The Sustainability Learning Forum

Act NOW interview with Connie Hedegaard at Rio+20

At the UN Rio+20 conference we were honoured to have the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard as one of the main speakers at the Act NOW Executive Meeting. Her continuous push for increasing sustainable development shows how absolutely passionate she is about making a positive difference. more[...]

The Author

United Nations Global Compact Annual Review – Anniversary Edition

United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)

Takes stock of the efforts undertaken by business participants and other key stakeholders to advance the ten principles and development, as well as peace, responsible investment, business education and broader UN-business collaboration. Findings from the annual Global Compact Implementation Survey, completed by over 1,000 companies from 100 countries, are featured throughout. Special focus is given to the 10th anniversary of the Global Compact. more[...] login_required

The Author

Succeed or Sink: Business sustainability under globalisation

Prof. Chris Rowley, Citiy University London - Cass Business School

Aimed at business strategists, policy makers, researchers and adult learners, this book has an Asian perspective on business sustainability and is about understanding how recent developments and future actions in one part of the world will have a global impact. The book magnifies the concept of so-called ‘globalisation’ and examines the topic of business sustainability from a broad and integrated approach to business: encapsulating people, prosperity and the planet. Furthermore, it acknowledges the contributions, challenges and potential of not only the big corporate houses, but also the smaller ones, in this situation. Chapters discuss the benefits organisations can attain with better governance, and social and environmental practices are also analysed. more[...] login_required

The Author

Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice

Prof. Tony Fry, Griffith University

Design Futuring systematically presents ideas and methods for Design as an expanded ethical and professional practice. Design Futuring argues that responding to ethical, political, social and ecological concerns now requires a new type of practice that recognizes design's importance in overcoming a world made unsustainable. more[...] login_required

The Author

Global Compact International Yearbook 2011

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

Over the last several years, the United Nations has become a trailblazer in promoting corporate responsibility. “In the 11 years since its launch, the United Nations Global Compact has been at the forefront of the UN’s effort to make the private sector a critical actor in advancing sustainability,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the 2011 edition of the Global Compact International Yearbook. more[...] login_required

The Author

Global Compact International Yearbook 2010

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

A profound retrospective of the first decade of the UN Global Compact, challenges in the light of the year of biodiversity, and instruments for an adequate Corporate Citizenship are some of the issues highlighted in the new 2010 edition of the “Global Compact International Yearbook”. Among this years prominent authors are Ban Ki-moon, Bill Clinton, Joschka Fischer and Achim Steiner. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “As the Global Compact enters its second decade, it is my hope that this Yearbook will be an inspiration to bring responsible business to true scale.” Formally presented during the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York, the yearbook is now for sale. more[...] login_required

The Author

Global Compact International Yearbook 2009

Dr. Elmer Lenzen

The inaugural issue of the Global Compact International Yearbook , highlighting key sustainability issues on the international agenda and showcasing a wide array of corporate practices, has just been published. more[...] login_required

The Author

On the Role of Human Development in the Arab Spring

Prof. Randall Kuhn, University of Denver

This essay traces the impact of human development on political change, focusing on the events of the Arab Spring. Over the past generation, most Arab States experienced rapid progress in human development outcomes, including declining child mortality, increasing schooling and increasing height of women. I posit that improvements in human development laid the foundation for mobilization against political regimes. more[...]

The Author

Will the Arab Spring Free the “Orphans of Globalization”?

Prof. Jean-Pierre Lehmann, IMD

It was a humiliated Arab youth – the Tunisian Mohammed Bouazizi from the desolate village of Sidi Bouzid – who, in immolating himself, sparked a revolution that engulfed his country, spread to Egypt, and has gripped the entire Arab world. It is the first revolution to happen in the Arab world for some time, certainly one led by youth, and it is the first in which the spirit of revolution was spread through such social media instruments as Facebook and Twitter. more[...]

The Author

Renewable Energy in the Middle East and North Africa

Dr. Franz Trieb, German Aerospace Center - DLR
Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, Technische Univeristät Dresden

Until very recently, the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region had not indicated any serious interests in the use of renewable energies, as these technologies were considered insufficient, irrelevant, and expensive. Countries with oil or gas became rich by exploiting their fossil fuel reserves, while the other countries claimed to be too poor to be able to afford wind or solar power. This picture changed in 2008 when the price of a barrel of oil climbed to $140. more[...]

The Author

Improving Labor Standards Performance in the Middle East

Craig Moss, Social Accountability International (SAI)

Labor standards and working conditions in the Middle East exhibit many of the same basic problems that occur globally. If we look at workers’ demands from the recent strikes in Egypt and Jordan, we will see issues that clearly violate the International Labour Organization’s core labor conventions – unfortunately, that will surprise no one. more[...]

The Author

Wasta: How the Use of “Connections” Impacts on Private Sector Development in Arab Countries and Why

Dr. Markus Loewe, German Development Institute

The literal translation of the Arabic word wasta is “connection,” but it is often employed for favoritism, that is, the use of personal relations for preferential treatment. Favoritism is a form of corruption when someone uses her/his position to distribute the resources of someone else (e.g., the employer or the state) to a friend or relative. more[...]

The Author

Freedom, entitlement, and the path to development

Jean-Pierre Chauffour, World Bank

Twenty years after the revolutions of Central and Eastern Europe, the Arab Spring is again raising some fundamental questions about the place of freedom and entitlement in development. Depending on the balance between free choices and more coerced decisions , individual opportunities to learn, own, work, save, invest, trade, protect, and so forth could vary greatly across countries and over time. more[...]

The Author

Water, oil and demographics: The Arab world’s triple crisis

Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, Institute for Policy Research & Development

Unless Arab governments invest much more in health, education and citizens' rights, warns Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, the pressures of water scarcity, oil depletion and population growth will spell their downfalls. One in five people around the world lack access to safe drinking water, so it is undeniable that we already face a global water crisis. But water scarcity is not just about its physical availability, it is also about power, poverty and inequality. more[...]

The Author

The UN Global Compact in the MENA Region

Matthias Stausberg, United Nations Global Compact

For a few years after the Global Compact’s launch in 2000, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remained uncharted territory for the initiative. This changed in 2003, when the first efforts were undertaken to promote the Global Compact in Egypt. A high-level launch took place in Cairo in February 2004, resulting in the participation of more than 50 companies, including many of Egypt’s leading corporations. more[...]

The Author

Advanced Search