The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has recently begun promoting the linkages between its standards and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, further research is needed to explore how ISO standards can serve as a platform for achieving the SDGs. In this paper, we discuss the interlinkage between ISO standards and SDG 2 (i.e., Zero hunger—End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture).

Sanitation, water supply, and their governance remain major challenges in many Pacific Island countries. National sustainable development strategies (NSDSs) are promoted throughout the Pacific as overarching improved governance instruments to identify priorities, plan solutions, and fulfill commitments to sustainable development. Their relevance to local village-level development priorities is uncertain. In this work we compare national priorities for sanitation in NSDSs with those in village community development plans (CDPs) and with metrics in censuses from the Kingdom of Tonga.

Cities are currently struggling with increasingly limited land availability and rising land prices in urban areas. In this regard, proper land management can control land prices and optimize space to be effective, efficient and sustainable. This paper presents the results of research in Sungai Selan, a small city of Central Bangka Regency. It focuses on the forms of land management by determining the community and stakeholder readiness in a Land Cooperative Institution to implement a Detail Urban Spatial Plan (RDTRK), especially concerning land consolidation.

Land, as a valuable natural resource, is an important pillar of Rwanda’s sustainable development. The majority of Rwanda’s 80% rural population rely on agriculture for their livelihood, and land is crucial for agriculture. However, since a high population density has made land a scarce commodity, growth in the agricultural sector and plans for rapid urbanisation are being constrained, and cross-sectoral trade-offs are becoming increasingly important, with a risk that long-term sustainability may be threatened if these trade-offs are not considered.

The study set out to understand drivers of Land-Use Land Cover (LULC) changes in dry-land areas and investigate factors helping mitigate the adverse impacts of climate anomalies on LULC changes. By employing a mixed-methods design, it combined LULC data with socioeconomic and climatic data, to analyze the pattern of LULC changes and its socioeconomic and climatic driving forces along with moderating factors. It was found that rangeland decreased by 764 km2 (13% of total area) between 1986 and 2015.

The ecological benefit of cultivated land is the non-market value or ecological service value created by cultivated land protection. Based on the trinity concept of comprehensive protection of quantity, quality, and ecology of cultivated land, this study calculates the ecological benefits of cultivated land protection in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Through the theory of ecological supply and demand balance, the study estimated the ecological benefit spillover of cultivated land protection in the basin.

Ecological degradation caused by rapid urbanisation has presented great challenges in southern China. Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) has long been the most common and sensitive index to describe vegetation growth and to monitor vegetation degradation. However, most of the studies have failed to adequately explore the complexity of the relationship between fractional vegetation cover (FVC) and impact factors.

This study has examined the process of urban space development in Krakow (southern Poland) using two developments as an example. The planning documents were analysed and spatial data obtained from the CAPAP (Centre for Spatial Analysis of Public Administration) project were processed. The data source for analysis comprised 2D outlines of certain buildings from the topographic object database (BDOT10k), elevation data from lidar aerial laser scanning at a density of 12 points per square meter and a numerical terrain model (NMT) with a one-meter mesh grid.

Coconut palm wood is commonly regarded as a sustainable building material. Nonetheless, its adoption as a green building material by the construction industry is limited, particularly in West Africa. This paper analyses the impediments to the effective adoption of coconut palm wood in residential building construction.

This study presents methods for finding and utilizing demand-oriented data to meet public demands for creating sustainable and inclusive regulation policies. It attempted to analyze these methods scientifically, by collecting information on public demands. The results confirmed that there is a demand for policy that utilizes consensus in the regulation standards of newly emerging services. They also indicated that the legal system should be in alignment with the priorities associated with the setting of standards for regulation-related policies.

India has committed to reduce emissions with a goal to increase renewable energy production to 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022. Achieving this objective will involve rapidly increasing the deployment of solar and wind energy, while at the same time addressing the related challenges of the financing requirements, environment impacts, and power grid integration. Developing energy on lands degraded by human activities rather than placing new infrastructure within natural habitats or areas of high production agriculture would reduce cumulative impacts and minimize land use conflicts.

Desertification is a form of land degradation principally in semi-arid and arid areas influenced by climatic and human factors. As a country plagued by extensive sandy desertification and frequent sandstorms and dust storms, China has been trying to find ways to achieve the sustainable management of desertified lands. This paper reviewed the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on desertified areas, and the effort, outcome, and lessons learned from desertification control in China.