Dynamic Sustainabilities - 9781849710930

[This book] offers a counterpoint to those trapped in old patterns of development and is an inspiration to those keen to embrace a paradigm shift.' Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

`Dynamic Sustainabilities addresses critical issues associated with transitioning to a more sustainable world. It is both conceptual and practical - exactly what is needed to address issues such as climate change, food and water security and human health.' Professor Robert Watson, Chlef Scientist, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK Government

`Fascinating analysis and innovative practical recommendations that facilitate the transition to an alternative, progressive future.' Ortwin Renn, Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Risk Governance and Sustainable Technology Development, University of Stuttgart, Germany

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. Yet despite growing international attention and investment, policy attempts often fail. Why is this, and what can be done about it?

This book lays out a new `pathways approach' to address sustainability challenges 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.