Researching Complex Sustainability Issues: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Developments

Fahy, Frances; Rau, Henrike

doi:10.4135/9781526401748.n10

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Within sustainability research, the deployment of large-scale attitudinal surveys is often critiqued for their tendency to provide a superficial identification of consumption issues rather than a deep investigation into the underlying rationale behind the responses and detailed exploration of such actions. While surveys are not without their limitations, it is still important to acknowledge the significance of large data sets for critically inspired and progressively orientated research agendas (Fahy and Rau 2013). This methodological approach is important and its merits are widely recognized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study relied on self-reported data and such data are susceptible to numerous biases such as recall bias, confidence bias, and/or social desirability bias, which may limit the interpretation and generalization of the study's findings. Although self-report measures utilized on surveys often provide a pragmatic and cost-effective way to measure pro-environmental behaviors (Fahy and Rau 2013), researchers who attempt to measure and report pro-environmental behaviors through the use of reported behavioral indices on survey instruments must be cautious of inaccurate reporting of actual behaviors (Barr and Prillwitz 2013;Gatersleben, Steg, and Vlek 2002;Viklund 2004). Another potential weakness related to scale (both in time and space) is inherent when employing this type of methodological approach.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Creating context for corridors of consumption: the case of Ireland

Lavelle

Fahy

2021

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy

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Global consumption levels are significant contributors to detrimental environmental change and the current climate crisis. Across Ireland, domestic consumption levels have increased dramatically during the past three decades. Public discourse has focused primarily on minimum levels of consumption, with media outlets frequently reporting on minimum wages and acceptable minimum levels of food, shelter, and healthcare. A dearth of dialogue exists on the concept of maximum levels of consumption. This article proffers that the concept of consumption corridors provides a timely lens to initiate discussion and to critically consider the potential of ascertaining maximum levels of consumption across Ireland. Drawing on analyses of an extensive database of 1,500 households across two policy regions À Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland À we argue that there is no single universally just and ecologically sustainable way of setting limits to consumption. Numerous factors must be considered including scale, policy influences, cultural understandings, and varying expectations of standards of living and quality of life. The article reports on participants' perceptions of material items as needs and satisfiers and aims to advance methodological applications of the consumption-corridors concept. This study offers evidence highlighting a need for tailored sustainability policies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating context for corridors of consumption: the case of Ireland

Lavelle

Fahy

2021

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy

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“…This was necessitated by the fact that smallholder community irrigation schemes involve multiple stakeholders from multiple sectors and disciplines, whose "multiple viewpoints, perspectives, positions, and standpoints" need to be considered (Johnson et al, 2007), to circumvent the risk of "doing violence to the complexity and diversity" of smallholder irrigation system (Soy, 2006). A commitment to inter-disciplinarity is often seen as a necessary precondition for successful resilience research, connecting people"s time use patterns with their spatial and material footprints (Fahy and Rau, 2013).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural input supply challenges of smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe

Mutambara¹

2016

J. Dev. Agric. Econ.

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This article focuses on irrigation agriculture as a critical adaptation strategy to climate change and population pressure in Africa. Smallholder irrigation schemes have been prioritised as a rural development model by many developing countries in the past five decades. However, the majority of the irrigation schemes have remained unsustainable and contributed very little towards the attainment of food security and poverty alleviation for the farmers. The study therefore unravels the underlying factors affecting the sustainability of smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe. A mixed research method, with a combination of the questionnaire survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews.. The findings underscored farmers' productivity levels and input utilisation pattern as largely subsistence farmers who were unable to create sufficient demand to sustain a viable input supply chain. The study also demonstrates that fertilizers and hybrid seeds were not affordable for the majority of the farmers. The input supply market was not responsive to the spatial, temporal and package needs of farmers. The exclusion of farmers from the financial market allayed any hopes of breaking the underproduction cycles in the schemes. Thus, the study recommends that all the intervention in the input supply chain focus on transferring the purchasing power to poor farmers.

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Researching Complex Sustainability Issues: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Developments

Cited by 2 publications

References 20 publications

Creating context for corridors of consumption: the case of Ireland

Creating context for corridors of consumption: the case of Ireland

Agricultural input supply challenges of smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe

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