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- Contribution to social sustainability and the gender equality at public universities: women empowerment in the brazilian contextPublication . Borges, Rives Rocha; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Barros, NelsonOrganizations worldwide are facing challenges in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrating the 2030 Agenda, defined by the United Nations (UN). Among these goals, it is the SDG 5 on gender equity (GE), which addresses the need to increase the necessary skills for workers to achieve empowerment and leadership in management positions. Full and effective participation with equal opportunities to women to occupy leadership positions in all sectors of society must be guaranteed, reducing gender inequality, thus allowing social sustainability to be accomplished. Slowly but gradually, the understanding about the SDG 5 is gaining strength in the context of the Brazilian society. With the slogan “The woman’s place is wherever she wants!”, the Brazil’s women seek to guarantee equal rights and opportunities. With women representing 51.8% of the Brazilian population, the GE in Brazil is a significant daily achievement. An exploratory study was conducted to collect the data, through a quantitative and qualitative descriptive approach. This chapter will connect the women empowerment (WE) with the effective occupation of the top career positions at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). This subject is an important issue in the social sustainability context in a public university in the north-eastern region of Brazil. The chapter will discuss the GE as proposed by the UN in SDG 5, based on the fact that 45.8% of high hierarchical positions at UFBA are occupied by women, therefore illustrating the WE as part of the social responsibility’s trajectory towards the full achievement of societal sustainable development.
- Sustainable development within higher education institutions: the occupational health field examplePublication . Borges, Rives Rocha; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Barros, NelsonThe sustainability term is widely used to define the scope of the principles and practices that are translated into the operationalization of actions and projects aiming to contribute to the citizens' quality of life. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a preponderant role in the implementation of sustainability, having among its objectives the promotion and improvement of the health and well-being of individuals and their environments, including work environments in the scope of actions encompassing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by 2030 Agenda. The Work Health Promotion (WHP) must be aligned with the concept of sustainability in HEIs and one way of approaching this concept is through the Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between HEIs and other public institutions, for an integrated and efficient approach toward the sustainability in the worker's health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized and consolidated that, compliance with the health-related SDGs, would only be possible through health professionals. The TCA presented in this research has the goal to translate the desired approach to achieve sustainable development (SD) in HEIs. This chapter will present and discuss the setup of the TCA established between the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and other federal public institutions during the implementation of the Federal Public Worker Health Care Integrated Subsystem (SIASS). In this context, the connections between the implemented agreements and the SDG 3, i.e., health and well-being, and SDG 17, i.e., partnerships for the goals, through public and public–private partnerships, will be addressed to support SD in HEIs. To achieve the study’s objective, exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative research was made to identify how UFBA plays a leadership role in implementing sustainability practices in WHP policies and by establishing TCA in the field of occupational health with other public federal institutions in the state of Bahia.
- Well-being at work and sustainability in public services: Brazilian University casePublication . Borges, Rives Rocha; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Barros, NelsonWhen reflecting about the subjectivity implicit in the tasks’ execution and in the affective relationships developed in the work environment, the psychosocial factors influencing work are frequently ignored. Excessive demand, hierarchical requirements, and discontent are issues that, if poorly managed, can contribute to the worker’s mental illness and have a significant impact on the quality of the work performed. In the specific case of a public university, where workers interact directly with people, illness goes beyond the limits of the work environment. It disqualifies the service provided to the university’s community and the society that needs it. In line with this, actions to attain a better quality of life and well-being at work will be discussed, as well as demands to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 in particular, i.e., good health and well-being. In discussion’s scope are the challenges faced by the Quality of Work Life Centre (QWLC) at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in implementing a quality of work life (QWL) policy. QWLC has the mission of taking care of issues involving relationships at work, including remote work, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In University’s documents, exploratory research was conducted to collect data related to the QWL policy. A descriptive qualitative analysis was then performed, analysing scientific publications available in selected databases. The results demonstrate UFBA’s effort to improve the social-affective conditions in the institution’s workplaces and its effective interest in contributing to SDG 3.
- Volume prefacePublication . Leal Filho, Walter; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Moggi, Sara; Price, Elizabeth; Hope, AlexThe UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have had a noticeable impact on the European Region. According to a recent Eurostat report, the region has made significant progress toward most of the 17 Goals. For example, the region has improved and maintained a high level of access to sanitation services, strengthened infrastructure for rural regions, and reduced its gender gap in educational attainment. To sustain these efforts, the region has invested in initiatives to reduce energy consumption, increase renewable energy sources, and increase investment in climate protection measures. This volume documents and promotes some experiences from authors from across the European region, on the implementation of the UN SDGs. The body of experience from the authors illustrates the fact that countries in the European region have been allocating increased resources to well-being and health services while improving access to quality education. But the implementation of the UN SDGs in Europe is not without challenges. Some of them, as identified in this volume, are: (a) The need to define effective implementation strategies: Implementing the UN SDGs in Europe requires careful planning and coordination of resources across countries. Governments need to establish clear policies and strategies that consider different economic and legal systems, and cultural backgrounds. (b) The need to measure progress: Measuring and assessing progress toward achieving the SDGs in Europe can be challenging, as data can be scarce or unreliable. (c) The need to bridge institutional vacuums: Many European countries lack strong and effective institutions that can effectively implement and oversee the achievement of the SDGs. Governments need to strengthen their policy-making, coordination, and monitoring mechanisms in order to ensure a successful implementation of the SDGs. As this book has shown, the UN SDGs in Europe face significant social and political challenges, which need to be addressed. We thank the many authors who have contributed to this volume and who have shared their expertise and their experience with their contributions. We hope that the knowledge gathered on this volume may assist efforts to implement the SDGs in the European region.
- SDGs in the European RegionPublication . Walter, Leal Filho; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Moggi, Sara; Price, Elizabeth; Hope, AlexThis volume describes the thinking on sustainable development and a variety of initiatives across Europe, illustrating regional efforts to foster sustainable communities and ecological and social innovation. It contains various contributions which showcase examples of thinking, economic and social structures and in consumption and production patterns needed, to implement the SDGs.
- Políticas públicas e direito à cidade. Uma realidade em mudança?Publication . Seixas, Paulo Castro; Dias, Ricardo; Vidal, Diogo GuedesEste texto questiona uma mudança de relação entre políticas urbanas e direito à cidade, especificamente das crianças e jovens, no quadro do potencial de transformação das cidades inerente às conceções de compactidade urbana. Propõe-se que há um movimento em curso de downsizing e relocalização das cidades que acompanhou um outro de upscaling de experiências de transição baseadas em princípios da sustentabilidade. Propõe-se, de igual modo, que tal movimento é visível na evolução e proliferação de conceitos de modelos de compactidade urbana, tais como a “cidade compacta”, a “cidade das curtas distâncias”, “ecovilas/urban village” e, mais recentemente, a “cidade dos 15 minutos”. Este texto foca especificamente este último modelo, interrogando-se sobre o contributo da “cidade dos 15 minutos”, proposto por Carlos Moreno e adotado pela prefeitura da cidade de Paris em 2020, para responder aos desafios lançados 52 anos antes, a partir dessa mesma cidade, por Henry Lefèbvre em o Direito à Cidade (2001), incentivando os gestores públicos e os urbanistas a pensar na cidade como um lugar de encontro, convivência e simultaneidade, onde o valor da cidade é o do uso, e não o de troca.
- A cidade das crianças. Benefícios e oportunidades dos parques e jardins urbanosPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Dias, Ricardo Cunha; Seixas, Paulo CastroA grande questão, ou desafio, que se coloca no desenho de cidades inclusivas e sustentáveis é: até que ponto estes espaços têm em consideração as expetativas das crianças e se, quando planeados, mesmo em pequenas intervenções, contemplam os benefícios cientificamente comprovados na promoção do bem-estar físico e mental das mesmas. O texto apresenta uma breve incursão sobre as oportunidades e benefícios dos espaços verdes urbanos, além de elencar as inúmeras iniciativas e projetos que têm procurado trazer as crianças para o planeamento urbano.
- Renewable energy transition in Portugal, balance, and perspectives: opportunities for SDG 7Publication . Ferraz, Maria Pia; Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Dias, Ricardo; Seixas, Paulo CastroHumanity depends on energy, and its consumption is directly related to social habits, culture, and quality of life. The population growth and the search for a better quality of life lead to a significant increase in energy consumption worldwide. The energy consumed is mainly produced from fossil fuels with high carbon content, and their reserves are heading toward depletion. To reverse the situation, it is necessary to establish strategies to reduce the economic dependence of countries that do not have these reserves, through the stimulation of energy production from renewable sources, with low carbon content, through the promotion of decarbonization of the energy system. Portugal is a country with scarce fossil energy resources, so the economy heavily depends on the import of fossil fuels, especially oil, thus the use of energy produced from renewable sources becomes relevant. This chapter aims to understand if there is an opportunity to implement SDG 7, namely the exploitation of renewable energy in Portugal, to avoid the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, mitigate the impacts of climate change, protect the environment and human health, and reduce national economic dependence. Based on an analysis of available public official data, it was possible to identify a national strategy to increase the contribution of endogenous renewable sources to energy production. The balance reveals the observable success of this strategy, and it can be concluded that in Portugal endogenous renewable sources are significantly increasing their share of energy production. Even so, the political will has to be more evident so that joint efforts are mobilized around a paradigm shift that wants to be sustainable.
- Industrial waste management in Ghana: environmental challenges and climate change impacts on human healthPublication . Debrah, Justice Kofi; Teye, Godfred Kwesi; Wahaj, Zujaja; Dinis, Maria Alzira PimentaWaste having a significant and relevant material presence in our everyday life was not considered worthy of human attention up until the 1990s. Most probably, this delayed recognition of waste is due to the fact that it has been mistakenly understood as something that is supposed to remain invisible to the human eye in a sense that it is assumed to be occupying those spaces that are not inhabited by human beings. Contemporary times, however, are marked by giving due importance to waste. It is seen as a crucial environmental and health challenge for species’ survival on earth and is therefore placed center stage in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to protect the planet. More recently, SDG 12, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, has alerted to fast-growing waste management (WM) environmental issues. With the earth being viewed as a limited natural resource and having the inadequate capacity to accommodate wastes leading to adverse environmental and health consequences, caution must be taken to understand the associations between global consumption, total waste, and wasting patterns. Conceptualizing waste as a globally circulating material, particularly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and sulphur oxide (SOx), the governance of waste has become a global concern. This chapter focuses on WM in Ghana, a middle-income economy country in the West of Africa. Due to rapid industrialization, Ghana is witnessing an ever-escalation of the country’s contribution to global environmental waste issues, especially GHG emissions. This study aims to identify and address the challenges associated with managing waste in Ghana. Additionally, it proposes specific measures to mitigate climate change and its effects on the environment and human health resulting from WM. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 101 responses received from WM experts based on the aim. The data were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 27. 72% of respondents were male, with most completing first and second degrees and have been working between 11 and 15 years. Although most of the respondents’ report waste being poorly managed, 93% consider that the associated causes of improper WM include inadequate infrastructure, lack of landfills, lack of tools and logistics, and equipment. All respondents believed that the challenges affect climate change through the emission of GHGs and particulate matter, resulting in global warming and impacting human health.
- Mental health, well-being and climate change: scope and challengesPublication . Fonte, Carla; Caridade, Sónia; Dinis, Maria Alzira PimentaClimate change (CC) manifests itself through extreme weather conditions and is gaining more and more attention from the scientific community and civil society, considering the social implications in various domains of daily life. Undeniable social, economic and environmental consequences have been disclosed worldwide, in addition to the significant psychosocial impacts that the resulting weather events pose to mental health and well-being of people. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), vicarious trauma, anxiety, substance abuse, depression, survivor guilt, recovery fatigue, and suicidal ideation, are some of the mental health problems linked with the occurrence of catastrophic weather events. Other threats involve financial and relationship stress and the consequent potentiation of the risks of violence, in particular gender-based violence (GBV) and aggression, disproportionately affecting those who are most marginalized. Paradoxically, and in response to CC, the research shows that these same circumstances may also inspire individuals to more positive and adaptive behaviours, such as altruism, optimism and compassion, promoting a life meaning and individual development, motivated by CC post-traumatic growth. Based on an expert-driven literature review, this chapter intends to assess and discuss the relevant literature describing how CC impacts on the mental health and well-being of individuals and societies, as well as the hazards associated with increasing problems of violence and aggression. Likewise, it also aims to analyse and discuss specific responses to the CC that can contribute to positive changes in learning, growth and behaviour throughout life. The promotion of pro-environmental behaviour through education is considered as an important strategy in this context.