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21 – 30 of over 22000The purpose of this paper is to examine Hong Kong's newly published nature conservation policy (NCP) which introduces two additional mechanisms to address sites deemed by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Hong Kong's newly published nature conservation policy (NCP) which introduces two additional mechanisms to address sites deemed by Government of HKSAR to be of prime conservation importance. These sites have historically proven problematic, as they have fallen without the proper scope of pre‐existing measures to balance development, conservation and social pressures.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the background of such measures and how they inter‐relate. It then queries whether the additional mechanisms are an initial move by government to tackle the most difficult sites first, prior to rationalising and integrating legislation for sustainable development, or merely another ad hoc fix.
Findings
The new NCP decidedly represents a step in the right direction for Hong Kong's treatment of nature conservation.
Originality/value
The paper critically evaluates the ad hocism in the conservation policies in Hong Kong.
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Gireesh Kumar T.K. and Raman Nair R.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scope, issues and challenges in conceptualizing a comprehensive cultural heritage information system (CHIS) in the Indian context…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scope, issues and challenges in conceptualizing a comprehensive cultural heritage information system (CHIS) in the Indian context and examines the feasibility of designing such a system with the support of advanced conservation strategies and technological aids.
Design/methodology/approach
As the conservation efforts and its sustenance requires the support of a knowledge base cum digital archiving tool, comprehensions on the availability and usage of different software tools are indispensable. Assessing the availability of controlled vocabularies, ontology frameworks, metadata standards, classification schemes and architectural designs, language compatibility for implementing cultural heritage system is inevitable for developing CHIS. The present study examines the availability of such schemes and systems and emphasis the need for developing a reliable information system.
Findings
A comprehensive system at the country level to efficiently document, manage and update the knowledge on cultural heritage is required. CHIS created can be engaged in visualizing the cultural heritages of the country and can act as an interactive multimedia documentation system. The virtual recreation of cultural heritage in a holistic manner can also ensure its long-term sustainability.
Originality/value
The digital archive of different expressions will be a rich source of data for research, administration and development. The archive developed should cover the cultural heritage depicted in the form of published documents, images, audios and videos, documents and visuals on performing arts, buildings, sculptures, ecosystem, monuments, utensils, etc. and the history and knowledge pertaining to them and any other property belonging to the heritage.
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Conservation is of no benefit unless the items conserved are used in the future, but it should not prevent use. Local library use, whether consultation, lending or photocopying…
Abstract
Conservation is of no benefit unless the items conserved are used in the future, but it should not prevent use. Local library use, whether consultation, lending or photocopying, can damage books as much as if not more than interlibrary use; and some types of material are rarely or never wanted on interlibrary loan. A conservation programme should include the retention of items for future availability, which is desirable for adequate interlibrary availability. The preservation of the contents of books by microfilming or digitization aids both conservation and interlending. The selection of items for conservation of the original or the making of surrogates presents difficult problems. When items are photocopied or lent, there are various ways of reducing wear and tear. Conservation of non‐book materials raises fewer problems, because the format is rarely important or valuable. When books are filmed or digitized, conservation has to be applied to the films or digitized text.
The ecological framework focuses on ecosystems, natural resources, agricultural practices, geographical locations, conservation and environmental management. Recently, ecology has…
Abstract
Purpose
The ecological framework focuses on ecosystems, natural resources, agricultural practices, geographical locations, conservation and environmental management. Recently, ecology has provided the underlying framework for sustainability development and reporting. This paper aims to relate the ecological approach to the environmental and conservation objectives embedded in sustainability development and reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper argues that sustainability reporting is an organizational development and management program that has to be studied within the context of ecological ethics. It examines the evolution of sustainability reporting in relation to triple bottom line (TBL) accounting systems prepared to report the economic, social and environmental objectives of organizations.
Findings
The paper shows that sustainability is a question that transcends several disciplines, including accounting and sociology. While sustainability has been within the domain of sociology (human ecology) and ecological anthropology, recently the subject has attracted researchers from other disciplines, notably from accounting and business management. This paper notes that sustainability development will continue to be of importance to financial accounting reports. TBL reporting has become a competitive advantage for many business organizations for sustained profitability and growth.
Research limitations/implications
The paper examines how governmental and corporations' natural resources conservation efforts have shaped the disclosure of environmental and social information in sustainability accounting reports. It applies theories of functionalism, institutional legitimacy, adaptation, incremental and transformational growth strategies from the organizational ecology and sociology literature to study the evolution of sustainability development and reporting.
Practical implications
Accounting has benefited from sociological theory and methods of research. It highlights the importance of ecological issues in shaping the preparation of sustainability reporting in accounting systems, a subject of interest to practitioners and accounting researchers.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the few attempts to relate ecology and sustainability to accounting reports. It integrates the sociological and organizational development literature related to ecology to advance behavioral accounting research in sustainability reporting beyond current social and environmental issues.
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Grant Samkin and Christa Wingard
This uses a framework of systemic change to understand the contextual factors including stakeholder, social, political, cultural and economic, which contribute to the social and…
Abstract
Purpose
This uses a framework of systemic change to understand the contextual factors including stakeholder, social, political, cultural and economic, which contribute to the social and environmental narratives of a conservation organisation that has and continues to undergo transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
The social and environmental disclosure annual report narratives for a 27-year period were coded to a framework of systemic change.
Findings
The end of apartheid in 1994 meant that South African society required transformation. This transformation impacts and drives the social and environmental accounting disclosures made by SANParks. The social and environmental disclosures coded against a framework of systemic change, fluctuated over the period of the study as the format of the annual reports changed. The systems view was the most frequently disclosed category. The political ecology subcategory which details the power relationships showed the most disclosures. However, 25 years after the end of apartheid, the transformation process remains incomplete. Although the evidence in the paper does not support Joseph and Reigelut (2010) contention that the framework of systemic change is an iterative process, it nevertheless provides a useful vehicle for analysing the rich annual report narratives of an organisation that has undergone and continues to undergo transformation.
Originality/value
This paper makes two primary contributions. First, to the limited developing country social and environmental accounting literature. Second, the development, refinement and application of a framework of systemic change to social and environmental disclosures.
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Meropy Barut, Jean Raar and Mohammad I Azim
The purpose of this study is to illuminate the disclosure of biodiversity material contained in the reported information of 151 local government authorities (LGAs) in New South…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to illuminate the disclosure of biodiversity material contained in the reported information of 151 local government authorities (LGAs) in New South Wales, Australia. The introduction of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (an international treaty to sustain the rich diversity of life on earth) has made the issue of fauna management and monitoring, and the associated requirement for cost-effective information, much more important. As local communities are best placed to make decisions about the protection of their local environments, the content in external reports and other disclosures allows stakeholders to gauge how accountable LGAs are regarding the conservation of biodiversity within their geographical jurisdiction.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis was used to analyze the disclosures of these LGAs.
Findings
The results reveal marked differences in the reporting of biodiversity issues. In fact, LGAs in the state of New South Wales (Australia) have been, at best, lukewarm in their disclosure of strategic information relating to biodiversity, particularly in their strategic goals and plans.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the academic literature on biodiversity reporting by investigating existing reporting practices and providing evidence that a universally adopted framework for biodiversity reporting and reporting of local native fauna is required. In particular, the impacts of these practices need to be properly understood for LGAs to provide accountability to their stakeholders.
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The term ‘exploitation’ is much used both in common parlance and as a research term when examining environmental phenomena. However, when examining the plethora of writings on the…
Abstract
The term ‘exploitation’ is much used both in common parlance and as a research term when examining environmental phenomena. However, when examining the plethora of writings on the environment it quickly becomes obvious that neither is there a commonly accepted definition of the term, nor has there been a critical examination of the concept. Consequently, the term ‘environmental exploitation’ is currently poorly understood, left unexplained or undertheorized. The failure to properly comprehend the concept is a serious gap in the environmental literature which needs to be addressed since it leads, inevitably, to normative confusion and policy errors.
Tilottama Ghosh Chowdhury, Feisal Murshed and Adwait Khare
The purpose of this study is to propose that high categorization flexibility’s positive influence on hedonic or affect-laden choice is attenuated by conservation and nutrition…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose that high categorization flexibility’s positive influence on hedonic or affect-laden choice is attenuated by conservation and nutrition mind-sets. Further, categorization flexibility can also promote utilitarian or cognitively superior preference and may have a role in steering customers toward healthier dietary choices.
Design/methodology/approach
Two experimental studies document that the pro-utilitarian impact of food categorization flexibility can be facilitated by priming conservation mind-set and nutrition mind-sets.
Findings
The results of this study show that conservation and nutrition mind-sets not only mitigate the earlier-demonstrated facilitative influence of food categorization flexibility on hedonic food preference, but also facilitate utilitarian food preference.
Originality/value
The current study provides the first evidence that food categorization flexibility can facilitate both hedonic and utilitarian preferences. The findings contribute to literature streams on categorization flexibility, resource-scarcity and hedonic versus utilitarian consumption. In addition, the findings offer specific prescriptions about encouraging customers to choose utilitarian and relatively more healthful food options, which in turn will improve the general welfare of the society.
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A. Erin Bass, Ivana Milosevic and Sarah DeArmond
A growing body of literature suggests that unpredictable, resource-depleting shocks – ranging from natural disasters to public health crises and beyond – require the firm to…
Abstract
A growing body of literature suggests that unpredictable, resource-depleting shocks – ranging from natural disasters to public health crises and beyond – require the firm to respond adaptively. However, how firms do so remains largely undertheorized. To contribute to this line of literature, the authors borrow from the conservation of resources (COR) theory of stress and the dynamic capabilities perspective to introduce the concept of firm stress – a state of reduced and irregular readiness firms enter into following unpredictable, resource-depleting shocks. Our theoretical model illustrates that firms must punctuate the stress state to adapt by first deploying a retrenchment response, thereby conserving resources and allowing the firm to consider how to best redeploy its dynamic capabilities to adapt. Subsequently, the firm can redeploy its capabilities and adaptively respond in one of three ways: exiting (reconfiguring resources for alternative use), persevering (reconfiguring resources for better use), or innovating (developing new resources). Overall, the authors offer a process model of firm stress and adaptive responses following an unpredictable, resource-depleting shock that paves the way for future research on stress in the strategy literature.
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