**2. The present glaciological knowledge on the Andean ice masses that flow towards the Amazon drainage basin**

The tropics can be defined as a region where the atmospheric circulation dynamics and the energy conditions present high thermal homogeneity (**Figure 1**). For this reason, the annual

The first part of this chapter describes the present glaciological knowledge on these Andean

Peru, 24% in Bolivia and the remaining 8% in Ecuador). The mass balance of these glaciers is strongly dependent on the Amazon hydrological cycle because the main source of their snow precipitation are air masses bringing water from the Atlantic Ocean, this water is recycled through the rainforest several times. So, this part of the text also discusses the present atmospheric circulation and how it controls precipitation over the eastern tropical Andean mountains (characterised by a wet and a dry season in Bolivia and Peru) and how signals of changes in the Amazon atmosphere (e.g., pollutants such as black carbon due to biomass burning and trace elements [1]) may be transported to these glaciers. Another important point to consider is how the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon controls the yearly precipita-

A second part of the chapter explores how two environmental systems are interconnected and interacted. Not only the existent ice masses are strongly controlled by environmental processes in the rainforest, but the glaciers self-affect their lowlands as providers of sediments [2]. Here, we consider these glaciers as sources of sediments (the Andes tributaries contribute to 90–95% of the Amazon River load [3]), organic matter and nutrients to Amazon basin and how they affect the biochemical, ecological and geomorphological processes. An important point examined is how the melt water variability affects the drainage in the headwaters of the basin (in Bolivia and Peru), and what they represent as water storage and hydric resources for

The third part of chapter examines the present (last 50 years) human-made changes in the Amazon basin and how they affect the Andean ice masses. The Amazon environment has undergone major changes due to immigration (and the consequent increase of the population in major cities), and intense deforestation (mainly for soy and cattle-culture expansions), affecting the characteristics of the lower atmosphere, changes in land use and land cover also alter and transform the dynamics and formation of clouds [4]. These processes may decrease the precipitation over the Eastern Andes [5], reducing further ice cover already under fast retreat due to climatic warming [6]. One of the main points here to consider is how the loss of mass of these glaciers will affect the water resources of Bolivia and Peru, the former one

These glaciers also hold the best proxy for the Amazon Holocene changes, the record left in the snow and ice chemistry. So, as a complement to this chapter, we review the information on the paleoenvironmental changes found in ice cores in Bolivia and Peru [1, 7] and what they

**2. The present glaciological knowledge on the Andean ice masses that**

The tropics can be defined as a region where the atmospheric circulation dynamics and the energy conditions present high thermal homogeneity (**Figure 1**). For this reason, the annual

(of which 68% are in

ice masses that flow towards the Amazon drainage basin, about 1666 km2

tion variability on these glacier sites.

62 Glacier Evolution in a Changing World

the mountain communities.

already under strong hydric stress.

may point about the future of the Andean tropical glaciers.

**flow towards the Amazon drainage basin**

**Figure 1.** The tropics: in light gray, are the areas that present high precipitation throughout the year; and in dark grey, are the areas with a wet and dry season during the year. The dashed lines identify the seasonal oscillation of the intertropical convergence zone and the continuous lines delimit the tropical zone from the thermal point of view, adapted from Kaser and Osmaston [9].

thermal amplitude is lower than the diurnal temperature variation [8]. In the tropics, unlike the temperate regions, the linear behaviour of the temperature causes the 0.1°C atmospheric isotherm to remain practically at the same altitude, allowing the occurrence of ablation in the glacier terminus throughout the year. At these latitudes, all ice masses are at the pressure melting point and they are classified from the thermal point of view as warm glaciers [9].

In the tropical regions, the conditions of humidity and precipitation (responsible for accumulation) are directly related to the oscillation of the Sun position throughout the year. With a delay of a few weeks in relation to this solar variation, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) position reaches once a year its maximum latitude in a hemisphere, causing a wet season and a very different dry season between these two points of change [9].

In the tropics, glaciers exist in South America (from Bolivia to Venezuela), Africa (Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Rwenzori) and Oceania (West Papua). The Andes have approximately 99% of the ice masses located in the tropics [9]. Tropical South America has an ice cover of 2500 km2 , in which 70% are in Peru, 20% in Bolivia and 10% in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.

The morphology of these sub-equatorial ice masses caused perplexity to the first European travellers. Unlike Alps glaciers, tropical glaciers do not form extensive tongues that flow down the valley walls; they are small in size, like small ice caps, which only cover the mountain peaks [10]. According to Kaser et al. [11], this morphology of the terminal part of the glaciers is due to the continuous annual ablation, unlike what is found in the middle latitudes. Another difference pointed out by the same authors [11] is the glaciers response time to the climatic conditions. In the tropics, the proportion of glaciers that have their area entirely within the ablation sector (glaciers with less than 1 km2 ) is higher than in the middle latitudes. Consequently, tropical ice masses respond faster to climate changes than the middle latitude ones.

The distribution of these tropical glaciers is controlled, fundamentally, by two factors: altitude and precipitation. In the former one, the high mountains 'block' the humidity driven by the air masses, providing conditions for the formation of glaciers. The second one is determinant for the equilibrium line altitude (ELA), because the glaciers will only exist where ELA is below the ridges of the mountains [8].

In the Andean mountains, the precipitation is regulated, mainly, by winds coming from the east, which originates on the Atlantic Ocean and mixes to the air masses of the Amazonian origin. The glaciers are distributed predominantly from 12°N to 23°S, in an area tectonically lifted above 5000 m, which 'intercepts' air masses coming from the Amazon forest. This results in a negative precipitation gradient from NE to SW. For example, in northern Bolivia, the ELA is between 5300 and 5800 m a.s.l. Further to the south in this country, even areas 6000 m a.s.l. can be free of ice due to aridity [12].

**Figure 2** shows the Amazon River basin and the glaciers that flow to it. For the year 2015, we determined that the 'Amazonian' glaciers covered 1666 km2 (we obtained this result using the global land ice measurements from space: (GLIMS) database [13]). Of these ice masses,

**Figure 2.** The Amazon glaciers (Andean ice masses flowing towards the Amazon River drainage basin) are shown as black spots. The main ice core sites extracted from the tropical Andes are shown as triangles. The gray area delimits the watershed of the Amazon River.

68% (1129 km2 ) are in Peru, 24% (397 km2 ) are in Bolivia and the remaining 8% (139 km2 ) is in Ecuador. The glacial regime of these ice masses shows yearly humid and dry seasons (Peru and Bolivia) or precipitation throughout the year (Ecuador).

the air masses, providing conditions for the formation of glaciers. The second one is determinant for the equilibrium line altitude (ELA), because the glaciers will only exist where ELA is

In the Andean mountains, the precipitation is regulated, mainly, by winds coming from the east, which originates on the Atlantic Ocean and mixes to the air masses of the Amazonian origin. The glaciers are distributed predominantly from 12°N to 23°S, in an area tectonically lifted above 5000 m, which 'intercepts' air masses coming from the Amazon forest. This results in a negative precipitation gradient from NE to SW. For example, in northern Bolivia, the ELA is between 5300 and 5800 m a.s.l. Further to the south in this country, even areas 6000 m a.s.l.

**Figure 2** shows the Amazon River basin and the glaciers that flow to it. For the year 2015, we

the global land ice measurements from space: (GLIMS) database [13]). Of these ice masses,

**Figure 2.** The Amazon glaciers (Andean ice masses flowing towards the Amazon River drainage basin) are shown as black spots. The main ice core sites extracted from the tropical Andes are shown as triangles. The gray area delimits the

(we obtained this result using

below the ridges of the mountains [8].

64 Glacier Evolution in a Changing World

can be free of ice due to aridity [12].

watershed of the Amazon River.

determined that the 'Amazonian' glaciers covered 1666 km2

Changes in the Amazonian climate, due to deforestation, indicate that the river sources in the Andes mountains may suffer a significant decrease in their water supply (precipitation) as a result of the reduction of atmospheric humidity [6]. Consequently, the Andean countries may suffer significantly from the rainfall reduction in the Amazon forest [15], as it is already observed, in a similar process, in mountains in western Costa Rica due to deforestation to the east [14]. The Amazonian basin and its forests (by evapotranspiration) affect, therefore, the rainfall in the Andes. This decrease in precipitation, combined with the increase in global temperature, directly influences the behaviour of tropical glaciers [6].

However, the relationship between the hydrological cycle and the climate in South America, especially in the Amazon, still lack further studies. In this region, the weather station networks are very sparse and the lack of high-quality precipitation and river flows data make it difficult to study climate change and climate variability. Thus, it is important to obtain indirect indicators that provide regional environmental information; this point is discussed below when examining the Andean ice cores record.

In the Andean tropical glaciers, the accumulation measured above the 5500 m altitude varies from 0.70 to 1.20 m water equivalent per year. No higher accumulation is observed, which may be related to the low amount of water vapour transported by air masses above 6000 m or to strong winds that do not allow greater accumulations on the summits [16]. On the other hand, larger glaciers can take between 5 and 10 years to respond to changes in the environment. This means that a glacier front movement in a given year depends both on the mass balance in the ablation zone during the same year and on the entire surface of the glacier during previous years. This explains the importance of a long-term analysis on the variations in the glacier front position when studying trends of climate change [10].

The warming rate more than tripled from 1973 to 1998 (from 0.11°C to 0.32–0.34°C/decade); the hottest years were 1997 and 1998, El Niño years [17]. The retraction of several glaciers in the Peruvian Andes [18, 19] was concomitant to this warming. Although it is difficult to pinpoint cause and effect, it seems that climatic warming is the main driver of the rapid retraction and the disappearance of high-altitude ice fields and glaciers in the tropics. These high-altitude tropical ice masses are very close to their melting point [20]; therefore, they respond fast to any change in air temperature. Unlike glaciers in temperate regions in the southern hemisphere, where precipitation on the glacier occurs during the austral winter at low temperatures, in the tropics it happens during the warmer austral summer months. This causes the processes of ablation and accumulation to occur simultaneously, unlike the middle latitude glaciers. This makes your study an excellent indicator of changes in climatic patterns.

The recent glacier retreat in the tropical Andes is the greatest since their maximum extent in the Little Ice Age (LIA, mid-seventeenth to early eighteenth century) [21]. For the past 50 years, the mean mass balance for the Andean glaciers has been more negative at a global scale. This behaviour is attributed, at least partially, to a higher frequency of El Niño events and a warming of the regional troposphere. Several authors project that the smallest glaciers located below 5400 m a.s.l. may disappear before the end of the twenty-first century, given the present climate-warming trend [21, 22].


**3. Results**

#### **3.1 Characterization of Ln1−xAxFeO3−δ (Ln=La, Nd, Pr; A=Sr, Ca) perovskites with 0.2≤x≤0.8**

The (La**1−x**Sr**x**)FeO3- (LSF) perovskite system exhibits high electronic and oxide ion conductivities at high temperatures, which make it attractive for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathodes. Several works (Ecija et al., 2011; Rodríguez-Martínez & Attfield, 1996; Vidal et al., 2007 and references therein) have shown that the physical properties of these perovskite materials are very sensitive to changes in the doping level (x) the average size of the A cations (<rA>) and the effects of A cation size disorder (2(rA)).

The synthesis of these compounds allows us to study the effect of the variation of the doping level x on the properties of the perovskites with general formula Ln1−xAxFeO3−δ (Ln=La, Nd, Pr; A=Sr, Ca) applied as SOFC cathodes. This has been achieved by keeping constant both the average size (<rA>) and the size mismatch (2(rA)) to 1.22 Å and 0.003 Å2, respectively.

For the preparation of this series the solid state reaction route has been chosen due to its simplicity to obtain perovskite phases in the same synthetic conditions.


**Author details**

Hasna Albander1 \* and Maisoon Ibrahim Aljalis2

1 Medical Physicist Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

2 King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


*4.1.4. EMG based controlled exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation*

Giuseppina *et al* from Italy have worked on developing a hand exoskeleton system (see Fig. 11) which is also controlled by EMG signals [24]. This is mainly developed for hand rehabili‐ tation where people have partially lost the ability to correctly control their hand movements. Figure 12 shows the control flow chart of the hand rehabilitation robot. During the research they have selected the relevant muscle to capture the finger motion and EMG electrodes are placed in order to minimize the noise due to the movements. This is one of the important factors to be considered when placing dry electrodes on the skin. The control system of the robot consists of microcontroller and EMG acquisition systems. Processed EMG signals are com‐ municated with the microcontroller via serial connection. Finally the microcontroller generates the command signal required to drive the actuator and control real positions by means of sensory inputs. Threshold is defined in order to distinguish the real electric activity of the muscle from other interferences. According to [24], the relationship between motor speed, *v(t)* and joint angle position, *θ (t)* is obtained as in equation (1).

$$w(t) = A\{1 - \Theta(t)\}\tag{1}$$

controller (see Fig. 13). In order to obtain the real time control, a muscle-model-oriented control method has been proposed for the robot. This control method is more suitable compared to the fuzzy-neuro control method, where it needs a higher number of fuzzy rules in case of higher DoF. An impedance controller is applied with a muscle-model-oriented control method and impedance parameters are then adjusted in real time as a function of upper-limb posture and

Patient Electrodes

EMG

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56174

251

Recent Trends in EMG-Based Control Methods for Assistive Robots

Operator

Interface

Recording & Proceesing

PC

Microcontroller

Actuators Sensors

EMG activity level [6].

Exoskeleton

**Figure 12.** Control flow chart of hand rehabilitation robot [24]

where *A* is defined as an opportunely chosen factor.

According to (1), they are able to control the motor speed which is proportional to the hand opening and progressively it reaches zero when the fingers are flexing. This control method is more suitable for advanced rehabilitation processes. At the same time it takes the effect of natural variability of the EMG signal into account.

#### *4.1.5. Muscle-model-oriented EMG based control of an exoskeleton robot*

The SUEFUL -7 is an upper-limb exoskeleton robot mainly developed to assist motion of physically weak individuals. In the robot EMG signals are used as the main input signal to the

**Figure 12.** Control flow chart of hand rehabilitation robot [24]

**Figure 11.** Hand exoskeleton [24]

250 Electrodiagnosis in New Frontiers of Clinical Research

*4.1.4. EMG based controlled exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation*

and joint angle position, *θ (t)* is obtained as in equation (1).

where *A* is defined as an opportunely chosen factor.

natural variability of the EMG signal into account.

*4.1.5. Muscle-model-oriented EMG based control of an exoskeleton robot*

Giuseppina *et al* from Italy have worked on developing a hand exoskeleton system (see Fig. 11) which is also controlled by EMG signals [24]. This is mainly developed for hand rehabili‐ tation where people have partially lost the ability to correctly control their hand movements. Figure 12 shows the control flow chart of the hand rehabilitation robot. During the research they have selected the relevant muscle to capture the finger motion and EMG electrodes are placed in order to minimize the noise due to the movements. This is one of the important factors to be considered when placing dry electrodes on the skin. The control system of the robot consists of microcontroller and EMG acquisition systems. Processed EMG signals are com‐ municated with the microcontroller via serial connection. Finally the microcontroller generates the command signal required to drive the actuator and control real positions by means of sensory inputs. Threshold is defined in order to distinguish the real electric activity of the muscle from other interferences. According to [24], the relationship between motor speed, *v(t)*

According to (1), they are able to control the motor speed which is proportional to the hand opening and progressively it reaches zero when the fingers are flexing. This control method is more suitable for advanced rehabilitation processes. At the same time it takes the effect of

The SUEFUL -7 is an upper-limb exoskeleton robot mainly developed to assist motion of physically weak individuals. In the robot EMG signals are used as the main input signal to the

*v*(*t*)= *A*{1 - *θ*(*t*)} (1)

controller (see Fig. 13). In order to obtain the real time control, a muscle-model-oriented control method has been proposed for the robot. This control method is more suitable compared to the fuzzy-neuro control method, where it needs a higher number of fuzzy rules in case of higher DoF. An impedance controller is applied with a muscle-model-oriented control method and impedance parameters are then adjusted in real time as a function of upper-limb posture and EMG activity level [6].

The controller of the SUEFUL-7 [6] uses EMG signals of the user as the primary input infor‐ mation. Also, forearm force, hand force and forearm torque are used as subordinate input information for the controller [6]. This hybrid nature of the control method is a guarantee to activate the SUEFUL-7 even with low EMG signal level. On the other hand, when EMG signals are high, the robot is controlled mainly by the EMG signal generated by user motion. The features of the raw EMG signal are extracted through RMS calculation. This RMS of EMG is fed to the controller. In order to identify the 7DoF motions the EMG signals of sixteen locations are measured with surface electrodes.

The first stage is the input signal selection and the second stage is muscle model oriented EMG based impedance control. Proper input information is selected to the controller according to muscle activity levels in the first stage. Depending on the RMS of the EMG signal, muscle model oriented EMG based control or sensor based force control is selected under the second

Recent Trends in EMG-Based Control Methods for Assistive Robots

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56174

253

Tremor is defined as the involuntary motion that may occur in various parts of the body, such as the leg or arm. An essential tremor is the most common tremor disorder of the arm and it may occur during a voluntary motion such as writing, painting, etc. If the essential tremor occurs in the arm, the person may not be able to achieve sensitive tasks properly with certain

Saga University, Japan has developed an EMG based control method to suppress the tremor of the hand [20]. The features of the EMG signals are extracted from the RMS and fed to the controller. Sixteen EMG channels are selected to measure the muscle activity and they are used to determine the joint torque by knowing weight value for particular EMG signal. This weight depends on upper limb anatomy or result of experiment [20]. The essential tremor is a rhythmic motion and its vibrational component is extracted by using a band pass filter in the controller.

stage and it is fed as a control command to the robot.

Also, the user intention is extracted by using a low pass filter.

*4.1.6. Use of EMG to tremor suppression control*

**Figure 14.** NEUROExos with a subject [10]

tools [20].

The correct joint torque is affected by the posture of the upper limb and it changes the relationship between EMG signals and generated joint torques. Further, this posture variation is nonlinear and stochastic [6]. Fuzzy reasoning is therefore applied to estimate the effect of posture change. Neuro-fuzzy modifier is then applied to modify the muscle model matrix by means of adjusting weights in order to take the effect of changes of posture of the upper limb effectively. Online adaptation of the neuro-fuzzy modifier is important if the robot is expected to be used for different uses. Therefore, the neuro-fuzzy modifier is trained for each user using relevant information. The overall structure of the controller (see Fig. 13) consists of two stages.

**Figure 13.** Structure of SUEFUL-7 controller [6]

The first stage is the input signal selection and the second stage is muscle model oriented EMG based impedance control. Proper input information is selected to the controller according to muscle activity levels in the first stage. Depending on the RMS of the EMG signal, muscle model oriented EMG based control or sensor based force control is selected under the second stage and it is fed as a control command to the robot.

#### *4.1.6. Use of EMG to tremor suppression control*

The controller of the SUEFUL-7 [6] uses EMG signals of the user as the primary input infor‐ mation. Also, forearm force, hand force and forearm torque are used as subordinate input information for the controller [6]. This hybrid nature of the control method is a guarantee to activate the SUEFUL-7 even with low EMG signal level. On the other hand, when EMG signals are high, the robot is controlled mainly by the EMG signal generated by user motion. The features of the raw EMG signal are extracted through RMS calculation. This RMS of EMG is fed to the controller. In order to identify the 7DoF motions the EMG signals of sixteen locations

The correct joint torque is affected by the posture of the upper limb and it changes the relationship between EMG signals and generated joint torques. Further, this posture variation is nonlinear and stochastic [6]. Fuzzy reasoning is therefore applied to estimate the effect of posture change. Neuro-fuzzy modifier is then applied to modify the muscle model matrix by means of adjusting weights in order to take the effect of changes of posture of the upper limb effectively. Online adaptation of the neuro-fuzzy modifier is important if the robot is expected to be used for different uses. Therefore, the neuro-fuzzy modifier is trained for each user using relevant information. The overall structure of the controller (see Fig. 13) consists of two stages.

> Muscle-model-oriented EMG based Impedance control

Sensor-Based force control

Control Command

Input Signal Selection

Shoulder vertical angle Shoulder horizontal anngle Shoulder rotation angle Elbow angle Wrisr angle Wrist force sensor Forearm force sensor Forearm torque sensor

are measured with surface electrodes.

252 Electrodiagnosis in New Frontiers of Clinical Research

EMG RMS-ch1 EMG RMS-ch16 Wrist force sensor Forearm force sensor Forearm torque sensor

First Stage

**Figure 13.** Structure of SUEFUL-7 controller [6]

Second stage

Tremor is defined as the involuntary motion that may occur in various parts of the body, such as the leg or arm. An essential tremor is the most common tremor disorder of the arm and it may occur during a voluntary motion such as writing, painting, etc. If the essential tremor occurs in the arm, the person may not be able to achieve sensitive tasks properly with certain tools [20].

Saga University, Japan has developed an EMG based control method to suppress the tremor of the hand [20]. The features of the EMG signals are extracted from the RMS and fed to the controller. Sixteen EMG channels are selected to measure the muscle activity and they are used to determine the joint torque by knowing weight value for particular EMG signal. This weight depends on upper limb anatomy or result of experiment [20]. The essential tremor is a rhythmic motion and its vibrational component is extracted by using a band pass filter in the controller. Also, the user intention is extracted by using a low pass filter.

**Figure 14.** NEUROExos with a subject [10]

The desired hand position is then obtained considering the summation of the above two amplitudes. Therefore *Xavrg* represents the desired hand motion while suppressing the tremor.

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}\hline \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ } & \text{ }$$

17

255

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56174

**Figure 15.** Proportional control block diagram of NEUROExos [27].

PA & FA

PA & IA

PA & EA

MA & FA

MA & IA

Controller selection

Forearm motion & wrist flextion/ extension fuzzy-neuro controllers t 1 t 2

t 3 output

Angles of forearm & wrist flextion/ extension

Recent Trends in EMG-Based Control Methods for Assistive Robots

MA & EA

SA & FA

SA & IA

SA & EA

Wrist radial/ulnar fuzzy-neuro controller

EMG RMSs (CH.1-CH.6) Force sensor signals Torque sensor signals

> EMG RMSs (CH.2 - CH.5) Force sensor signals

> > input

**Figure 16.** EMG-based fuzzy-neuro control method [35].

Where *Xavg*, *Xuser* and *Xtre* are desired hand position, rhythmic motion and user intention respectively.

Further, a muscle-model matrix modifier is defined to take the changes of hand posture and minimize the effect of variation of EMG signal and hence torque variation. Also the amount of tremor is not uniform to all; therefore training of the muscle-model matrix is needed prior to use with the subject. Especially, in case of tremor, the training of the muscle-model matrix does not become easy, because the pattern of tremor is not uniform to all.

## *4.1.7. EMG based proportional control method of NEUROExos*

NEUROExos [27] is an upper limb assistive robot designed to be controlled by EMG signals. The robot is shown in Fig. 14. Carrozza *et al* pointed the importance of understanding the accurate torque estimate for assistive robots. They have developed an EMG based proportional control method to estimate the required torque to operate the NEUROExos. [27]. In the control method, Raw EMG signals were processed to obtain the linear envelope (LE) profiles which resemble the muscle tension waveforms during dynamic changes of isometric forces [27]. These LEs were obtained on-line through full-wave rectification of band passed EMG signals and post-filtering by means of a second-order low-pass Butterworth filter with a cut-off frequency of 3 Hz [27].

The block diagram of EMG based proportional control method of NEUROExos is shown in Fig. 15. As in Fig. 15, two proportional controllers, Kbic (gain for bicep) and Ktric (gain for triceps) are set one after other starting from biceps. Both gains are initially set to zero and gradually increased while the subject moves the arm freely. This gain is increased until the subject feels a comfortable level of assistance. Once Kbic is set, the subject is instructed to repeat the same procedure for Ktric too. The experimental results of proportional EMG based control method of the NEUROExos shown in [27] are proved that the exoskeleton provides extra torque indicating effective reduction of effort spent by the subject for movement generation [27]. Therefore, proportional control of the EMG is one appropriate method to estimate the torque required to move the assistive robot. However, the amount of assistance given by the exo‐ skeleton depends on the subject.

The neuro-fuzzy modifier proposed by Kiguchi *et al* [6] can be applied with modifications for effective training for different subjects and hence it may possible to perform a task in minimum time.

#### *4.1.8. EMG based fuzzy-neuro control method of W-EXOS*

The W-EXOS is a 3DOF exoskeleton robot and its control method is an EMG based fuzzy-neuro control. The control method is illustrated in Fig.16. Surface EMG signals of muscles and sensors

**Figure 15.** Proportional control block diagram of NEUROExos [27].

The desired hand position is then obtained considering the summation of the above two amplitudes. Therefore *Xavrg* represents the desired hand motion while suppressing the tremor.

Where *Xavg*, *Xuser* and *Xtre* are desired hand position, rhythmic motion and user intention

Further, a muscle-model matrix modifier is defined to take the changes of hand posture and minimize the effect of variation of EMG signal and hence torque variation. Also the amount of tremor is not uniform to all; therefore training of the muscle-model matrix is needed prior to use with the subject. Especially, in case of tremor, the training of the muscle-model matrix

NEUROExos [27] is an upper limb assistive robot designed to be controlled by EMG signals. The robot is shown in Fig. 14. Carrozza *et al* pointed the importance of understanding the accurate torque estimate for assistive robots. They have developed an EMG based proportional control method to estimate the required torque to operate the NEUROExos. [27]. In the control method, Raw EMG signals were processed to obtain the linear envelope (LE) profiles which resemble the muscle tension waveforms during dynamic changes of isometric forces [27]. These LEs were obtained on-line through full-wave rectification of band passed EMG signals and post-filtering by means of a second-order low-pass Butterworth filter with a cut-off

The block diagram of EMG based proportional control method of NEUROExos is shown in Fig. 15. As in Fig. 15, two proportional controllers, Kbic (gain for bicep) and Ktric (gain for triceps) are set one after other starting from biceps. Both gains are initially set to zero and gradually increased while the subject moves the arm freely. This gain is increased until the subject feels a comfortable level of assistance. Once Kbic is set, the subject is instructed to repeat the same procedure for Ktric too. The experimental results of proportional EMG based control method of the NEUROExos shown in [27] are proved that the exoskeleton provides extra torque indicating effective reduction of effort spent by the subject for movement generation [27]. Therefore, proportional control of the EMG is one appropriate method to estimate the torque required to move the assistive robot. However, the amount of assistance given by the exo‐

The neuro-fuzzy modifier proposed by Kiguchi *et al* [6] can be applied with modifications for effective training for different subjects and hence it may possible to perform a task in minimum

The W-EXOS is a 3DOF exoskeleton robot and its control method is an EMG based fuzzy-neuro control. The control method is illustrated in Fig.16. Surface EMG signals of muscles and sensors

does not become easy, because the pattern of tremor is not uniform to all.

*4.1.7. EMG based proportional control method of NEUROExos*

respectively.

254 Electrodiagnosis in New Frontiers of Clinical Research

frequency of 3 Hz [27].

skeleton depends on the subject.

*4.1.8. EMG based fuzzy-neuro control method of W-EXOS*

time.

*X avg*<sup>=</sup> *Xusr*- *Xtre* (2)

**Figure 16.** EMG-based fuzzy-neuro control method [35].

of the exoskeleton (hand force and forearm torque) robot [35] are used as input information to the controller. This fuzzy-neuro control method consists of a flexible fuzzy control and adaptive neural network control which is used to obtain natural and flexible motion assist. Fuzzy if-then rules have been constructed to determine the required torque to the motor according to the motion intention of the human. In total, nine fuzzy-neuro controllers are used and this allows operating the exoskeleton robot flexible with EMG signals. Depending on the subject and nature of power-assistance, training of the fuzzy-neuro controller is performed.

The main drawback of this kind of control method is the difficulty of defining the fuzzy if-then control rules when the controller is applied for exoskeleton robots with higher DoF. Further, training of the controller is essential even when the physical and psychological conditions change in the user.


Environmental issues are largely neglected in mainstream neoclassical economics. Environmental degradation is described as an externality caused by market failure, a clean environment is portrayed as a luxury product, and pollution is something that would be paid for by further growth. It is time to turn the tables and abandon the goal of blind and senseless growth in GDP and start by asking how we can shape the economy so that it promotes social equality and sustainable development. To that end, Raworth claims, economic policy-makers need a new compass that clearly envisages the social and planetary boundaries that our economies must respect, and that is conveyed by the image of the doughnut. The hole in the middle reveals the risk that people worldwide are falling short on life's essentials, such as food and water, education, healthcare, housing, and the other social priorities captured by the SDGs (shortfall). Beyond the Doughnut's outer ring, however, humanity risks putting too much pressure on Earth's critical life-supporting systems, thus causing climate breakdown, habitat destruction, extreme biodiversity loss etc. (overshoot). Between these two sets of boundaries – the social and the planetary – lies a possible safe and just future for humanity that needs to be supported by a circular economy, sustainable energy production, social redistribution, accountable partnerships with the state, the creativity of the crowd, the contribution of households, and growth in human rights and potential. The doughnut model is shown in Fig. 14.2.

Fig. 14.2. The Doughnut Model.

#### 198 Co-Creation for Sustainability

Although this framework has been criticized for not integrating the criteria for ecological safety and social justice (Rockstrom et al., 2021), doughnut economics ¨ is helpful in defining the safe and just space for humanity that a regenerative and distributive economy must strive to create and maintain but is less precise when it comes to theoretical content and practical policy recommendations. On the theoretical side, it encourages economic thinkers to replace the rational economic man model with a new model of social and adaptable humans, to analyze the joint contribution of embedded markets, accountable government, private households, and civic organizations, and to abandon mechanical equilibrium models in favor of dynamic complexity models. On the practical policy side, we are wisely warned against believing that one size fits all. Given the speed and scale of the change needed and the diversity of contexts, it is impossible to prescribe the policies and institutions that will be needed in the future. This leads Raworth to see social experimentation as a way ahead, thus leaving us with the challenge of how to scale up successful experiments that help to stay above the social foundation and below the ecological ceiling.

Experimentation with economic policy and governance will look different in different fields. For instance, new research on water management pinpoints the limits of conventional economic policy recommendations based on privatization, pricing, and property rights and shows that the SDG for water requires institutional and technological innovations to supply, allocate, and manage water, as well as political and financial commitment to help those who otherwise might be left behind (Garrick, Hanemann, & Hepburn, 2020). Experimentation with economic policy and institutions is gaining increasing prominence (Bardsley et al., 2020) and may help to fit new environmental and agricultural governance solutions to different contexts (Higgins, Hellerstein, Wallander, & Lynch, 2017; Noussair & van Soest, 2014).

#### Securing Political Stability in Times of Rapid Societal Change

This section reflects on the political challenge associated with the transition to a sustainable future. The problem is that both global problems and efforts to solve them will tend to foster disruptive change and heightened turbulence. Climate change will enhance extreme weather conditions and cause drought, flooding, and rising sea-levels that in turn will disrupt agricultural production and lead to hunger and an increasing number of refugees. Scarcity of clean water will give rise to armed conflicts and the persistent degradation of natural environments will have a negative impact on the livelihood of tribal communities, small holders, and fishermen. Attempts to solve these problems and improve the conditions for sustainable living may help to mitigate conflicts and generate support for government, but in some areas the transformation process itself may be a source of conflict and upheaval. Hence, the transformation from a global economy based on fossil fuels to a world based on renewable energy will create winners and losers and if the latter are not compensated then conflicts and protest will arise. Coal miners will strike, consumers hit by carbon taxes will protest, and those regions that have prospered from fossil fuel production will suffer from economic decline and hold national governments to account for their misfortune. The protests by the so-called "yellow vest" movement in France is a case in point. A modern political leader, President Macron, had seen the light and wanted to reduce CO2 emissions by introducing fuel taxes that placed a heavy burden on the working class and the lower middle class, especially in rural and semirural areas. In November 2018, more than 300,000 protesters gathered in big demonstrations all around France and in the coming months, there were many similar demonstrations and some of these developed into violent clashes between protesters and police. In many parts of the world, there have been large-scale protests against new hydropower plants that provide a source of renewable energy, but may have devastating consequences for natural habitats and lead to displacement of local residents. Hence, in Austria, Georgia, and the Balkan countries, there have been massive protests and in North Sumatra indigenous people staged a protest against a planned 510-megawatt hydroelectric dam, which threatens to evict them from their ancestral land and damage the ecosystem of the Batang Toru forest, home to critically endangered Sumatran tigers and orangutans.

Without political intermediation and dialogue, rapid societal change – whether driven by global problems or new sustainable governance solutions – may be a source of political protest and conflict that will threaten political stability. Hence, governments around the world and at different levels are facing a dilemma: if they fail to solve the pressing problems our planet are currently facing, their population might suffer and stage large-scale protests, and if they embark on large-scale reforms that lead to disruptive change without compensating losers, the reforms might spark conflicts and destabilizing resistance.

Political tensions may not only result from pressing societal problems and the transformations necessary to solve them. Involving relevant and affected actors from the economic sector, civil society, and local neighborhoods in addressing global problems, designing solutions, and achieving one or more SDGs may empower the participants and generate an appetite for more popular participation and political influence that neither liberal representative democracies nor more autocratic governments will be prepared to accept. If governments accept the growing demands for enhanced participation, it might undermine the stable rule of the governing elite. On the other hand, if they reject the demands, which tend to be fueled by educational reform and growing affluence, it may trigger protests, conflicts and political struggles that undermine government power. Hence, governments are facing another dilemma, since both expanding and limiting participation may lead to political tension.

The dilemmas facing governments during the transition to a sustainable future beg the question of whether the governments should fear or oppose sustainability reforms and whether they will prevent enhanced participation out of concern for maintaining political stability. In short: will societal disruption necessarily cause political instability? Much depends on how we conceptualize political stability. Political stability is often associated with the absence of violence, the longevity of government, and the absence of structural change (Hurwitz, 1973). However, the incidence of violent protests is not in itself a source of instability since a stable political system may be able to cope well with such protests. The demand for longevity or durability of government also misses the point since stable democracies are predicated on regular overturn of the incumbent government and the formation of new governments. Finally, structural change at the level of legal rules and policies may provide a source of constitutional and systemic stability. In sum, change is not necessarily antithetical to political stability. We can have political stability even if some elements change as long as other elements embodying the constitutive characteristics of the system continue and allow us to conclude that the system has survived (Thrasher & Vallier, 2018).

In line with this argument, Dowding and Kimber (1983, p. 239) long ago defined political stability as the capacity of a political system or regime to prevent contingencies that might force its nonsurvival, i.e. forcing it to give up one or more of its constitutive characteristics. Defined in this way, political stability is unlikely to be threatened by the cocreation of a sustainable future through more or less disruptive reforms and initiatives. Hence, most systems or regimes will be able to change their policies, regulations, and even their forms of governance without seriously compromising the key characteristics that define them. However, some political systems or regimes will stubbornly insist on not changing anything and as a result they are less likely to survive. Challenges, tensions, and pressures will continue to build up and initially lead to increased repression and finally to system breakdown and regime collapse, thus leaving us with no or limited governance capacity and civic insecurity until a new system or regime is created.

The stability of a political system or regime depends on its robustness, i.e. its ability to produce flexible, adaptive, and innovative responses to environmental, social, and political challenges in order to uphold their key agendas, functions, and values (Anderies & Janssen, 2013; Ansell, Sørensen, & Torfing, 2020; Howlett, Capano, & Ramesh, 2018). Building robust political systems calls for open-ended debates about problems and solutions that facilitate innovation and experimentation; horizontal political alignment aiming to align the ideas and visions of key political actors into public governance initiatives; vertical ownership over new policy initiatives in order to secure implementation and optimize impact; procedures for ensuring equity across countries, social groups, and generations; and commitment to compensate those actors who incur short-term losses from change.

In a globalized world, national political systems are interdependent. Therefore, robustness may also derive from transnational partnerships between developed and developing countries that may facilitate exploration and exploitation of new solutions through transfer of technology, expertise, and money, joint dialogue about local needs and new opportunities, and respect for the particularity of the system that receives external support.

#### Local Cocreation and the Demand for Deepening Democracy

This section deals with the democratic challenge associated with the struggle for a sustainable future for humankind. We briefly touched on the topic of democracy in the last section when noting that participation in cocreation of SDG solutions may empower the participants and generate further demand for democratic influence. We shall now further explore the democratizing impact of cocreation.

Let us first make it perfectly clear that the primary reason for striving to cocreate public solutions to pressing problems is not that it enhances democracy. Cocreation is first and foremost used as a strategy for solving complex problems because it is an efficient and effective tool for creative problem-solving. Cocreation harnesses valuable experiences, insights, and ideas and leverages necessary resources. Relevant and affected actors all tend to make their different contributions to defining and understanding the problem at hand and their sustained interaction tends to stimulate learning and innovation and to build common ownership for new solutions. While hierarchical government uses authority and expertise to drive swift problem-solving, it often fails to take local needs and forms of knowledge into account and to mobilize the resources of private actors such as business firms, civil society organizations, and citizens. Market-based governance tends to be more inclusive than public hierarchies as it involves private contractors who are competing with each other in the production of new and path-breaking solutions that will eventually receive public funding. However, competition often ends in bitter rivalry that prevents knowledge sharing and pooling of resources to maximize impact. By contrast, cocreation invites a broad range of actors to collaborate in defining problems and designing and implementing solutions. Collaboration may be difficult in contested areas where views and interests differ, but the actors' recognition of their mutual dependency on each other's resources and the availability of well-designed arenas and adequate leadership tend to facilitate alignment, agreement, and coordinated action.

While collaboration takes time and is sometimes troublesome, cocreation is efficient because it mobilizes resources that would not otherwise be mobilized in public governance. Likewise, it is effective because it stimulates the production of innovative solutions that outperform existing solutions. However, cocreation also has a noteworthy positive side-effect as it contributes to the democratization of public governance. Democracy is a particular form of governing and way of life that gives citizens a free and equal opportunity to participate in public debate and effectively influence decisions that affect their lives. Civil and political rights, such as freedom of speech, the right to organize, universal suffrage etc., provide an important precondition for democracy that in modern mass societies often involves constitutionally guaranteed procedures for participation in free and fair elections that allow citizens to elect political representatives who will govern on their behalf until next election when their candidacy will be on the line. Liberal representative democracy is far from ubiquitous, and is currently under pressure from political attempts to curb the rights to free and equal participation. Hence, representative democracy may also take illiberal forms where a particular party, clan, or cadre claims to incarnate the will of the people and forms a representative government that governs on behalf of the people, although in an unresponsive way and with limited opposition (Zakaria, 2007).

Whatever its form, representative democracy suffers from three weaknesses that stem from the limits to popular participation (Sørensen & Torfing, 2019). The first weakness is that by excluding large segments of the population from the actual decision-making process that only involves elected representatives and government officials, it turns citizens into passive spectators. The educational revolution and the growing aspirations of the middle class tend to enhance the competence and assertiveness of a growing number of citizens who are increasingly dissatisfied with the passive spectator role and want to have a more active and direct involvement in making decisions that affect their lives (Dalton & Welzel, 2014).

The second weakness is that representative democracy lacks an efficient mechanism for transmitting relevant information, experiences, views, and ideas to the political decision-makers in the solution phase and mobilizing relevant societal resources in the implementation phase. Interestingly, new research shows that elected government officials increasingly solicit relevant information, opinions, and ideas from the population and societal actors so that they can better understand the problems they are trying to solve and devise solutions that are tailored to the local context and draw upon local resources in the implementation phase (Hendriks & Lees-Marshment, 2019). For many years, citizen participation was mainly portrayed as a supply channel that enabled citizens to voice their opinions between elections. New perspectives on citizen participation stress the public decision-makers' demand for input.

The third weakness is that the combination of elite competition and technocracy in representative democracy tends to create a distance between the executive decision-makers and the people, which makes it difficult to create broad-based popular support for government initiatives and thus hampers implementation of new policy initiatives. Even well-intended and well-designed legislation may appear as dictates by people on the ground who have not been involved in the decision-making process either because they are deemed unqualified to participate or because the elected government believes that societal interference in policy making is illegitimate.

The weaknesses inherent to representative democracy have prompted widespread democratic experimentation and innovation (Sabel, 2012; Saward, 2003; Smith, 2009, 2019). Much of this democratic experimentalism seeks to enhance citizen participation through staging of townhall meetings and public consultation processes in relation to local planning; establishment of participatory boards with user representation in public service institutions; formation of online or in-person citizen panels responding to policy proposals; experimentation with participatory budgeting; and the introduction of some form of workplace or classroom democracy. Although there are also examples of increased use of referendums that allow citizens to vote for or against government proposals, most of the new participatory experiments aim to enhance the participation of local stakeholders in deliberation defined as "a thoughtful, open, and accessible discussion about information, views, experiences, and ideas during which people seek to make a decision or judgment based on facts, data, values, emotions and other less technical considerations" (Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015, p. 14).

Worldwide there has been an increase in the use of minipublics and citizen juries that bring together a group of randomly chosen citizens to deliberate on a specific issue, whether it is the definition of specific problem or the choice of a particular policy solution. Over a number of days, participants are exposed to information and a wide range of views from witnesses, who are selected based on their expertise or because they represent affected interests. With trained moderators ensuring fair proceedings, the participants are given the opportunity to ask questions and request additional information. Following a process of deliberation among themselves, the jurors produce a decision or recommendation in the form of a citizens' report. Typically, the sponsoring public agency is required to respond, either by acting on the report or explaining why it disagrees with it and will not follow the decision or recommendation (Smith & Wales, 1999, p. 296).

In much the same way as deliberative minipublics and citizen juries, cocreation seeks to involve a group of citizens and lay actors in deliberation about public problems and solutions. Different experiences, views, and opinions are brought to the table, competing interpretations of problems and solutions are debated, and agreement is forged based on a widespread readiness to listen to each other's arguments, revise one's own opinion as a result of learning, and concede to what appears to be a better argument. However, as indicated in Table 14.1, there are three important points where cocreation as a participatory arena diverges from and complements deliberative minipublics and citizen juries.

First, the participants in cocreation are not randomly selected and are not seen to be representative of the general public. Rather, they are selected because they are affected by the problem and the emerging solution, or possess relevant knowledge, expertise, resources, or authority. This selection principle is important because it motivates the participants to be relatively intensely engaged in creative problem-solving over a certain period of time.

Second, in terms of representation, cocreation tends to mix citizens and private stakeholders with elected officials, public administrators, and representatives from

Table 14.1. Comparing Deliberative MiniPublics and Citizen Juries With Cocreation.

international donor organizations. The citizens are not supposed to merely deliberate amongst themselves but will often engage in discussions with elected politicians, civil servants, and donors who possess valuable resources that are necessary for cocreating solutions and can help ensure that the most successful ones are upscaled. This composition of actors is important since it might enhance the uptake of new policy proposals and public solutions. Research shows that the policy recommendations from deliberative minipublics and citizen juries are often discarded by public authorities because they have not been a part of the discussion and have no ownership over the proposed solution (Hendriks, 2016), whereas cocreation arenas, where politicians and civil servants are involved in discussions with engaged citizens, tend to produce a much higher policy uptake (Sørensen & Torfing, 2019).

Finally, although cocreation involves deliberation, it goes beyond a "talkcentric" view of democracy to emphasize the active role of citizens and lay actors in creative problem-solving and public innovation. Cocreation arenas are not merely providing an arena for joint deliberation, but also for joint action based on the design and testing of prototypes, coordinated implementation, and collaborative adaptation. Hence, cocreation is not only about talking, but equally about acting to produce much needed change. The combination of talk and action is important because whereas deliberation may favor the more educated and resourceful actors, the engagement in transformative action may involve other groups with complementary skills. That being said, we should note that talk and action tend to shade into each other as we can act by means of talking and talk by performing certain actions. So what we are arguing is really that cocreation tends to emphasize practical engagement in transformative actions to a much higher extent than traditional forms of deliberative democracy.

In sum, cocreation can be seen as a variant of participatory and deliberative democracy that emphasizes the need for engaged participation of relevant and affected actors, including public decision-makers, in creative problem-solving that combines discussion and practical interventions. Although more than often than not, cocreation involves citizens, lay actors, and public decision-makers in joint discussions and concerted action, there is a risk that the proliferation of cocreation projects at the local level is not sufficiently linked with the established forms of representative democracy, thus giving rise to a bifurcated democracy in which central, regional, and local government decisions based on representative democracy are out of sync with the myriad of local cocreation projects based on direct participation, deliberation, and joint action. As indicated in Fig. 14.3, this problem can be solved either through a combination of co-creation arenas with metagovernance or through the development of new forms of hybrid democracy.

Metagovernance involves attempts to steer distributed problem-solving without trying to dictate solutions and forms of cooperation (Torfing, Peters, Pierre, & Sørensen, 2012). Central, regional, and local government can metagovern local cocreation arenas by designing collaborative platforms that provide templates and offer resources for collaborative interaction and by framing this interaction through the formation of goals, values, and storylines. Metagovernance may also involve some form of process management, for example, by

Fig. 14.3. Linking Cocreation Arenas With Elected Government Through Metagovernance or Hybrid Democracy.

encouraging reporting and assessment of results, praising good achievements, and offering counseling and advice when obstacles are encountered. Metagovernance is a crucial tool of governance that governments can use to reap the fruits of local distributed interaction involving manifold public and private actors while still playing a crucial role as agenda setter, direction giver, resource provider, and facilitator. Metagovernance both helps to provide "democratic anchorage" of networked cocreation in democratically elected government (Sørensen & Torfing, 2005) and to maintain a holistic perspective on public governance and value production, thus mitigating the risk of fragmentation and network egotism, i.e., the attempt of cocreation networks and partnerships to merely advance their own interests, perhaps even at the expense of other equally worthy courses of action. It goes without saying that metagovernance works best when there is a persistent flow of information from the local actors and cocreation arenas to the metagovernors. A good overview of local activities helps to tailor metagovernance to the actual needs.

In our interpretation, hybrid democracy has nothing in common with illiberal democracy, but is a positive and constructive attempt to combine participatory and deliberative forms of cocreational democracy with representative forms of democracy and the responsible exercise of executive power. This can, for example, be done by sequencing democratic actions: first, elected government sets the agenda, creates collaborative platforms, and mandates the formation of cocreation arenas; then cocreation arenas involve public and private actors, including civil society organizations, citizens, and neighborhoods, in creative problem-solving in relation to one or more SDGs; finally, elected government discusses, amends, and endorses the cocreated solution and invests in its realization. In Denmark, Gentofte Municipality has developed such a sequenced model of hybrid democracy and evaluations show that it strengthens political leadership, civic participation, innovation, and democratic legitimacy (Sørensen & Torfing, 2019). This model of hybrid democracy has now spread to other municipalities and countries.

Both metagovernance and hybrid democracy presuppose that there is a well-functioning and democratically elected government that can prompt problem-focused action, facilitate, and support coordination and ensure top-down accountability. In those parts of the world where such forms of government are not in place, there are other ways of supporting bottom-up cocreation of SDG solutions and ensuring coordination and accountability. One option is to rely on international donor organizations and UN agencies who may work with national, regional, and local government institutions to frame and channel a variety of cocreation projects. Another option is to form cross-cutting networks of local cocreation projects that can support each other, coordinate their activities, and share best practices.

#### From Global to Local and Back Again

This concluding section argues that while the global SDGs lead to a new focus on local cocreation in networks and partnerships, the local efforts to build a sustainable future will only succeed if key economic, political, and democratic challenges are dealt with at the global and national level. Hence, local action must be supplemented and supported by global, international, and national efforts to improve the economic, political, and democratic conditions for cocreation at the local level.

The unanimous UN support for the SDGs provides a strong base for global efforts to support local initiatives and the UN is already doing a lot to spur local action in all parts of the world in an effort to save the planet. In 2019, world leaders assembled at the SDG Summit called for a Decade of Action for Sustainable Development and pledged to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation, and strengthen institutions to achieve the SDGs by 2030, leaving no one behind. The UN offers a wide range of online resources at its Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (https://sdgs.un.org). The UN partnership portal related to goal 17 provides a global registry of multistakeholder networks that may serve as a source of inspiration for local voluntary action. Finally, the annual SDG reports help to keep track of global implementation efforts and prompt further action to meet the Goals.

Although the World Bank does not talk about sustainability as such, it is strongly affiliated with the 2030 Agenda and perceives the SDGs as being well aligned with its twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The World Bank aims to catalyze the SDGs and the rest of the 2030 Agenda through the exercise of leadership, global convening, and promotion of country-level uptake. The World Bank is working with client countries to deliver on the 2030 Agenda in three critical areas: (1) financing of development projects; (2) the provision of data on performance in relation to key goals, and (3) implementation of country-led and country-owned policies to attain the SDGs. Recently, a group of environmental economists at the World Bank began working on ways to measure sustainability as a part of the Changing Wealth of Nations project (World Bank, 2018). They were concerned that measuring the flow of "income" through the growth in GDP provides no indication of the state of natural assets such as forests, water, and minerals, which are critical for generating sustainable economic growth. Hence, they explored whether it is possible to systematically track and measure "wealth" in terms of forests, water and minerals, just as we track and measure assets like buildings, machinery, roads etc. Political opposition to the project, mainly from the US, has apparently stalled the project, but there is hope that a new US Presidency will revive this agenda.

Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with its emphatic concern for maintaining a stable monetary system and global price stability, may seem to be distant from the SDGs, it engages with the SDGs when they affect economic stability and sustainable and inclusive growth. As such, the IMF aims to ensure financial stability and durable growth rates that are compatible with growing income equality. It helps to assess public spending needs and to create fiscal space for growth-enhancing and poverty-reducing investments in health, education, infrastructure, and agricultural productivity. It assists countries in making sure that energy prices reflect health and environmental costs and helps them with pricing carbon emissions and removing black energy subsidies (Annett & Lane, 2018).

The OECD is still focusing on GDP growth rather than the sustainability of the planet. However, in 2016, it launched an action plan to support the realization of the UN SDGs by helping countries to assess their global position in relation to the SDGs, providing data and expertise and helping to improve policies and institutions so that they can deliver the SDGs (OECD, 2016). In 2019, this plan was followed by another report on how countries measure their progress on the SDGs, particularly with a focus on economic aspects such as entrepreneurship, finance, trade, labor markets etc. (OECD, 2019). The OECD is also supporting the formation of partnerships that can create synergies among private and public, domestic and international, and donor and developing country resources. While the focus on environmental sustainability remains limited, there are two areas where OECD initiatives particularly support the 2030 Agenda. The first area is the attempt to reduce global inequality and the second is the fight against illicit financial flows, including money laundering, tax evasion, and international bribery that all have a devastating impact on the developing countries.

Private investment corporations make an important contribution to delivering the SDGs through so-called impact investments that are actively seeking investments that can create a significant, positive impact in the area of environmental sustainability and social justice. Some of the big impact investors are Vital Capital Fund, Triodos Investment Management, the Reinvestment Fund, BlueOrchard Finance, and the Community Reinvestment Fund. Working in tandem with government and international organizations providing investment guarantees, impact investments may play a small but significant role in closing the SDG funding gap. Large philanthropists such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also contribute to closing this gap, especially in the field of health and education. Philanthropy not only helps to fund important projects around the globe, but play a crucial role in promoting risk-taking in the search for innovative solutions. Philanthropy is not merely a North-South affair since the global south is creating its own philanthropy organizations such as the African Philanthropy Forum that aims to promote a giving culture and supports projects in countries throughout the continent. Building a supportive environment for philanthropy in all parts of the world may further enhance its role and impact.

Global microfunding is another way to support the global attainment of the SDGs. For example, the US-based nonprofit Kiva.org runs an online crowd-funding platform that connects microborrowers and -lenders. Borrowers advertise their need for funding and a supportive lender provides the loan that is paid back in 97% of the cases, enabling the lender to offer new loans. Microfunding is expanding at the global scale and plays a key role in India, Indonesia, and other Asian countries. It provides support to millions of people and the number of people that are positively affected is even bigger.

Local cocreation of SDGs is not only affected by distant global and international actors. National governments play an even bigger role in providing a supportive environment that puts social, economic, and environmental sustainability on the agenda and stimulates cross-boundary collaboration that involves local citizens and stakeholders. Drawing on the argument presented in the previous sections, we recommend national governments to do three things to stimulate cocreation for sustainability.

First, we recommend that national governments revise their economic models, objectives, and policy-making routines so that they are not merely focusing on advancing productive efficiency and GPD growth, but also take into account the need for social redistribution of wealth and life opportunities and the planetary limits to economic activities. While the instruments for enhancing social redistributions are well-known, governments need to find new ways of building sustainable production and consumption systems based on a low carbon circular economy.

Second, we recommend that national governments provide political and financial support for local changemakers and encourage them to form networks and partnerships that can spur collaboration and innovation. Supporting local cocreation may involve the formation of new platforms and arenas that spur local action, but it may also involve an enhanced responsiveness to local ideas and strategies for scaling best practices. Governments can go a long way to enhance change and support sustainable production, consumption, and living without jeopardizing political stability.

Finally, we recommend that national governments pay attention to the demands of their increasingly competent, critical, and assertive citizens to influence the conditions that shape their daily living and their quality of life. Mass participation in cocreating sustainable solutions to pressing social and environmental problems will further empower citizens and supplement existing forms of representative democracy with new forms of participatory and deliberative democracy at the local level, which may not only mobilize valuable resources, but also enhance the democratic legitimacy of government.

On a final note, we believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to eliminating the distance between global, national, and local action. The pandemic has clearly demonstrated that humankind is facing global problems that assert themselves with equal force and magnitude in Maputo, Malaga, and Malibu. At the same time, the pandemic has made it clear that national and local action matter and may either reduce or accelerate the spread of the virus and the mortality rate. As such, the COVID-19 outbreak has revealed that we are all part of the same community of destiny and that the local, national, and global levels are closely related. Remembering this important lesson may help engage actors at all levels in joint action to deliver the SDGs.

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## References

Buell, J. M. (2012). Defining leadership. Healthcare Executive, 27(6), 18–26.

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## Index

Accommodation, 86 Accountability, 165–167 audiences, 167–168 of cocreation networks, 193 key accountability audiences, 168 strengthening accountability of cocreation arenas, 177 Accountable cocreation of SDGs, 167–170 accountability, 165–167 challenges related to holding cocreation partnerships to account, 170–173 strategies for promoting accountable cocreation, 173–176 'Action teams', 52 Actors, 79–80 fostering collaborative relations through motivation and integration of, 83–85 Adaptive capacity, 143–144 Adaptive cocreation from blueprints to, 138–139 diagnostic, 140–141 as strategy for overcoming barriers to sustainability, 141–144 Adaptive management model, 139 Affected actors in cocreation of public solutions, 73–77 African Development Bank (ADB), 135–136 African Philanthropy Forum, 207–208 Agenda 2030, 10–11 Achilles' Heel of, 44–47 Agreement, 87 Agricultural innovation programs, 62 Allocation of public funds, 152 Amplifier effects, 69–70

Arenas, 100 Attention, 100 Attractive for partners, 100 Attractor effects, 68, 70 Audiences, accountability, 167–168 "Backbone organizations", 58 Better Rice Initiative Asia (BRIA), 62 Biased participation patterns, 38–39 Blended finance of cocreated SDG projects and initiatives, 132–134 Blue City Lab, 60 Blueprint strategies, 193 Blueprints to adaptive cocreation, 138–139 Bottom-up goal integration, cocreation as, 53 Bureaucratic government, 151–152 Cape Town Sustainable Mobility project, 109 Catalysts, 155 Catalyzing innovation, 96 Change strategy, experimentation as, 111–114 Changemakers, 69, 93, 95, 176 pushing and pulling cocreation toward innovation, 94 Changing Wealth of Nations project, 206–207 Citizen participation, 53 Civil society, 2 Clarification, 84 Classical liberalism, 195 Cocreated experimentation, 115–118 Cocreated experiments, 107 Cocreated prototypes of SDG, 193

Cocreating actors, 156–157 experiments and prototypes, 114–115 from blueprints to adaptive, 138–139 as bottom-up goal integration, 53 build local capacity for change, 50 building support networks, 54 cheers and hurray for, 35–38 Cocreation, 5, 79–80, 91–92, 107, 110, 138, 145–146, 192 strategy of SDG localization, 47–55 collaborative governance, 27–28 from collaborative governance to, 28–31 collaborative partnership approach for reaching SDGs, 23–25 contextualize SDGs, 47–48 dark side of, 38–39 deliberation platforms, 62–63 demand for deepening democracy, 200–206 design, 33 diffusing successful innovations through cocreation, 100–101 encourage societal ownership of SDGs, 48–49 essential dynamics for platform success, 68–69 evaluation, 34–35, 151, 153 to foster social accountability for SDGs, 50–52 from global to local and back again, 206–209 identifying hidden resources, 55 implementation, 34 initiation, 31–33 innovation platforms, 62 intermediating role of platforms, 64–65 knowledge cocreation platforms, 61 leadership of, 184–185 leveraging role of platforms, 66–68 living labs, 61–62

local cocreation, 191, 194, 200, 206 new economic thinking, 194–198 organizing logic of, 63–64 partnership platforms, 63 partnerships, networks and key functions, 25–27 platform design, 69–72 platforms, 57–60 process in four steps, 31–32, 35 public value outcomes, 30 recommendations for achieving positive platform effects, 70 scaffolding role of platforms, 65–66 of SDGs, 208 securing political stability in times of rapid societal change, 198–200 sharing and crowdsourcing platforms, 63 skills and competencies important, 186 smart city platforms, 62 to spot leverage points, 54 as strategy of localization, 56 as strategy of SDG localization, 47–55 support local innovation, 55 supports learning and knowledge creation, 52–53 types of, 60–63 U. N. platforms related to SDGs, 59 workshops, 148 Collaboration, 27–28, 138 checklist, 155 Collaborative adaptation, 144, 146 as implementation strategy, 137–138 as integrative strategy, 144–146 through social learning, 147–148 Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), 161 Collaborative governance, 3, 27–28 to cocreation, 28–31 Collaborative partnership approach for reaching SDGs, 23–25 Collaborative platforms, 82, 154

Collective impact conditions for learning in, 164 fast learning from, 162–164 Common agenda, 163 Communication, 155 Communicative skills, 187 Community community-based experimentation, 107 community-based innovation, 111 community-raising efforts, 80–81 development, 155 Complexity, 187–188 Compromise formation, 86–87 Concept House Village Lab, 60 Conceptual methodologies, 67–68 Conflict(s), 85 behavioral recommendations for conflict mediators, 88 mediating and mitigating, 85–89 mediation, 86, 187 Connectedness, 155 Context setters, 75 Continuous communication, 163–164 Control, 152 systems, 172 Conveners, 74, 77–78, 81 of cocreation, 75 Convening relevant and affected actors in cocreation of public solutions, 73–77 coping with limits to inclusion, 77–79 empowering actors to secure effective participation, 79–83 fostering collaborative relations through motivation and integration of actors, 83–85 mediating and mitigating conflicts, 85–89 power vs. interest grid, 75 stakeholder influence analysis, 76 Coping with limits to inclusion, 77–79 conflict challenge, 77

coordination challenge, 77 troubling actor challenge, 77 Corona pandemic, 4–5, 97 Corporate business sector, 126 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), 95, 126 Creation of resource interdependence, 84 Critical life-supporting systems, 196–197 Cross-boundary collaboration, 5 Crowd actors, 75 Crowdfunding, 63, 126 Crowdsourcing platforms, 63 Data collection, 155 Decentralization, 45 Decision support tools, 67–68 Deepening democracy, demand for, 200–206 Degree of participation, 70–71 Deliberation platforms, 62–63 Demand for deepening democracy, 200–206 Democracy, 201–202 demand for deepening democracy, 200–206 Design thinking, 108–109 phases of, 109 Developmental evaluation, 159–162 Dialogue platforms, 59 Diffusing successful innovations through cocreation, 100–101 Digital design and fabrication tools, 67–68 "Distributed" experimentation, 106–107 Distributive leadership, 82 "Do-It-Together" approach, 110 Donor organizations, 125 "Donut economics", 196 Doughnut model, 196–197 Downward accountability, 169 E-participation tools, 67–68

Economic crises, 80

Economic policy paradigm, 195–196 Economic policy-makers, 196–197 Economic sustainability, 10 Effective facilitation of cocreation, 147 Effective participation, empowering actors to secure, 79–83 Emergent character of cocreation, 193 Empowering actors to secure effective participation, 79–83 Empowerment, 80 Environmental degradation, 196–197 Environmental issues, 196–197 Environmental protection, 10 Environmental sustainability, 10 Evaluation, 154 cocreation, 151–153 developmental, 159–162 dynamic relationship between process, impact, and evaluation, 153 formative, 154–157 process, 153–154 summative, 157–159 Exclusion, 79 Experimentation, 107–108 as change strategy, 111–114 cocreating experiments and prototypes, 114–115 support, scale and diffuse cocreated experiments, 118 supporting successful cocreated, 115–118 sustainability, 105–107 Facilitation of meetings, 82 Facilitators, 81 Fair speaking, 187 Fair Trade Agreements, 20 Fairness and social equality, 10 Financing, 123 conceptual distinction between funding and financing, 124 of local cocreation projects,

121–124 Fiscal auditing, 134–136 Followers, 183–184 Food Waste Warrior, 2 "Food-energy-water", 145 Forest Action, 47 Formal accountability mechanisms, 166–167, 171 potential negative impacts of, 172 potential positive impacts of, 171 Formative evaluation, 154, 157, 160 Fostering collaborative relations through motivation and integration of actors, 83–85 Frame reflection, 82 Fund for International Partnerships, 63 Funding, 122–123 conceptual distinction between funding and financing, 124 good early-stage funding application, 128 of initiation and development of local cocreation projects, 124–128 of local cocreation projects, 121–124 Future Council Hamburg, 62–63 Future Earth, 11

GDP growth, 207 Generative experiments, 106 Gentofte Municipality, 205–206 Give a Minute (crowdsourcing platforms), 63 Global action, 12 Global goals Achilles' Heel of Agenda 2030, 44–47 cocreation as strategy of SDG localization, 47–55 from global SDGs to national agendas, 42–44 SDG cascade, 41–42 Global levels of governance, 20 Global microfunding, 208 Global South, 9–10 Global sustainability, 1 Golden Open Access, 8

Governance networks, 25 Government, 125, 129–130 action, 12 actors, 2 Grassroots innovation, 109–110 Green Commodities Program, 60 Group level empowerment strategies, 80–81

Hard power resources, 183 Hedonistic effects, 84–85 Heterodox economics, 194–195 Heterodox economists, 194–195 High speed information sharing, 82 Hybrid democracy, 206

IMAGINE (EU-sponsored project), 51 Impact investments, 207–208 Impartial speaking, 187 Inclusion, 79 coping with limits to, 77–79 Indonesia's Special Economic Zone policies, 76–77 Informal accountability, 174–175 actor properties in, 175 building, 176–178 Initiation, 92 Innovation, 6, 105 assets, 94–95 avoiding pitfalls, 101–102 diffusing successful innovations through cocreation, 100–101 generating ideas for innovative solutions, 95–97 grassroots, 109–110 initiating cocreated innovation, 92–93, 95 platforms, 62 promoting SDGs through cocreated, 91–92 pushing and pulling cocreation toward, 94 recommendations for spur cocreated innovation, 103 turning new ideas into promising solutions, 97–100

Innovative policies, 97–98 Innovative products, 98 Innovative programs, 98 Innovative services, 98 Inquiring action, 12 Integration of actors, fostering collaborative relations through and, 83–85 Integrative strategy, collaborative adaptation as, 144–146 Interactive approach to leadership, 183–185 Interdependence, 83 Intermediating role of platforms, 64–65 Intermediation, 64 International donor organizations, 125 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 207 Investors, 131–132 Inward accountability, 169 Keynesianism, 195 Knowledge cocreation platforms, 61 cocreation supports knowledge creation, 52–53 of local community, 186–187 platforms, 59

"Landscape" approach, 146 Laws, 155 LEADER program, 15 Leader(s), 180–181, 184, 188 of cocreation, 193 Leadership, 92, 155, 180, 183, 188, 193 building leadership capacity to promote cocreation of SDGs, 186–188 of cocreation, 184–185 create group, 181 functions, 181 generate results, 182–183 implement new solution, 182 importance, 179–180 inspire and guide shared search for solutions, 181–182

interactional leadership production, 184 problem diagnosis, 181 recommendations for cocreation, 190 role of power in, 183–184 Learning, 152–153 cocreation supports, 52–53 Legitimacy, 152–153 through oversight and fiscal auditing, 134–136 Lever of change, 27 Leverage points, cocreation to spot, 54 Leveraging role of platforms, 66–68 Lewa wildlife project, 146 Life Cycle Co-Creation Process (LCCCP), 67–68 LifeStraw, 98 Living labs, 61–62 Local action, 14 barriers to, 18–20 cocreation as strategy of, 56 enhancing scope for, 20–22 global goals to, 41–42 Local Agenda (LA), 45 Local Agenda 21, 45–46 Local citizens, 2 Local cocreation, 112, 191, 194 blended finance of cocreated SDG projects and initiatives, 132–134 building leadership capacity to promote cocreation of SDGs, 186–188 combination of funding and financing over time, 124 comparing deliberative MiniPublics and Citizen Juries with cocreation, 203 and demand for deepening democracy, 200–206 efforts, 45 funding of initiation and development of, 124–128 lead, 188–189

legitimacy through oversight and fiscal auditing, 134–136 need for funding and financing of, 121–124 public and private financing of cocreated SDG solutions, 128–132 role of power in leadership, 183–184 of SDG, 179–180 Local governance, 15–16 barriers to local action, 18–20 local actors contribute to achieving SDGs, 15–18 local responses to global problems, 13–15 UN SDGs, 9–13 Local innovation, cocreation support, 55 Local partnerships, 53 Local stakeholders, 74–75 Local2030, 59 Localization, 44–47

Mainstream economics, 194–195 Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Coherence (MAPS), 42 Mature networks and partnerships, 27 Mentoring, 82 Metagovernance, 204–205 Microeconomics, 195 Millennium Development Goals (MDG), 9–10, 46 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 46–47 Mitreden-U Platform, 62–63 Mock ups, 108, 113 Modern economic policy paradigms, 195 Modern Governance, 16 Modus operandi, 161–163, 174–175 Monitoring, 144 Mooi Mooier Middelland, 60 Motivation, 69–70 fostering collaborative relations through and, 83–85

Multistakeholder collaboration, 4–5 partnerships, 24 platform, 58 Mutually reinforcing activities, 164 National agendas, from global SDGs to, 42–44 National levels of governance, 20 National policymakers, 43–44 National political systems, 200 Neoliberalism, 195 Networks, 4–5, 25, 27 New economic thinking, 194–198 triangular space circumscribing a new sustainable economics, 196 New Public Management, 151–152 Newcastle City Futures (NCF), 60 Nodality, authority, treasure, organizational capacity resources (NATO resources), 14 On-line training, 67–68 Open-minded speaking, 187 OpenIDEO (crowdsourcing platforms), 63 Organizations, 2 Organizing logic of cocreation platforms, 63–64 Outward accountability, 170 Palette for the Future, 60

Paper prototyping, 113 Participant-level empowerment strategies, 81–82 Participatory mapping, 52–53 "Participatory rural appraisal" strategies, 58 Participatory strategies, 53 Partnership, 4–5, 42, 138, 193 approach, 24 Goal 17 on, 5 model, 44–45 networks, key functions and, 25–27

platforms, 63 rising functional aspiration of networks and, 26 for SDGs platform, 59 "Partnership for the goals", 23 Patent laws, 100 People action, 12 Perseverance, 187–188 Philanthropists, 125–126 Philanthropy, 207–208 Pictograms, 11 Pilot projects, 113 "Place-based" approach, 146 Planning Support tools, 67–68 Platforms, 57–60, 192 design, 69–72 intermediating role of, 64–65 leveraging role of, 66–68 scaffolding role of, 65–66 tools for facilitating cocreation, 67–68 Players, 75 Policies, 155 "Policy-target alignment analysis", 43 Political climate, 155 Political stability, 199–200 in times of rapid societal change, 198–200 Political tensions, 199 Postmeeting, 82 Power in leadership, 183–184 Premeeting, 82 Private banks, 131–132 Private businesses, 126 Private enterprises, 2 Private financing of cocreated SDG solutions, 128–132 Private investment corporations, 207–208 Private organizations, 8 Problem diagnoses, 92–93, 193 Problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA), 142–143 Process evaluation, 153–154 management methodologies, 67–68 Prototypes, 33 Prototyping, 6–7, 99, 106, 112, 114 cocreating experiments and prototypes, 114–115 modes of, 113 Proximity, 14 Public donation, 126 Public financing of cocreated SDG solutions, 128–132 Public organizations, 8 Public sector organizations, 2 Public Service Innovations Network, 101 Public value for society, 39 Qualitative system models, 67–68 Raising the Citizen's Voice project, 58 Randomized controlled trial (RCT), 106 "Reflect-act-reflect" cycles, 148, 150 Regional collaborative platforms, 59 Regulations, 155 Reporting and standard-setting platforms, 59 Representative democracy, 202 Research and data collection, 155 Resource interdependence creation of, 84 strengthening of, 84 Resources, 155 Role-playing experiments, 108 "Rules-in-practice", 176–177 Scaffolding role of platforms, 65–66 Scaling, 69–70 Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), 60 Scenarios, 112 planning, 113 SDG Partnerships Platform, 24 Sector-specific approach, 4 Selective activation, 82 Serious games, 67–68, 113 Sharing platforms, 63 Simulation and scenario modeling, 67–68

Simulation models, 113 Small Grants Program Partnership Platform, 63 Smart city platforms, 62 Social accountability, 173–174 actor properties in, 175 building, 176–178 for SDGs, 50–52 Social and economic prosperity, 10 Social capital, 187 Social entrepreneurs, 152–153 Social learning, 69–70 collaborative adaptation through, 147–148 strategies for promoting, 150 Social networks, 148 Social sustainability, 10 "Societal" experimentation, 106–107 "Soft power" approach, 183 Stakeholder analysis, 74–76, 192–193 Stakeholders, 181 Storytelling, 32 Strategic management, 92 Strengthening of resource interdependencies, 84 Subjects, 75 Summative evaluation, 157, 159–160 Supply channel, 202 Support networks, cocreation building, 54 Sustainability adaptive cocreation as strategy for overcoming barriers to, 141–144 developments, 58 experimentation, 105–107 sustainability transitions, 107–108 Sustainable development knowledge platform, 59 solutions network, 59 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 1, 9, 13, 41–42, 92, 154, 156 argument in nutshell, 4–5

building leadership capacity to promote cocreation of, 186–188 cascade, 41–42 cocreation as strategy of SDG localization, 47–55 cocreation contextualize, 47–48 cocreation encourage societal ownership of, 48–49 cocreation to foster social accountability for, 50–52 collaborative partnership approach for reaching, 23–25 factors motivate local actors to promoting SDGs, 17 Goal 11, 10–11 Goal 13, 10 Goal 16, 165 Goal 17, 5, 23, 192 Goal 3, 10–11 Goal 8, 10 insights into, 186 interrelated patterns of action promoting SDGs, 13 local actors contribute to achieving, 15–18 local cocreation, 191–194 multicolored icons illustrating each of SDGs, 12 philanthropy platform, 59 promoting SDGs through cocreated Innovation, 91–92 SDG 14. 1 and 14. 2, 30–31 U. N. platforms related to, 59 work together to achieve, 1–3 Sustainable futures, 194 Sustainable participation, 155 Sustainable Rice Platform, 62 Sustainable sanitation innovations, 106–107 Synergies, 68–70

Team-based leadership of cocreation process, 189 Top-down implementation, 142 Track record for collaboration, 155 Traditional evaluation tools, 153 Transformation lab, 61–62 Transformative partnership platforms, 59 Transitions, sustainability, 107–108 sustainability transition experiment, 108 Trust building, 82 U.N. Global compact action platforms, 59 UN Agenda 21, 13–14 UN Development Group (UNDG), 42 Uncertainty, 187–188 Understanding community, 155 UNDISDR's Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, 60 United Nations, 1 United Nations SDG Partnership Platform, 2 UNLEASH network, 110 Upward accountability, 168–169

Value co-destruction, 39 of cocreated prototypes, 115 of prototyping, 99 Virtualization, 113 Voluntary National Reviews, 43

"Wicked problems", 143–144 Workshops, 65–66

"Yellow vest" movement, 198–199 Youth Foundation of Bangladesh (YFB), 30–31

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**6. Conclusions**

The international financial markets and financial capital flows illustrate the need for concerted efforts to enhance the mobilization of domestic financial resources and global financial crisis in emerging markets countries, and to reduce exposure to international portfolio capital and financial contagion. The volume of capital outflows also makes the case for reviving discussions on managing capital outflows and on developing a global financial safety net.

In the end, it can be summarized that the development of the financial market is one of the main keys to achieving long-term economic growth. The financial market can lead to economic growth if it can provide a suitable environment for the optimal allocation of resources and increase the efficiency of capital, as we mentioned earlier.

Therefore, the governments of all countries, including the governments of developing countries, must work to create the appropriate atmosphere to attract local and foreign investments and to enhance interaction the stock exchange.

In addition, the local community, and disseminate information through all available means. An informational and promotional effort must be made to promote the culture of investment in all stocks by the relevant authorities.

Monitoring stock market operations, given those Stocks is a new product separate from itself. The rest of the securities in the stock market, to attract money fleeing from Dealing in traditional tools, as an alternative to them, by providing market indicators Stocks is similar to stock market indices, which activates the trading market, and is reflected in the positively on the issue markets.

The government must be working to follow up efforts in the field of deepening the market, increasing its efficiency and liquidity, and spreading the culture of investment, especially the development of its website.

Paying more attention to the issue of corporate governance rules and standards in the financial markets, which is what keeps us away from falling into financial crises, and leads us to enjoy efficiency and work on diversifying the available tools.

The existence of a stock market with a strong infrastructure based on a set of rules and Clear and specific regulatory and supervisory procedures, and the Governments should make their stock market completely governed by principles and provisions and Legitimacy to avoid falling into crises, it helps it reach higher levels of efficiency.

Urging and working to continue developing the technology infrastructure of the stock exchange to serve all dealers in the stock exchange. The International stock exchanges must keep pace with technological developments to create an efficient stock exchange.

The necessity of establishing specialized educational institutes and training centers and holding conferences and scientific centers International, to qualify the human cadres necessary to work in the emerging financial markets.

#### **7. Policy recommendations**

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the impact of the international financial markets and financial capital flows through the period of the global financial crisis on global economic growth and development especially in developing countries such as Arab countries, and dynamics in emerging markets and the Middle East. We investigate the impact on sovereign and bond markets, as well as currency rates and capital flows, against the backdrop of globally interconnected financial markets.

Our research allows us to make a comparison between advanced and emerging economies. Our findings show that international financial markets and financial capital flows have had the greatest impact on global economic growth and development, as well as global financial markets in Europe and Asia, after controlling for a large number of domestic and global financial and macroeconomic factors.

Moreover, outflows of stocks and bonds from emerging markets appear to be directly linked to the international financial markets and financial capital flows given investors' risk aversion and flight to safety. Sovereign bond markets in emerging market and developing countries appear to be the hardest hit by

*Perspective Chapter: International Financial Markets and Financial Capital Flows... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102572*

the coronavirus, compared to the magnitude of the effects on stock prices and exchange rates.

Additionally, while the international financial markets and financial capital flows will eventually recede, our findings show that global markets may face some Long-Term marginal effects.

Our findings show that government-sponsored fiscal stimulus packages, along with comprehensive central bank stabilization measures, have helped to reduce the negative effects of international financial markets and financial capital flows on financial market and capital flow dynamics. In particular, our findings highlight the key role of central banks in stabilizing financial markets globally during the international financial markets and financial capital flows crisis, through interest rate cuts, quantitative easing, and international swap lines.

More importantly, the impact of expansionary monetary policy in developed countries, which helped lower sovereign bond yields and bolster stock markets at home, also extended to emerging and small market countries, particularly about stable capital flow dynamics. This, combined with the influence of global factors such as (EPU) and (VIX), underscores the interdependence of the global financial system, and the impact of developments in the world's leading financial centers on financial conditions in emerging market countries.

The heightened uncertainty due to the international financial markets and financial capital flows pandemic has clearly affected the financial markets in emerging market and developing countries more harmful than in advanced economies.

However, emerging market economies appear to be strong performers in their policy responses to the pandemic. While fiscal stimulus packages have restored confidence in domestic markets, many central banks in Europe and the Middle East have embarked on quantitative easing for the first time.

Our results indicate that these monetary policy measures were effective in the case of Asian emerging markets, as they supported stock prices. More importantly, these measures also helped stabilize capital inflows.

Furthermore, given the size of bond and equities capital outflows from emerging, small and medium markets, our findings highlight the importance of strengthening the local investor base to be less dependent on international portfolio investments, supporting the findings of [12].

#### **Acknowledgements**

The author extends their appreciation for their support for scientific research at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) in Palestine to support this research and encourage the author in particular, in addition to that the authors send a special thanks and a great appreciation to the jury staff Reviewers, and to the Editorial Board at IntechOpen.

#### **Author's contribution**

The Sole Author Designed, Analyzed, Interpreted and Prepared the Chapter.

#### **Conflict of interest**

The author has declared that no competing interests exist.