INTERNSHIP FINAL REPORT
ITC Limited & University van Amsterdam Internship
Alexander Armstrong
Alexander-armstrong@hotmail.co.uk1
Thematic Summary and Introduction to Internship
2
ITC Limited – ‘Who’ they are and ‘What’ they expected from me
3
Personal reflection of the internship
4
Overview of Internship Content
5
Summary of Projects:
5.1
Project I – ‘How economic rationalism in the form of the ‘triple
bottom line’ can assist in embedding aspects of sustainability
within society, contributing to the facilitation of sustainable
transitions on a broader scale’
5.2
Project II – ‘Climate change and its influence on Tobacco
cultivation in Southern India – A Metanalysis of the consequences
and potential solutions in a warming world’
5.3
Project III – ‘Proposed solutions and strategies for implementing
circular agriculture within India’
6
Appendix:
6.1
Project I
6.2
Project II
6.3
Project III
7
Acknowledgements
1 2 - 3 4 5 5 – 20 5 – 9 10 – 14 15 – 20 21 – 126 21 – 32 33 – 96 96 – 126 127CONTENTS
PAGE
EARTH SCIENCE; ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT – INTERNSHIP (24 ECTS)
1 | P a g e 1 - Thematic summary and introduction to internship opportunity
ITC Limited is an Indian company whose business model and core strategies are designed to provide a thorough approach to delivering a triple-bottom line format of operation. It values societal development, economic success and environmental sustainability as an essential basis for its ethos and direction. Its globally revered initiatives in environmental preservation and societal grass-root empowerment commits to addressing many of the UN’s sustainable Development Goals where other companies of similar scale have failed to recognise them entirely.
With India projected to surpass China’s population in under a decade, the provision of food for the estimated 1.5 billion population will be a monumental task under climate change. With severe water-scarcity concerns and altered climatic conditions already reaping a myriad of negative impacts on India’s agricultural and rural communities, developing sustainable and robust strategies for adaptation and mitigation will be key. ITC represents a company with full awareness of the importance of pragmatic grass-root sustainability practices but need adaptive measures towards the consequences of climate change and societal pressures going forward. This is of particular concern for ITC’s agri-business sector, who are responsible for implementing future-proofed strategies to delivering sustainable economic and environmental growth under a changing climate. It was with this sustainability orientated sector of ITC that my internship was assigned.
The purpose and aim of my Internship with ITC was to establish a collaborative approach to generating robust and feasible managerial strategies and alternative adaptive agricultural practices to maintain and enhance their sustainability potential under a changing climate. Through a collaborative approach with members of their sustainability directive within the agri-business sector, projects were developed with these aims in mind.
Unfortunately, the structure of this internship was altered greatly by the global COVID-19 pandemic. My original internship arrangement was to reside and work in ITC’s agri-business division in Guntur, located in south-east India where access to numerous ITC projects would be possible. Albeit, upon my arrival the global and national status of COVID-19 changed dramatically quickly over a short period of time, forcing the British government to repatriate me back to the UK. Although this unfortunately changed this auspicious opportunity, both ITC and the University van Amsterdam were accommodating of this situation and allowed for a remote internship to proceed. Project site visits and in-field assessments in Andhra Pradesh were instead exchanged to remote desk-based project’s, which will be examined and summarised in this final report.
2 | P a g e 2 - ITC Limited; ‘Who’ they are and ‘What’ they expected from me
ITC’s agri-business sector is the spearhead for exemplary climate-smart and sustainable agriculture not just in India, but on the global level. For a company of its scale, ITC is the only company to be positive with regard to carbon, water and solid waste recycling. Its historical establishment of innovative strategies which have engrained sustainability and inclusive societal growth into its entire chain of operations has been critical in delivering an internationally recognised triple bottom line performance (Figure 1) (ITC, 2018). The companies pursual of sustainable operations has delivered a multitude of incredible results when viewed individually, but when observed as a whole their achievements are phenomenal. The main aim of my slightly altered internship was to develop projects that looked to both preserve and enhance ITC’s commitment to ensuring this triple-bottom line approach to operations within the agri-business division under a changing climate.
Figure 1 – Overview of some of ITC’s results from numerous projects spanning benefits across the triple-bottom line.
3 | P a g e Through discussions with operation and sustainability managers within the agri-business division, we developed three main directions for projects that I would collaborate on with ITC. These projects were developed to include my personal interests, motives and academic strengths alongside the aims and objectives that ITC has for developing ongoing strategies for maintaining sustainable operations in an uncertain future. Specifically, ITC guided my project development as to generate projects that provided pragmatic solutions to the issues facing sustainable agriculture under climatic change for regions of importance for ITC. Doing so facilitated the exchange of knowledge and understanding from both parties which mediated the generation of these three projects which provided the backbone of my internship with ITC (Figure 2).
Figure 2 – Overview of my personal aims and ITC’s aims for my internship with the subsequent project titles that were developed.
4 | P a g e 3 - Personal reflection of the Internship
Regardless of the unfortunate and unforeseen changes to my internship, a great deal of experience and understanding was gained by myself and I believe ITC also benefited from my efforts. As a student, I have collated a broad array of skills and understanding within the field of environmental science and management, but this internship provided the ability to apply this within a corporate setting. The collaborative approach in developing the initial project aims and goals all the way through to the final conclusive statements of such a project provided priceless insight into the overlap of business and research. It facilitated the application of theoretical knowledge and understanding gained throughout my degree into a practical setting, where real-life issues, goals and aims could be met with practical and effective solutions grounded in research and scientific understanding. This was a crucial lesson for me to learn, as prior to this I naturally assumed that business and science rarely overlap, whereas this Internship provided a clear and exemplary example of how this collaborative approach is essential. It revealed that companies like ITC, that have truly sustainable operations and goals are reliant on basing these operations on scientific principles and that science and business collaborations are critical for developing appropriate sustainable operations.
In addition to this key insight into the benefits of synergistic collaborations between companies and the research community, this internship also provided an understanding of how companies like ITC ensure sustainability projects are economically and socially feasible. As a student with a background predominantly founded in science and research, little focus has been placed in developing the corporate side of my knowledge base. Often projects throughout my university experience have been orientated around developing solutions to problems that have the most scientific justification, without much regard for the actual economic and societal feasibility of such solutions. As a biocentric environmentalist I had often ignored these key factors, often prioritising the environment over economics. This internship broadened my understanding of the preponderancy of ensuring that solutions developed throughout a project are economically feasible and equally beneficial for society. Within the agri-business setting of ITC this was made very clear and evident for me, as aligning project solutions with mutual benefits for the environment, society and economic factors is critical in delivering the triple-bottom line approach to corporate responsibility and sustainability. This is an intricate balance and a aspect that I often overlooked in projects prior to my internship with ITC, a lesson that ITC highlighted with great importance throughout my internship.
Another fundamental lesson that was at the forefront of almost all of ITC’s projects and values was its approach to grass-root networking and empowerment for implementing large-scale changes to operations and practices. As a company that operates across the entire agricultural supply-chain, ITC has long recognised the importance of grass-root empowerment as a tool for implementing sustainable practices on the ground-level. Numerous initiatives ranging from its ‘E-Choupal’ farmer networking systems to its female-empowerment schemes demonstrated the importance of providing empowerment tools to the historically marginalised rural communities within India. By doing so they provided vast social and economic benefits to rural communities, whilst providing education and resources for the environmentally sensitive management of land. ITC has long claimed that this is the most effective pathway for founding true sustainability within the agri-business sector and demonstrated this to me through its inclusion in my project development. By doing so it provided me with an encompassed understanding of the importance of grass-root empowerment for persistent, effective and long-term sustainable land management.
Ultimately, a myriad of lessons and principles for sustainable business practice were demonstrated and highlighted to me by ITC. Providing insight into the potential for companies to be at the forefront of sustainability and socio-environmental corporate responsibility in the 21st century.
5 | P a g e 4 - Overview of internship content
During the first month of my internship I was able to reside in Guntur and meet with a variety of employees from ITC’s agri-business division. My main contact, advisor and assessor whilst there was Aswathaman Vijayan who was a sustainability manager for the Tobacco division of the agri-business sector of ITC. He provided me with an introduction to the variety of projects and operations whilst I was there. Aswathaman was also the primary avenue for developing the projects that I was to collaborate on and the interface for meeting other individuals within the company. My first project was developed and advised by Aswathaman to provide an overview of some of ITC’s projects and practices but mostly to evaluate the philosophy from which these practices are founded in. This was performed as to provide a basis for my understanding of ITC’s operations to contextualise my other projects and to act as a introduction to my internship. The title of which is:
“How economic rationalism in the form of the ‘triple bottom line’ can assist in embedding aspects of sustainability within society, contributing to the facilitation of sustainable transitions on a
broader scale”
During my short stint in the agri-business division I was introduced to some of the projects and practices that were managed from the Guntur headquarters. I was provided with an overview of the current status of some of its core Tobacco plantation sites within Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, as these were going to be regions and sites that I would have visited under the original internship structure. These sites within the southern regions of India were of huge importance to ITC and its rural farmer network and epitomised the implementation of some of ITC’s most successful sustainability practices and social empowerment schemes. Although they are also regions that are at most vulnerable to future climate change, threatening the basis of these sustainable agricultural systems. The basis of this underpinned my second project with ITC:
“Climate change and its influence on tobacco cultivation in Southern India – A metanalysis of the consequences and potential solutions in a warming world”
A feature that was of much focus to almost all of ITC’s agricultural systems and subsequent supply chains was the importance of constantly improving the sustainability of its practices in an economically feasible way that provided persistent benefits for its farmers and wider communities. ITC showed great interest in developing an approach to agriculture that looked to internalise as many negative externalities of its practices as possible. The basis of which can be termed as circular agriculture. In addition to providing solutions to the threats posed by a changing climate as addressed in my second project, ITC wanted to also investigate how to best mitigate these impacts in a sustainable and circular fashion. This provided the main goals for my final project with ITC:
“Proposed solutions and strategies for implementing circular agriculture within India”
These projects made up the bulk of my internship content under the altered structure and will therefore be summarised throughout the rest of this final report. The brief overview of each project, with its main aims, discussions and conclusions will be assessed in the order that the projects were performed as to maintain a logical flow that adheres to the progression of my internship with ITC. Project 2 and 3 were both large projects and access to these completed projects will be made available through QR codes and the appendix section of this report, as only brief summaries can be made here.
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“How economic rationalism in the form of the ‘triple bottom line’ can assist in
embedding aspects of sustainability within society, contributing to the facilitation of
sustainable transitions on a broader scale”
Abstract:
Project can be accessed below or within the Appendix (Section 1) With the rise of the industrial revolution and extensive globalisation throughout the 20th and 21st century, aspects of socio-economics play an increasingly pivotal role in influencing the environment both positively and negatively. This highly variable and often pervasive influence of large global conglomerates has been recognised as being a major area of interest when regarding their role in both contributing to and mitigating climate change. The ability for a company to provide a role as an agent of transition towards driving proactive corporate responsibility and delivering positive benefits to the environment, society and economy is assessed in this project. In particular, a focus is placed on the role of ITC and the concept of ‘economic rationalism’ which refers to the role of companies in driving positive sustainable transition through the application of the triple bottom line concept. ITC through a variety of initiatives and practices have cultured an internal systemic change to its operations that emulate the triple bottom line approach to business. This has been seen to stimulate social reflexivity and provide niche-level empowerment that demonstrates a company’s potential to impart positive influences on society and the environment whilst maintaining financial feasibility. Ultimately ITC have demonstrated the ability to transition operations away from an incumbent neo-liberal paradigm of ‘capital’ first business models towards sustainability orientated models of operations that provide a host of benefits to the environment, society and the economy.
7 | P a g e Economic rationalism and its mediating role in sustainable transitions
Economic rationalism within the context of this project diverges slightly from the classical neo-liberal origins of the term, but specifically refers to the role of economics and thus businesses to play a role as actors and drivers in transition events. These transition events refer to the change away from the historically capital orientated aims of a company towards a more balanced approach that encompasses the triple bottom line; ‘Environment, Society and the Economy’. Economic rationalism and corporate responsibility are considered as potentially regulatory disciplines when regarding transition management. Due to large conglomerates and multi-nationals having a global reach and tremendous capacity for the research, development and dispersal of new technologies that can offer the best chance of addressing climate change in an encompassed manner (Patchell and Hayter, 2013). ITC have invested in a variety of management strategies, social initiatives and company policies that have influenced a wide array of sustainable transitions for society and the environment. ITC has demonstrated the potential for a company to implement these strategies and initiatives to deliver a host of benefits. Many schemes and programmes devised by ITC have been developed to address land management amongst India’s predominantly emancipated rural communities. Ranging from networking initiatives which have benefitted over 4 million farmers to forestry programmes which contribute to over 680,000 acres of forest establishment and the creation of 124 million-person days of employment (ITC, 2018). The impacts of these initiatives and programmes have facilitated the transition towards a company structure and ethos that looks to integrate sustainability across all levels of the company. The results of these ‘economic rationalist’ strategies can be assessed in relation to transition thinking theories (Grin, Rotmans and Schot, 2010) to examine how exactly they mediate the transition towards a company implementing a triple-bottom line approach to operations (Figure 1).
Figure 1 – Overview of case study analysis for assessing the influence of economic rationalist strategies
to transition theories and management.
Social reflexivity and empowerment in embedding and initiating transition thinking
When it comes to the interface between companies and society, this interaction and perception can play an imperative role in influencing sustainable transitions. Such an influence can be highly variable and incredibly powerful, especially for developing nations such as India where there is often a negative effect on the ‘willingness to pay’ to combat climate change driven by social perception and income. Social reflexivity often refers to the perspective and ability of an individual to
8 | P a g e recognise the need for change and engage in driving this change. In many rural and marginalised communities in India the degree of social reflexivity will often be low due to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Mertz et al., 2009). Improving the social reflexivity of a community through appropriate schemes and programmes mediated by a company like ITC is a key example of how economic rationalist strategies can assist in developing more socio-ecologically conscious communities. Often these projects and programmes are focused on some of the most isolated and marginalised cohorts of society, this empowerment is key for transition management as it initiates an improvement in social reflexivity via a ‘grass-roots’ approach.
ITC have a variety of programmes for enhancing social reflexivity, many of which focus on epistemological developments in rural communities through empowerment and education initiatives. An excellent example includes the ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme’, providing education and opportunity for over 62,300 individuals (ITC, 2018). This initiative amongst many others facilitates the development towards more environmentally conscious communities through the provision of education, infrastructure and economic connectivity. These initiatives that look to enhance social reflexivity in turn are self-propagating and can deliver persistent, long term and broader community and eventually societal level changes (Figure 2).
Figure 2 – Multi-level perspective overview of the potential influence and trajectory of social
reflexivity on propagating sustainably orientated transition events (TBL – Triple Bottom Line). Regime Level Niche Level Landscape Level
9 | P a g e Socio-technical systems and co-evolution in underpinning economic rationalism
Socio-technical co-evolution is often associated with underpinning the concept of economic rationalism due to the competitive nature of businesses, which revolve around the ability to invest into technological R&D and strategic niche management programmes (Mourik and Raven, 2006). Companies like ITC have the technical and institutional capacities to invest in technological systems that can be conducive for mobilizing people and resources in a sustainable fashion. ITC has demonstrated how certain strategic niche management programmes within conglomerates can act as a tool for supporting the societal uptake and acceptance of sustainable innovations. An example of which includes the ‘E-Choupal’ network initiative. The ‘E-Choupal’ system is a clear-cut example of the potential influence of large conglomerates in delivering large-scale technological development. It provides a system that empowers rural communities through the provision of knowledge, trade networks and unilateral standards for land-management. Providing communities with the infrastructure for regional and national trade whilst providing them with knowledge and methods for the most appropriate sustainable practices for locally tailored agriculture.
Coupling technological developments with social advancement is the concept of socio-technical co-evolution (Grin et al., 2010) which at this stage of rural development is hugely beneficial for implementing sustainable agriculture that is financially viable. Historically this is in line with similar goals and principles that underpinned Mansholts European agricultural modernization. As implementing the knowledge and access to sustainable development at this key stage can ensure that more persistent and wider sustainable practices are recognised and incorporated into land-management at the macro-level
Governance and its role in economic rationalism and implementing the ‘triple bottom line’
Establishing and implementing these initiatives, programmes and socio-technical systems relies on appropriate management strategies as to guide the trajectory of these transition-mediating factors. The success of these initiatives is heavily dependent on the governance perspective that a company takes. For ITC, whose aim was to propagate a sustainable transition within its operations using its dispositional power, an adaptive governance method is required. This can ensure that contextually specific practices and management approaches are taken, which addresses the inadequacies and issues of current forms of governances often provided by the classically ‘top—down’ government approach.
ITC have utilized their role to implement grass-root initiatives to promote a ‘bottom – up’ approach to land management, providing an adaptive measure to its agri-business sector. Hence this provides the means to empower and improve the lives of farmers at the niche actor level which is ultimately essential for long-term sustainable transition thinking through empowerment and increased social reflexivity facilitating a common interest that transcends towards sustainable transitions (Lenoble & Maesschalck, 2010).
Conclusion:
ITC has demonstrated the importance of systemic transformations of its operating practices to shift towards a triple bottom line approach. In many of its operations this has been seen to stimulate social reflexivity and provide important niche-level empowerment that can contribute towards regime shifts towards sustainable land management.
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Climate change and its influence on Tobacco cultivation in Southern India – A Metanalysis of
the consequences and potential solutions in a warming world
Abstract
Project can be accessed below or within the Appendix (Section 2)
India’s agricultural sector comprises 49% of the national labour force and is a critical sector for providing food security and economic benefits for its growing population. With up to 80% of agricultural activities being dependent upon seasonal rainfall for irrigation, climate change threatens future food security and a host of associated socio-economic factors. Within India, the threat to Tobacco cultivation posed by a changing climate will threaten this industry, in particular the southern states which will encounter the brunt of altered surface temperatures and precipitation patterns. There are a host of direct and indirect impacts associated with increasing surface and atmospheric temperatures as well as rising green-house gas concentrations. Direct impacts include the influence of surface temperatures and CO2 concentration on plant physiognomy, which are expected to reduce the yield potential and quality of Tobacco. Indirect impacts include the weakening of the south-Asian summer monsoon system, an increase in extreme weather events and the increased susceptibility to invasive species. The net effect of this on Tobacco cultivation in southern India is assessed in this project as to deliver an array of solutions that could be implemented by ITC to mitigate these deleterious effects. These solutions range from altering the genetic-nature of Tobacco plants tolerance to extreme heat to the regional implementation of catchment level ‘water-retention and enhancement’ practices. Ultimately, this project looks to culminate a thorough meta-analysis of the threats, both direct and indirect posed by climate change as to deliver adaptive measures, strategies and management initiatives that could be implemented by ITC to mitigate the impact of a changing climate on Tobacco cultivation in Southern India.
11 | P a g e Atmospheric alterations and their direct influence on Tobacco cultivation; threats and solutions
Tobacco plants are classified as C3 carbon fixers and the influence of elevated atmospheric CO2 has been debated upon C3 plants. Some believe that a net increase in productivity could arise from elevated ambient CO2 whilst others disagree. Initial studies and theoretical approaches suggest that under elevated CO2, elevated photosynthetic activity occurs due to the increased availability of CO2. Although in reality this has been disproven due to a multitude of other limiting feedback effects (Sicher, 2011; Teskey, 1995; Jacob et al., 2015; Geiger et al., 1999). Elevated CO2 has been seen to enhance growth initially, but this diminishes suggesting that photosynthetic ‘acclimation’ occurs (Sage, 1994). According to studies and the principle of Liebig’s law of minimum this tapered growth enhancement is triggered by the limiting influence of nitrogen (Geiger et al., 1999; Rogers et al. 1996a, 1996b; Ferrario-Mery et al. 1997; Pettersson & MacDonald 1994). Theoretically, this effect of photosynthetic acclimation under elevated CO2 could be offset through compensating the newly limiting factor, which in this case would be nitrogen (Woodward 1994; Jacob, Greitner & Drake 1995; Nie et al. 1995; Poorter et al. 1997).
It has been seen that supplementing the nitrogen supply can counteract the effect of photosynthetic acclimation under elevated CO2. This is because in tobacco plants like many other C3 plants, 30-50% of the protein in tobacco leaves is represented by Rubisco, which is heavily dependent on Nitrogen uptake. (Fichtner et al. 1993). Due to the environmentally damaging impacts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, it is recommended here that more sustainable alternatives are deployed. Alternatives in the form of ‘off-season inter-cropping’ and ‘perennial alley-cropping’ of nitrogen fixing species. In the off-season when Tobacco cultivation is ceased nitrogen-fixing species such as Soybean (Glycine max) and Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) could be deployed as they have short growth-seasons (Sprent, 1999; Sloan, 2000). They can then be partially harvested and partially ploughed into the soil so that the accumulated nitrogen becomes available in the soil for the following crop.
Atmospheric alterations and their indirect influence on Tobacco cultivation; threats and solutions
Tobacco cultivation under a warming climate:
Surface temperatures in India have been relatively well projected under a variety of climate pathways, with southern Indian states expected to encounter a 1.5oC – 4.5oC increase in annualised mean temperature (Ramaro et al., 2015). Plants are constantly exposed to various abiotic and biotic stresses due to their sessile and poikilothermic nature (Li et al., 2012). As temperature alongside water and nutrient availability are primary dictator’s in the ability of a plant to survive and thrive, certain optimal ranges exist whereby a plant can be cultivated (Song et al., 2019; Fei et al., 2019; Hatfield and Prueger, 2015; Wu and Ma, 2018; Ju et al., 2013). The negative impacts on plants triggered by heat-stress ranges from effects on the cellular, biomechanical to the structural status and integrity of a plant. Ultimately this has a host of negative impacts on plant processes and can greatly reduce both the yield potential and quality of cultivatable crops such as Tobacco (Knight, 2000; Wahid et al., 2007; Larkindale and Knight, 2002; Li et al., 2012).
To address the threat posed by increasing ambient temperatures, either mass changes to cultivation location or to the fundamental physiognomic nature of the plant through transgenesis will need to be employed. Transgenics in tobacco plants has been a practiced method for providing a variety of enhanced resistance to external threats from viruses to heat stress. One of the major areas of studies historically has been the research into Heat-Shock Protein (HSP) alteration (Zhu et al., 2018).
12 | P a g e Bio-engineered implantation of the genetic transcriptional regulation gene for HSP’s from Chinese Brassica campenstris has been seen to significantly improve both heat tolerance in tobacco seedlings (Cui et al., 2015). Similar studies have revealed the role of expansins in Tobacco; the non-enzymatic proteins responsible for facilitating cellular expansion under elevated temperatures (Xu et al., 2014; Cosgrove, 2000). Through agrobacterium-mediated transformation the gene responsible for this expansin expression in Poa pratensis was transferred into tobacco. This effectively reduced cellular denaturation whilst increasing net photosynthetic rates and relative water retention under elevated temperatures relative to natural viariants (Xu et al., 2014). Other promising transgenic approaches to altering tobacco’s tolerance to temperature are explore in further detail in the full-length project and demonstrate the potential for future-proofing tobacco cultivation under a warming climate.
Tobacco cultivation under a drier climate:
From land-water thermodynamics that underpin the monsoon propagation to evapotranspiration and convective upwelling over land, temperature plays an intrinsic role in both propagating and suppressing precipitation inducing conditions. Precipitation patterns throughout the 20th century have been altered over the Indian subcontinent, partially via the increased atmospheric presence of aerosols but predominantly through atmospheric warming driven by green-house-gas emissions. The net effect of these two atmospheric manipulating agents have greatly altered both regional and global terrestrial and sea-surface temperatures. Subsequently, a weakening of the south-Asian summer monsoon has been detected over the 20th and into the 21st century. Since the 1930’s a roughly ~5% decrease in the Indian-Summer monsoon system has been noted, equating to roughly 1-2 mm / day-1 reduction in rainfall (Sikka, 2003). For tobacco cultivation in southern India this is very worrying, as many systems are dependent on seasonal monsoon systems and the rainfall it provides (Gadgil and Gadgil, 2006; Kumar et al., 2004; Rajeevan et al., 2012). For southern India, this poses the threat of annual drought and mega-droughts which proportionally impacts these states more than other states, with a 10% decrease in precipitation leading to a 25% decrease in water availability (Singh and Kumar, 2015).
To address the threat posed by increasingly sporadic interannual precipitation and the reduction in the net annualised precipitation in southern-India, both approaches to altering the supply and demand of water in agriculture is required. Enhancing the availability and efficiency of storage methods and the consumption efficiency of agricultural practices are covered in this section. From the supply side, the effective capacity of rainwater ponding sites needs to be enhanced. Within the Kathapally watershed in southern-India, the doubling in the height of retention walls and the dredging of the pond bottoms effectively doubled the storage capacity offsetting drought-days by 16-72 days per annum (Sishodia et al., 2018). When coupled with strategies to reduce evaporation potential from the surface of these ponding sites with modular floating covers, the evaporation rates can be reduced by 80% (Youssef and Khodzinskaya, 2019). Additional changes are needed from the consumption side, with higher-efficiency irrigation methods being noted as the most important factor alongside the reduced extraction rate of ground-water sources. In particular, smart irrigation deploying piezometer networks should be utilized alongside partial-root-wetting methods which can reduce water-use by up to 80% whilst not compromising the quality of yield (Kakhandaki et al., 2012; Bielorai, 1982).
13 | P a g e Biotic threats - Pests and viral exposures under a warming climate; threats and solutions
Under a changing climate the ranges of many species will be altered, as abiotic climatic
changes are intrinsically linked to mediating the expansion or retraction of biomes.
In particular, temperature is a critical factor in altering the life-cycle of ectothermic pests and viral threats, this can either induce conditions for pests and pathogens to survive and thrive or repress them. The consequence of which can be devastating for agricultural practices, whereby up to 40% of global crop production are lost to pests annually. Each year, plant diseases cost the global economy around $220 billion, and invasive insects around US$70 billion (FAO, 2019). A study suggests that the warming climate is allowing pests to become established in previously unsuitable regions, facilitating the poleward migration of some crop pests by up to 3km a year (Bebber et al., 2013). This therefore poses a huge threat to many agricultural systems across the world, including India’s tobacco cultivation.Approaches to managing the potentially increasing threat posed by invasive species in the future are primarily in the form of genetic modification, of both the pest species and the plant for enhanced resistance. Gene-drives are a promising technology going forward for the direct repression of a pest population. These are appropriately called suppressive gene-drives and are tailored to be effective only to the target pest due to genetic encoding and inherent intra-species breeding dynamics (Burt, 2003; Alphey et al., 2007). This method shows promising potential for pest management in agricultural settings going forward. As a long-term solution to what will be a growing threat from pest invasion this shows promise at being a huge tool in genetic engineering merged with biocontrol and should be noted by ITC as being a point of focus and investment going forward.
Conclusion
A promising approach to developing tailored site-specific plans is via vulnerability mapping, a key tool for land-management assessment (O’Brien et al., 2004). This tool measures the vulnerability of a system determined not only by the severity of climate change that occurs over the system but also by the system’s own sensitivity and adaptive capacity to cope with altered climatic conditions (Varadan and Kumar, 2015; Downing et al., 2000). The assessed threats (exposures) from this project would be used to determine the effective threat-level to a particular agricultural site. Based on this, the most site-specific solutions and management strategies can be identified for application in varying agricultural settings (O’Brien, 2004). The Adaptive capacity and sensitivity indices for these corresponding regions or sites could then be generated (Figure 1) to provide insight into the vulnerability of these areas relative to the level of exposure as determined in the exposure map analysis (Figure 2). Providing the most accurate and robust strategy of implementation for tobacco cultivation under various climate change scenarios. Doing so would provide quantitative insight into the most locally viable strategies that are required, strategies which are assessed in this project.
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Figure 2 – An overview of the major threats / exposure as identified in Section 1 of this project with
the accompanying measures used to generate an exposure map. (- - - Represents intrinsic links between exposure factors) (a – Chen and Zhou, 2015; b – Graham and Butts, 2005; Jaber and Shukla, 2012; Sishodia et al., 2018; Perrin et al., 2012; Singh and Jumar, 2015; Greve et al., 2015; c – Ray et al., 2015; d – Harris et al., 2009; e – Herben et al., 2006).
Figure 1 – Vulnerability profile matrix based on the components of Adaptive Capacity and Sensitivity
indices, based on the projected threats to key biophysical, socioeconomic, and technological factors that influence agricultural production (O’Brien, 2004).
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Proposed solutions and strategies for implementing circular agriculture within India
Abstract
Project can be accessed below or within the Appendix (Section 3)
Implementing an approach to circular agriculture requires effectively internalising all the negative externalities associated with agricultural activities. Departing from the conventionally linear approaches towards this more circular format is of increasing importance for developing a truly sustainable approach to resource and environmental management. Circular agriculture also goes beyond the sustainable management of resources, towards an encompassing practice that integrates the maintenance and enhancement of ecosystem services and provisions. This project looks to examine how certain ecosystem services can be enhanced as well as how aspects of water, soil quality, nutrient cycling and energy supply can be managed in a way that pertains to this circular approach to agriculture in India. Water is an invaluable and threatened resource in India, measures assessed here approach how agricultural land can enhance the provision of water availability whilst also enhancing its efficiency of consumption. Soil quality and nutrient cycling are also incredibly important for agricultural productivity and food security under a changing climate, strategies are proposed here for the alternative sourcing of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium within the context of Indian agriculture. In conjunction with these strategies that look to internalise and enhance these tangible resources, methods for providing renewable energy that is sourced on the ‘farm-level’ which can deliver an array of tertiary benefits are also briefly assessed in this project.
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Maintaining and enhancing provisional services; Water in circular agriculture:
In the framework of circular agriculture, one of the most important provisional services provided by the environment is the supplementation of water. From both a biocentric and anthropocentric perspective this is a core asset, especially within agriculture. This is a major area of focus within ‘Project 2’, which investigated the patterns of altered water availability under a changing climate. The generalised thematic projections determined in this project revealed that under a warming climate the monsoon propagated patterns of precipitation will see a dampened effect within India (Ramanathan et al., 2005; Dash et al., 2007). The net effect of this on water provisions within the seasonally arid regions of India means that developing and implementing water conscious and sensitive operations are critical for a circular approach to agriculture (D’Odorico et al., 2018). As providing an approach to agriculture that ensures the sustainable management of this key resource will be essential in providing socio-economic and environmental security under a changing climate. Strategies to ensure this are drawn from ‘Project 2’ and are mainly orientated around enhancing the availability of water-supply whilst increasing the efficiency and demand of water for individual agricultural plots.
Enhancing the availability of water on the local-level for agriculture requires the expansion of rainwater ponding and storage sites. This is key for circular agriculture, as conventional linear approaches in India has led to the over-extraction of groundwater in many regions of the country (Jagermeyr et al., 2017). The rate of extraction in these regions far outweighs the recharge rate of these groundwater aquifers, causing issues that extend beyond the reach of the agricultural land responsible for desiccating them (World Bank, 2010; Aquastat, 2010; Mertz et al., 2009; Sishodia et al., 2016). These storage depressions can ensure that localised water-supplies are maintained responsibly and that the negative externalities of over-consumption are limited. As these storage components can provide up to 23% of the annual recharge of aquifers in Southern India.
Closing the theoretical loop of water-usage in agriculture also requires changes to the consumption and demand side of agriculture. Smart-irrigation methods rely on a network of piezometers within an area of cropland, these automated devices monitor soil saturation and resume irrigation when soil moisture drops to a critical threshold (Kakhandi et al., 2012). The vastly reduced water input into an agricultural plot of land combined with the reduced physiognomic loss of water from the crops though this method of irrigation has the net effect of greatly reducing water loss. Combined with the enhanced storage and capacity and efficiency of various units and depression ponds this could stimulate a near closed loop when regarding the status of water within an agricultural setting.
Maintaining and enhancing supporting services; Soil quality and nutrient cycling.
Soil is one of the most commonly associated regulating services provided by the environment, but one of the most understated aspects of circular agriculture. Soil’s regulating role provides a critical environmental buffer and central organizer for the ecosystem (Huang, 2002). One of the most noticeably devastating and potentially irreversible impacts of linear intensive agriculture is the degradation of soil quality and the loss of key nutrient cycling
Soil Organic Matter:
Soil organic matter (SOM) is often considered the foundation and primary variable when assessing the overall condition, health and quality of a body of soil, especially when considering its
17 | P a g e productivity potential in an agricultural setting. One of the most promising methods for providing in-situ sourced SOM is based on intercropping and alley-cropping of certain plant species that assimilate SOM at rapid rates, so that they can be perennially established and cycled or seasonally mulched and tilled into the soil. A promising example of this was investigated by Kantola, Masters and DeLucia (2017), who evaluated the potential of perennial C4 grasses and their role in intercropping as a source of POM and as a bioenergy feedstock for renewable energy. Via the interlacing of rows of certain C4 perennial grasses that are established on a 5 year-cycle, the surrounding soil can be enriched with SOM whilst enhancing carbon sequestration. Particulate organic matter was seen to increase by 31-71% when these perennial alley crops were utilised, whilst providing a sustainable bioenergy feedstock. This can then be coupled with BioCHAR Pyrolysis which is examined in further detail under the renewable energy section.
An additional strategy that is advised in this project is the cultivation of fungal ‘green-manures’ on unproductive and marginalised agricultural land. It can often be coupled with solar-panelling on fringes of land for a mutually beneficial utilisation of marginal land, providing renewable energy and suitable conditions for fungal growth zones (Davis et al., 2012). These fungal growth zones can provide fast growing sources of ‘green-manure’ which when applied to agricultural soils can enrich organic matter content by 20-40% whilst providing a host of other macro and micro-nutrients (Devochkin, 1989). This can allow for a beneficial bioconversion of typically unused marginal land for the provision of sustainable compost for aiding in the closed loop of obtaining in-situ plant nutrient and soil supplementing materials (Banasik et al., 2017).
Nutrient Cycling; Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium in circular agriculture
Modern agriculture and its intensive nature are heavily dependent on the extensive reliance on mineral nutrient supplements as the linear format means that these critical primary nutrients are heavily depleted once the crop is harvested. These key nutrients are often grouped into the acronym referred to as ‘NPK’, which represents Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. Conventional mineral fertilizers are relatively inefficient primarily because of their chemical composition and the state of the soil and its ability to retain nutrients. Often up to 60-70% of mineral and nutrient inputs are lost to the environment causing a host of negative impacts including eutrophication (Das and Ghosh, 2012). Sustainable alternatives which can be sourced in-situ or from other parts of ITC’s supply chain are necessary for implementing a circular approach to nutrient cycling.
Nitrogen:
Alternative methods for enriching plant-available nitrogen are often utilized through the symbiotic association between plants and Frankia and Rhizobium bacterial interactions to assimilate nitrogen into the soil. They can then be partially harvested and ploughed into the soil so that the accumulated nitrogen becomes available in the soil for the following crop through intercropping. Alternatively, these crops can be planted prior to and during the primary crop season via crop-alley threading, whereby the line gaps between the primary crop are utilised for these nitrogen-fixing crops. Within India, the utilization of leguminous crops for nitrogen fixation accounts for 2.47 million tonnes of nitrogen annually, showing huge potential to be scaled up and incorporated into a truly circular approach to nutrient cycling (Das and Ghosh, 2012). Intercropping, as highlighted already is a popular option for smallholders who cultivate cereals as a primary stock. This allows for flexible sowing prior to the establishment of the main crop whilst also providing important soil conservation through surface covering during the offseason, fertility maintenance and nutrient input (Singh et al., 1990; Saraf et al., 1990). It has been shown that the legume crop of Crotolaria or Sesbania when composted for 6-8 weeks can accumulate 3-4 tonnes of dry matter per hectare, which is equivalent to 120 kg / N
18 | P a g e / ha-1, a value that can supplement 50% of the total Nitrogen of requirements of crop such as rice. In addition to this, the green manure residuals are rich in SOM and has a secondary solubilizing effect on NPK and other micronutrients including Zinc, Iron, Manganese and Copper (Saraf and Patil, 1995), which under controlled application can have a host of benefits for plant growth.
Phosphorous:
Phosphorous is an essential plant nutrient and is most often the limiting nutrient in agricultural systems. Phosphorous has a near equal demand in agriculture as nitrogen, with demand rising nearly twice as fast as the growth of the global populace. Unlike nitrogen though its availability is substantially lower in the environment (Scholz et al., 2013). Providing an alternative and sustainable source of phosphorous is a cornerstone for developing a circular approach to nutrient cycling. Innovative approaches and technologies have been recently developed to provide methods for recycling phosphorous as a substitute for chemical fertilizers, providing the potential for a circular economy based on phosphorous consumption (Vollaro, Galiato and Viaggi, 2016).
Two major contemporary alternatives that could provide this essential recycling are technologies that are retrofitted to existing waste-water treatment plants (WWTP) via ‘Moving-Bed Bio-Reactors’ (MBBR) and ‘Struvite Crystallization Modules’ (SCM). The basis of these technologies relies on reobtaining phosphorous from the secondary raw material which is recovered from sewage and food-wastes, which can then be recycled through organic fertilizers (Vollaro, Galiato and Viaggi, 2016). SCM is a technology that can be retrofitted with relative ease into existing treatment plants, it is effectively a reactor which is capable of precipitating phosphorous into a mineral composite termed struvite which is composed of phosphorous, nitrogen and magnesium (Booker et al., 1999; Laridi et al., 2005). In addition to its relative ease of plant instalment, struvite itself provides a multitude of benefits as a slow release fertilizer that is insoluble in water. It is therefore recommended in this project, that ITC utilise these technologies in their own private plants as well as in public water-treatment plants to obtain a sustainable and renewable source of phosphorous for its agricultural systems.
Potassium:
Potassium availability in the environment represents a unique hurdle to agriculture, as average soil reserves of potassium are generally very large unlike phosphorous. It is estimated that potassium constitutes about 2.1 – 2.3% of the earth’s crust, making it the 7th most abundant element (Schroeder, 1978). Albeit, 98% of it is effectively trapped in a state that is not readily available for plant uptake (McAfee, 2008; Zorb, Senbayram and Peiter, 2014). There is a growing demand into utilizing the large non-plant available pool of soil potassium that could decrease conventional fertilization requirements and improve crop performance in a sustainable manner. Although a widely applicable method for this has not yet been developed in full, researchers are looking into potassium-mobilizing bacterial strains (KSM’s), the design and breeding of potassium-efficient crop genotypes and the potential alternative bio-supplementation of potassium rich composts (Zorb, Senbayram and Peiter, 2014). KSM’s shows huge promise, as these are naturally occurring rhizospheric microorganisms that are able to solubilize insoluble potassium into plant available forms which can then aid in supplementing plant growth and yield sustainably (Etesami, Emami and Alikhani, 2017; Meena, Maurya and Verma, 2018). Initial studies indicate that exudates and by-products from these microorganisms under certain conditions can effectively enhance the release of potassium from clay minerals under closed conditions (Archana et al., 2013). It is recommended that companies such as ITC who would benefit from the development of this field of research also assist in this ongoing development of KSM soil inoculation.
19 | P a g e Through investment and partnerships with research institutes, ITC can utilize their unique environmentally oriented approach to projects alongside their wide sphere of influence and connectivity along the supply chain to implement field-research sites and development KSM research in field. Doing so would provide a myriad of benefits to ITC, as developing a feasible and sustainable biofertilizer alternative for potassium input into agricultural settings will be required if a truly circular approach to nutrient cycling and agriculture is desired by ITC.
Renewable energy; sourcing the energy for closing the loop.
Developing a circular agricultural system must look to internalise or at the very least subsidise the energy required to operate an agricultural system (EU, 2009; U.S Congress, 2007). Often, bioenergy is seen as a step towards this, although the cultivation of primary bioenergy feedstocks brings up the conflict between water-use, food production and energy. This disharmony between bioenergy and circular agriculture occurs due to the trade-off between land-use and water consumption, a conflict which is elevated in nations with large populations, limited arable land and an arid climate as seen in India (Wang, 2014).
One of the most promising coupled approaches to providing renewable energy whilst enhancing both soil quality and carbon sequestration rates is the utilisation of BioCHAR pyrolysis through primary and secondary bioenergy feedstocks. BioCHAR pyrolysis of primary feedstocks grown in alley-crops as suggested for the enhancement of SOM alongside the use of agricultural waste can provide a BioCHAR product with up to 70% carbon content (Scholz et al., 2014). Its ability to manufacture carbon dense BioCHAR from many forms of ‘agricultural-wastes’ can facilitate the renewable propagation of both energy and a product that can greatly enrich soil systems, providing a key tool for circular approaches to agriculture (Whitman, Scholz and Lehmann, 2010). It could also be coupled with intercropping grass species that enrich SOM as seen in the previous sections, providing a synergistic approach to providing renewable energy that provides a host of tertiary benefits for circular agriculture.
Conclusion
Circular agriculture is a necessary transition for countries whose agricultural sectors are faced with environmental and social problems associated with a changing climate (Geng et al., 2012; Ghisellini et al., 2016). The fundamentals required for this transition is the shift to ‘efficiency-oriented operations’ through an increase in the effective restoration and management of resources within the environment. These sustainable practices can provide maintained productivity which utilize as many resources within the agricultural setting to internalise the negative externalities of linear systems (Su et al., 2013). Within the context of the solutions advised in this project, the overall summary of certain changes that are required to implement a circular approach to agriculture can be seen in the following (Figure 1).
20 | P a g e Step 1 – Off / Preseason
Step 2 – Main-growing season
Step 3 – Point of harvest
Figure 1 – An overview of the required cyclical approach to implementing circular agriculture within an arable environment (SCM – Struvite Cyrillization Module; MBBR - Moving-Bed Bioreactors).
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ITC Limited & University van Amsterdam Internship
1. Introduction
2. Research rationale and questions
3. Overview of key topics of interest and case study analysis
3.1. Economic rationalism and its mediating role in sustainable transitions.
3.2. Social reflexivity and empowerment in embedding and initialising transition thinking
3.3. Socio-technological systems and co-evolution in underpinning economic rationalism.
3.4. Governance and its role in economic rationalism and implementing the triple bottom
line.
4. Conclusion
5. References List.
Alexander Armstrong
UNIVERSITY VAN AMSTERDAM
How economic rationalism in the form of the ‘triple
bottom line’ can assist in embedding aspects of
sustainability within society, contributing to the
facilitation of sustainable transition on a broad scale.
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1 - Introduction
With the rise of the industrial revolution and extensive globalisation throughout the 20th and 21st century, aspects of socio-economics play an increasingly pivotal role in influencing the environment both positively and negatively (Carpenter, 2001). This highly variable and often pervasive influence of large global conglomerates has been recognised as being a major area of interest when regarding their role in both contributing to and mitigating climate change (Eberlein and Matten, 2009). Due to the broad sphere of influence that conglomerates have, their role as drivers in the required societal shifts towards more sustainable global communities is being increasingly focused upon. Unfortunately, it remains to be fully seen whether at this moment in economic history if collective action will be taken by large companies to find comprehensive and pragmatic solutions to addressing global climate change. Such a sphere of influence was eloquently demonstrated with the success of the Montreal protocol, which looked to directly address the regulatory role of large-companies as they were identified as the predominant source of emissions, implying that they are also the primary agents for reversing this change (Patchell and Hayter, 2013). Economic rationalism within the context of transition thinking diverges slightly from the classical neo-liberal origins of the term, but specifically refers to the role of economics and thus businesses to play a role as actors and drivers in transition events. Particular regard will be focused on the application of the ‘triple bottom line’ concept, in which companies model their operations to encompass aspects of economics as well as social and environmental aspects (Elkington, 1998).
Investigating the potential of economic rationalism within conglomerates is of particular importance in many developing regions of the world, as conglomerates have the opportunity to pre-emptively embed sustainable management within its operations, which can have wider external influences on transitions towards sustainable development. To investigate this potential role, examples of transition management will be analysed within the context of the Indian conglomerate ‘ITC’ alongside other appropriate examples. ITC’s globally recognised variety of schemes, programmes and innovative approaches to novel issues facing conglomerates in the 21st century exemplifies the potential for large companies to mediate broad sustainable transitions. Utilizing and maximising the ‘triple bottom line’ approach to the benefit of society and the environment as well as the companies benefit in the long-term. Many schemes and programmes devised by ITC have been developed to address land management amongst India’s predominantly emancipated rural communities, ranging from networking initiatives which has benefitted over 4 million farmers to forestry Initiatives which contribute to over 680,000 acres and have created 124 million-person days of employment (ITC, 2018). However, to what extent can conglomerates like ITC utilise their scale and influence through economic rationalism to deliver positive sustainable transitions? And how applicable is this to wider implantation? To approach this potential role, a systemic approach to understanding how constituent management and sustainable practices within the context of ITC will be performed, as to analyse and identify the regulatory role of ‘big businesses’ in relation to theories and disciplines developed by Grin et al., (2010).
2 – Research rationale and questions:
As aforementioned, the scale and sphere of influence that large conglomerates have
in a predominantly capitalist global market provides them with historically unprecedented
potential for shaping many aspects of social structures. This potentially regulatory role that
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businesses play in facilitating transitions is the basis of economic rationalism, such a role will
be examined in the context of an Indian conglomerate; ITC. With the use of ITC’s annual
sustainability reports (ITC, 2018) alongside identified literature surrounding transition
management and theories this potential role will be examined. In order to identify the
constituent practices, mechanisms and management methods that support the role of
economic rationalism as a driver of change within ITC will be identified to address the
following research question and sub-questions (Figure 1).
1. Identify the role and potential of economic rationalism in the form of the ‘triple
bottom line’ approach within companies as a driver of sustainable transitions
management:
a. What are the constituent practices / programmes within a sustainably
orientated company (ITC) that could potentially deliver positive social
transitions towards sustainable communities?
b. How do these practices and management practices relate to concepts of
transition thinking and how does this relate to the theory of economic
rationalism?
3 – Overview of key topics of interest and Mixed Case study analysis sections:
3.1 – Economic rationalism and its mediating role in sustainable transitions
Economic rationalism and corporate responsibility are considered as potentially
regulatory disciplines when regarding transition management. Due to large conglomerates
and multi-nationals having a global reach and tremendous capacity for the research,
development and dispersal of new technologies that can offer the best chance of addressing
climate change in an encompassed manner (Patchell and Hayter, 2013). Thus, conglomerates
within capitalist structures with a certain national and international presence and economic
connectivity can have a broad influence across societal platforms (Elkington, 1998;
Okereke,
Wittneben and Bowen, 2011)
.
ITC limited is a company that has orientated its aims and objectives with the triple
bottom line of social, environmental and economic factors. Alongside the provision of its
primary services, ITC has looked to provide the means for restoration to ecological hotspots
and anthropogenically depauperated landscapes. It has done so through a variety of schemes
and initiatives that have provided farmers and smallholders to implement
water-management schemes, biodiversity plots and the integration of environmentally sensitive
agricultural practices (ITC, 2018).
Water stewardship programmes have been developed to provide rainwater
harvesting enhancement practices covering 874,496 acres of land. Supporting the water
positive status of the company for 16 consecutive years, effectively facilitating a supply of
water that is 3 times the net water consumption of its operations. Additionally, from a
biodiversity perspective ITC has implemented over 522 community-driven conservation plots
that cumulatively cover 16,094 acres of area across 7 states. They have implemented these
schemes whilst providing farmers with economically viable agricultural practices that are also
environmentally orientated. These social investment programmes mediate the ability for
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rural farmers and smallholders to deliver community-driven schemes that are
spatiotemporally persistent whilst still delivering the economic benefits of agriculture. It
exemplifies the potential for companies like ITC to invest and implement
socio-environmentally supporting schemes and practices for the net benefit of the environment,
society whilst maintaining financial feasibility and is further explored in the following sections.
The subsequent impact on sustainable transition events mediated by a company like
ITC demonstrate the roles of economic rationalist strategies in approaching the ‘triple bottom
line’. Such a stance towards this concept can be assessed in relation to transition thinking, to
determine how certain aspects of management orientation can contribute towards the role
of economic rationalism in invoking transition events (Figure 1).
Figure 1 – Overview of case study analysis for assessing the influence of economic rationalist
strategies to transition theories and management.
3.2 – Social reflexivity and empowerment in embedding and initiating transition thinking
When it comes to the interface between companies and society, this interaction and
perception can play an imperative role in influencing sustainable transitions. Such an
influence can be highly variable and incredibly powerful, especially for developing nations
such as India where there is often a negative effect on the ‘willingness to pay’ (WTP) to
combat climate change driven by social perception and income. WTP is an effective indicator
for highlighting that social perception and income influences societies general capacity and
potential to address complex dilemmas such as climate change, often due to purchasing
power and empowerment of individuals. Often this can be a key aspect of social reflexivity;
which relates to how individuals perceive issues and how best to either devise or react to
solution to address them (Beck, 2010; Shove, 2010). In many rural and marginalised
communities in India the degree of social reflexivity will often be low due to Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, as it is difficult to expect an individual to worry about wider societal issues
revolving around climate change when more basic necessities for the individual occupy their
interests (Mertz et al., 2009). Improving the social reflexivity of an individual and the overall
community is therefore essential for addressing the requirements for providing conditions in
which a society is aware and accepting of required transition towards sustainable living.
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