649 research outputs found
Mainstreaming women into disaster risk reduction in the built environment in Sri Lanka
Intense damage to women caused by natural disasters urges the necessity of incorporating a
womenâs perspective into DRR. Gender mainstreaming has been demonstrated as a way of bringing a gender perspective into DRR as it could translate into identifying the different capacities and needs of different gender roles. Due to the criticality of the built environmentâs role in DRR, mainstreaming women into the built environment in order to reduce their vulnerability could be considered vital. The paper in this context, aims to investigate how women can be mainstreamed into DRR in the built environment based on case study on Sri Lanka. The process of mainstreaming women is distinguished into two sequential steps in the paper. It consists of identification of womenâs DRR knowledge and needs followed by the integration of the knowledge and needs into development within the built environment. Participatory methods, community feedback and complaints, expert knowledge, and relevant literature are identified as the most appropriate methods to identify womenâs DRR knowledge and needs whilst the identified knowledge and needs can be integrated into
development within the built environment through regulations, project documentation, and awareness,
expertise and commitment of the built environment professionals. The paper further outlines the
existing barriers, responsible parties, relevant protocols and ways of promoting the process in relation to mainstreaming women in DRR in the built environment
Disaster Risk Reduction in the Built Environment in Sri Lanka- An overview
Natural disasters have long-term implications on sustainable development. They mainly destroy
the built environment thereby hindering economic and social development, and causing
environment degradation. Reducing the risk of natural disasters within the built environment is
therefore critical for ensuring sustainable development. The paper in this context, aims to
assess the current state of disaster risk reduction in the built environment in Sri Lanka.
Empirical data was collected employing semi-structured in-depth interviews which were
conducted with a group of professionals who were involved in disaster risk reduction in the
built environment in Sri Lanka. The data was analysed following thematic analysis. The paper
reveals the current state of disaster risk reduction in the built environment requires to be
improved to achieve a satisfactory level of success whilst highlighting a number of barriers that
hinder the desired progress. Deficient funds and weak regulatory framework are identified as
major barriers for successful implementation. Central and local government authorities are
identified as the primarily responsible parties for disaster risk reduction in the built
environment in Sri Lanka in the paper. The paper further presents various recommendations on
how to improve the current situation
Policy Analysis in Prioritising Societal Challenges- the Case of Sri Lanka
The 30-year war ended in Sri Lanka in 2009. Country is now heading towards local, regional
and national development through the development of infrastructure and services. However,
there are obstacles along the way in achieving the required development targets set by the different levels of governments. These obstacles, for the purpose of this paper, can be identified as âsocietal challengesâ. According to the largest ever research and innovation programme of the
European Union named as Horizon 2020, there are seven areas of societal challenges, i.e.
Health, demographic change and wellbeing; Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry,
marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy; Secure, clean and efficient energy; Smart, green and integrated transport; Climate action, environment, resource
efficiency and raw materials; Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies; and Secure societies.
According to the EU, these seven societal challenges that need to be addressed for a country to prosper and move towards development. However, especially for a developing nation like Sri
Lanka it is difficult to address these seven challenges all at once. It should happen as a
systematic approach on a long-term basis. The paper, in this context, intends to investigate, of
the seven challenges, which is/are the critical societal challenge(s) to be addressed first in the
case of Sri Lanka. This is investigated using a questionnaire survey. Addressing the challenges
needs to happen as a top-down approach. One of the first steps towards that is the implementation of effective policies. Therefore, the main focus of the questionnaire survey is to assess the availability and effectiveness of policies in relation to addressing the societal challenges. The survey was conducted among 54 Sri Lankan experts on the seven areas of challenges.
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The findings reveal that secure societies is the most critical challenge to be addressed followed
by climate action. According to the policy analysis, âhealth, demographic change and wellbeingâ is identified as the challenge, which has the highest number of related policies whilst the inclusive, innovative and reflective societies have the least. It is further revealed that the correlation between the availability of policies and their effectiveness are not always linear
Green Activity Based Management (ABM) for Organisations
Green Activity Based Management (ABM) is a bottom-up approach for environmentally sustainable business process management. This approach extends Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Critical Path Method (CPM) principles for the purpose of capturing, measuring, modelling and reporting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The Green ABM not only looks at GHG emissions but also considers cost and time as well. Thus, this provides a holistic picture of these inter-dependent dimensions to the organizational manager for decision making. Furthermore, this research shows that Green ABM can be used to minimise the costs associated with the timing of activities while keeping other business objectives in consideration
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