Rory Padfield

Conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector.

Food waste has significant detrimental economic, environmental and social impacts. The magnitude and complexity of the global food waste problem has brought it to the forefront of the environmental agenda; however, there has been little research on the patterns and drivers of food waste generation, especially outside the household. This is partially due to weaknesses in the methodological approaches used to understand such a complex problem. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework to identify and explain the patterns and drivers of food waste generation in the hospitality sector, with the aim of identifying food waste prevention measures. This conceptual framework integrates data collection and analysis methods from ethnography and grounded theory, complemented with concepts and tools from industrial ecology for the analysis of quantitative data. A case study of food waste generation at a hotel restaurant in Malaysia is used as an example to illustrate how this conceptual framework can be applied. The conceptual framework links the biophysical and economic flows of food provisioning and waste generation, with the social and cultural practices associated with food preparation and consumption. The case study demonstrates that food waste is intrinsically linked to the way we provision and consume food, the material and socio-cultural context of food consumption and food waste generation. Food provisioning, food consumption and food waste generation should be studied together in order to fully understand how, where and most importantly why food waste is generated. This understanding will then enable to draw detailed, case specific food waste prevention plans addressing the material and socio-economic aspects of food waste generation.

Landscapes in transition: an analysis of sustainable policy initiatives and emerging corporate commitments in the palm oil industry

Abstract The recent Southeast Asian haze crisis has generated intense public scrutiny over the rate, methods and types of landscape change in the tropics. Debate has centred on the environmental impacts of large-scale agricultural expansion, particularly the associated loss of high carbon stock forest and forests of high conservation value. Focusing on palm oil—a versatile food crop and source of bioenergy—this paper analyses national, international and corporate policy initiatives in order to clarify the current and future direction of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia. The policies of ‘zero burn’, ‘no deforestation’ and ‘no planting on peatlands’ are given particular emphasis in the paper. The landscape implications of corporate commitments are analysed to determine the amount of land, land types and geographies that could be affected in the future. The paper concludes by identifying key questions related to the further study of sustainable land use policy and practice.

Keep wetlands wet: the myth of sustainable development of tropical peatlands – implications for policies and management

Pristine tropical peat swamp forests (PSFs) represent a unique wetland ecosystem of distinctive hydrology which support unique biodiversity and globally significant stores of soil carbon. Yet in Indonesia and Malaysia, home to 56% of the worlds tropical peatland, they are subject to considerable developmental pressures, including widespread drainage to support agricultural needs. In this article, we review the ecology behind the functioning and ecosystem services provided by PSFs, with a particular focus on hydrological processes as well as the role of the forest itself in maintaining those services. Drawing on this, we review the suitability of current policy frameworks and consider the efficacy of their implementation. We suggest that policies in Malaysia and Indonesia are often based around the narrative of oil palm and other major monocrops as drivers of prosperity and development. However, we also argue that this narrative is also being supported by a priori claims concerning the possibility of sustainability of peat swamp exploitation via drainage-based agriculture through the adherence to best management practices. We discuss how this limits their efficacy, uptake and the political will towards enforcement. Further, we consider how both narratives (prosperity and sustainability) clearly exclude important considerations concerning the ecosystem value of tropical PSFs which are dependent on their unimpacted hydrology. Current research clearly shows that the actual debate should be focused not on how to develop drainage-based plantations sustainably, but on whether the sustainable conversion to drainage-based systems is possible at all.

Research agendas for the sustainable management of tropical peatland in Malaysia

There is a need for coordinated research for the sustainable management of tropical peatland. Malaysia has 6% of global tropical peat by area and peatlands there are subject to land use change at an unprecedented rate. This paper describes a stakeholder engagement exercise that identified 95 priority research questions for peatland in Malaysia, organized into nine themes. Analysis revealed the need for fundamental scientific research, with strong representation across the themes of environmental change, ecosystem services, and conversion, disturbance and degradation. Considerable uncertainty remains about Malaysias baseline conditions for peatland, including questions over total remaining area of peatland, water table depths, soil characteristics, hydrological function, biogeochemical processes and ecology. More applied and multidisciplinary studies involving researchers from the social sciences are required. The future sustainability of Malaysian peatland relies on coordinating research agendas via a ‘knowledge hub’ of researchers, strengthening the role of peatlands in land-use planning and development processes, stricter policy enforcement, and bridging the divide between national and provincial governance. Integration of the economic value of peatlands into existing planning regimes is also a stakeholder priority. Finally, current research needs to be better communicated for the benefit of the research community, for improved societal understanding and to inform policy processes.

Towards Sustainable Resource and Waste Management in Developing Countries: The Role of Commercial and Food Waste in Malaysia

Rising commercial waste generation poses a significant environmental and public health issue, especially in rapidly expanding urban centres in developing countries. A commercial district in Malaysia was selected to explore the challenges and opportunities for minimisation of commercial waste. This research provides empirical data on commercial and food waste generation rates, the problems faced by waste producers, and the priorities for improvement. It is argued that whilst commercial waste offers opportunities for waste minimisation, current challenges related to amenity and public health such as pests, odour and littering, can be addressed by the provision of additional bins, grease traps and improved public areas cleansing. The study concludes that food waste plays a key role in the progression towards a more sustainable waste management system in a developing country such as Malaysia, due to its high generation rates, its contribution to public health and amenity problems, and its high potential for resource recovery.

A multi-stakeholder strategy to identify conservation priorities in Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract Malaysia, with its rapidly growing economy, exemplifies the tensions between conservation and development faced by many tropical nations. Here we present the results of a multi-stakeholder engagement exercise conducted to (1) define conservation priorities in Peninsular Malaysia and (2) explore differences in perceptions among and within stakeholder groups (i.e. government, academia, NGOs and the private sector). Our data collection involved two workshops and two online surveys where participants identified seven general conservation themes and ranked the top five priority issues within each theme. The themes were: (1) policy and management, (2) legislation and enforcement, (3) finance and resource allocation, (4) knowledge, research and development, (5) socio-economic issues, (6) public awareness and participation and (7) rights of nature. In spite of their very different backgrounds and agendas, the four stakeholder groups showed general agreement in their priority preferences except for two issues. Respondents from government and private sector differed the most from each other in their priority choices while academia and NGO showed the highest degree of similarity. This ranked list of 35 conservation priorities is expected to influence the work of policy-makers and others in Peninsular Malaysia and can be used as a model to identify conservation priorities elsewhere.

An investigation of the drivers, barriers, and incentives for environmental management systems in the Malaysian food and beverage industry

Food production and consumption is one of the major causes of global environmental degradation. One way to address environmental impacts in the food and beverage (F&B) sector is via the adoption of environmental management systems (EMS). To date, EMS research has focused predominantly on countries and sectors based in the Global North despite growing recognition of the global extent of environmental impacts from food production and consumption. In order to widen our knowledge of this topic in an under-researched emerging economy, this study examined factors determining EMS adoption within the Malaysian F&B industry. Drawn from a survey of 42 companies, this research investigated the drivers, barriers, and incentives to the adoption of the internationally recognized standard, ISO 14001. Discrepancies between the perceptions of small- and medium-sized enterprises and large companies’ as well as different product market groups were observed. It was found that large companies tend to have better understanding of the EMS concept and the enhancement of company image and improvement of environmental performance were the main drivers to implement EMS. High implementation costs and the lack of knowledge on the ISO 14001 standard were identified as the primary barriers to EMS adoption. Tax relief for certified companies and training and capacity building were considered as the most important incentives. Strategies were proposed to improve the environmental performance of Malaysian F&B companies which can strengthen the competitiveness of Malaysian F&B products in the global food market.

Neoliberalism and the polarizing water geographies of the Zambian Copperbelt

An investigation has been made of the impacts of neoliberal reforms on water and sanitation development in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. Drawing inspiration from the sub-discipline of post-colonial geography, the paper begins by locating the foundations of water inequalities in the early urban planning policies of British colonialism. The paper goes on to make a critical analysis of the recently adopted water commercialization policy in relation to the historically embedded water inequality. Whilst prompting greater water conservation, commercialization is shown to lead to continued water and sanitation poverty and a widening gulf in the quality of water services between the minority water-rich and majority water-poor populations. It is concluded that in order to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation, policy makers require a more sophisticated consideration of the spatially inscribed material inequalities that characterize many former European colonies in Africa.

Neoliberal colonialism?: A postcolonial reading of "land grabbing" in Africa

That an empathic response to testimonies can lead to altruism is a key assumption of much cultural research on trauma and witnessing, which prides itself on its ethical commitment. Most trauma theorists also agree that empathy is to be distinguished from forms of affective involvement that do not recognize and respect the otherness of the other, and which are variously referred to as sympathy, projective identification, incorporation, or crude empathy. While this caveat against imperialism and appropriation is meant to prevent empathy from turning into a closed-loop process, canonical trauma theory itself has been plagued by Eurocentrism from its inception, as it tends not to adequately address the sufferings of members of non-Western or minority groups. In this essay, I will discuss the challenges that transcultural witnessing poses for empathic understanding and ethical thinking, using both theoretical and literary texts as examples, and focusing specifically on Dave Eggers’s novel What Is the What. Published by McSweeney’s in 2006, What Is the What, subtitled The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, is a collaborative first-person testimony that tells the story of a refugee from the second Sudanese civil war. I argue that in this book Eggers manages both to stay true to the continuing cultural demand for empathy with distant others and to defuse or counter the prevailing scepticism about the morality of empathic identification that tends to find such efforts hopelessly wanting. What Is the What does not resolve all the moral ambiguities surrounding transcultural witnessing, but it is unafraid to confront them and refuses to be paralysed by them. The novel harnesses feeling in the face of suffering while continually reminding the reader that Deng’s experiences are not his or hers to inhabit. Rather than solidifying an already existing community, it calls a community of otherwise distant and disconnected people into being for the purposes of alleviating suffering.