Ecological Agro-ecosystem Sustainable Development in Relationship to Other Sectors in the Economic System, and Human Ecological Footprint and Imprint☆

Abstract Sustainable agriculture is the major economic sector (i.e. about 30% of Global economy) with the industrial and trading system in the world's economy. It is important to understand why the sustainable development is very important to the point of view of improving of human life and reducing the poverty. Additionally, we need to sustain our natural resources to be replenished and continue support our human population growth that is continued to increase in alarming rate rather than development, which is in a slow rate that does not meet the demands. This paper is to discuss the importance of global agro-ecosystems, to support humans' needs for feeding and continue their lives in a healthy and sustainable life and to function within the society. In addition, the paper will show the availability of the agriculture natural resources in terms of global ecological biological capacities in hectares and the trends in using these resources in terms of an ecological footprint in hectares. Additionally, we study the term of ecological human imprint in relation to the agro-ecosystem as suggested by Shakir Hanna et al., 2014 . Further the paper will address the impacts of agro-ecosystem on global economy and, further discuss the impacts of human technological advances on agro-ecosystems ecologically, economically, and social importance. Our results show that the global population will be 10.50 billion people in 2050 (i.e. 1.1% the current population growth). The available global cropped land is 2.36 billion global hectares in 2008.The question is the Earth able to provide food and other agricultural products to support the healthy living of all human beings in year 2050 at the current growth rate? The paper is discussing these concerns

Sustainability Empowerment and Lifestyles: ICTs for New Food Behavioral Models

Abstract. Recognizing the important role that modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICts), and in particular the Internet, can play in determining the so-called "Sustainability Empowerment" ("the ability to make the Right to Sustainability a constitutive principle of a new global society where well-being and its sustainability, in time and space, constitute its fundamental strategic goal"), the present paper highlights a web project that takes for example the short supply chain model as a reference to a sustainable food lifestyle. This with the purpose of highlighting the importance to guide the visitors to new patterns of food behavior most functional to the maintenance in time and space of a new well-being paradigm

L'organizzazione della filiera ortofrutticola. Esperienze internazionali a confronto

International audienceIl comparto ortofrutticolo mondiale si confronta, ormai da alcuni anni, con un processo di profonda riorganizzazione, accentuata dai rapidi e continui cambiamenti dello scenario internazionale, in riferimento alla crescente apertura dei mercati e all’inasprimento della concorrenza. Il ruolo di leadership dell’Italia nel settore, mantenuto fino a qualche anno fa, è in sofferenza e anche le prospettive future, stante il perdurare delle attuali condizioni, sono prevedibilmente non positive. Infatti, sui mercati internazionali si affermano sempre più nuove aree di produzione che dimostrano notevoli capacità logistiche e organizzative, raggiunte anche attraverso l’utilizzazione di nuovi modelli di integrazione tra intervento pubblico e iniziativa privata. Al centro delle considerazioni sviluppate nel presente lavoro è posta la necessità per l’Italia di dover organizzare in modo efficiente le diverse componenti che concorrono alla definizione della filiera ortofrutticola, valorizzandone le specificità e rinforzando i rapporti tra la fase agricola e quella di commercializzazione. Obiettivo del volume è quello di affrontare le principali problematiche collegate all’organizzazione della filiera ortofrutticola attraverso l’analisi dei “territori”, intesi come luogo in cui è possibile costruire vantaggi competitivi, risolvere i conflitti commerciali e giungere alla costruzione di un prodotto di qualità

La dimensione territoriale dello sviluppo tra competitività e sostenibilità

Il capitolo presenta una rassegna della letteratura che offre importanti spunti di riflessione sul ruolo strategico che sta assumendo la dimensione territoriale dello sviluppo nell’attuale contesto di competizione globale. Inoltre, evidenzia come i mutamenti dell’economia mondiale hanno modificato anche le fonti del vantaggio competitivo e intensificato la complessità delle relazioni che caratterizzano un territorio. Nella prospettiva delineata, i sistemi territoriali sono al centro della competitizione globale e si trovano a dover fronteggiare la sfida di uno sviluppo competitivo ma sostenibile

Qualità alimentare e competitività di sistema

Food quality and competitive system The changes in the competitive scenario which agribusiness companies must deal with have determined the transition to an economic model in which the territory assumes an increasingly more important role. The objective of this work is to contribute to the broad debate on sustainable competitive development in a local key, to understand what could be the possible repositioning strategies for the agribusiness sector. This study, starting with the traditional determinants that, according to Porter, differentiate the competitive advantage of a country/territory system, aims to identify "particular" variables which will allow the focalization on a "sustainable" competitiveness in a territory. Furthermore, given the centrality of agribusiness in a strategy of competitive sustainable development, the most significant elements that characterize the baseline scenario are presented and possible strategic options for the sector are analyzed. Finally, a possible strategy is proposed for the overall development of agribusiness to enable this sector to contribute to a sustainable competitive development orientated on a "quality of system" approach.

FACING “HOMOLOGATION”: A SUSTAINABLE RESPONSE BY THE GENETIC CODE OF TERRITORIES

An integrated approach to sustainable well-being of each territorial system rests on the commitment of all its stakeholders to contribute to building a Green Society. This means, for each of them, a no-environmental dumping pathway. If territories aim for a homologation process, to compete with each other, this strategy, especially without strong public and private investments in innovation and labour productivity growth, it will trigger, as a very likely result, a race to the bottom, through the most different ways of dumping. The natural result will be to put at risk the possibility within them, to aim for an integrated approach to sustainable well-being. In this way, the goal of a Green Society and the aim of sustainable development in the global society can't be achieved. This paper aims to illustrate the reasons for this assertion, by providing a new vision to interpret the building of a sustainable society, based on the genetic code of territories