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Energy conservation literacy within households is a contemporary and topical issue globally. However, scant research has been conducted on energy-saving literacy amongst Ghanaian households. To substantiate the problem, this paper aims to examine energy conservation literacy and behaviours among Ghanaian households in the Greater Accra Region.

The study assessed household electricity use and explored determinants of household energy conservation behaviours. Data was collected through a survey administered to households within the target region and analysed using descriptive statistics and Spearmen’s rank correlation.

Results showed electricity conservation among households is greatly influenced by the number of household occupants, household income levels, and the quality and quantity of appliances. The study also found that conservation behaviours are positively correlated to the number of occupants, household income levels, the quantity of electrical appliances, age of household members, number of rooms and level of urbanization within the home’s geographical region. Cumulatively, the findings suggest households held positive attitudes towards efficient energy practices. Enigmatically, the use of energy-conserving alternative technologies was not widely used by households; hence, this factor does not significantly affect household energy conservation.

Although limited to Ghana’s capital region, the findings can be used to inform policy and regulations at the regional and national levels in designing an efficient and effective mechanism to reduce the country’s overall energy use.

Premised upon the findings, the study recommends an intensification of education and awareness-creation on various energy-saving regulations and initiatives and thorough education on the usage of standardized (approved) refrigerators to promote the consistent adoption of energy conservation measures among households.

This study pioneers investigations into the influence of household demographic variables on overall electricity conservation behaviours exhibited by Ghanaian households

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether all the dimensions of regulatory compliance matter for environmental sustainability practices of manufacturing small and medium entrepreneurial ventures (SMEVs) using evidence from Uganda.

This study is cross-sectional and correlational. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey of 106 manufacturing SMEVs. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.

The results indicate that controls, legitimacy and deterrence do matter for environmental sustainability practices of the manufacturing SMEVs in Uganda, unlike social norms and values.

This study fosters the understanding of environmental sustainability practices, as it provides insights on whether all the dimensions of regulatory compliance do matter for environmental sustainability practices of manufacturing SMEVs in Uganda.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the growth and rising costs association with the Federal Crop Insurance program in the USA, justifications for public support, and recent reforms that have been implemented or proposed to reduce program costs. It also analyzes a specific policy to reduce premium assistance spending.

Data from the Risk Management Agency are used to illustrate historical trends in crop insurance program costs and to analyze the impacts of imposing a per acre cap on premium assistance.

Imposing a per acre cap on premium assistance could achieve significant savings. A $20 per acre cap is estimated to reduce premium subsidy expenditures by more than 40 percent. However, the impact of such a policy would be most severe on crops currently receiving the largest subsidies per acre, which happen to be some of the largest program crops in the USA.

This paper adds to the literature analyzing potential reform in crop insurance industry. The subsidy cap considered has been proposed and considered by policy makers, and this paper provides estimates for its potential savings.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the investment pattern, adoption behaviour, attitude of farmers towards conservation compliance programmes and the extent of participation of farmers in soil conservation projects in the Western Ghats of India.

For the present study, multistage purposive sampling was followed. The sample respondents were identified for the survey in all the five categories of watersheds (very high, high, medium, low and very low priority watersheds) in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu at the rate of 50 farm respondents in each category. Since the investment among the five categories of watersheds did not show any significant differences, the sample farmers were post stratified as marginal, small, medium and large farmers based on farm size for further analysis.

The investment analysis showed a benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 1.03 for staggered trenches for tea to 1.40 for bench terrace for carrot. For annual crops, the BCR for bench terrace varied from 1.03 for cabbage to 1.32 for carrot. Among the soil conservation technologies, in tea plantation, stone wall had the highest net present value (NPV) of Rs. 74,335. Staggered trench had the lower NPV Rs. 19,237 among all conservation structures. The results of the contingent valuation showed that cropped area, farm size, on-farm income positively and significantly influenced the willingness to pay (WTP) towards soil conservation. Family size and age of the farmer negatively influenced the WTP of the respondents significantly. The multinomial logit model indicated that staggered trench had direct impact on productivity. In tea plantation, staggered trench adoption was influenced by area under plantation crops, farm size, educational level and land slope. The participation index was very low (<30), indicating the poor participation of farmers in soil conservation programmes.

The results of the study reveal the appropriateness of the soil conservation technologies for the select soil type as well as the specific socioeconomic conditions of the farmers undertaking conservation compliance programs in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. Understanding the farmer’s perceptions and adoption behaviour is important in making the whole programme a successful one. Hence the results of the study may not be generalized for other study zones, unless otherwise, the agro-ecological zone is similar to the site where the study was conducted.

The study suggested that adoption of conservation technologies should be promoted in a big way to conserve natural resources like soil and enhance economic returns. It is also advocated that institutions should provide only guidance for community participation not on community governance and the role should be involving the real stakeholders/beneficiaries under participatory mode to achieve the goal of soil conservation. The bottom-up approach should be adopted to address the real issues involved in conservation compliance programmes.

The outcome of the study advocates the economic viability of conservation technologies adopted by the crop farmers. The project results also advised the farmers, institutions and the enforcements authorities, the strategies to be adopted to minimize soil loss and increase crop productivity by adopting the appropriate conservation compliance programs. The results also revealed that conservation of soil and water not only conserved the precious natural resources but also had far reaching effect on the yield of croplands, which would be reflected on the food and nutritional securities of the local communities at the micro level and the nation as a whole at the macro level.

The research outcome is based on the field level research done by the authors in the Western Ghats of India. The primary data collected from the respondents were analysed and used for drawing inferences and conclusions.

In this chapter, the author offers a concise overview of the 3C Model of Taoism, which is derived from Laozi's ‘Three Treasures’ consisting of compassion, conservation and compliance. The 3C Model forms the basis for the Trilogy of Taoist Leadership. The author designed the Trilogy's framework to elucidate the connection between the 3C Model and the Trilogy itself. The chapter concludes with the author detailing the individual elements of the 3C Model, shedding light on their significance within the overarching framework.

Recent reports based on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) have revealed that no country is in line with achieving the targets of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, with the slowest progress being witnessed mainly on goals that are focused on the environment. This study examines environmental performance indicators for assessing the sustainability of building projects.

The study uses an explanatory sequential design with an initial quantitative instrument phase, followed by a qualitative data collection phase. An extensive critical comparative review of the literature resulted in the identification of ten environmental sustainability indicators. One hundred and sixty-seven questionnaire responses based upon these indicators from the Ghanaian construction industry were received. Data were coded with SPSS v22, analysed descriptively, and via inferential analysis. These data were then validated through semi-structured interviews with six interviewees who are fellows of their respective professional bodies, a senior academic (professor in construction project delivery) and a government official. Data obtained from the semi-structured validation interviews were analysed through the side-by-side comparison of the qualitative data with the quantitative data.

The findings from the study suggest that all the indicators were important in assessing building projects' environmental sustainability across the entire life cycle. Key among the identified indicators is the effects of the project on “water quality, air quality, energy use and conservation, and environmental compliance and management”. The interviewees further agreed to and confirmed the importance of these identified indicators for assessing the environmental sustainability of building projects in Ghana.

Compared to existing studies, this study adopts the exploratory sequential design to identify and examine the critical indicators in assessing the environmental sustainability across the entire lifecycle of building projects in a typical developing country setting, i.e. Ghana. It reveals areas of prime concern in the drive to place the local construction industry on a trajectory towards achieving environmental sustainability.

This study integrates fishers’ and decision-makers’ views on the critical factors for non-compliance in the artisanal fisheries of Oman.

A questionnaire survey was implemented covering all coastal governorates of Oman. The questionnaires for fishers and decision-makers contained 46 and 43 questions, respectively, divided into various sections based on the Table of Eleven. Compliance factors were divided into spontaneous factors and enforcement factors. The data were collected through 1,242 questionnaires (1,125 fishers and 117 decision-makers).

The results indicated that spontaneous compliance factors (e.g. financial/economic, level of knowledge and social norms) and enforced compliance factors (e.g. social control, sanction certainty and sanction severity) have a significant influence on fishers' motivation to comply with regulations. The chi-square test (X²) was used to show that the differences between the means of responses of fishers and decision-makers in regard to the factors that influence non-compliance in the fishery were insignificant.

This consistency of opinions has an essential policy inference for the regulatory institutions in that it delivers assistance and trust in fisheries management authority's efforts to create effective compliance plans for the fisheries.

Sweden, like other countries, has set ambitious national targets for both energy efficiency and conservation of heritage values in the built environment. However, how these policies are implemented on a local level and how they affect each other is not known. This study aims to argue that extensive energy-saving policies can have unintentional impacts not just on the built environment but also on conservation practice.

By using a longitudinal approach, the aim is to investigate the possibilities of conserving the built environment when policies for increased energy efficiency are implemented in existing urban areas. The methodology used is qualitative, applying a combination of study of public records, policy documents, interviews with public officials and ocular investigation of buildings in three areas located in two different municipalities.

The study suggests that extensive refurbishments not only have effects on the character of an area, but in extension, affect how urban planners and local authorities approach the development in the same area. Urban areas affected by extensive retrofits in the past seem to be managed in less detail, leaving existing policy measures on both energy and heritage untapped.

This is a study concerning two Swedish municipalities. Furthermore, it is limited to one specific policy measure, energy-saving subsidies provided in the 1970s and 1980s. The generalisability of the findings may, therefore, be limited. Despite this, the findings provide an important indication of the relationship between energy-saving policies in the past and urban planning practice of existing urban areas today, as well as the importance of alignment between policy-making and implementation.

Policy instruments for the building stock and the practice of conservation planning have not worked well together. Due to local practice, energy subsidies provided in the 1970s and 1980s still today have a negative effect on both heritage conservation and energy efficiency in existing areas.

There is a discrepancy between expectations and outcome of policy measures. National decision-makers overestimate the possibilities to control the development on a local level, for both energy efficiency and heritage values. By examining an innovative set of sources, acknowledging long-term effects and entanglements of policies and practice, this study contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of different values in the built environment.

By comparing the share of approved applications, as well as completed energy retrofits, this study demonstrates that the effects of the national energy subsidy policy differed significantly between urban areas. Areas with a high degree of approved subsidies also had a high degree of retrofits, suggesting that the policy had intended effects. In these areas, the number of retrofits were also significantly higher than the number of subsidies. This was not the case where energy subsidies were fewer, which indicates that energy retrofits are performative, meaning that they accelerate further retrofits in the same area.

This paper aims to examine the effect of anthropomorphic entities in the public service advertisements (PSA) on individuals’ pro-social behavior. In addition, the role of individuals’ need for affect and self-construal in moderating the effect of anthropomorphism toward pro-social behavior is explored.

An experimental research design is executed to identify the causal relationship between anthropomorphic representations in the advertisements and pro-social behavior.

The findings suggest that anthropomorphism in PSA is helpful in increasing compliance behavior amongst individuals. Besides, an individual’s need for affect was found to positively moderate pro-social behavior.

The authors extend the existing literature on the usage of anthropomorphism in social causes. The authors also explore the role of one of the intrinsic motivations, need for affect, in pro-social behavior.

The study demonstrates how best one could use anthropomorphization in PSA by sensitizing individuals to social causes and compliance behavior.

The study builds upon the existing research on anthropomorphization, need for affect and pro-social behavior in increasing compliance with PSA.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the most complex and serious environmental crimes affecting marine ecosystems around the globe and depriving coastal communities of vital subsistence resources. Many strategies have been developed to deal with the problem in hopes to eventually eradicate it. This chapter will review a total of 163 approaches implemented around the world, and classify these interventions according to the 25 techniques of situational crime prevention (SCP), one of the most effective crime reduction measures frequently used to deal with a variety of crime problems. This chapter will analyse what types of techniques are most and least frequently used and why; note similarities and differences among these intervention strategies; as well as examine whether there is a distinct difference between developed and developing countries in their use of particular SCP measures to combat IUU fishing. This chapter will also present examples of particularly interesting initiatives, and propose new ways forward.