The effects of aid dependency on preventing the achievement of sustainable development in Africa has not been given appropriate academic attention. Aid dependency in Africa is undoubtedly among the most factors that have promoted poverty and underdevelopment. Aid dependency which hindered the growth of local innovation, promoted divisions that has affected good governance for sustainable development. Aid dependency has promoted chronic poverty, mental laziness and unstable health and well-being. It has ignited unhealthy condition that has created a perpetual vicious cycle of poverty that prevents the achievement of sustainable development. The study found that planning diplomacy can serve as a solution to aid diplomacy and address its effects thus promoting the achievement of sustainable development. Planning diplomacy was found to have critical links with Africa’s communalism theory, thus making it an ideal approach to addressing the effects of aid dependency in Africa. Planning diplomacy was found to promote local and business in collective manner. It is through this collective approach that sustainable development can be achieved in Africa. Planning diplomacy was found a key for sustainable development because it makes good use of foreign aids, promotes local ownership thus strengthens sustainable economic growth and development that makes sustainable development achievable. Planning diplomacy was equally found a remedy to aid dependency because it enhances knowledge and skills transfer. Knowledge and skills transfer promotes sustainable development because it facilitates sharing of skills that brings innovation and technologies to local citizens in a collective manner. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology with the use of secondary data collected from existing literature published in the public domain. Collected data was analysed and interpreted through document analysis technique.   

This paper discusses the concept of creating a new reality using the approaches of smart cities to develop eco-cities, in which the necessary balance between nature and progress can be maintained. The authors propose that the concept of smart cities should be used as a tool for the creation of eco-cities, and argue that the positive synergies between the two will be strongest if the smart concept acts as a tool for the creation of eco. The core elements of a smart eco-city are identified as smart sustainable use of resources, a smart sustainable healthy community, and a smart sustainable economy. The results of the article were the foundation for the development concept for Vision Bratislava 2050—the vision and strategy for the development of the capital of the Slovak Republic. The authors also discuss the challenges of transforming cities into smart eco-formats, including the need for digital resilience in the face of potential cataclysms. They suggest that this is a promising area for further research into the concept of smart eco-cities.

The urgency of ecological problems has become increasingly complex, so responses from diverse parties are needed, including in the context of ecological citizenship. The general hypothesis proposed in this research is that the problem of climate change has an influence on the high level of attention of the global community, including academics, to environmental issues related to the active role of citizens demanding environmental justice and sustainable development. This study aims to explore globally published documents to provide an in-depth discussion concerning ecological citizenship. Bibliometric analysis was employed from the Scopus database. The main findings confirm the significant contribution of ecological citizenship in shaping global understanding of the role of individuals in maintaining environmental sustainability. The research theme mapping shows the diversity of issues that have been explored, with particular emphasis on environmental education and social justice, providing a basis for recommendations for future research. In particular, environmental education has been recognized as a critical element in shaping society’s understanding of environmental issues, while social justice underscores the importance of fair distribution and critical analysis of inequality in social and ecological contexts. Future research recommendations include the exploration of effective strategies in promoting the concept of ecological citizenship, developing a holistic environmental education curriculum, and more active research in the context of social justice in various regions, including Asia. This bibliometric analysis is expected to contribute substantially to formulating policies and practical actions that support the vision of inclusive ecological citizenship, which positively impacts overcoming global environmental challenges.

This paper aims to investigate local communities’ participation in eco-tourism projects by using the community of Situ Cisanti located in Tarumajaya Village, West Java as a case. Data were gathered through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation analysis. Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted simultaneously for two months, from September to October 2021. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 informants from the elements; village government officials of Tarumajaya, Perhutani, and local communities who participated in the Situ Cisanti eco-tourism project, which was completed through a documents analysis. According to the findings, local community participation in Situ Cisanti eco-tourism consists of conservation and economic participation. Conservation participation is demonstrated by their participation in restoration and greening activities such as reforestation, etc. in Situ Cisanti and its surroundings, whereas economic participation is demonstrated by the establishment of stalls, culinary, coffee, souvenir, and homestay businesses as a result of Situ Cisanti eco-tourism. Furthermore, the existence of this eco-tourism has empowered women because new business opportunities that arise are not only run by men but also by women. As a result, this study implies that the participation of local eco-tourism communities not only has an impact on empowering conservation knowledge and economics, but it can also imply women empowerment.

COVID-19 and the economic response have amplified and changed the nature of development challenges in fundamental ways. Global development cooperation should adapt accordingly. This paper lays out the urgency for new methods of development cooperation that can deliver resource transfers at scale, oriented to addressing climate change and with transparency and better governance. It looks at what is actually happening to major donor countries’ development cooperation programs and where the principal gaps lie, and offers some thoughts on how to move forward, notwithstanding the clear geopolitical rivalries that are evident.
The most immediate challenge is to provide a level of liquidity support to countries ravaged by the global economic downturn. Many developing countries will see double-digit declines in GDP, with some recording downturns not seen in peacetime. Alongside the short-term challenge of recovery, COVID-19 has laid bare longer-term trends that have pointed for some time to the lack of sustainability—environmental, social, and governance—in the way economic development was occurring in many places, including in advanced economies. This new landscape has significant implications for development cooperation in terms of scale, development/climate co-benefits, and transparency and accountability.