Linking environmental sustainability with poverty reduction and social justice, and making science and technology work for the poor, have become central practical, political and moral challenges of ...our times. These must be met in a world of rapid, interconnected change in environments, societies and economies, and globalised, fragmented governance arrangements. Yet despite growing international attention and investment, policy attempts often fail. Why is this, and what can be done about it? How might we understand and address emergent threats from epidemic disease, or the challenges of water scarcity in dryland India? In the context of climate change, how might seed systems help African farmers meet their needs, and how might appropriate energy strategies be developed? This book lays out a new 'pathways approach' to address sustainability challenges such as these in today's dynamic world. Through an appreciation of dynamics, complexity, uncertainty, differing narratives and the values-based aims of sustainability, the pathways approach allows us to see how some approaches are dominant, even though they do not produce the desired results, and how to create successful alternative 'pathways' of responding to the challenges we face. As well as offering new ways of thinking about sustainability, the book also suggests a series of practical ways forward - in tools and methods, forms of political engagement, and styles of knowledge-making and communication. Throughout the book, the practicalities of the pathways approach are illustrated using four case studies: water in dryland India, agricultural seeds in Africa, responses to epidemic disease and energy systems/climate change.Published in association with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Contesting Development Barron, Patrick; Woolcock, Michael; Diprose, Rachael
02/2011
eBook
This pathbreaking book analyzes a highly successful participatory development program in Indonesia, exploring its distinctive origins and design principles and its impacts on local conflict dynamics ...and social institutions.
•Artisanal mining is a key factor for local subsistence in Burkina Faso.•Adverse socio-ecological conditions exacerbate the problems of mining investments.•Local perceptions strongly underestimate ...long-term environmental costs.•Industrial gold mining fails to generate positive effects for local livelihoods.•Policy measures should build on the potentials of local extractive economies.
While existing resource extraction debates have contributed to a better understanding of national economic and political dilemmas and institutional responses, there are flaws in understanding the specific relevance of the various types of mining schemes for rural households to deal with the various problems they are confronted with. Our paper examines the perceptions of gold mining effects on households in Northern Burkina Faso. The findings of our survey across six districts representing different mining schemes (industrial, artisanal, no mining) highlight the fact that artisanal gold mining can generate job opportunities and cash income for local households; whereas industrial gold mining widely fails to do so. However, the general economic and environmental settings exert a much stronger influence on the household state. Gold mining effects are perceived as being less advantageous in districts where people are suffering from a lack of education, a higher vulnerability to drought and poor market access. Our findings provide empirical support for those who back the enhanced formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and policies that entail more rigorous state monitoring of mining concessions, especially in economic and environmentally disadvantaged contexts. Effectively addressing communal and pro-poor development requires greater attention to the political economy of ASM and corporate mining. It also calls for a greater inclusion of local mining stakeholders and a more effective alignment of international regulatory and advocacy efforts.
•Cointegration levels among life expectancy and its determinants have explored.•The structural breaks stemming in the data has been investigated with ARDL.•Economic growth is positively associated ...with life expectancy.•Energy consumption lowers life expectancy via environmental degradation.
This paper tends to investigate the linkage between economic growth and life expectancy by considering the potential role of financial development and energy consumption using data of Pakistan. Traditional as well as advanced unit root tests for observing the stationary properties of the variables were applied. For exploring the cointegration levels among life expectancy and its determinants, ARDL bounds testing technique in the existence of structural breaks which were stemming in the data has been investigated. The empirical results provide the confirmation for the presence of cointegration between the variables. Further, economic growth is positively associated with life expectancy. Financial development is revealing a negative effect on life expectancy in the scenario of Pakistan. Energy consumption lowers life expectancy via environmental degradation. Furthermore, this empirical analysis provides new insights to policymakers for using financial development and energy consumption as economic tools to improve life expectancy by directing energy and finance policies.
This paper investigates the linkage between natural resources and financial development by considering oil prices, economic growth and economic globalization as additional determinants in finance ...demand function for case of Pakistan over the period of 1972–2017. In doing so, we have applied long run covariability developed by Muller and Watson (2018) and robustness of empirical results is tested by applying cross-quantilogram introduced by Han et al. (2016). The empirical evidence reveals that natural resource abundance is positively correlated with financial development i.e. natural resources are blessing for financial development. Oil prices have positive effect on financial development. Economic growth has positive and significant impact on financial development. Contrarily, economic globalization hinders financial development. The empirical evidence indicates new insights for policy makers to use natural resources as economic tool to increases financial development for long run.
•The role of natural resources in finance-growth nexus is analyzed.•Annual data for Pakistan over the 1972–2017 period are used.•Natural resources are blessing for financial development.•Oil prices and economic growth have positive effect on financial development.•Economic globalization hinders financial development.
The emergence of transnational social movements as major actors in international politics - as witnessed in Seattle in 1999 and elsewhere - has sent shockwaves through the international system. Many ...questions have arisen about the legitimacy, coherence and efficiency of the international order in the light of the challenges posed by social movements. This book offers a fundamental critique of twentieth-century international law from the perspective of Third World social movements. It examines in detail the growth of two key components of modern international law - international institutions and human rights - in the context of changing historical patterns of Third World resistance. Using a historical and interdisciplinary approach, Rajagopal presents compelling evidence challenging debates on the evolution of norms and institutions, the meaning and nature of the Third World as well as the political economy of its involvement in the international system.
We hypothesize that natural resource revenues may deteriorate contract enforcement if political institutions are weak. As poor contract enforcement leads to low financial development, resource ...revenues may hinder financial development in countries with poor political institutions, but not in countries with comparatively better political institutions. We provide empirical support for this hypothesis based on within-country variation in our sample covering the period 1970–2005 and 133 countries. Our results are robust to the use of additional control variables, different samples, and alternative measures of financial development and political institutions.
The advent of digital technologies has revolutionized our society, rendering businesses more efficient across various sectors. While this digital integration has fostered new business models and ...propelled economic growth, it is crucial to reflect on its implications for society and the environment. With the urgency of climate change looming over us, organizations are compelled to prioritize sustainable computing technologies that minimize their carbon footprint. By nurturing an innovation culture with a sustainability focus, digital transformation can lead us toward a more sustainable and equitable future.
•We investigate the effect of income on residents’ WTP for environmental protection.•We use ordered Logit model and micro data from the Chinese General Social Survey.•We find that the WTP does not ...always rise with the increase in residents’ income.•The marginal WTP for environmental protection declines with the increase in income.•The residents in more polluted cities have higher WTP for environmental protection.
The majority of existing studies argue that rich people and the residents in high-income countries and regions have stronger willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental protection. Does such a rule hold true for China at the present stage? Previous studies pay little attention to this issue due to the lack of related data. Merging the micro data from the Chinese General Social Survey in 2010 (CGSS2010) with the macro data at the corresponding urban level of China, as well as two types of satellite monitoring data, this paper investigates the effect of income on residents’ WTP for environmental protection at both macro and micro perspectives based on the ordered Logit model. The results show that the rich do have stronger WTP for environmental protection. However, with the increase in residents’ income, the marginal WTP for environmental protection will decline, and a reversal occurs at the top income level. Therefore, the WTP does not always rise with the increase in income, and the middle-income class has the strongest WTP for environmental protection. Moreover, after controlling individual characteristics, residents’ WTP for environmental protection more depends on environmental pollution degree rather than urban average income level measured by both GDP per capita and the nighttime lights data from satellite monitoring. The residents in more polluted cities have stronger WTP for environmental protection. Therefore, it is not reasonable to improve people’s environmental preferences purely through economic development.
PDF
