CSIRO Sustainability Network

Sustainability Resources

Index

| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

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A

Australasian Virtual Engineering Library for Sustainable Development
A recently launched, developing site, planned as a step towards a World Virtual Engineering Library of Sustainable Development. Seeks to provide easy access to quality web-based resources.

Australia. Dept. of Industry, Science and Resources. Energy Efficiency Best Practice (EEBP)  
The EEBP Program works together with companies in specific industry sectors to help them achieve the financial, social and environmental benefits of smart energy practice. The selected sectors are medium to large energy users, eg, aluminium production, dairy processing, milling and baking, wine making, beverage and containers manufacturing, hotel management and vehicle fleet management. The Program also encompasses cross-sectoral strategies for motor systems and energy performance contracting.

Australia 21
Australia 21 is a non profit company whose focus is research and development on issues of strategic importance to Australia in the 21st Century. Under an honorary Board of seven directors, it works to ensure that research into large and complex issues is addressed in a rigorous way through the establishment of sustained collaborative networks of outstanding thinkers and researchers from various disciplines across Australia.  Australia 21 is also seeking to bridge the gap between research and policy. It will help to create new frameworks of understanding and apply these frameworks to the development of public, corporate and community policy and action. Its research will thus be grounded in the needs of modern society.  In 2003, Australia 21 is also supporting an innovative, progressive online conference “In Search of Sustainability” – http://www.isosconference.org.au

Australia State of the Environment 2001 Report
Independent Report to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage.
Australian State of the Environment Committee. CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage. 2001. ISBN 0 643 06745 0
Independent contract authors prepared the seven supporting theme reports that the Committee considered during preparation of the 2001 SoE Report. The opinions in the theme reports are those of the authors, not of the committee. The theme reports contain additional information:  Atmosphere, Biodiversity, Coasts and Oceans, Human Settlements, Inland Waters, Land Natural and Cultural Heritage

Australian National Transport Secretariat 
Papers on the future development of transport systems and the impacts of e-business on the transport system. See the series of 9 research papers published by Helen Whan of the Australian National Transport Secretariat and Nariida Smith of CSIRO Building Construction & Engineering.

Australian Natural Resources Atlas
Under development by the National Land & Water Resources Audit, Environment Australia, the Atlas provides geographically based information to aid natural resource management. It can be searched by region at various scales, and by topic themes, e.g., coastal environments, rangelands, water resources, agriculture, biodiversity, and people.

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B

The Big Rollover": World oil production decline predictions.
The world's rate of production of petroleum is predicted to start its terminal decline within the next five to 15 years, much sooner than commonly thought. 
Contribution from Bruce Robinson, CSIRO Exploration & Mining, highlighting sustainability issues for oil. Bruce examines the growing controversy surrounding the predicted petroleum shortage and what this could mean for Australia. Bruce has had a longstanding interest in oil-supply predictions and their influence on transport policies, and challenges the OPEC spin-doctors in this article. 
NOTE: The Big Rollover paper also includes a good bibliography on world oil supply shortfall predictions.

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C

Centre for Green Chemistry, Monash University
The Centre for Green Chemistry is located in the School of Chemistry, Monash University. The Centre commenced operation in January 2000 and is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council.. Chris Strauss of CSIRO Molecular Science has been seconded to the Centre as Director.

Centre for a New American Dream  
The Centre for a New American Dream is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Americans change the way they consume to improve the quality of life, protect the environment, and promote social justice.  It’s a big vision: “We are attempting nothing less than a shift of American culture away from its current emphasis on consumption towards a more fulfilling, just and sustainable way of life.” “The traditional American Dream once focused on greater security, opportunity and happiness.  Increasingly, that dream has been supplanted by an extraordinary emphasis on acquisition.  The recent commercial definition of the American Dream has hidden costs for the environment, our quality of life, and our efforts to create a just and equitable society.”

Centre for a Sustainable Economy
With a slogan “Environment & Economy: Stronger Together,” the Centre for a Sustainable Economy is a non-profit, non-partisan research and policy institution based in Washington DC, USA.   Its economists and policy experts use economic modelling and policy analysis to determine the impact of environmental taxes, tax incentives, auctioned permits and similar market-based tools on the economy, the environment and society.   The Centre publishes scholarly papers, testifies before government bodies and provides technical assistance to organizations at state, national and international levels.  The Centre promotes innovative tax and other market-based approaches to achieving a sustainable economy – one that integrates long-term economic growth, environmental quality and social fairness.

Recent publications include “Environmental Tax Reform: The European Experience” and "Clean Energy and Jobs: a Comprehensive Approach to Climate Change and Energy Policy."

Climate Change Science: An analysis of some key questions.  
National Research Council, USA . Available as a PDF file.
Held at Black Mountain Library. 

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D/E

EarthTrends
EarthTrends is a free interactive web site developed by the World Resources Institute to provide comprehensive current data, maps, articles, and country profiles about the environment and sustainable development. EarthTrends is intended as a one-stop shop for internationally comparable data, in a variety of formats, which can be used to analyse trends, assess progress, and plan for the future. It also provides links to original sources and other related websites. An important concept is to make trend data available to all – the general public as well as scientists and policy makers.

ECOS
Australia's most authoritative magazine on sustainability in the environment, industry and community is published bi-monthly by CSIRO both in print and online. ECOS is for anyone interested in our evolving approaches towards a more environmentally sustainable future - an invaluable resource for professionals and students alike.

Encouraging Conservation through Valuation
This report from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) examines how statutory property valuation and/or property taxes could be used as tools to encourage natural heritage conservation and the sustainable management of productive land in non-urban areas.

Environment Australia: The Australian Public Environmental Reporting website
Provides information and examples for companies and organizations wishing to develop a PER, and to researchers and investors with an interest in environmental performance and environmental reporting. The website is a clearing-house for electronically available Public Environmental Reports, with links to company sites, publications and other resources.

Environmental News Network (USA)
A popular-style source of international environment updates, also with plenty of links to social and economic issues.

European Environmental Advisory Councils (EEAC)
A participatory website currently used by around 30 Advisory Councils for environmental policy and sustainable development in 13 EU and 8 accession countries. Participation and collaboration are aimed at improving the quality of policy advice at national and regional levels. The site posts news and discussion items relating to sustainable development, and also programs and proceedings of meetings and events.   

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F

Foresight Programme, UK
The British Foresight Programme involves business, the science base, Government, the voluntary sector and others in thirteen sectorally based Foresight panels to think about what might happen in the future and what can be done about it now to increase prosperity and sustainability. The sight provides access to a range of trend information, publications, future scenarios and statistics. Malcolm McIntosh was sceptical of the British Foresighting process at its inception, but the materials available now suggest it may have "matured."

Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainability
The Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainability seeks to facilitate information exchange and discussion among the growing and diverse group of individuals, institutions, and networks engaged in the field of science and technology for sustainability. It seeks to provide access to emerging ideas, relevant activities, key documents and web sites.
The Forum is an activity of the international Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability (ISTS).

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G

Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE)
National Members of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) have recently issued a Statement from their 6th International Conference urging national governments to support the Kyoto protocol using a suite of regulatory and incentive mechanisms. These include: tax credits to support renewable energy and energy efficiency, using public procurement to promote alternative technologies to bring prices down, introducing environmental guidelines and transparency for export credit agencies, ensuring that export credits favour clean technologies that are not carbon-based, establishing mechanisms to support investment in clean technologies in developing countries, and proceeding with discussions to establish emissions trading at regional and global levels. Check the detail of this Statement on the website.

Greenhouse and Energy Solutions
Issue 1 (Sept/Oct. 2000) -
Newsletter produced by the CSIRO Energy Services Unit (ESU) located in Brisbane, a specialized small group within Corporate Property Branch.  Continues CSIRO energy news :  issue 1(May 1998) - 24 (April 2000).  Energy Services Unit provides advice on the design of energy efficient building services and air conditioning systems.  The group also monitors and advises Divisions and Users on energy consumption, forecasts and compiles data for Government Reporting.  Energy Services also assesses and recommends methods to reduce CSIRO's overall energy usage in line with Government annual reduction targets and when relevant provide staff awareness and training programs.

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H

Healthy Building Network (USA)
The Healthy Building Network is a lobby group dedicated to the use of safer, ecologically superior building materials as a means to healthier indoor environments and global environmental preservation. Initial objectives include phasing out PVC plastic, plywood and chipboards, and formaldehyde and arsenic-treated wood. The site makes scientific and policy information available to general consumers.

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I

Institute for Local Self-Reliance (USA)
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) is a non-profit research and educational organization that provides technical assistance and information, and environmentally sound, economic development strategies. ILSR works with citizen groups, governments and private businesses in developing options that extract the maximum value from local resources. Links within the site include: new rules: designing rules as if the community mattered, the carbohydrate economy, waste to wealth: reduction, re-use, recycling and scrap-based manufacturing, energy policy, and healthy buildings.

Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University
The ISTP was established in 1988 to help create a better understanding of the roles and effects of science and technology for the benefit of all sectors of society. Founded in 1988 through a Western Australian Government grant, the Institute is now an independent School within the Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education (SSHE) at Murdoch University. 
ISTP's research can be divided into 5 key areas: 
    - Sustainable Cities: urban planning, transport, water and waste in city policy. 
    - Sustainable Regions: natural resource management, especially in regional Western Australia. 
    - Sustainable Futures: advancement and critique of innovation and technology. 
    - Sustainable Energy and Third World Development: especially renewable energy in Indonesia and Bangladesh; also population policy. 
    - Sustainable Selves: identity, education, spirituality, ethical dimensions of technology and sustainable development. 

Institute for Sustainable Futures
The Institute for Sustainable Futures is a not-for-profit research institute created by the University of Technology Sydney to support and create change towards sustainable futures. The Institute is located at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern.
The Institute undertakes strategic research in the following in the areas of sustainability:
-    Building and design
-    Consumption and waste management
-    Greenhouse and energy
-    Transport
-    Sustainable urban water
The ISF team has extensive experience in conducting innovative participatory research in relation to decision-making for policy and program development. The Institute has expertise in stakeholder consultations, public deliberation, and structured interviews.

Integrated Catchment Management in the Murray-Darling Basin 2001-2010 : delivering a sustainable future.
The Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council in June 2001 released its final Integrated Catchment Management Policy Statement for the Murray-Darling Basin. Based on a six-Government agreement, the Statement lays out new processes and strategies for sustainable management of the Basin’s catchments. Available as a PDF file.

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) was established in Geneva in September 1996 to contribute to a better understanding of development and environment concerns in the context of international trade.
ICTSD is an independent non-profit and non-governmental organisation.

International Energy Agency
There is a wealth of information on sustainable energy trends, issues and policies on this website, including:
www.iea.org./new/releases/2001/multi.htm : a short news release promoting dimethyl-ether (DME) as a new, environmentally friendly, multi-source, multi-application fuel. It can be made from natural gas, coal, or biomass, and has potential applications in power generation, domestic fuel applications, diesel engines, and fuel cells.
www.iea.org/public/studies/sustain.htm giving access to the publication, "Towards a Sustainable Energy Future," and the IEA Statement on Sustainable Development.

International Institute for Sustainable Development
The International Institute for Sustainable Development contributes to sustainable development by advancing policy recommendations on international trade and investment,  economic policy, climate change, measurement and assessment,and natural resources management. By using Internet communications, IISD reports on international negotiations through its many publications, including the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. IISD Reporting Services provides a multimedia resource for environment and sustainable development policy makers, including coverage of international negotiations containing daily reports and photos.

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J

Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programs
The Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication for behaviour change. In the human health field, JHU/CCP has led projects based on systematic needs assessment and clear strategies for positioning and presenting the benefits of health interventions to appropriate audiences. It is now using its established system to take on the issues of environmental health. This is a collection of Population-Environment Resources, information of interest in the context of balancing population growth with environmental leadership.

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K/L/M/N

Natural Capitalism: the next industrial revolution / by Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins, published by Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, 1999. ISBN 1 85383 461 0 (hardback), 1 85383 763 6 (paperback). A radical vision of how business will be done and technology developed with sensitivity towards social progress and the environment. Great for showing how far we have to go, and how to break out of mental constraints on the way.
CSIRO Library Network holdings : Atmospheric Research, Black Mountain Library, Corporate Centre, Land and Water (Urrbrae), Lloyd Rees Library, Long Pocket Laboratories, Sustainable Ecosystems, Western Australian Laboratories.

Natural Resources Defense Council (USA)
The NRDC uses law and science to protect wildlife and wild places, and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. It seeks to establish sustainability and good stewardship of the earth as central imperatives of society, and to protect nature in ways that advance the long-term welfare of present and future generations. It works to foster social equity and the right of all individuals to have a voice in decisions affecting their environment. Topic areas within the site include: clean air & energy, global warming, clean water and oceans, wildlife & fish, parks forests & wildlands, toxic chemicals & health, nuclear weapons & waste, cities & green living, and environmental legislation.

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O

OECD Proceedings: Innovation and the Environment. Proceedings of an OECD workshop in June 2000. How can innovations and technology contribute to environmental sustainability better?
Held at Black Mountain Library. Available as PDF E-book

OECD Proceedings: Social Sciences and Innovation. What is the contribution of the social sciences to improving our understanding of social and technological innovation processes? How can they help to overcome some of the barriers to technological and social innovation and limit the negative side-effects of new technologies and social change? These were some of the questions tackled at at the Tokyo Workshop on Social Sciences and Innovation, which brought together high-level experts and policy makers from the OECD countries, as well as from Asia, Africa and South America, to discuss the role of the social sciences in fostering innovation.
Order as a paperback or PDF e-book through www.oecd.org

OECD Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development is one of the OECD's five priority areas for future work - an active area linking economic, social and environmental issues, including technology for sustainable development.

Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement (OCETA)
This is a new Canadian web site intended to provide an on-line “one-stop” reference source on site remediation, “brownfields” redevelopment, and property clean-up information, technologies and solutions for Canadian and selected international markets.   A major intent is to broker connections between those who have clean-up or redevelopment problems and those who have the information and technologies to generate solutions.

Orion Society 
The mission of the Orion Society, publisher of Orion Magazine, is to heal the fractured relationship between people and nature by undertaking education programs that integrate all aspects of the relationship: the physically immediate, the analytical and scientific, the inspirational and creative. The Society seeks to support changes in ethics and action at the local level that will offer genuine solutions to the global environmental crisis, and to cultivate a generation of citizen-leaders whose wisdom is grounded in, and guided by, nature literacy.

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P

Power to Change published in April 2001 by SustainAbility, UK, in partnership with The International Business Leaders Forum.
Corporate boards face a daunting challenge. The complexity and time constraints are already enormous. The legal duties and liabilities associated with good governance are already burdensome. Speak to the typical board director or company secretary of a multinational corporation about the need to add triple bottom line issues to their ‘to-do list’ and you get an all-knowing smile. "Get real", it seems to say. This report does. It shows how boards of leading companies, having grasped the business case for sustainability, are equipping themselves to think about, and ‘take on board’ the triple bottom line.
Can be ordered on-line from Sustainability www.sustainability.co.uk

Progressive Policy Institute (USA)
Emphasis on social and fiscal issues, but with plenty of links to industry, trade and the environment.

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Q/R

Redefining Progress (RP)
Redefining Progress: for People, Nature & the Economy is a nonprofit public policy organization, based in California, that seeks to ensure a more sustainable and socially equitable world. Working both within and beyond the traditional economic framework, RP generates and refines innovative policies, tools and concepts to reorient the economy to value people and nature first. Their policy work has a primary American focus, but the associated concepts are worth checking out for local applicability.

Resilience Alliance
The Resilience Alliance (RA) is a research consortium of some 15 groups/laboratories around the world working on the dynamics of linked ecological-social-economic systems. It grew out of the Resilience Network, a project led by Prof C S (Buzz) Holling, funded through the MacArthur Foundation, and is now incorporated in the USA as the Resilience Alliance. It currently receives funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the James S MacDonnell Foundation.

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S

SD Dimensions
Produced by the Sustainable Development Department (SD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. SD serves as a global reference centre for knowledge and advice on biophysical, biological, socio-economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. It was established by FAO in January 1995.

Second Nature 
Second Nature Inc. of Boston, USA is dedicated to accelerating a process of transformation in higher education. It proposes a vision of higher education leading the way in educating for sustainability. The organization guides universities and other tertiary education institutions in their quest to make sustainability an integral part of their institutions and curricula, and helps to expand their efforts to make human activity sustainable.

Solar Development Cooperative
The Solar Development Cooperative, USA, is a for-profit enterprise with the mission "To assure timely mainstream deployment of quality building-integrated photovoltaics (BI-PV) supported by a reliable service industry in the United States and Global marketplace. It is a source of technological and architectural information and resources aimed at on site solar power generation.

Sterling Planet 
Sterling Planet has developed an innovative business in the USA by separating the two value components of electricity and its green credentials in order to specifically market the green credentials as "Green Tickets", thus levelling the playing field for generators of renewable energy,and promoting uptake of clean energy alternatives. Sterling Planet also markets energy efficient technologies and provides information to consumers on energy options. It will be interesting to see whether this type of scheme enters Australia’s new energy market.

Sustainable Development 
Professor Dexter Dunphy from the University of Technology, Sydney, in an interview with Robyn Williams for "Ockham’s Razor," gave a view about the central contribution and change that needs to come from corporations as a step towards Sustainable Development. Broadcast Sunday 17 June 2001.

Sustainable Development Gateway
The SD Gateway integrates the on-line information developed by members of the Sustainable Development Communications Network (SDCN). Members of SDCN are working together to provide an in-depth look at the innovative solutions being implemented by communities, non-governmental organizations, governments and the private sector.

Sustainable Development Research (SDR) Network
The Sustainable Development Research (SDR) Network is a UK-wide initiative, co-ordinated by the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) in London in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Development (CfSD) at the University of Westminster and the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change and Sustainability (CECS) at the University of Edinburgh. The SDR-Network is funded by the Sustainable Development Unit at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The SDR-Network's goal is to contribute to sustainable development in the United Kingdom by facilitating the better use of evidence and research in policy-making.

Sustainable Development Unit 
The Sustainable Development Unit at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), United Kingdom.

Sustainable Development Update
The Sustainable Development Update (SDU) focuses on the links between ecology, society and the economy. It is produced by Albaeco, an independent non-profit organisation. SDU is produced with support from Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Environment Policy Division. Edited by Dr. Fredrik Moberg.

Sustainable Population Australia
Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) was formed in 1988 by people who felt that the issue of population numbers was overlooked, or regarded as too contentious, by many of those striving to preserve Australia's ecological heritage. SPA works on many fronts to encourage informed public debate about how Australia and the world can achieve an ecologically sustainable population.

SustainAbility
Founded in 1987, SustainAbility is the longest established international consultancy specializing in business strategy and sustainable development – environmental improvement, social equity and economic development. Provides links to information and sites that discuss sustainability.

Publications issued by SustainAbility include:
Gearing Up: From corporate responsibility to good governance and scalable solutions
Through the Looking Glass: Corporate Responsibility in the Media and Entertainment Sector
Good News & Bad: The Media, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development
Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation.
For full details of Publications click here

Sustainability Science 
Professor Ian Lowe of Griffith University, Queensland, in an interview with Robyn Williams for "Ockham’s Razor," also describes the need for, and the development of systems science. Broadcast Sunday 24 June 2001.

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T

TXU
TXU is an international energy business that is engaged in a learning process through following the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

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U/V

UN Commission on Sustainable Development
Following up on principles developed at the UN Conference on Environment & Development (UNCED - the Rio Earth Summit).

Urban Waste Management and Research Centre (UWMRC)
This Centre within the College of Engineering at the University of New Orleans, USA, was established in 1990 to address urban environmental issues.  It produces a continuing Urban Environment series of video films on issues such as storm water, wastewater, industrial discharges, composting, recycling, waste minimization, and brownfields redevelopment.  The series has been distributed to organizations, media, and libraries in many cities across more than 30 countries.

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W/X/Y/Z

Warren Centre, University of Sydney – Transport project
The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering has a current project on "Sustainable Transport in Sustainable Cities," with the objective being to develop a strategic plan for managing accessibility and sustainable transportation systems in 21st-Century cities. Sydney is being used as a model. Check the website under "Activities."

Western Australia. Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Sustainability Policy Unit
This website will provide an overarching perspective on sustainability in Western Australia and keep people informed about the Western Australian Government's activities in this area. The Government will develop a State Sustainability Strategy entitled Focus on the Future: Opportunities for Sustainability in Western Australia. The Sustainability Policy Unit will be consulting widely with government and non-government stakeholders to develop the strategy. The consultation paper is now available. It will assist interested people and groups to prepare written submissions on the State Sustainability Strategy.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a coalition of 160 international companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. Members are drawn from more than 30 countries and 20 major industrial sectors. The WBCSD was formed in January 1995 through a merger between the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) in Geneva and the World Industry Council for the Environment (WICE) in Paris. Sustain is the quarterly newsletter of the WBCSD.

World Wide Web Virtual Library: Sustainable Development
A comprehensive list of internet sites dealing with sustainable development, including organisations, projects and activities, electronic journals, libraries, references and documents, databases, directories or metadatabases. Maintained by the Center for Economic and Social Studies on the Environment , located at Université Libre de Bruxelles.

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