Natural disasters, related to water, in various forms have become more common in our daily lives and on our television screens. Within the past years, flooding has become a phenomenon which affects global, social, psychological and economic development. In Ghana there are major problems related to water and this has increased substantially over the years. Indeed, flooding is a major issue that is evident in urban sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana is no exception to this worrying phenomenon. Poor and inadequate infrastructure and urban drainage systems have increased the risk of flooding in Accra, a city that has had an exponential increase in population. Flooding has affected the economy of Ghana, claimed the lives of humans and animals and has caused the outbreak of infectious diseases. However, current flood risk management approaches in Accra, which include demolishing affected buildings, have not been effective enough to reduce the impacts of Ghana’s floods. This paper analyzes the current situation in Accra, the capital of Ghana, relating to floods, the factors that played a role in aggravating its effects, and how communities respond to flooding events. This is a main challenge Accra is dealing with and it is therefore imperative to look at the causes of flooding in Ghana as a country and propose an approach that can help mitigate the impact of floods. The challenge is to develop strategies for dealing specifically with increased vulnerability to flooding in order to reduce economic effects and save human lives, animals and properties. The study area consists of five local suburbs of Accra namely Agbogbloshie, Old Fadama, Adabraka, Weija and Alajo, which have been affected by floods. The effect of floods can be observed in an increased amount of flood events in these communities. This thesis therefore uses the concept of resilience as the basis in solving this problem. The problem is defined using literature review, a case study, field inspections and interviews. Resilience at multi-level governance level is studied using an analytical framework to examine what policies government authorities have adopted to stimulate the adaptation of Accra into a more flood resilient urban environment. The changes need to be implemented to improve upon the flaws are also studied. The challenges involved in multi-level governance of Flood Risk Management in Ghana from the perspectives of the various actors are also examined. This will help in filling the knowledge gap in the literature on multi-level governance arrangements and the challenges involved for Ghana in the context of Flood Risk Management. To do this, a case study approach in which the interactions between the actors, stakeholders and the policy instruments are looked at, is applied. The analytical framework is derived from the work of the five elements of flood risk management of Batica et al. (2013) and the two types of multi-level governance defined by Hooghe and Marks (2003). The findings from the analytical framework include key stakeholders in flood risk management as well as aspects of resilience and response and anticipation in flood risk management. Aspects of resilience in flood risk management strategies comprise Relief, Resist, Response, Recovery and Reflect strategies. The findings are used to analyze the effectiveness of existing strategies and recommend improvements. There are measures for resisting known flood risks, but their implementation is ineffective. Involvement of the local chiefs and key private sector organizations in flood risk management strategies in Accra would allow for advanced resilience regarding their responses to the impacts of land-use changes and the waste disposal in watercourses. This research shows that the effectiveness of flood risk management in Accra depends on implementation and enforcement.

Digisation and the continuous advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) incites projections about automation altering occupations over many sectors and countries. With increasing availability of digital infrastructure, many parts of emerging economies will open their doors and become subject to digitisation, robots and AI simultaneously (Messina 2016, Das and Hilgenstock 2018), which for advanced economies have appeared slower, with less established power structures and at different times. With high uncertainty around and little literature on the subject, the societal implications of automation in emerging economies are ambiguous, with potentials of automation boosting economies and leveling the playing field of development one one hand, but also leading to exploitative dynamics, in which companies with intellectual property rights and know-how on automation technologies inflict harm on labour markets, economies and thus many societal layers of emerging economies. While a multitude of indicators on job transformation through digitisation, robots or AI and their respective implications on employment emerged and were discussed within the literature for advanced economies, lack of abundant data causes ongoing uncertainty for emerging economies. This thesis addresses the scientific gap of who is at risk of automation in emerging economies. The literature review entails an overview on the field of labour automation, the social effects of automation, and the (projected) case for emerging economies. The quantitative analysis entails the calculation of two automation indicators, Routine Task Intensity for automation through digitisation and robots, and Suitability for Machine Learning (SML) for automation through AI for emerging economies. SML and RTI are compared among occupations and socio-demographic groups as well as their relationship towards each other. To identify patterns to susceptible socio-demographic groups within the labour markets of emerging economies, a cluster analysis is performed on the most pertinent and yet orthogonal demographic parameters. The attained insights on socio-demographic clusters and their susceptibility towards automation are discussed to develop are broader picture on how automation affects emerging economies in order to educate policymakers and aid in rethinking policy approaches in response to changes in skill demands. This thesis finds ground for concern that emerging economies will be subject to a not just broader but also likely more sudden wave of digital automation than advanced economies, potentially magnified through historic power imbalances and global market dynamics. Our results demonstrate that also for the task compositions of emerging economies, it can be expected that with the advent of AI a substantively larger share of tasks, occupations and socio-demographic groups is susceptible to automation as compared to automation through digitisation and robots. Workers with low and high education show higher automation susceptibilities than mid-educated workers, although through different technologies. The finding that also high-educated workers are susceptible motivates the conclusion that education systems might see their traditional societal role of enablers of social mobility endangered. Finally, this thesis finds that women are systematically more susceptible to AI-enabled automation and the observation that men are more susceptible to automation through digitisation and robots in advanced economies does not hold true for emerging economies. This thesis concludes by calling for particular consideration of emerging economies in the field of automation in labour markets, the merging of more granular data for emerging economies and an institutional model of automation.

Nature-based water management is rising as an alternative approach to engineered water management. Nature-based water management makes use of ecological, hydrological, and morphological processes of natural rivers in designing river management policies. Furthermore, it helps conserving or restoring these natural processes for environmental purposes. Next to changes in water management, changes in the earth’s climate are occurring, which decrease the water flow in summer and autumn and increase the flow in winter. These changes will affect river uses and might cause conflicts between them. The river uses studied in this research are environment, navigation, and flood protection and an integrated model is developed to answer the research question: What conflicts arise between environment, navigation, and flood protection when nature-based water management policies are implemented under different water flow scenarios and how can insights in these conflicts be used in the policy-making process? The system dynamics (SD) modelling method has been used, because SD enables integration of physical, social and economic factors influencing water resources while addressing inter-sectoral, long-term problems. The scope of the model has been set to analysing a side channel as a nature-based water management example. The model has been built up of four sub-systems that are interrelated: the river system (including a main channel, side channel, and floodplain), the environmental system, the navigation system, and the flood protection system. The model results show that no conflicts arise during high water inflows. Furthermore, environment and flood protection or navigation and flood protection can find a solution that is beneficial (0r neutral) for both during low water inflows. However, the environment requires a side channel that is connected on both its ends – and therefore has a year-round water flow –, while navigation prefers a side channel that is only connected on its downstream end in order to prevent lowering of the water level in the main channel during low water inflows. Insights for policy-makers are found in five ways. First, the conflicts between river uses do not necessarily arise regarding the side channel per se – but concern the configuration of the side channel. Secondly, the conflicts strongly depend on the changes in water inflow due to climate change. Third, attention should be paid to compromises that are made. The side channel connected on one side can be seen as a compromise between nature and navigation and it indeed eliminates the negative effects on navigation, but it strongly reduces the benefits for nature. Fourth, for nature-based water management to be truly effective for environmental purposes, integration of several measures is required. Finally, the model showed that system behaviour is strongly dependent on fixed standards (e.g. maximum amounts of vegetation and presence of summer dikes). The model that was developed in this research can also be used to study the effects of river channel widening, floodplain widening, summer dike removal, and changes in floodplain vegetation management.

The IPCC report of August 2021 calls for an immediately reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Without changing the world’s diets, even if we stop all fossil fuel emissions today, we would still not be able to maintain global warming below 1.5°C. The EU has set out their strategy for reducing agricultural emissions in the Farm to Fork Strategy, as part of the European Green Deal. This strategy, however, falls short of addressing meat consumption. Individual meat consumption is shaped by a range of factors, including social norms. The influence of these norms is investigated in this thesis, which addresses the research question: “how do social norms influence meat consumption and to what extent can European policy influence these to reduce meat consumption?”. This thesis takes the Netherlands as case study, and constructs an explorative agent-based model, based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, where social norms spread through social networks. Individual meat consumption is broken into beef, pork, poultry, processed and substitute meat consumption. The factors of influence are analysed in this research through a correlation analysis of various surveys, and the likelihood to eat specific meat types is calculated through a least-squares multiple regression analysis. This research finds that social norms play a tangible role in shaping consumption, and targeting these can emissions from meat consumption by 0.4-4%. Fiscal policies are a more effective policy measure for the EU to follow, as a 20% tax on all meat can reduce emissions by 10%. A tax on beef was found to redistribute consumption in such a way that overall emissions do not decrease. The findings from this research are discussed in the political, policy and socio-economic contexts regarding meat consumption.

The gap between planning and budgeting is a problem for improving health systems. In decentralisation health care services, authority, resources, and responsibilities are moved from central actors (i.e. national government) to peripheral actors (i.e. municipalities). Adding the risk of creating silos within sub-national governments, creating the need for collaboration in some form. Data analytical forecasting, like prognosis tools, may facilitate planning for health care service implementation. When operating on the interface between actors, as a boundary object, they may mitigate the risk of fragmentation and isolation associated to decentralisation, by enabling collaboration. In the case of decentralised Assisted Living in the Netherlands ("Beschermd Wonen") citizens dealing with psycho-social problems, receive guidance to participate in society. Newly responsible sub-regions have limited facilities and funds for their own citizens. Newly responsible sub-regions having limited facilities and funds, may face incurring costs and inaccessible care when citizens seek to other areas due to uncoordinated implementation and elimination of facilities. To plan these, a prognosis tool was designed and developed for the three sub-regions. A literature review was conducted on decentralisation of health care services globally. The prognosis tool’s technical design and development, and observations during, were studied. Analysed Interviews with actors involved in the prognosis tool, assessed if and how collaborating was enabled. Lack of research on the implementation of decentralisation for health services, the use of prognosis tools for this purpose, the risk fragmentation resulting from independent processes and lack of system focus and the need for collaboration were highlighted in the literature, justifying building and testing a tool. The design of the tool was therefore intentional: colour codes stimulated usability, the three sub-regions sub-files were stored in one place promoting transparency, and standardisation was stimulated by representing all sub-regions’ demands and resources into a general fitting categorisation and identical calculations from input to results for all sub-regions. The tool and outcome is usable for agreements with care suppliers (procurement) or housing and enables organisation through agreements between sub-regions. The meta-analysis of the interviews revealed that from the prognosis tool’s design and development, shared understanding emerged through shared language and extensive problem demarcation. An independent expert mediated the needs of sub-regions, staying close to the task. This combined with the factual outcome led to insight and clarity in the content of subregions’ own and other’s task. Inducing trust and confidence in the relation and in achieving own and shared goals. Leading to tranquility and comfort, setting the atmosphere for collaboration. By clarifying the uncertainties and interdependencies, where or why collaboration is needed (the identified risk) has stimulated collaborative action. This prognosis tool has enabled collaboration for decentralised health services by addressing both socio-technical aspects. The latter integrate the effected sub-systems, ensuring the outcome can be used for organising future steps (such as procurement). The former, extensive problem demarcation and shared language emerged a shared understanding of the system. In combination with the factual outcome (prognosis), insight and clarity was created into the actual need and to enable trust and comfort, enabling collaboration.

To protect the coastal system, nourishment of the coast is nowadays being applied more frequently. Within these coastal systems new elements are often implemented to add value to the design without compromising on the function of the design of the nourishment. One of these possible purposes is the creation of an artificial lagoon. However, to be effectively applied a deeper understanding of the behaviour of these lagoons is required. In 2015 the Hondsbosse Dunes (HD) were realized at the Dutch coast at the former “Hondsbosse en Pettermer Zeewering” near Camperduin, and an artificial lagoon was created for nature and recreation purposes within this design. The lagoon provides a boost for both the beach itself as well as the surrounding region. However, the lagoon’s inlet is not stable and continuous maintenance is needed. The objective of this study is to explore the behaviour and longevity of this artificial lagoon, considering the frequency and moments of closure of the lagoon’s inlet. This is achieved by assessing and studying offshore hydrodynamic conditions, satellite imagery, geographical measurements, dredging activity, and water level measurements inside the lagoon. Whether the lagoon is stable or not depends on the inlet stability. Key factors that affect the inlet stability are the tidal prism and the annual littoral drift. The lagoon at the HD can be characterized as an intermittently closed estuary, which is a water body that become isolated from the open coast for a period of time. This system can be divided in a perched or a non-perched system. A perched system has a high berm that closes of the system, where a non-perched system does not necessarily have a berm but has a lack of channel surface area. To get a better understanding on how local hydrodynamic conditions can cause the lagoon’s closure, the hydrodynamic conditions and available data were analysed. The significant wave height for storm events and the total water level at the shore, which includes the tide, the surge and the runup, are considered for the hydrodynamic conditions. Geographical measurements, satellite imagery and dredging moments are used to achieve a better insight of the system. The lagoon surface area is examined above 2.03 m NAP, to establish the behaviour of the lagoon basin and its inlet in time. The result of the data analysis performed in this thesis suggest that the lagoon surface area does not move spatially in time. However, due to the lack of bathymetric measurements the lagoon could not be studied in further detail. Closure of the system occurs due to its highly dynamic channel, which is supported by an analysis of the cross-sections of the channel area in combinations with satellite imagery. A detailed view on the water level inside the lagoon and the exchange between the open coast resulted in four stages that were indicated visually: 1.Closed stage, resulting in a closed channel. The water level can only increase when the water level at the open coast overflows the berm. It leads to a stepwise increasement of the water level, referred to as a perched system. .Open stage. The channel is open and water exchange is possible with the open coast. The effect of the tide can be observed clearly in the water level of the lagoon. 3.Dredging stage. The water level decreases rapidly from a level above high tide at the open coast, to a value near or below high tide level. Afterwards water exchange with the open coast may occur, but this is not always the case. 4.Episodic event. The water level fluctuates, for which the cause cannot be stated beforehand. It depends among others on the type of system, hydrodynamic conditions and on the shape of the channel. The system is called non-perched when a high-water level overwashes the berm in the channel. It seems that the system is open, but water exchange does not occur and the water level in the lagoon increases Analysis of these stages indicates that the system is closed almost 70% of the time. The system is most often closed between October and April, when the channel is dredged again leading to an open system. An open system occurs after dredging in spring, where the results shows that the water level inside the lagoon follows the tide. The data indicate that the system is open for 10-17% of the time. Storm events highly influence closure of the channel. Although storm events on the North Sea are indicated by a significant wave height larger than 400 cm, the results demonstrate that storm events with a significant wave height of 300 cm provoke closure of the channel. This is the result of the small catchment of the lagoon. These storm events increase in winter periods, whereas summer storms appear two to three times a year. The impression that storm events lead to closure of the channel is therefore confirmed. The results show that the lagoon remains the same over a timespan of three years, which suggests that the frequency of closure and opening is not time dependent. This leads to different dredging strategies that are possible for the near future. To create an open lagoon all year round, dredging frequency needs to increase, as it is implied that storm events lead to closure. This increases the dredging costs. If the preference lies in low dredging costs, the system will be closed during certain periods of the year. Since the lagoon is created for recreation purposes closure during the winter season and dredging during the recreation season is proposed as a strategy. These findings correspond to the currently considered strategy for the HD. The data suggest that artificial lagoons, like the investigated case at the Hondsbosse Dunes, never stay open or open without human intervention. This indicates that active management is needed to keep these lagoons open.

Current implementation of Quantitative Easing (QE) by the European Central Bank (ECB) contributes to global warming and counteracts a transition to a carbon-free economy. The research formulates green alternatives for current QE policy that are consistent with the ECB’s mandate. Evaluation in a stock-flow-fund ecological macroeconomic model shows that global implementation of these alternatives can significantly contribute to a mitigation of climate change. Through lowering financing costs, green QE leads to higher shares of green investment and green capital, apparent immediately after implementation. More green capital leads to higher shares of renewable energy which leads to lower levels of carbon emissions. In the most extensive policy alternative, this results in a mitigation of atmospheric temperature rise of approximately 12% compared to a baseline scenario, to approximately 6% in a limited policy alternative. Macroeconomic performance or the stability of the financial system are not affected by these policies in the short to medium term, and positively in the long term. These effects justify a consideration on whether green QE should become ECB policy.

Large-scale infrastructure projects such as ports can have a significant impact on the development of nearby cities. While economic benefits of the port spill over to other regions, often internationally operating firms, port-cities experience negative externalities like environmental and land use issues and traffic congestion. Traditional port impact studies are expensive, and offer a static picture that doesn’t take into account the complex adaptive nature of the port-city system. There is a need for a comprehensive dynamic model of port-city development, incorporating beneficial and negative externalities of port infrastructure development on the city and peri-urban green space. A system dynamics modelling study is performed using the case study of Tema and its port on the Gulf of Guinea in Ghana, to evaluate interventions for sustainable port-city development in an African context. A model is conceptualized and specified, based on Forrester’s Urban Dynamics model, fit to cope with relative scarcity of available data. It incorporates and explicitly models road transport congestion, informal settlement and green space encroachment, as well as port infrastructure. Model testing and use show that the model is fit for the purpose of exploring the long term impacts of port infrastructure investments on the port-city system. Interventions aiming at sustainable development are simulated and evaluated for their performance. Recommendations regarding interventions and the potential future use of the model with stakeholders are made.

For most countries, the targets set in the sustainable development goals for 2030 are far from being met. The main cause is a lack of financing, due to the relatively high risks and low rewards associated with sustainable projects. This has caused a financing gap in developing countries of upwards of 2.5 trillion US$ annually, equal to 3% of global GDP. These unattractive aspects of sustainable investment projects result in a lack of private investment, leaving public investment as the main source of funding for these projects. A vital area within the financing gap is the lack of financing for SMEs in developing countries, which are important for economic growth and job creation. The issues faced by these countries and especially SMEs have been compounded by the COVID 19 pandemic, which has claimed countless lives, but also countless jobs in developing countries and has caused extensive economic damage. In this light, achieving impact on SDG 8: ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’ was deemed critical for the whole of sustainable development. Recently, blended finance, an investment type utilizing public and philanthropic capital to accelerate private investments, has become more popular. However, effective practices of using blended finance to foster job creation in developing countries through SME financing are lacking. Furthermore, there is little to no literature on investment decisions that goes into selecting projects for blended finance. In this light, this research aims to answer the following question: “What are effective practices and key investment decisions in using blended finance to fund SMEs in developing countries, focusing on impact towards achieving SDG8? To answer this question, a literature review of the concept of sustainable development, sustainable financing methods and the role of SMEs in the developing countries was conducted. This highlighted the potential of blended finance when compared to other sustainable financing methods in being able to aid these SMEs and impact SDG 8. Afterwards, a data analysis of the performance of recent SME financing projects in developing countries, as well as a case study consisting of interviews with blended finance investment experts was conducted, in order to find effective practices of financing SMEs in developing countries to facilitate the targets set by in SDG8 and highlight how investment decisions are (to be) taken when considering blended finance projects. It was found that even though the projects in lower-income countries within the could have stronger performance, a balance has to be struck between projects in these countries and those in slightly less low-income countries, in order to achieve consistent results. Furthermore, the use of public loan guarantees seems like a promising method but is currently suffering from a lack of willingness by banks to engage in blended finance transactions, due to solvency issues and general lower risk appetite and unfamiliarity with the methodology. Furthermore, key investment decisions from an investor perspective lie in the specific business case of the project and whether the investment is ‘additional’ to the market. Furthermore, the attitude and capabilities of the entrepreneur behind the project are essential, as investors prefer projects in which the entrepreneur has enough skin in the game and is open to collaboration with a multitude of investors, such that one investor does not have to bear all the risks. Furthermore, it is important for investors to balance impact with financial performance, as only achieving impact through risky projects is not a sustainable business practice. More investment decisions could be made in the future if more and different blended finance methodologies would become more readily available. However, many of these, such as higher-leverage loan guarantees and first loss guarantees, are hampered by a lack of willingness again of private credit suppliers to engage in these transactions with public blended finance institutions. Furthermore, larger fund sizes would help investor diversity more, and thereby reach a wider range of projects and achieve more universal impact. Therefore, it is recommended that if blended finance investments globally were to be expanded, that policy makers such as the UN, local governments, and the World Bank find ways to increase awareness of private credit suppliers and for them engage in more blended finance transactions. Furthermore, concrete law and regulation changes should be considered to the use of collateral, both physical and non-physical, by SMEs in developing countries, as to ensure SMEs will become more capable of engaging in loans with banks, which could then be supported by public investors in various blended finance arrangements. It is finally recommended that further research is done on this topic, especially at a larger scale and perhaps slightly into the future, when more projects will have been completed and therefore results will have become clearer. This could further explore the effectiveness of blended finance compared to other investment methods, and if found to be more effective, convey this to private parties. If these measures are to be taken and the knowledge on blended finance is expanded, it stands to reason that blended finance could be one of the tools to reduce the investment gap in sustainable development and aid in the creation of jobs in developing countries, where people need these most.

Coral reef ecosystems are slowly reaching their physical ecosystem boundaries. Urgent action is required by reducing carbon emissions, halt degradation, and initiate restoration and conservation efforts of coral reef ecosystems, and bring coral reefs back to a safe ecosystem operating space. This research study uses a multidisciplinary approach that aims to understand the dynamic behavior of (sub)tropical social-ecological coral reef ecosystems in the Anthropocene and provide insights for future interventions. The study combines literature reviews, expert interviews, cognitive mapping, and system dynamics modeling to determine the variables, relations, and dynamics within coral reef ecosystems, and draw implications for future intervention. The insights are combined in a qualitative and quantitative stock-flow model, through which dynamics of anthropogenic stressors effects on coral reef behavior are examined, and implications for future intervention in social-ecological coral reef ecosystems are drawn. The findings highlight the importance of considering multiple stressors, understanding social-ecological feedbacks, and taking into account as well global as local stressors to restore coral reefs in the face of anthropogenic stressors in the Anthropocene.

This research is designed to provide a structured and comprehensive examination of the complex relationship between climate readiness, climate aid, and carbon efficiency in African countries. At its heart, the primary goal is to construct a climate readiness framework initially designed to assess developing nations and subsequently refine it to align with the distinct contexts of African nations. This framework undergoes a two-fold process, starting with its conceptualization and followed by its adaptation through a combination of theoretical examination and real-world application. It forms the foundation of this research, supplying essential insights relevant to policymakers and institutions engaged in tackling climate-related issues specific to Africa. In the second phase of the study, a linear regression model is employed to analyze the connections between carbon efficiency, climate readiness, and climate aid. Carbon efficiency is determined using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), while the climate readiness variable is derived from the developed framework. The empirical findings underscore the critical role of targeted climate aid, particularly in countries with higher climate preparedness. This synergy contributes significantly to decoupling carbon emissions from economic growth, emphasizing the importance of strategic climate aid in fostering sustainable and environmentally responsible economic development. Overall, this research aims to shed light on the complex interplay of factors shaping climate outcomes in African countries, providing a foundation for informed decision-making and policy development in the realm of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

In this research, the creation, use and spread of knowledge acquired in Building with Nature pilot projects is researched, with the goal of providing recommendations to improve this use and spread in future Building with Nature pilot projects. To achieve this, a case study with the Sand Engine as the subject is performed. In addition to this, a literature review and interviews were undertaken, and two System Dynamics models were created which were applied to the Sand Engine case. As a results, seven recommendations for future pilots were found: First, ensuring the internal success of the pilot is crucial. 2. Including knowledge creation and spread as design factors in the pilot project design, 3. Designing the pilot project to be multi-functional, 4. Ensuring the pilot project fits the long-term policy plans and strategy of important stakeholders, 5. Involving champions of knowledge, who are able to turn over the project at the right time, 6. Implementing knowledge programs within the pilot project and 7. Ensuring the free sharing of knowledge between stakeholders and interested parties. Recommendations for further research and policy include performing complementary case studies on other Building with Nature pilot projects, expanding the number and variety of interviewees, and implementing a new format of data collection, management and storage in Building with Nature pilot projects.

Currently, there is no standardised process for monitoring and evaluation of nature-based flood defenses pilots in Dutch rivers and floodplains. Thus, piloted technologies cannot be compared fairly with other nature-based flood defense technologies and conventional solutions. This study developed such a process by way of a monitoring and evaluation framework, using a research-by-design approach. This monitoring and evaluation framework is incorporated into a knowledge base that was developed in parallel to store the results of monitoring and evaluating and to effectively share knowledge about each pilot for future reference. The primary intended users of the knowledge base are researchers, therefore requirements were elicited via interviews with matter experts. Findings from the interviews, combined with literature review, formed the basis of design and development for the monitoring and evaluation framework and knowledge base. A second round of interviews was held for iterative improvements of this design via feedback and subsequent revision. In total, three design-feedback iterations were done. The last provided validation results of the improved solution. The main findings indicate that a knowledge base approach has merit and it is suggested that Rijkswaterstaat adopt and improve this solution as a template within their innovation process. The innovation process at Rijkswaterstaat is being developed right now and has incorporated evaluation of pilots. Additional results are a large number of possible avenues for further development and future research.

The Akosombo dam in Ghana's Lower Volta River Basin provides essential economic benefits through hydropower generation, flood protection, and irrigation opportunities. However, since its construction was completed in 1965, the livelihood of the riverine communities drastically changed. The seasonal peak and low flows in the river, which provided environmental services for many downstream households, are now replaced with a stable river flow throughout the year to favour hydropower production. A study on dam reoperation is not only of interest to look into the possibilities of restoring healthy ecosystems but also to look at how current water demands in the basin can be sustained. Climate change and increased water demands for irrigation are expected to strain the water resources in the Lower Volta. Reoperation is also complicated by the absence of water treaties with neighbouring countries. This can result in lower flows from upstream riparian states due to their increasing water needs. In this study, we aim to understand the vulnerabilities of the Akosombo system while finding robust policies that can cope with challenging climate and demographic conditions. This study highlights the challenges in balancing irrigation, environmental, and hydropower goals while also identifying system vulnerabilities and opportunities for robust operations to meet the Lower Volta River water demands under future challenging conditions. This is done by reevaluating previously found optimal release policies under uncertainty. From this study, it can be concluded that the uncertainties included in the analysis will alter system functioning. Not only will floods occur with the onset of climate change, but energy production and irrigation potential will also become lower if upstream states start to use more water. The most critical abstractions are those of Togo and Côte d'Ivoire. A benefit of this is that these abstractions also provide some protection against floods. It is therefore wise to create cooperation projects with these countries to safeguard the current benefits of the Akosombo and Kpong dam and create new benefits for all parties.

As ports are important infrastructure for a countries economy, ports fulfill a vital role in society. In the contemporary global environment, one is expected to adjust its business routines to meet sustainability targets. Because of their significant importance in a port governance framework, terminal operators prove an interesting unit of analysis in the broad concept of port sustainability. This research addresses the notion of port sustainability from the angle of terminal operators' sustainable performance evaluation. The Data Envelopment Analysis technique is employed to benchmark the sustainable performance of various terminal operators active on the global market. Data were obtained from sustainability and CSR issues on behalf of the operators. The conclusions signify that the lack of a cohesive framework for the monitoring and reporting on sustainability measures jeopardize the validity of the results. Even though some interesting patterns can be inferred from the outcomes of the analysis, future research should focus on the retrieval of validated performance statistics and constructing a sustainable performance indication framework for the terminal industry.

The thesis proposes an education system that have the potential to safeguard freedom of education. Freedom of education is found to be essential for human flourishing after discussing Aristotle's Eudaimonia and different definitions of freedom. The thesis proposes that the social spheres (cultural, economic, and political) need to have an ideal allocation of freedoms: negative freedom in the cultural sphere, positive freedom in the economic sphere, and Enlightenment freedom in the political sphere. This ideal allocation of freedoms is compared to the current allocation which is derived from a broad review of educational reforms in the United States of America and the Netherlands. Ultimately, the proposed system is based of a voucher system that ensure equal funds to students regardless of the curriculum they choose. Such a system also provides complete educational autonomy for the teachers to create their own curriculum, or choose which ones to participate, and define their own quality standards outside of political and economic influences.

The city of Kolkata in India is undergoing rapid urbanization and expansion. As the city expands and engulfs its neighboring areas, it threatens the sustainability of natural resources in peri-urban areas – spaces that are gradually transitioning from rural to urban areas. One such natural resource, groundwater, forms the lifeline of peri-urban communities near Kolkata, supporting their drinking, domestic, and livelihood needs. However, under conditions of rapid urbanization, industrialization and population growth, peri-urban areas witness over-exploitation of the groundwater resource. Limited capacity of formal government bodies to manage the resource coupled with ongoing trends of decentralization in India provide the basis for exploring new ways of managing groundwater in peri-urban areas. One such approach is community-based management (CBM) where local communities can craft rules and norms to sustainably manage a resource. This research studies two peri-urban areas near Kolkata to understand the groundwater problems faced by peri-urban communities, how they respond to these problems, and what challenges they face in resolving their problems. First, the Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) framework developed by Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues is used to structure and highlight the factors critical for managing groundwater in peri-urban areas. Next, the overall performance of CBM is evaluated using Ostrom’s design principles and 10 second-tier SES variables proposed by Ostrom (2009). The research shows that peri-urban communities at best cope with problems of groundwater scarcity or seek short-term solutions to delay periods of scarcity. The results from this evaluation show that although community-based management is a good strategy in theory, its realization in peri-urban areas will need to overcome barriers such as low predictability of the groundwater resource, lack of community-wide leadership, low autonomy to craft rules for groundwater management, and varied mental models.

Our planet is witnessing an unprecedented increase in temperature that is causing frequent damages such as extreme weather conditions, acidification of oceans and extinction of species that may soon become irreparable. Various studies have reported that greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from human activities in industries that produce 'material goods' like transportation, energy, manufacturing and agriculture have been the chief drivers of the climate change crisis. Even as greener and renewable energy technologies are increasingly being adopted, since consumption of material goods in the rich parts of the world continue to increase, it may not be enough to solve the environmental problems in time. However, we may be able to solve them by adopting a different way of living. In order to do so, we need to understand the purpose of the economy. According to Aristotle, Eudaimonia or the 'good life’ which is the full development of human capabilities or virtues is the ultimate end of human life and the purpose of the economy or the production and consumption of material goods by people are simply a means towards this ultimate end. A similar idea that human beings have an ultimate end towards which all actions are directed can also be found with the more popularly known Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This essentially means that human beings need material wealth only insofar that it supports the fulfilment of their non-material needs: the development of capacities/virtues. 'Non-material' can refer to needs such as enjoying a classical dance performance, or studying philosophy or engaging in therapy. This perspective allows us to rethink growth in terms of a shift from material to non-material needs, which could also help solve the world's environmental problems as long as non-material needs can be met in less polluting ways (as compared to how material needs are met). Following this, economic activities are classified as physical (or goods-producing) or non-physical. Activities in the physical economy meet material needs and have a higher potential for productivity growth. Activities in the non-physical economy, including health care, education, research and arts, meet non-material needs and have a lower potential for productivity growth since human work is generally the final output. Based on this classification, it is observed that, in the advanced economies, the share of the physical economy in total demand is getting smaller, while the share of the non-physical economy is getting bigger over time, reflecting human development from material to non-material growth. If the non-physical economy − which consists mainly of human work such as a doctor's advice, a lesson, a concert − is relatively less polluting, such a shift could mean good news for the environment. While this looks promising, a consequence of the lower potential for productivity growth in the non-physical economy is that their activities can be expensive. Baumol (1993), termed this the 'cost disease' and argued that people in the rich parts of the world can afford the expensive 'personal services' when funds resulting from the productivity gains in the physical economy (due to labour-saving innovations) are transferred to the non-physical economy. Yet, nowadays, the standard response to the 'cost disease' is to replace human work with technology through standardisation, computerisation and robotisation of hitherto human tasks as a way to minimise costs. Due to the nature of work in the non-physical economy, the growing technology/ material-intensity can affect the quality of the non-material value created, while it may also increase the pressure on the environment. This led me to investigate the impact of the rising technology-intensity in the non-physical economy on the quality of outcome and on the environment. One of the main activities in the non-physical economy, health care, is 'an art and a science' in the sense that it takes care of the health of a human being in order to enable him to develop intellectually and psychologically and it is not just about 'fixing' what is broken. Doctors, therapists and nurses are people who possess besides clinical knowledge, interpersonal skills such as understanding and empathy to carry out complex human interactions with patients. Yet, in recent times, especially in the United States, technologies such as electronic health records (EHR), e-prescribing, tele-medicine and health apps are increasingly being adopted to displace some of the creative work performed by health care professionals. The main drivers of such trends identified are: the privatisation of health care, the systems of 'Managed Care' and government measures such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 that allocated funds to incorporate health information technologies in health care facilities across the country. Some of the common experiences found with the adoption of technology in health care are: a supplier-induced demand for drugs and medical technologies due to a 'fee-for-service' payment model for doctors, a 'technology arms race' between hospitals and ‘direct-to-consumer’ advertising of medicines and medical technologies. Some of the consequences of these trends found are: unnecessary testing leading to increased overall health care costs, 'physician deskilling' due to decreased clinical knowledge and psychological and health implications for patients due to less physician-patient interactions and more 'end-of-pipe' solutions. From a brief review, it is also found that the health care system in Canada is less technology-/material-intensive than the health care system in the U.S. with (roughly) the same quality of service which shows that different kinds of health care systems can coexist with one another. A second activity of the non-physical economy, education, is one that enhances the intellectual and spiritual development of students, guided by a curriculum. According to various studies, teachers are indispensable in this activity in terms of their personal knowledge, their pedagogical capacities and their ability to instill curiosity, enthusiasm, sympathy, and morality in students through complex and dynamic interactions. Yet, similar to health care, even the creative work of teachers are being displaced with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) such as: talent management software, digital learning technologies, MOOCs, allegedly to improve quality of education. In the United States, some of the trends commonly found to promote such technologies are: a pay-for-performance model for teachers to improve productivity of student grades, a common core standard curriculum and standardized tests for students to get them ready for college and careers. Some of the consequences of the growing technology intensity in education are found to be: teacher deskilling, lack of evidence of improved student performances and psychological implications for students such as diminished social skills, lack of creative and original thinking etc. These findings suggest that the growing technology-intensity in health care and education may have not significantly improved the quality of service provided, especially since the nature of work in these activities are different. Besides this, they could also lead to a higher environmental burden. In this thesis, I investigate whether the latter is the case, which is done in two steps. First, I investigate whether the non-physical economy is less polluting than the physical economy. Next, I examine the environmental consequences of the rising technology-intensity of the non-physical economy. The empirical research method applied is the Environmentally Extended Input-Output (EE-IO) analysis, which is used to compute the direct and indirect environmental effects of the physical and the non-physical economy. Direct effects refer to the pollution recorded at the place where it arises (for example, emissions due to health care). Indirect effects refer to the pollution caused by industries that supply inputs to health care, and for which the health care sector (as sector of use) is (indirectly) responsible. Through an EE-IO analysis, environmental effects (such as emissions) are ascribed to the sector of use, by reallocating emissions from the sector where they originate (sector of origin) to the sector that uses the goods or services supplied by this sector. The EE-IO analysis makes use of an Input-Output (I-O) table which records intermediate deliveries of goods and services between sectors in an economy, as well as each sector's deliveries to final demand. In addition, it uses the environmental accounts of each sector to compute the total emissions for which a sector can be held responsible, which consist of its own (direct) emissions plus the emissions that are related to the inputs it purchases from other industries. The two equations that guide this computation are B=b*(1-A)¯¹ and E=B*f where B= a vector of total (direct+indirect) emission intensities (per sector); b=direct emission intensity vector; (1-A)¯¹= the 'Leontief Inverse matrix' (derived from an I-O table) that represents the technical coefficients or the total (direct+indirect) inputs required per unit of a sector's output; f=final demand and E=a vector of total (direct + indirect) emissions per sector for a given level of final demand f. The results found were that the non-physical economy in the United States is less polluting in terms of global warming and acidification potential, energy use and tropospheric ozone gas emissions, even if emissions are re-allocated from sector of origin to sector of use. This result suggests that the impact on the environment will be lower if human beings become increasingly interested in non-material rather than material growth. However, this result may not come about if the non-physical economy gets more technology-intensive. To empirically investigate the increase in technology-intensity in health care and its corresponding environmental burden, two comparative studies based on the EE-IO analysis were carried out. The first one compared the health care system in the United States between 1995 and 2015. After adjusting both I-O tables for inflation (using Miller & Blair’s (2009) "double deflation" method) and regrouping them for comparable sector classifications, it is shown that the health care sector's technical (Leontief inverse) coefficients increased for 'computer, electronic & optical equipment', 'post & telecommunications', 'electricity & water supply', and 'renting & other business services' − indicating that the technology- or material-intensity (in terms of medical technology, ICT, administrative technology) as well as the electricity-intensity of health care increased from 1995 to 2015. Although the use of 'chemicals & pharmaceutical products' in the health care sector itself decreased, final demand for chemicals & pharmaceuticals per capita almost doubled between 1995 and 2015. In sum, the results found showed that technology/material-intensity in terms of ICT, medical technologies, energy use per unit of output and medicines per capita increased from 1995 to 2015. These data support, or at least do not falsify, the hypothesis of a trend towards higher technology-intensity of health care. However, the result for the environmental burden of the increased technology-intensity was found to be mixed. Firstly, total CO2 emission intensity of health care and the indirect contribution from 'post & telecommunications', 'computer, electronic & optical equipment' and 'renting & other business services' decreased from 1995 to 2015, largely due to an economy-wide switch to less carbon-intensive sources of energy. Although the shift from coal to natural gas reduced CO2 emissions, it also led to other types of environmental problems, such as those associated with increased production of shale gas. Secondly, the indirect emission contribution from 'electricity & water supply' industry to health care's carbon intensity increased due to the increase in energy use per unit of output (possibly due to increased use of medical equipment and other technologies in hospitals). This also led to higher total (direct+indirect) emissions from the health care sector in 2015 than in 1995 for the respective levels of final demand. Therefore, as long as the technology-intensity of health care keeps rising, this is likely to involve rising pressure on the environment (not only in terms of emissions but also in terms of increased use of earth's finite resources). The second study compared the health care system in the United States with the health care system in Canada for the year 2014. The results showed that the U.S. health care sector's technical coefficients were higher than those of Canada's health care for the relevant sectors examined in the previous study. This shows that U.S. health care is more technology-/ material-intensive in terms of medicines, medical technology, ICT and administrative technology than Canada's health care while reliance on human work is lower. Next, the total (direct+indirect) carbon-intensity of U.S. health care was also found to be higher than that of Canada's health care. This is mainly because the indirect emission contribution from sectors, namely, 'chemical & pharmaceuticals', 'renting & other business services', 'electricity & water supply' 'computer programming & information services' to health care are higher in the U.S.. However, the indirect emission contribution from sectors 'telecommunications' and 'computer, electronic & optical products' are found to be lower in the U.S. (in spite of a higher use of their goods per unit of output), possibly due to a lower carbon-intensity of these two sectors in the U.S. than in Canada. All in all, the important insight from these two studies is that even though increased purchase of medicines, ICT and related medical & administrative technologies by health care activities in the U.S. between 1995 and 2015 has not led to higher total CO2 emission intensity of health care, we know that as of 2014, high-tech health care in the U.S. is still more polluting than Canada's health care. This supports the argument that replacement of human work with technological solutions in the non-physical economy may lead to a higher environmental burden. In conclusion, since there is lack of conclusive evidence that the promotion of general, country-wide transition to high-tech health care (or education and arts) reduces costs while improving quality and reducing environmental burden, it may be desirable that free choice of technology in the non-physical economy is encouraged. The resulting diversity, or mix of low-tech and high-tech approaches in health care, education, arts, etc. would be less polluting than a linear high-tech approach in the non-physical economy, while leaving providers as well as recipients of services in the non-physical economy free to explore different technological paths.