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Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been demonstrated to be an effective (although not universally successful) tool for the delivery of infrastructure and infrastructure-based services. For PPPs to achieve optimum results, the service outputs should be inclusive, i.e., they should be available to as wide a spectrum of society as possible, regardless of income level, gender or ethnic background. In developing countries, many PPPs are reliant upon user fees to create the revenue streams that enable private parties to provide such basic services as power, water, wastewater and transport. When these user fees act as barriers to service access (i.e., they are unaffordable to potential recipients of the service), what are the policy and contractual options which may make the services more universally accessible? This chapter examines three PPP projects from different sectors which have utilized creative mechanisms to enhance affordability and expand the user base: the Pamir Power project in eastern Tajikistan; the urban water PPP in Dakar, Senegal and the East Coast Toll Road in Tamil Nadu, India. Based upon these examples, the chapter will draw conclusions on how this experience can be more broadly applied and made a part of the PPP planning process in developing countries to achieve more affordable and sustainable growth.

This paper aims to contribute to understanding the crucial influence of risks on the capital structure of project financing (PF) initiatives in the energy sector.

The debt leverage of a capital investment is selected as the response variable, and its relation with select identified risk factors is examined using a regression analysis on a data set of 72 projects carried out all over the world in the energy industry.

Results have highlighted that the debt leverage is significantly influenced by several sources of risk measured through specific indicators, namely, country stability index, the construction duration, the concession period and the average size of partners. Therefore, country, project and special purpose vehicle-related risks have been shown to have an impact on the debt leverage of a PF scheme.

The results could support both investors and lenders to better define the financial leverage of projects delivered under a PF mechanism. In particular, the study could help to have a better understanding of the main factors that influence the debt leverage in PF initiatives.

This paper contributes to filling the lack of works addressing the relationship between risk factors and capital structure in PF projects. In this way, this research leads to a better understanding of the risk factors that influence the capital structure of a PF initiative, and they have, therefore, been proposed as a basis for the establishment of improved methods to design refined capital structures.

In this chapter, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Uzkekistan to the United Nations, His Excellency Murad Askarov, sets forth his nation's concerns over transboundary rivers in Central Asia and the protection of Uzbekistan's rights as the most downstream nation in the region. A key focus of the chapter is the continuance of Soviet-era dam projects in the headwaters of the region's two principal rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. In particular, the chapter focuses upon the potential adverse impacts associated with the completion of the Rogun hydropower project by Tajikstan in the headwaters of the Amu Darya. International opposition to the project is summarized. And the unequivocal opposition of Uzbekistan is made clear.

Courses on sustainable development (SD) are taught in several institutes of Kyrgyzstan. However, courses for the specialties “eco‐technology”, and “ecological exploitation of natural resources” are only offered by two institutes. There are two alternative courses: for students; and (two months) for decision makers. The theoretical‐cognitive base of the courses includes Rio 92 documents, Club of Rome Reports, Brundlandt Report, Vernadsky biosphere‐nooshere theory, and the Kyrgyzstani Comprehensive Development Framework 2001‐2010. Three problems are also included: administrative apparatus reform; economy restoration (mining, water‐soil‐energy); and poverty alleviation. Philosophy, recent nature concept, regional and global problems are also included in the courses. A focus point in the courses is to restore balances between nature conservation and nature‐using activities, especially in the energy field (oil, gas, coal, and alternative energy from sun and wind). Sun, including collectors for water, building heating and processes for drying crops and vegetables by sunlight, are also included in the course. Small hydroelectric power stations (1‐22KW) might be used in the country's mountain range. The courses also deal with Central Asian ethnic problems (sharp divisions by ethnicity such as Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Iranian, Tadjik). There is also a course in emotional form, using poetry and (sometimes religious) verses. The courses have been taught since 1998. Thus far 400 students and 92 administrators passed the course. In this paper, the specific approach of the course, investigating SD at a conceptual as well as an emotional level, will be evaluated. Reflects on the question of how successful this approach might be for developing countries in general.

Green demarketing, which promotes anti-consumption as a more extreme sustainability tactic, could help consumers and societies move toward healthier consumption patterns while building strong, long-lasting relationships with consumers. As even the most committed brands find the need to oscillate between demarketing and conventional marketing for survival, this research tests how the congruency of the campaign shown on a brand's home page (owned media) and a following retargeting ad (paid media) could impact perceived congruency and further downstream effects. In doing so, this research proposes that the media context (i.e. news or shopping browsing context) in which the retargeting ad is embedded could determine how much congruency of the demarketing campaign across owned and paid media matters.

An experiment with a 2 (home page content: green vs. demarketing) × 2 (retargeting ad content: product vs. demarketing) × 2 (browsing context: shopping vs. news) between-subjects factorial design was employed with an online panel of 430 participants. The participants first saw the brand's home page content, then were assigned to a website browsing context where the retargeting ad of the brand was embedded.

In a news browsing context, users perceived higher congruency when product retargeting ads (vs. demarketing) were shown after a green home page exposure and when demarketing retargeting ads (vs. products) were delivered after a demarketing home page. The elevated perceived congruency successfully led to higher ad argument and ad attitude. These differences were not present in a shopping browsing context. These results showed that the congruency between the home page and the retargeting ad for demarketing campaigns mattered more in certain media contexts (i.e. news browsing context).

The study closes the empirical gap in demarketing brand activism campaigns by demonstrating when and how congruency between multiple owned and paid channels for demarketing campaigns impacts consumer responses. This study provides evidence of how the match of the demarketing campaign shown on a brand's home page and a following retargeting ad could impact perceived congruency and further downstream effects of ad argument and ad attitude while considering different browsing context effects.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the determinants of changes in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions for Turkey by utilizing the autoregressive distributed lag approach to investigate the long-run equilibrium relationships of CO₂ emissions between foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) and electricity consumption (ELC). The results reveal that foreign tourists and ELC are significant determinants of a long-run equilibrium relationship with CO₂ emissions from electricity and heat production and CO₂ emissions from transport for Turkey, respectively. The results of the conditional error correction models (CECM) confirm that there are long-run causal relationships from the growing number of foreign tourist arrivals and the increase of ELC toward the growth of CO₂ emissions during 1960-2010. The results of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) error correction models for CO₂ emissions also validate significant dynamic relationships between CO₂ emissions, ELC and tourist arrivals in the short run.

ARDL modeling and Bounds test approach were used in this study.

Rapid tourism development in Turkey has triggered CO₂ emissions. The growth of CO₂ emissions in Turkey threatens sustainability. The hypothesis of “The growth of CO₂ emissions in Turkey” is validated. Tourist arrivals, ELC and CO₂ emissions are co-integrated. CECMs confirm the growth of CO₂ emissions during 1960-2010. ARDL modeling shows significant relationships between CO₂ emissions and other variables.

Results of ARDL error correction models for CO₂ emissions validate the hypothesis that there are significant dynamic relationships between CO₂ emissions, ELC and tourist arrivals in Turkey for the short run.

This chapter addresses the Aral Sea disaster, not as an acute event demanding emergency response, but with a long-term view aimed at determining the causes of the disaster and providing analysis and troubleshooting to prevent such catastrophes in the future.

Emergency response requires quick action and no cost is spared. Such actions look very bold and are very often used to enhance the public image of politicians, businessmen, and leaders of various organizations who have rendered assistance.

The second direction, described here, is a more complicated and thankless task. The investigation faces obstruction from those who caused the disaster or who can use the crisis situation to their advantage. It is hard to get financing for long-term solutions. This chapter describes the key causes of the death of the Aral Sea. I then describe our engagement in the hard work of looking for ways to correct errors and provide innovative solutions that would satisfy the majority of stakeholders.

The UN Declaration for Human Rights on the availability of clean water gives a new context for the case made in this chapter. Here I argue that all people along the rivers of Central Asia (and elsewhere) share the same rights to have enough high-quality water and to fully enjoy a healthy environment, regardless whether they live upstream or downstream.