Resources

RESOURCES


RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Candice Hunter & Kevin Mearns
School/Work Place : University of South Africa
Contact : mearnkf@unisa.ac.za
Year : 2016
The world is changing into a place where broader spectra of responsibilities are now being embraced. A significant realisation has grown throughout the world that the Earth’s natural resources are scarce. Industrialisation and economic growth has provided worldwide prosperity. The increasing evidence of negative impacts caused by climate change has given rise to persistent environmental concerns, particularly caused by the global reliance on fossil fuels and limited energy and water supplies (Gummer & Goldsmith, 2007). There is vast evidence of devastating effects that humans have had on the environment (Schmidt-Traub& Sears, 2005). Economic development has also resulted in both positive (emergence of middle classes, better water and electricity supply, better transport systems and education) and negative social impacts around the world (high levels of poverty, youth unemployment, shortages of housing and other social resources). Protests against these negative social issues have encouraged institutional and corporate efforts to address environmental and social concerns, resulting in more organised interventions and incentives for people, companies and governments to change their behaviours and actions that are creating negative social and environmental effects. However, there is still a continuing need to address the environmental and social changes as humans are dependent upon the natural environment and its resources to achieve human development goals. All the environmental and social problems will have a direct effect on every human being around the world unless steps are taken to mitigate and reverse negative environment impacts. It is unsustainable to continue to ‘practice as normal’ focussing only on economic gains. It is crucial to look after the environment and society through changes in behaviours, practices and activities. “Sustainable development had a profound influence on the way people now perceive themselves as an integrated part of the environment: people are increasingly aware that their activities have a significant impact on the environment (Mearns, 2012: 7851).” A strong call for the implementation of sustainable development and triple bottom line reporting has been made. A new focus on companies’ environmental and social impacts have grown in the corporate world. Corporate impropriety resulted in calls for corporate transparency and accountability, which has led to the rising demand for corporate social responsibility, sustainability reporting and sustainable development (Freemantle, 2005; Erlandsson & Olinder, 2009).  The triple bottom line, was enforced within the corporate world through several avenues. An influential aspect that has practically forced companies to implement the triple bottom line reporting in South Africa is the development of the King Code III on corporate governance. According to the code, all JSE listed companies are required to comply with the latest King code, incorporating sustainable development into their business practices (King Committee on Governance, 2009). With the pressure placed on companies to enforce the triple bottom line within their business practices, this has challenged companies to create a balance of economic, social and environmental priorities.  As a consequence to implementation of sustainability practices, sustainability reporting has become an important phenomenon amongst corporations. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a focus on corporate governance, especially with regard to sustainable development and sustainability reporting, also known as triple bottom line reporting (Aras & Crowther, 2008). This has had an influence on business activities and the way in which businesses report their activities.

List of Articles
No. Subject Viewssort Date
374 Think Tank XVIII Using Delphi technique to identify experts’ opinion on... file 1405 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: Conservation Behaviour, The Great Barrier Reef, Delphi Techniques

Author: Karen Hofman 

Year: 2018 

373 Think Tank XVI The influence of environmental attitudes and concerns ... file 1416 Jul 02, 2016

This study investigates environmental attitudes and concerns of Germans tourists towards climate change. Furthermore it analyses if there are attempts to neutralise air travel emissions by means of voluntary carbon-offsetting. Past research...

Author: Isabell Wulfsberg, Dirk Reiser, Volker Rundshagen & Nicolai Scherle 

Year: 2016 

372 Think Tank XVIII Sustainable tourism products and services: development... file 1417 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: sustainable urban tourism, urban regeneration, precincts, Johannesburg Maboneng

Author: Felicite A Fairer-Wessels & Emma J Pearse 

Year: 2018 

371 Think Tank XVI Values, Sustainability and Destination Choice Decision... file 1436 Jul 02, 2016

The sustainability concept has become popular after it was first used in almost three decades ago in what is now a renowned report, Our Common Future by Brundtland’s World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987). Although much...

Author: Ercan Sirakaya-Turk, Seyhmuz Baloglu & Haywantee Rumi Ramkissoon 

Year: 2016 

370 Think Tank XVIII The role of tourism associations in supporting sustain... file 1457 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: tourism association, inclusive development, tourism marketing

Author: Niki Glen & Kevin Mearns 

Year: 2018 

369 Think Tank XVIII Connecting through Stories: Adapting Communication to ... file 1467 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: story-telling, landscapes, interpretation, sustainable tourism experiences

Author: Gianna Moscardo & Karen Hughes 

Year: 2018 

368 Think Tank XVII Australian Indigenous Tourism: Integration of knowledg... file 1490 Aug 17, 2017

Many Australian tourism ventures today promote Australian Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge (AIBK) (Pert, Ens, Locke, Clarke, Packer & Turpin, 2015) through bush-tucker tours, interpretive displays in cultural centres, arts and crafts, et...

Author: Gabrielle McGinnis & Mark Harvey & Ian D. Clark & Tamara Young 

Year: 2017 

367 Think Tank XVI Analysing CSR Practices in Food Operations: A case stu... file 1513 Jul 02, 2016

Food consumption is seen by most tourists as an important part of their holiday and tourism often takes place in ecologically, socially and culturally sensitive destinations. Through food consumption, it is not only possible to support heal...

Author: Dagmar Lund-Durlacher, Hannes Antonschmidt & Klaus-Peter Fritz 

Year: 2016 

366 Think Tank XVII Responsible tourism and innovation practices by touris... file 1517 Aug 17, 2017

Responsible tourism incorporates economic, environmental and social imperatives in accordance with ‘sustainable tourism’ notions (Booyens & Rogerson, 2016a). This research argues that tourism firms need to innovate in order to be economi...

Author: Irma Booyens and Christian M. Rogerson 

Year: 2017 

365 Think Tank XVI Tourists’ attitude towards and willingness to pay for ... file 1537 Jul 02, 2016

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Author: Isabel Lissner & Marius Mayer 

Year: 2016 

364 Think Tank XVI Challenges to attaining “Accessible Tourism for All” i... file 1579 Jul 02, 2016

Although the discussion on Accessible Tourism has increased in intensity over the past 20 years, and by now there are even a few examples of Good Practices being implemented, it nevertheless must be pointed out that this approach is not yet ...

Author: Andreas Kagermeier 

Year: 2016 

363 Think Tank XVIII Certification as a tool to identify sustainable touris... file 1627 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: Sustainable Tourism Products, Sustainable tourism certification schemes, Certification

Author: Martin Balas & Wolfgang Strasdas 

Year: 2018 

» Think Tank XVI Assessing the sustainability reporting of a JSE compan... file 1709 Jul 02, 2016

The world is changing into a place where broader spectra of responsibilities are now being embraced. A significant realisation has grown throughout the world that the Earth’s natural resources are scarce. Industrialisation and economic grow...

Author: Candice Hunter & Kevin Mearns 

Year: 2016 

361 Think Tank XVII Collaborative knowledge production development and act... file 1728 Aug 17, 2017

Increasingly, literature has depicted food tourism as a powerful contributor to the ‘triple bottom line’ of economic, social, and environmental sustainability in rural communities (e.g. Sidali et al., 2015; Sims, 2009; Everret & Aitchson...

Author: Yukari Higuchi & Yasuhiro Yamanaka 

Year: 2017 

360 Think Tank XVIII Resilience thinking used as a sustainable tourism mark... file 1745 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: protected areas, resilience thinking, sustainability, marketing, tool

Author: Claire Louisa Fordred & Kevin Mearns 

Year: 2018 

359 Think Tank XVII A system thinking approach towards promoting sustainab... file 1750 Aug 17, 2017

Over the decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and developing diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors worldwide. Every year the tourism industry has experienced steady growth. International tourist a...

Author: Toshima Makoondlall-Chadee, Chandradeo Bokhoree, Deepa Sumputh 

Year: 2017 

358 Think Tank V Response Strategies to Climate Change Impacts file 1771 Oct 13, 2013

This study addresses the threat of climate change impacts on the sustainability of the economic benefits for, and environmental assets of, tourism destinations. It discusses the challenges for both the demand and supply side of tourism to fo...

Author: Nancy Scanlon 

Year: 2005 

357 Think Tank XIX Factors influencing barriers and enabling factors for ... file 1788 Oct 23, 2019

Key words: tourism; climate change; adaptation; coast; Sihanoukville; Cambodia Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-...

Author: Tinat Nhep, Mondher Sahli and Christian Schott 

Year: 2019 

356 Think Tank XV Environmental Practices and Hotels’ Performance: an em... file 1863 Jul 27, 2015

Firms are nowadays facing growing pressure from governments and environmental institutions to reduce their ecological footprint. While a growing number of empirical studies have examined the impact of green management policies on firms’ fina...

Author: Christelle Cortese & Mondher Sahli 

Year: 2015 

355 Think Tank XV A novel review approach on adventure tourism scholarship file 1887 Jul 24, 2015

As a niche market, adventure tourism has been developing rapidly in many regions and territories, evidenced by increasing number of participants and intensive growth of adventure tourism products (Adventure Travel Trade Association, 2013; T...

Author: Mingming Chen, Deborah Edward, Simon Darcy 

Year: 2015 

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