Just transitions : explorations of sustainability in an unfair world / Mark Swilling, Eve Annecke.

Claremont, South Africa : UCT Press ; Tokyo, Japan : published in North America, Europe and Asia by United Nations University Press, 2012.

xxiii, 360 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Current economic growth strategies around the world are rapidly depleting the natural resources and ecosystem services that we depend on. Just Transitions provides a comprehensive overview of these challenges from a Global South perspective. The authors ask: How do developing countries eradicate poverty via economic development, while at the same time facing the consequences of global warming and dwindling levels of cheap oil, productive soils, metals, clean water supplies, and forest products? How do they address widening inequalities in income as well as the need to rebuild ecosystem services and natural resources? The book considers the theme of a just transition, which reconciles the sustainable use of natural resources with a pervasive commitment to sufficiency (where overconsumers are satisfied with less so that underconsumers can secure enough). It explores a range of different viewpoints and ideas and synthesizes them to illuminate new ways of thinking from a sustainability perspective. It rethinks development with special reference to the greening of the developmental state, explores the key role that cities could play in the transition to a more sustainably urbanized world, and highlights the neglect of soils in the global discussions around the potential of sustainable agriculture to feed the world. Case studies drawn from the African continent detail the challenges, but they are set in the context of global trends. The authors conclude with their experiences in building a community that aspires to live sustainably.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-345) and index.

STA

K3585 .S955 2012

English

9789280812039 paperback
9280812033 paperback
9781919895239 paperback UCT Press
191989523X paperback UCT Press