Encyclopedia

This part of our web site presents the Encyclopedias prepared by the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme and the World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre

 

Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The problems related to the process of industrialization such as biodiversity depletion, climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is also an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The current model of economic growth used by many countries is heavily based on the exploitation of natural resources, which is not viable. Evidence shows that a more careful, i.e. a more sustainable approach to the use of our limited resources, is needed.

The United Nations has acknowledged the problem and among other measures, it produced a set of documents at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2012. In 2015, the UN General Assembly approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. On 1st January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. 

There are to date no comprehensive publications addressing the SDGs in an integrated way. Therefore, the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is being published. It encompasses 17 volumes, each devoted to one of the 17 SDGs.

More information on: https://www.springer.com/series/15893

 

 

Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

This encyclopedia serves as a tool to support universities across the world to implement sustainable development in higher education in a number of key areas, spread over 5 Sections: 1. Policy-making, visioning, structures, management and strategies 2. Teaching, learning and competencies 3. Research and transformation 4. Campus greening, design, operations and carbon impacts 5. Students and stakeholders´ initiatives and involvement. The encyclopedia will be of special interest to administrators and managers at higher education institutions; academic staff (e.g. lecturers, professors, researchers); technical staff and students. Also, other groups working outside higher education, but interested on the theory and practice of sustainable development, will find its contents useful.

More information on: https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783030113513?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI18-4naCp6wIVCLwYCh2KIQ-XEAQYAiABEgK1n_D_BwE