Sustainable Development Discourse Research Articles

A World for Sale? An Ecofeminist Reading of Sustainable Development Discourse

The aim of this study is to examine how the sustainable development discourse created by one of its most influential proponents, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, constructs representations of gender and nature. A discourse analysis, performed from Plumwood's ecofeminist perspective, is conducted on their cornerstone text Vision 2050: The new agenda for business. We find that what might at first appear to be a roadmap out of the many crises that humanity faces today, is instead simply new twists on ‘old’ established discourses that reinforce rather than diminish forms of hierarchy and domination. Different discursive strands work together to create dualistic traits that simultaneously constructs gender, nature and some classes as a dependent ‘other’. To overcome this we elaborate on implications for teaching, research and practice.

Indicators for assessing social-ecological resilience: A case study of organic rice production in northern Thailand

Resilience seems to permeate sustainable development discourse since its concept has been defined as a system's ability to adapt with change of all kinds. However, assessing a specific system's resilience requires a specific index as well, because the nature of resilience greatly relies on temporal and spatial scales. In this paper, the researchers present a set of indicators built using 53 organic farmers in four districts of Chiang Mai province. The farmers were selected using snowball sampling and were interviewed and observed iteratively regarding guidelines of social-ecological resilience in agro-ecosystems and technography, respectively, identifying components and features required to deal with the dynamic changes in organic rice production. The acquired data was then analyzed using qualitative data analysis, verifying the conceptual density, and converting the data into initial sets of codes showing the attributes relevant to the resilient properties. Consequently, 47 social-ecological resilience indicators were identified that are credible for serving as both quantifiable assessment and farmer guidance. These qualifications integrate the farmers' historic, technological, social, and ecological contexts, which are all vital factors for the farm's adaptation and transformation during a period of change.

Legal Perspectives on the Role of Culture In Sustainable Development

This article introduces some legal perspectives on the role of culture in sustainable development. The authors agree that sustainable development has been designed as an environmental concept but that room exists for the more prominent inclusion of some form(s) of the notion "culture" in the sustainable development equation. It is shown that the fluid nature and meaning of "culture" may require a distinction between the role of "culture" per se and the role of "cultural governance" in the sustainable development context. It is suggested that "cultural governance" as a notion may be more distinct and exact than "culture" itself. The more functional notion of "good cultural governance" is preferred as a benchmark in the sustainable development equation, with the implication that cultural governance occurs in accordance with a certain standard. This standard is briefly considered by looking at the meaning of good cultural governance as a notion that encompasses both cultural governance and good governance generally. The article is set in the South African context but also invokes some law and policy developments internationally, regionally and sub-regionally to depict how issues of culture have been infiltrating the sustainable development discourse and to distil some of the substantive benchmarks for good cultural governance.

Sustainability of Capture Fisheries and SDG 14: Life Below Water

Unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the new United Nations (UN) post-2015 Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a goal related to conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources―Sustainable Development Goal 14: “Life Below Water” (SDG 14). Inter alia, the goal aims to increase the sustainability of capture fisheries. For the most part, the sub-goals and targets emerging from this process are not new. Still, for the first time, fisheries have moved toward the center of the sustainable development discourse and the high profile of the SDGs may contribute to increased accountability. However, unless rhetoric translates into the political will to set measurable targets and enforce them, the goal alone cannot generate sustainability in capture fisheries.

A ideologia do crescimento econômico e o discurso empresarial do desenvolvimento sustentável

Resumo Este estudo investiga a forma como a ideologia do crescimento lida com as contradições do discurso do desenvolvimento sustentável. Foram analisadas reportagens da mídia noticiosa que vinculavam empresas estatais e de economia mista do ramo de geração de energia elétrica listadas no Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial da Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (ISE BM&FBOVESPA) às dimensões do desenvolvimento sustentável do Triple Bottom Line (3BL). Também foram analisados seus relatórios de sustentabilidade. Os dados coletados são datados de 2005 a 2013. Às reportagens foi empregada análise de conteúdo, buscando evidências de acontecimentos noticiados que relacionam aquelas empresas ao tema desenvolvimento sustentável. Aos relatórios de sustentabilidade foi empregada análise de discurso, com a finalidade de identificar manifestações ideológicas no discurso da sustentabilidade. Os resultados foram discutidos dialeticamente, pautados na conceituação de ‘ideologia’ sugerida por Giddens (1979). Verificou-se que os componentes ideológicos do crescimento transferem-se para o discurso do desenvolvimento sustentável mediante eufemismos e deslizes semânticos, permitindo às empresas usufruir das propriedades polissêmicas da linguagem para ressignificá-la por meio da (i) reificação do presente; (ii) defesa do crescimento como algo de interesse primariamente coletivo; e (iii) negação das contradições, evidenciadas como conflitos entre as dimensões ambiental, econômica e social do modelo 3BL.

Sustainability in development: rethinking about old paradigms

Sustainable development has become an important issue in long-term planning due to the limitation of natural resources and ethical responsibilities to future generations to meet their needs. Some of researches in this field investigated case studies in order to answer environmental concerns. Others went behind and presented a multi-dimensional view, considering economic and social aspects, in addition. This paper suggests a comprehensive rethinking about sustainable development discourse. A three-level meta-model is presented to map interconnections between fundamental aspects of social and personal life (ethics, beliefs and values) and sustainable development. These three levels are: 1) fundamental level (consists of a world view perspective), 2) interactive level (frameworks in which elements of fundamental level translated to behavioural conditions); 3) peripheral level (defines processes to form interacts with the universe). This rethinking of procedures proposed a more basic investigation to guarantee the outcome of a sustainable development process.

The sustainable development labyrinth

Rather than try to give an account or definition of sustainable development of different schools of thought, what follows describes the evolution undergone by the discourse on sustainable development or the 'environmentalist' problem in Latin America in the last four decades by examining the work of Enrique Leff. His vast work represents a regime of truth, which has circulated around world. The examination of his most important texts, theoretical transformations and its problems are reflected in today's movements and discourses that advocate some form of sustainable development strategy. But as I will argue, some of the proposals do not reach their full potential; there are other theoretical paths out of the labyrinth if we reconfigure the sustainable development discourse with the support of the Latin American structuralism or centre-periphery, conception of the economy. The work of Leff is an outstanding regional - Latin American - autochthonous creation.

The sustainable development labyrinth

Rather than try to give an account or definition of sustainable development of different schools of thought, what follows describes the evolution undergone by the discourse on sustainable development or the 'environmentalist' problem in Latin America in the last four decades by examining the work of Enrique Leff. His vast work represents a regime of truth, which has circulated around world. The examination of his most important texts, theoretical transformations and its problems are reflected in today's movements and discourses that advocate some form of sustainable development strategy. But as I will argue, some of the proposals do not reach their full potential; there are other theoretical paths out of the labyrinth if we reconfigure the sustainable development discourse with the support of the Latin American structuralism or centre-periphery, conception of the economy. The work of Leff is an outstanding regional - Latin American - autochthonous creation.

Sustainable Development Discourses in China

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015. The term sustainable development will further shape international cooperation in the next decade and beyond. It is also frequently used in China’s policy documents and connects well to a set of home-grown Chinese discourses, in particular the term of ecological civilisation and the chapter on green development in the 13th Five Year Plan (FYP) approved in March 2016. This paper discusses Chinese discourses related to the promotion of sustainable development on the basis of interviews with experts – academics as well as practitioners. The hybrid character of the concept of sustainable development has been conducive to its growing relevance in China. The Chinese government, however, has also paid attention to balancing the use of the term at the level of policy formulation by promoting home-grown discourses, in particular the concept of ecological civilisation.

Creating Inclusive Cities

Measuring progress towards the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) will substantially depend on how countries are performing in the implementation of targets under the goals. One of the key challenges lies in designing sustainability indicators. For developing countries like India, the challenge is even more complex, given the continuous tension between quality of life aspirations and commitments towards sustainable development pathways. Thus, as countries aspire for achieving SDG-11, which seeks to create inclusive cities, they also need to ensure a mechanism that enables an evaluation and monitoring system for urban infrastructure and services that are aligned to the pillars and objectives of SDGs. This article presents an analysis of a set of indicators used in India and at the global level for five key urban sectors including housing. The analysis is aimed to provide an understanding on the adequacy of those indicators to the measure sustainability of infrastructure created and services provided. The article introduces a framework for this analysis which is derived from the principles of sustainable development. The research findings show that the indicators are more inclined towards a particular aspect, in each of the sectors. The article contributes to the sustainable development discourse by identifying aspects of sustainability that have been neglected and highlighting aspects that need to be focused, as India develops indicators to measure the sustainability of urban infrastructure.

National sustainabilities

In this paper, we examine the potential for developing a stronger connection between the two significant discourses of sustainable development and nationalism. While there has been limited academic enquiry into the relationships that might exist between these two discourses, we draw on the case study of Wales since 1999 to show how policy-makers are increasingly examining the potential for promoting a more fruitful dialogue between them. We examine how nationalist discourses in Wales have led to the development of a form of sustainable development that is allegedly more attuned to Welsh national values and identities. We also show how sustainable development is being used to imagine new and possibly more inclusive kinds of futures for the Welsh nation. We conclude by reaffirming the fruitful synergies that might exist between sustainable development and nationalism while acknowledging the tensions that arise in seeking to make connections between them.

THE TRANSNATIONAL STATE, NEOLIBERALISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION POLICY: A NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY

IntroductionSustainable development (SD) originated in third world politics and is based on radical deep green and red-green (Marxist) environmental thought (Carruthers, 2005; Tulloch & Neilson, 2014). However, SD has been wrenched from its location in radical anti-globalization third world politics and redefined through a series of international summits as part of a broader developmental agenda. It promises to address a multitude of problems including environmental degradation, uneven development, poverty, disempowerment of indigenous peoples, and war. While there are diverse interpretations of SD, the dominant reading is that which has been shaped by Agenda 21 (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 1992). Agenda 21 was the document that arose from the 1992 Rio de Janeiro (UNCED), 1992) conference (also called the Earth Summit). Paradoxically, the economic agenda underpinning Agenda 21 is based on the expansion of global markets and insists on continued economic growth (Doyle, 1998). The integration of environmental concerns with economic and social aspects has been critiqued at various levels, not least of which is the push for redesigning the economy in line with neoliberal logic and free market globalization (Tulloch & Neilson, 2014).The United Nations (UN) has been particularly instrumental in the development of Sustainable Development Discourse (SDD), and its dissemination in policy at various levels from global through to local. In its current form, SDD stresses the integration of social and economic global capitalist development goals with environmental concerns. Sustainable development discourse (SDD) is now a neoliberalized explanatory framework by which all dominant forms of environmental discourse are produced and reproduced (Dryzek, 2005). It applies neoliberal principles of privatization, commodification and marketization to the environment, broadly conceived in anthropocentric terms as natural resources and ecosystem services.The anti-capitalist agenda and limits-to-growth logic of earlier SD proponents originating in third world politics of the 1970s has been pushed to the margins by this pro-neoliberal reworking of the concept. The primary focus is now on decontextualized behaviors and values of individuals and social groups. People's values and behaviors are, of course, important in the transition to a genuinely sustainable world. This is why environmental education (EE) and education for sustainability (EfS) both stress citizenship education involving values development and advocate for intergenerational behavioral change. However, this paper argues that SDD fails to address two important points: a) the historical materialist dialectic between the capitalist economy and the formation of particular behavioral and value orientations and b) an analysis of the genesis of environmental/social and economic crises as lying within globalized neoliberal capitalism itself. Conversely, the neoliberal goals of economic growth and open markets have been promoted since the Rio Summit in 1992 as the solution to rather than the cause of our environmental crisis (Tulloch & Neilson, 2014).It should be evident from the above discussion that an analysis of local EE policy needs to be situated within a critical understanding of its embeddedness in wider global processes of capitalist expansion. Thus, the neo-Gramscian perspective of this paper considers the emergence of SDD in relation to a historically specific configuration of the capitalism-state-society complex (Cox, 1981). The current age of globalization of capital is integrally connected with the transnationalization of the state (Robinson, 2001). Accordingly, the state is not a form of immutable geo-political dynamics or in Weberian terms a relatively independent national actor driven by geo-political competition with other states (Robinson, 2001, p. 190). Rather, boundaries are transcended as a new economic order of global rather than national circuits of accumulation emerges. …

Homogeneous River and Heterogeneous Communities: Implications of Local Practices of Sustainable River Basin Management

This paper examines the concept of resources and communities as it is rigorously used in the sustainable development discourses. The legitimisation of the local practices of sustainable development in turn conceptualise natural environment as a resource which needs to be protected with the help of local participation and local knowledge. As a result of this process of sustainable management of environment, the complexity of heterogeneity exists in the community as well as the natural life supporting system is ignored. The discussion draw on the qualitative ethnographic field work conducted at Thirunelli Grama Panchayath in Wayanad, Kerala which is complexly comprised of six different tribal communities and other different non-tribal settler communities from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Ramping Up Resistance: Corporate Sustainable Development and Academic Research

We argue the need for academics to resist and challenge the hegemonic discourse of sustainable development within the corporate context. Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory provides a useful framework for recognizing the complex nature of sustainable development and a way of conceptualizing counter-hegemonies. Published empirical research that analyzes sustainable development discourse within corporate reports is examined to consider how the hegemonic discourse is constructed. Embedded assumptions within the hegemonic construction are identified including sustainable development as primarily about economic development, progress, growth, profitability, and “responsibly” managed levels of resource depletion. We call for multiple voices in the discursive field to debate and to resist closure and highlight the possibilities for academic researchers to actively resist the hegemonic construction. Specifically, we advocate vigilance and awareness, critical and reflective analyses, challenge and resistance based on other frames of reference, and strategies for communicating both within and outside the academy.

„Sustainability‟ of Sustainable Development Discourse (With Special Focus on Community Based Eco-tourism in the Sinharaja Rain Forest)

Community based eco-tourism (CBET) is a well-established concept that based on sustainable development discourse and its implementation has been an important component for many regional development and eco-system management strategies. This research paper argues that CBET under the sustainable development discourse has originated as a western concept, however, CBET operates within diversgeo-political, economic and cultural contexts, which generate challenges to achieve realistic goals of sustainable development discourse. This research examines a CBET initiative in the Kudawa- Sinharaja site, Sri Lanka which shifted in 1995 from a central government approach under the forestry sector master plan, in line with western CBET and sustainable development ideologies. A qualitative approach has principally guided this research together with quantitative analysis to examine the socio-cultural, socio-economic and geo-political context. A total of 293 participants have provided information for this research, which includes 193 interviews (115 individuals, and 15 different focus groups totalling 78 people) and 100 questionnaire respondents. These participants were surveyed during late 2012 and early 2013, and included both domestic and overseas tourists, local community residents and tourist operators, tourism consultants, and government officials. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) method was used to examine both primary qualitative data, which were collected through participant and direct observation, interviews as well as secondary data. One of the main findings is that despite plans being developed at a community level, the wider context includes superimposed capitalism, which dominates and counteracts the ideologies of sustainable development discourse. Superimposed capitalism results in individualistic and competitive behaviours that undermine the collaborative community approach. It encourages poaching and the selling of rare flora and fauna (biopiracy), and results in anthropogenic disturbances to nature. Further, this research also highlights the strong influence of geo-politics, which operates at both the international and domestic scale. Political corruption, access to funds, and the lack of established decision making processes are also associated with geo-politics. This research also underlines the influence of the socio-cultural context such as gender inequality and caste discrimination, which substantially disempower certain people. The research concludes that sustainable development discourseis a phantasy ideology if not to be addressed, in particular, superimposed capitalism, socio-cultural and geo-political issues in the particular areas. The findings of this research will inform CBET in similar developing countries, but caution is required because the geo-political, economic and cultural context is different in every country. Keywords: Sustainable development discourse, Community based eco-tourism

Interfacing Women Participation and Community Environmental Education: A Step towards Education for Sustainable Development

The goal of the paper was to contribute to the education for sustainable development discourse by arguing that at the interface of community environmental education, an initiative subsumed under education for sustainable development and education for sustainable development lie women. A literal analysis of available literature was done through the framework of education for sustainable development to argue for the need to interface women participation with community environmental education. The paper also shows that akin to education for sustainable development frameworks are the processes of collaboration and dialogue, engagement of the whole system including the marginalized and silenced voices.

Stakeholder perspectives on shale gas fracking: a Q-method study of environmental discourses

The rapid expansion of shale gas exploration worldwide is a significant source of environmental controversy. Successful shale gas policy-making is dependent upon a clear understanding of the dynamics of competing stakeholder perspectives on these issues, and so methods are needed to delineate the areas of agreement and conflict that emerge. This empirical study, based in the United Kingdom, examines emergent perspectives on a range of environmental, health and socio-economic impacts associated with shale gas fracking using Q-methodology: a combined qualitative–quantitative approach. The analysis reveals three typologies of perspectives amongst key industry, civil society and non-affiliated citizen stakeholders; subsequently contextualised in relation to Dryzek's typology of environmental discourses. These are labelled (A) ‘Don't trust the fossil fuels industry: campaign for renewables’ (mediating between sustainable development and democratic pragmatism discourses), (B) ‘Shale gas is a bridge fuel: economic growth and environmental scepticism’ (mediating between economic rationalism and ecological modernisation discourses) and (C) ‘Take place protective action and legislate in the public interest’ (reflecting a discourse of administrative rationalism). The implications of these competing discourses for nascent shale gas policy in the UK are discussed in light of recent government public consultation on changes to national planning policy.

EDF Energy's green CSR claims examined: the follies of global carbon commodity chains

AbstractIn this article, we analyse the dynamic connections constituted by the global commodity chains of carbon markets, which offer profit, marketing and legitimacy‐providing opportunities for both Northern and Southern corporations. Specifically, we contrast EDF Energy's green CSR and marketing discourse with the social, economic and environmental realities on the ground near the factory of Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited (GFL), which operates one of the biggest clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in India. Based on historical documents, secondary datasets, companies’ websites and their financial information, primary ethnographic and interview data, our analysis makes a direct link – enabled by global carbon markets – between the green claims made by EDF Energy, one of the biggest energy companies in the UK, and the dirty reality of GFL's operations in India. In this historical case, we put into doubt the green CSR claims made by EDF Energy, questioning the discourse of sustainable development and improvement in people's lives that surround global carbon markets and specifically the CDM.

Oppose, Support, or Hedge? Distributional Effects, Regulatory Pressure, and Business Strategy in Environmental Politics

What explains the choice of corporate political strategy in environmental politics? Drawing on recent models of actor strategy formation in political economy, this article argues that basic material interests of firms are translated into strategies in the context of institutional environments. I advance a typological model that posits how distributional effects—positive versus negative—and perceived regulatory pressure—low versus high—interact in leading firms to adopt one of four ideal-type strategies: opposition, hedging, support, and non-participation. This article examines the model through the case of corporate strategies in the making of the European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme. The article contributes to theory-building on business strategy in environmental politics by offering a probabilistic explanatory model, and it flags hedging strategies as an increasingly prevalent form of business behavior.

The parallel materialization of REDD + implementation discourses in Brazil

The concept of Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) dominates international debates on the role of forests in climate change mitigation, but concrete implementation remains a challenge. In contrast to this general trend, Brazil emerged as a noteworthy exception due to the widespread implementation of major REDD+ initiatives. This research paper aims at understanding the implementation of REDD+ in Brazil from a discursive perspective. The analysis identifies two discourses that are guiding the implementation of REDD+ in different ways. On the one hand, advocates of a sustainable development discourse conceive REDD+ as a centralized mechanism to foster pre-existing deforestation control and sustainable economic activities through centralized mechanisms such as the Amazon Fund. On the other hand, a number of disconnected actors follow a carbon commodification discourse inspired by the idea of neoliberal conservation and create REDD+ projects to provide carbon offset to voluntary markets. The analysis of these discourses reveal that implementation processes do not rely on discursive convergence, but rather culminate in the parallel development and implementation of distinct REDD+ discourses that are at the same time competing, coexisting and collaborating on different levels.