Environment, Development, and Sustainability: perspectives and cases from around the world / Edition 1

by Gordon Wilson, Pam Furniss, Richard Kimbowa

Overview

As the human population continues to grow and places increasing demands on the planet we inhabit we face the biggest challenge of our time: how can we exploit the natural resources available to us - be it for water, food, or energy - in a way that preserves the environment, and doesn't compromise its long-term future - and that of our species.

Environment, Development and Sustainability represents an examination of environment, development and sustainability as three integrated issues that form the main ongoing challenge of this century.

Looking beyond developing countries, this book presents examples from around the globe, reflecting the way that development is not a finished state: North America, the EU countries and Australasia continue to develop (and conversely have pockets of awful deprivation), and environment, development and sustainability are as much intertwined in these regions as elsewhere in the world.

With contributions from technologists, engineers, natural scientists and social scientists Environment, Development and Sustainability presents multiple perspectives on the issue of sustainable development. It celebrates the diversity of its contributors and uses positively this diversity as a resource for a more holistic approach to environment, development and sustainability.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199560646
Publisher:	The Open University
Publication date:	11/16/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Gordon Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Technology and Development at the Open University, where he is Director of the inter-faculty Environment, Development and International Studies Programme. His research interests are in collective knowledge construction and the role of scientists, technologists, and other professional agents in development practice. He has undertaken research in Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Algeria. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Pamela Furniss is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Systems at the Open University. She has many years experience of writing teaching materials for the university on a wide range of environmental subjects, principally in the areas of water resource management. She was Course Team Chair for the production of Environmental decision making: a systems approach (T863).
Richard Kimbowa works for Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development (UCSD), a local membership advocacy NGO. He is an alumnus of the OU's M.Sc Development Mangement Programme (2003-2006). He is professionally interested in civil society as mechanisms and institutions to secure sustainable development.

Table of Contents

Section A Introduction1. Making the connections between environment, development, and sustainabilitySection B Learning from the local2 The challenge for environment, development and sustainability in China.3. Rural development and environment in Uganda4. Traditional and modern (or improved) rural water supplies: stories from Ethiopia and Niger5. The souvenirs of communism: missed opportunities for sustainable development innovations in the enlarged European Union? 6. Sustainable transport systems: learning from Cuba7. At the coal face in Australia: the youth climate movement8. Social dynamics of the US environmental challenge9. Looking beyond the visible: contesting environmental agendas for Mumbai's slumsSection C Major themes in environment, development and sustainability10. Climate Change: causes and consequences11. Can ecosystems be managed sustainably? Biodiversity and tropical forests12. Managing conservation and development in Scotland and Uganda13. Managing water for sustainable development across international boundaries: the Rhine river basin14. Municipal waste management and the environmental health challenge: a tale of two cities15. Environment, inequality, and the internal contradictions of globalization16. Environmental ethics and developmentSection D Action for environment, development and sustainability17. Local governance and sustainable development in Wales: making a difference? 18. Cities and climate change: leading to a low carbon London19. Exploring participation in science, technology and innovation: tissue-culture bananas in Kenya20. Designing for sustainability21. Corporate responsibility in practice: building an eco-city from scratch22. Innovative partnerships for sustainable development in Harare, Zimbabwe23. Community-led sustainable development: the champion approach24. Why involve the public? Case studies of public involvement in environmental initiatives in South Africa25. Tools and techniques for environmental decision makingSection E Conclusion26. Scientific, social science and technological approaches to understanding environmental change27. Conclusion