H. J. De Graaf

Sustainable development: looking for new strategies

Abstract Many strategies have been proposed to reach sustainable development. A great many of these strategies aim at one type of problem-preventing environmental deterioration-while ignoring the importance of economic or social goals. In addition, while political decisions are at the heart of the choices to be made, most researchers seem to consider sustainable development as a mere technical problem. In this paper we describe a more complete strategy for sustainable development. We use the outlines of this strategy to find out what knowledge and skills are still needed. The strategy is based on the idea that it is necessary to find consensus on the development of a socio-environmental system as a whole, and between all people involved. It leaves us with at least two main areas that need further study: the supply of information and the management of consensus building. A formal procedure for consensus building might be developed based on the literature and on experiences with Environmental Impact Assessments. Special attention is paid to the information needed. It can be summarized as information about: (1) delimiting a socio-environmental system; (2) the needs and wants to be satisfied via that system; and (3) the physical, ecological, economic, social and cultural constraints of satisfying those needs and wants.

Energy farming in Dutch desiccation abatement areas: yields and benefits compared to grass cultivation

Abstract Measures to combat desiccation of Dutch nature reserves often lead to the establishment of buffer areas around them, in which soils become moisture, and agricultural yields decrease. Cultivation of the flooding-tolerant energy crop willow may be an alternative in such areas. In this study, the performance of willow production is compared to that of grass for roughage. The effect of high groundwater tables on yields of both crops is estimated using the agro-hydrological model SWAP. Financial consequences are evaluated by calculating the biomass price that, for a farmer, makes willow equally competitive as grass. At groundwater table class (Gt) II, common in buffer areas, willow physical yield is ca. 15% lower than its optimum, but grass yield decreases by ca. 25%, making willow more competitive. This results in a 20% lower break-even willow price on Gt II than in a drier, optimal situation. A sensitivity analysis shows that most parameters with a strong influence on the break-even willow price have reasonably high certainty. An uncertain value with strong influence is the willow yield without hydrological constraints, which could not be estimated from practical data. Methodological limitations of the study, both in the financial comparison between willow and grass, and in the yield estimations, are also discussed.

Magnetic properties of GdMg2 as studied by means of NMR and Mössbauer effect spectroscopy

Abstract The magnetic properties of GdMg2 and GdxLa1-xMg2 were studied by means of magnetic measurements and spin echo NMR. The compounds GdMg2, GdMg3 and Gd5Mg24 were investigated by means of 155Gd Mossbauer spectroscopy. The results of the various measurements indicate the presence of a relatively strong 5d electron density of states.

Introduction and Survey

In adopting Agenda 21 (UNEP, 1992), most of the world’s governments have acknowledged that “the ecosystems on which we depend to sustain life on earth” are in danger, and that national policies should be directed towards sustainable development. What is needed now is a policy change aimed at “a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987) . This will mean creating the necessary conditions to meet the needs and wants of all the people involved, here and elsewhere, in the present and in the future.

Summary and Perspectives

In Part One of this work, the concept of sustainable development was elaborated, and a set of basic concepts developed, together with a methodology for scientific and applied research. On that basis, a procedure was inferred for a scientifically sound search for sustainable development. In particular, attention has been paid to methodologically appropriate gathering of the information needed for steering developments, resulting in a procedure for information-gathering. In Part Two, the proposed procedure was analyzed in order to improve it by applying it in four separate cases. These cases were projects in which the authors participated as a research team. In the first two projects, the methodology and the conclusions of the projects were re-analyzed by applying the newly proposed procedure, so that the strength and weakness of the latter could be established. In the second two projects, the application of the proposed procedure was simulated in order to analyze its efficiency. This analysis showed that modifications to the procedure were necessary. In Part Three, the application of the information-gathering procedure was presented as part of an overall decision making process. The theoretical and methodological framework, the proposed procedure, and the modifications needed formed the basis of our work on this decision making process.

The Exploration of the Potential to Combine Land-use Processes

The present chapter discusses the execution of the procedure to explore the potential to combine land-use processes, within the framework of the project ‘Sustainable Land-Use’ of the interdepartmental programme for Sustainable Technological Development (Musters & De Graaf, 1996) . As noted in Chapter XI, the project presented here is aimed at options for land-use, not as blueprints for realization. It is not a land-use planning project, but rather a developmentstimulation project that shows the opportunities of new land-use activities.

A Framework for Identifying the Valuable Characteristics of a Socio-Environmental System

The political will to achieve ‘sustainable development’ is not, of course, the ultimate solution to all our environmental problems . This is more obvious now than it was ten years ago, when the concept was first introduced as an issue in science and politics . Even then it was clear that the concept had been constructed primarily as a work-in-progress attempt to take account of equivalent, but different, human goals when making decisions on steering developments . In other words, economic, social, cultural, and ecological goals must be coordinated as closely as possible, to satisfy the needs of both present and future generations (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987).

Introduction: Opportunities for Multiple Land-Use in Rural Areas

In the previous chapters, the information-gathering procedure for sustainable development was applied as an instrument to re-analyze projects (Chapter VII & VIII) and to help parties in the debate on sustainable development to develop their strategy (Chapters IX & X) . The studies were performed to find improvements to the proposed procedure. All decisions were made by researchers. For this reason, the decisions on the information-gathering procedure were not embedded in an external decision making process.

A Simulation of The Selection of Valued Characteristics of the Rijnmond Region of the Netherlands

In the previous chapters the procedure for sustainable development presented in Chapter VI was used to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the procedure as a whole. This chapter deals with an application of the first three phases of the procedure leading to the selection of the valuable characteristics of a SocioEnvironmental System (SEnS). The focus is on the definition of the system and the application of the newly developed framework for selecting valued system characteristics presented in Chapter IV.

Procedure for Sustainable Development: Decision Making Phases and Information Requirements

In the preceding chapters a number of concepts were presented and defined which are necessary for the construction of a scientific method to facilitate the search for sustainable development. In this chapter the procedure that follows from that method will be outlined as a process that results in information on the opportunities for sustainable development. This procedure follows directly from the strategy proposed in Chapter II for the search for sustainable development, and integrates the concepts developed in Chapters II–V. The essential issues discussed and the steps proposed there will be summarized.