Date of Graduation

Spring 5-18-2019

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies (MAPS)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Asia Pacific Studies

First Advisor

Brian Komei Dempster

Second Advisor

Jason Luger

Abstract

With a decreasing number of cities bidding to host and organize the Olympic Games, we see that various places find the prospect of embarking on this mega-event project less appealing and lucrative then in the past. Moreover, in looking at the history of the Games, we recognize a troubling pattern: money is often spent irresponsibly and does not bring any benefits to citizens even though their tax payments and state lottery contribution are used as main source for funding the Olympics. In order to shift this trend, the movement towards the global call for sustainability—as presented mainly by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative—offers promise for the future. First, this call put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to take significant changes into consideration with a focus on practices that are ethical and fair in terms of funding and sustainability. The upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is the ideal place to implement these procedures. In particular, these upcoming games can integrate farmers from lower-middle income countries from the Asia Pacific region into the process of food procurement which, in turn, benefits multiple stakeholders: farmers will improve their livelihoods and situations; the International Olympic Committee will improve its image and legacy on a global scale; and the athletes will enjoy a larger variety of responsibly sourced food.

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