growing demands for food, water and energy, there is an urgent need for a global effort to address the challenges of climate change and land degradation, whilst protecting soil as a natural resource. In this paper, we identify the contribution of soil science over the past decade to addressing gaps in our knowledge regarding major environmental challenges: climate change, food security, water security, urban development, and ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. Continuing to address knowledge gaps in soil science is essential for the achievement of the SDGs. However, with limited time and budget, it is also pertinent to identify effective methods of working that ensure the research carried out leads to real-world impact. Here, we suggest three strategies for the next decade of soil science, comprising a greater implementation of research into policy, interdisciplinary partnerships to evaluate function trade-offs and synergies between soils and other environmental domains, and integrating monitoring and modelling methods to ensure soil-based policies can withstand the uncertainties of the future. Highlights: We highlight the contributions of soil science to five major environmental challenges since 2010. Researchers have contributed to recommendation reports, but work is rarely translated into policy. Interdisciplinary work should assess trade-offs and synergies between soils and other domains. Integrating monitoring and modelling is key for robust and sustainable soils-based policymaking.

Energy is indispensable to bringing off the growing human demand, and it is a challenging global issue to achieve sustainable development goals by using clean energy. The present study evaluates whether access to electricity helps decline poverty in developing countries. For this purpose, the impact of access to electricity on the total population, rural and urban populations on poverty have been analyzed from 1990 to 2020 in 82 developing countries. Empirical results are obtained through the non-linear Panel ARDL approach. The results show that rural and urban population's access to electricity to the total population proposes the inverted U-shaped relationship with poverty. As a result, increased access to electricity initially contributes to poverty but eventually causes it to reduce. Based on these findings, the study suggests that in order to combat poverty, the countries with poor access to electricity should grant everyone easy and affordable access to power.

Agrivoltaics is a concept in which a piece of land is simultaneously used for both energy and food production by mounting photovoltaic modules at a certain height above (or in between strips of) agricultural land. A local and systemlevel incorporation of water management is imperative to the sustainable implementation of agrivoltaics. Water raining on the modules can be gathered and used for distinct purposes: groundwater recharge, crop irrigation, and cleaning and cooling of the PV modules. This research provides an initial overview of positive and negative impacts for each water use concept and outlines issues that should be taken into consideration and the potential for research and development. Various Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) technologies are a way to clean and store the water periodically in an underlying aquifer. Irrigation increases yield within the plant level and therefore increases the system’s output. Thanks to the power supply generated by the PV modules, high-tech irrigation systems can be implemented in agrivoltaic systems; the special adaption of irrigation systems to agrivoltaics poses significant potential for research and development. Meanwhile, the necessity, i.e., profitability of cleaning and/ or cooling PV modules depends on local environmental and economic factors. Several cleaning techniques have been developed to mitigate soiling, ranging from manual cleaning to fully automatic cleaning systems. In agrivoltaic systems, the soiling risk can increase. Semiautomatic systems seem to have the greatest potential for agrivoltaics, because they can be used with farming equipment. Multiple cooling techniques have been developed to decrease cell temperature to increase power output, with some of them involving water. Water flowing over the module surface is a promising cooling technique for agrivoltaic applications. Attaching a perforated tube to the upper edge, the entire module can be covered in a thin film of water which cools very effectively (while also cleaning the surface). A closed-circuit system could be created involving the technical components used for rainwater harvesting. The economic feasibility of cooling panels in agrivoltaic systems needs to be investigated. In certain locations, rainwater-harvesting could also be relevant for ground-mounted PV systems.

Maternal mortality reduction has been recognized as a key healthcare problem that requires prioritizing in addressing. In 2015, the United Nations has set Sustainable Development Goals to reduce global maternal mortality ratio to 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. Ethiopia as a member country has been working to achieve this Sustainable Development Goals target for the last decades. In this article, we discussed Ethiopia’s commitment towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals in maternal mortality. Furthermore, the trends of maternal mortality rate in Ethiopia during Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals are also highlighted. Although maternal mortality has been declining in Ethiopia from 2000 to 2016, the rate of death is still unacceptably high. This requires many efforts now and in future to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals target by 2030.

Undernourished and food insecurity are recognized as two highly relevant topics. Approximately 820 million people in the world are undernourished and 2 billion people have moderate or severe food insecurity (FAO). In addition, globally roughly one-third of food is not consumed and is wasted. This article aims to provide an updated estimate of food loss and waste (FLW) in China as, in the period 2016–2018, there were still 122 million people in this country experiencing undernourishment. In this research, we use a top-down mass balance approach, discuss how it affects the achievement of SDG 2, Zero Hunger, that it is linked also to target 12.3 that “seeks to halve global food waste at retail and consumer levels, as well as to reduce food loss during production and supply” (United Nations). We point out some challenges that private and public policies still need to overcome to reduce FLW. The results of this research may contribute a more accurate baseline for the design of public policies and strategies related to FLW and the corresponding SDGs.

EPA Research Report. Prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency by MaREI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork

Background There has been a substantial improvement in reducing maternal mortality in the Sub-Saharan African region. The vast rural-urban gap in maternal health outcomes, however, is obscured by this average achievement. This study attempts to measure the contribution of identified risk factors to describe the average rural-urban difference in the use of antenatal care, health facilities for delivery, and health professional assistance at delivery. Method To achieve this objective, we used descriptive analysis and Fairlie non-linear decomposition method to quantify covariates’ contribution in explaining the urban–rural difference in maternal healthcare services utilisation. Result The study’s finding shows much difference between urban and rural areas in the use of maternal healthcare services. Socio-economic factors such as household wealth index, exposure to media, and educational level of women and their husbands/partners contributed the most in explaining the gap between urban and rural areas in healthcare services utilisation. Conclusions Interventions to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas in maternal healthcare services utilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa should be centred towards socio-economic empowerment. Government can enforce targeted awareness campaigns to encourage women in rural communities in Sub-Sharan Africa to take the opportunity and use the available maternal health care services to be at par with their counterparts in urban areas., Plain Language summary Maternal health refers to the health of women throughout pregnancy, delivery, and the postnatal period. Each step should be a good experience that ensures mothers, and their infants realize their maximum health and well-being potential. In this study, we used individual, demographic, and socio-economic characteristics to measure the urban–rural discrepancies in maternal health care services in Sub-Saharan Africa. We used Information of 220 164 women of child-bearing age (15–49) gathered from National Demographic Health Surveys from 27 countries in the Sub-Sahara African region. We found 46.1% of women in rural areas had no education, 39.7% of the women in rural areas have husbands/partners with no education, and 60.1% of the women in rural areas are from households with poor wealth indexes. The use of maternal health care services found to be predominant in the urban areas than rural areas, and the measure of this difference can inform policymakers on the level of effort that needed to be put in place to balance the discrepancies and improve maternal health in general.

Background and aim According to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.4, premature mortality from four non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes mellitus, collectively referred to as NCD4) should achieve a minimum decline of 33% in 2030 relative to 2015. This remains a challenge for China. This study aimed to evaluate the current status and progress towards this target in Liaoning Province, one of the three provinces in northeast China. Methods We calculated the premature mortality rates (PMRs) per year and average annual percentage changes (AAPCs) from NCD4 using mortality data between 2004 and 2017. The trend was analyzed in the whole population, as well as in subpopulations of gender (male/female) and inhabiting area (urban/rural). PMRs from NCD4 for 2030 were projected by fitting a linear regression based on the current trend, which was identified by a Joinpoint model. Findings In the whole population, only chronic respiratory diseases showed a significant decline (AAPC: − 6.5%, p p p p p p p p p p p > 0.05). A comparative analysis of the projected PMRs for 2030 with the 2015 levels revealed that only chronic respiratory diseases are expected to achieve the SDG target 3.4, apart from in the urban male subpopulation. Conclusion Except for chronic respiratory diseases, NCD4 cannot be expected to achieve the SDG target 3.4 in the whole population of Liaoning Province. Under these circumstances, special attention should be paid to reducing the risks of cancer and providing preventative interventions for men.