Ethnic minorities in Britain: short change, systematic indifference and sustainable development

Abstract

This paper argues that, despite over 15 years of reports on ethnic minorities and the environment, the environmental movement, recreational countryside access and heritage, rural racism and the shortcomings of the planning system, ethnic minorities in Britain are routinely short-changed by a systematic indifference to their environmental and planning needs. The paper focuses on two aspects of this indifference. First, it describes the tension between environmentalists' historical pursuit of environmental quality at the expense of what is argued as the equally necessary pursuit of human equality and argues, amongst other things, that this indifference to ‘difference’ is a factor in the whiteness of the movement. Second, it offers observations on ethnic minority communities' own responses to sustainable development, including the results of round table discussions with a diverse range of ethnic minority interests. It shows that ethnic minorities are engaging with sustainable development (mostly outside the environmental movement), although they do not name it as such. In conclusion, it suggests a more proactive role in local sustainable development for local government within an emergent environmental justice debate and within the context of Local Agenda 21 (LA21), the implications of the Local Government Act 2000, and the government's recent focus on social exclusion. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.