Åbo Akademi University’s Post

Dear Academics and Researchers Sustainable development can satisfy today’s needs without endangering the capacity of future generations. It comprises three basic elements that must complement one another: environmental, economic and social sustainability. Accelerated urbanisation has resulted in the deterioration of the environment of cities and loss of quality of life. Energy-saving and eco-friendly building designs have become an important part of modern development. 15th ICEEE-2024 Online International Annual Conference Theme: “Global Environmental Development & Sustainability: Research, Engineering & Management” with Workshop Special Session: Environmental Health and Climatic Change − The Conference is: Free of Charge and Online − Date: November 21 - 22, 2024 − place: Obuda University - Budapest – Hungary − Soon you will have the link of the conference The objectives of the 15th ICEEE-2024 meeting to bring together world-class professional participants and young researchers looking for opportunities for exchanges the scientific knowledge that cross the traditional discipline boundaries and allows them to resolve multidisciplinary challenging problems that only a venue of this nature can offer. ICEEE-2024 annual international conference provides a platform of international standards where the participants can discuss and share persuasive key advances in Global Environmental Development & Sustainability: Research, Engineering & Management. Conference Sessions: • Sustainable Development & Environmental Protection • Healthcare Sustainability: Risk & Management • Soil Biology & Agricultural Sustainability • Sustainability of Water, Sediments & Waste Management • Circular Economy Strategy and Sustainable, Energy Research & Applications • Air Pollution and Ecosystems & Landscape The deadline for registration and submitting the abstract: 15th of October 2024 The ICEEE annual meeting has successful experiences in past 14 years and dedicated to keep you on the cutting edge of scientific information and application best practice in Environmental Sciences. Together, participants in the industry, academia to provide unique insights into advances in breakthrough technologies, evolving regulations and investment strategies in Environmental Sciences and Engineering. Yours sincerely Prof. Dr. Hosam Bayoumi Hamuda President of ICEEE, Conference Chair Obuda University Budapest - Hungary E-mail: bayoumi.hosam@uni-obuda.hu #ICEEE2024 #Obudauniversity #budapesthungary

Exciting news! 🎉 Marja Spierenburg and Thijs Bosker are introducing the new BSc Science for Sustainable Societies at Leiden University. How can we tackle environmental challenges and societal transitions through an interdisciplinary approach? Starting in September 2025, students will explore this question in depth as part of the programme, which combines natural and social sciences to create practical solutions for complex sustainability issues. #Sustainability #InterdisciplinaryScience #LeidenUniversity #SustainableSocieties

Check out Session 16 Rethinking the nature conservation economy: Embracing diverse values and social justice in the Anthropocene Session Chairs: Liisa Varumo and Suvi Huttunen, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) - Suomen ympäristökeskus (Syke) #YHYS2024 Fall Colloquium YHYS (The Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science) 27-29.11.24 in LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland CFA DL 16.09.24 https://lnkd.in/dZWC8kQM In recent decades we have seen a rise in market-based approaches to conservation, ranging from green bonds to carbon and biodiversity credits and offsets, and in general the seepage of economic language into conservation through terms such as natural capital and ecosystem services. While thought to make conservation more appealing to private actors, these approaches are still marginal both in financing and achieving conservation targets (Dempsey & Suarez 2016). Furthermore, they often oversimplify the valuing of biodiversity, thereby perpetuating socio-environmental injustices (e.g., Pascual et al. 2023). This highlights the need, for a broader range of actors and approaches to conservation (and its financing), but also for existing market-based approaches to be redesigned to be more socially just and reflective of diverse values and worldviews.   This is reflected in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly under target 19, which once again calls for the mobilisation of more public and private resources and attention to social safeguards in existing practices (CBD 2022). This time, however, it also seeks to strengthen the role of collective action, civil society cooperation and, for example, ecocentric and non-market approaches to conservation, thus broadening the agency of conservation from that of public governance and private corporations to that of local people and non-human actors, even recognising the diverse economies at play in conservation practices. These could arguably lead to more context sensitive conservation and interpretations of value beyond the instrumental to intrinsic and relational.   We invite contributions that reflect on what emerging conservation policies and practices, both market-based and others, mean for the natural environment and our societies and how they influence and relate to our understandings of nature and different ways of assigning value to it. Furthermore, we encourage the contributions to consider what do these practices imply for environmental justice, agency and participation in conservation in the Anthropocene?

YHYS Colloquium 2024 Sessions & Call for Abstracts. https://lnkd.in/dqTRVmsC LUT Business School invites you to join the 30th anniversary of the annual colloquium of the Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science (YHYS) 2024 with the theme "The Anthropocene: Action and agency for preventing collapse" 27th – 29th of November 2024 in Lappeenranta, Finland Call for abstracts now open! Deadline 16th September You can submit your abstract to Action4Commons sub-theme: "Collective action for the Commons: Statekholder engagement and policentricity" Session Chairs: Professor Johanna Kujala, Tampere University; Dr. Jaan-Pauli Kimpimäki, LUT Business School, LUT University; Dr. Neha Neha, Tampere University; Professor Laura Albareda, LUT Business School, LUT University Natural resources, such as genetic diversity, species richness, and ecosystem services are accessible for use by everybody but are limited and affected by human overexploitation. What makes these environmental resources special is that they involve commons (Ostrom, 1990). The struggle of the commons is a complex situation in which a large set of individuals, businesses, and other organizations has access to those resources and degrades them based on their own self-interest and without any clear rules of use (). This struggle is a social dilemma, and it would be better for the parties to cooperate, but they fail to do so due to conflicts between organizational interests that discourage joint action (Aligica & Tarko, 2012). We call for a discussion between commons, polycentricity and stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984, Freeman et al., 2010) to understand business-stakeholder value-creation to prevent the collapse of the commons in the Anthropocene. We embrace the interconnected relationships between cross-sector actors and stakeholder engagement to address the struggle of the commons. We see “stakeholder engagement” (Freeman et al., 2017; Kujala & Sachs, 2019) as a change in focus from a business-centric view to a relational perspective in which both economic and non-economic value is created through complex stakeholder relationships (Tapaninaho & Kujala, 2019). Stakeholder theory explicitly acknowledges that joint value creation necessitates stakeholder engagement in the face of collective action and governance systems, for this adopting learning and deliberation processes (Bridoux & Stoelhorts, 2020; McGahan & Pongeluppe, 2023).

𝐔𝐅𝐒 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ‘𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐎𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬’ 𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 “This nomination is both an honour and an affirmation of the importance of ecological engineering in addressing today’s environmental challenges,” says 𝐃𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧. “It represents a recognition of the value and impact of integrating natural processes with engineering principles to create sustainable and resilient ecosystems whilst addressing some of our most pressing sustainability challenges,” Dr Schoeman says. Her work primarily revolves around ecological engineering — a field that combines natural processes with engineering principles to address environmental and sustainability challenges. “I lead projects that transform degraded terrains into vibrant, functioning landscapes through bio-intelligent design, essentially converting ecological liabilities into assets. These systems are in many cases designed from microscopic level into mega supercell systems. We've developed over 20 conservation blueprints that integrate these principles at a landscape level, also preparing them for biodiversity financing.” By founding and institutionalising the 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 (𝐄𝐄𝐈𝐀), the EEIA aims to spread this innovative approach, emphasising the importance of both scientific rigour and ecological viability continent-wide in Africa. The goal is to create sustainable, economically sound, and ecologically robust solutions that not only regenerate but enhance environmental health and resilience for the benefit of ecosystems and communities. • 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝟏𝟏 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://bit.ly/4buCPGb 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 (𝐄𝐄𝐈𝐀): https://lnkd.in/d8w29KY5 #UFSFacultyofNaturalandAgriculturalSciences #EcologicalEngineeringInstituteofAfrica

New paper exploring the role of ecosystem services within regional sustainability 🌎 Our recent research critically examines the pros and cons of incorporating ecosystem services into the Regional Safe and Just Operating Space (RSJOS) framework, a model for environmental governance and policy-making. Ecosystem services have a potential role to play in linking ecological ceilings and social foundations, both essential for evaluating the RSJOS. By connecting "safe" and "just" boundaries, ecosystem service flows provide a promising method for aligning environmental and social goals. However, despite the potential, there are still challenges and assumptions that limit how ecosystem services can be used within the RSJOS framework. This work is a collaboration between Chinese Scholarship Council PhD student Qin Tao, Brett Bryan, and colleagues from Nanjing Agricultural University during Qin's time at Deakin University within the School of Life and Environmental Sciences - Deakin University. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gK3dR8mH #Sustainability #EcosystemServices #EnvironmentalGovernance #SustainableDevelopment #SafeAndJustOperatingSpace #ChineseScholarshipCouncil

Look forward to seeing you in Rotterdam! #Collaboration is at the heart of innovation, and nowhere is this more critical than in the environmental sector. As we face global challenges such as climate change, pollution, and resource management, working together across borders is essential to finding sustainable solutions. 🌍 Join Us for the EU Project Research Results Outreach Day! 🌍 On 3rd October, we are organizing an EU Project Research Results Outreach Day in Rotterdam to present key findings and discuss implementation opportunities. This event is not only an excellent platform for sharing knowledge, but also a chance to explore how these results can be applied in real-world scenarios. 🤝 Why EU-China Collaboration is Key 🤝 Environmental issues know no borders, and neither should our efforts to address them. Engaging with China, one of the largest players in global sustainability, is crucial for the effective implementation of solutions. By working together at the EU level, we can build stronger frameworks, share innovative technologies, and drive environmental progress on a global scale. Let’s seize this opportunity to foster collaboration, exchange ideas, and most importantly, discuss how we can turn research into action. 📅 Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details. We look forward to seeing many of you there! #EUResearch #Sustainability #Collaboration #EnvironmentalSolutions #EUChina #ResearchToAction #SustainabilityInnovation

Check Session 12 The politics, practices, & organising of ecological restoration & its effects on land use, future threats, and aspirations Session Chairs: Ossi Ollinaho and Sophia Hagolani-Albov, University of Helsinki #YHYS2024 Fall Colloquium YHYS (The Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science) 27-29.11.24 in LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland CFA DL 16.09.24 https://lnkd.in/dZWC8kQM Since 2015, the world has seen a surge of ecological restoration (ER) pledges, policies, and projects—typically related to different types of tree planting, motivated by stopping land degradation and deforestation, acquiring carbon credits and boosting biodiversity and food production. Yet, more empirical research is needed to uncover what is happening where and why; focusing on the politics, practices, and organising of ER and the associated effects on land use. We want to uncover how ER schemes interrelate with the financial realm, land use conflicts, and power relations. We will focus on ER schemes in the global South. However, as ER schemes often have a global reach due to ‘green economy’ supply chains, this might also entail scrutinizing practices in the global North to more fully understand the aspirations and threats involved in ER.   The ER practices linked to global financial flows are typically problematic in their effects on land use as top-down restoration practices tend to be incommensurate with local practices and traditional livelihoods. Many rural communities in the global South have lost control over their lands by virtue of carbon credit mechanisms. As many livelihoods in the global South countries are often still directly dependent on land use, the schemes that do not maintain or improve the access to the land tend to be problematic, fail or both. Changes in climatic conditions are also relevant as the proliferation of extreme weather conditions such as droughts, cyclones, and flooding cause increased uncertainty in land use. How could ER address these—seemingly inexorable—insidious changes? How should guidelines for ‘good’ politics, practices, and organizing, as well as articulating future aspirations related to ER be conceptualized?   We invite papers addressing these issues from the global, local, or regional perspective. Papers can be case-based studies (comparative or in-depth), theoretical or review papers.

Forum 2 Green Science Popularization Chair of the Forum: Prof. Prof. Desire Atchike, Taizhou University, Popular Republic of China. Introduction Green Science Popularization is vital for fostering widespread awareness, understanding, and engagement with environmentally sustainable practices. As societies grapple with pressing ecological challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, the dissemination of green science knowledge plays a pivotal role in shaping informed decision-making at individual, community, and policy levels. By making complex environmental concepts accessible to the public, green science popularization inspires a sense of shared responsibility for our planet. It empowers individuals to adopt eco-friendly behaviors, influences consumer choices, and encourages the integration of sustainable technologies. Moreover, a well-informed public can drive demand for green policies, influencing governments and industries to prioritize environmentally conscious practices. Ultimately, the popularization of green science is not just an educational endeavor; it is a catalyst for positive change, contributing to the creation of a more sustainable and resilient future. The Green Science Popularization forum is a vital section of the World Green Science Day celebration. https://lnkd.in/dx5_dvTG

Meet the Researchers, See the Impact part 2 🌐 1 Day left to go to our Bernal Research Event 💥 Meet our research speaker Dr Mariagrazia Proto🎤 who is currently under the supervision of Researcher Leader for the event Professor Ronan Courtney. "I am Dr Mariagrazia Proto and I am from Italy. I am a post-doctoral researcher) at the Bernal Institute and the Biological Science Department. I am working on the development of Engineered Soils using different waste streams. The sustainability of the Engineered Soil will be assessed as a plant growth substrate and a functioning soil ecosystem. I am thrilled to talk about my work this Thursday because it is a fascinating and relevant topic. Soil is a vital resource for life and earth, hosting rich biodiversity and providing critical ecosystem services, such as food production, water purification and carbon storage. The degradation and the contamination of soil due to anthropogenic activities is a concerning environmental issue that requires the development of practical solutions. The creation and development of Engineered soil using organic waste streams can reduce the harvesting of natural soil resources, the use of synthetic fertilizer and the diversion of waste streams into reuse opportunities. The ultimate goal in the creation of Engineered soil is that it sustains suitable soil properties and functions, creating an environment for plant growth and ecosystem development and promoting services such as enhanced biodiversity." We can't wait to hear more from Dr Mariagrazia Proto! Don't miss the chance to be part of the conversation with our ground-breaking speakers in shaping the future of sustainability! 🌍 📅 Thursday 2 May, 2024 ⌛ 8.30am - 2:00pm 📍 Bernal Institute, University of Limerick Book your slot here 👉 https://rb.gy/j1m4aa www.ul.ie/bernal #ResearchImpact #Collaborations #BernalNeighbourhood #Heath #Energy #Environment #ResearchWeekUL #sustainability