Format:
1 online resource (465 pages)
Edition:
1st ed.
ISBN:
9781844075294
,
9781849776370
Content:
Cents and Sustainability is a clear-sighted response to the 1987 call by Dr Gro Brundtland in Our Common Future to achieve a new era of economic growth that is 'forceful and at the same time socially and environmentally sustainable'. The Brundtland Report argued that not only was it achievable, but that it was an urgent imperative in order to achieve a transition to sustainable development while significantly reducing poverty and driving 'clean and green' investment. With some still arguing for significantly slowing economic growth in order to reduce pressures on the environment, this new book, Cents and Sustainability, shows that it is possible to reconcile the need for economic growth and environmental sustainability through a strategy to decouple economic growth from environmental pressures, combined with a renewed commitment to achieve significant environmental restoration and poverty reduction. Beginning with a brief overview of some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, the book then explains 'decoupling theory', overviews a number of factors that can undermine and even block efforts to decouple in both developed and developing countries, and then discusses a number of key considerations to assist the development of national 'decoupling strategies'. The book then focuses on presenting evidence to support greater action, not just on climate change, but also on decoupling economic growth from the loss of biodiversity and the deterioration of natural systems, freshwater extraction, waste production, and air pollution. In the lead up to the 2012 United Nations Earth Summit and beyond, Cents and Sustainability will be a crucial guide to inform and assist nations to develop strategies to significantly reduce environmental pressures, strengthen their economy, create jobs and reduce poverty. 'I commend the team from The Natural
Content:
Edge Project and their partners for undertaking to develop a response to 'Our Common Future' to mark its 20th anniversary.' Dr Gro Brundtland. Sequel to The Natural Advantage of Nations Published with The Natural Edge Project
Note:
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Forewords -- Introductions -- Preface -- A Call for Leadership, Action and Results -- Notes -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- 1 Securing 'Our Common Future' -- Are We Destroying the World We Are Creating? -- Understanding the Threat of Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions -- The melting of sea ice -- The thawing of permafrosts -- The weakening of the capacity of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide -- Entering a Period of Consequences -- Dealing with Unprecedented Complexity -- Notes -- 2 Achieving Economic Growth and Reducing Environmental Pressures -- What is 'Decoupling'? -- What Level of Decoupling is Required? -- How Can We Represent and Interpret Decoupling Trends? -- What Potential Is There for Relative and Absolute Decoupling? -- How Does Decoupling Directly Contribute to GDP? -- Understanding and Reducing the Risk of Negative Rebound Effects from Decoupling Activities -- Notes -- 3 Factors that can Undermine or Even Block Efforts to Achieve Decoupling -- The Key Role of Government to Underpin and Accelerate Efforts to Achieve Decoupling -- Responding to the Fear of Loss of Profitability -- Addressing Fears about Losing International Competitiveness -- Responding to the Fear of Job Losses -- Responding to Fears of Skills Shortages and Gaps -- Notes -- 4 Factors that Affect Poorer Nations' Ability to Achieve Decoupling -- Escaping the 'Poverty Trap' -- Improving the Effectiveness of Foreign Development Aid to Reduce Poverty -- Addressing Economic Disparity: The Inequality Predicament -- Stabilizing Population Growth -- Ensuring Universal Access to Education and Health Care -- Spurring Economic Growth by Reducing Environmental Pressures -- Bringing It Together - Millennium Villages -- Notes -- 5 Informing and Developing National Strategies for Decoupling
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3 Advanced deficit irrigation strategies -- 4 Rainwater harvesting -- 5 Reusing urban stormwater and recycled water for peri-urban agriculture -- Decoupling Urban Economic Growth from Freshwater Use in Industry -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Freshwater Use in Cities -- Notes -- 10 Decoupling Economic Growth from Waste Production -- The Complex Challenge of Addressing Waste Production -- Economic Drivers for Decoupling Waste Production from Economic Growth -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Waste Production - By Rethinking Design -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Waste Production - By Reuse and Remanufacturing -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Waste Production - By Recycling -- Notes -- 11 Decoupling Economic Growth from Air Pollution -- The Complex Challenge of Air Pollution -- Economic Benefits Associated with Reducing Air Pollution -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Sulphur Dioxide Emissions -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Nitrous Oxide, Tropospheric Ozone and Photochemical Smog -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Lead Pollution -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Particulate Pollution (PM2.5-PM10) -- Notes -- 12 Reducing Air Pollution through Public Interest Litigation: The Delhi Pollution Case -- The Role of the Super-Administrator -- Environmental Jurisprudence in India -- Public Interest Litigation in India -- M. C. Mehta volume Union of India (Vehicular Pollution Case) -- Air pollution in Delhi -- Combating resistance to the court orders -- Environmental impact of the court orders -- Critical Analysis of Judicial Activism on Environmental Issues -- Division of power and the constitutional role of the judiciary -- Precedents and questions of stability and sustainability -- Strengthening bureaucracies -- A Caution on the Use of a Constitutional Court in matters of Public Interest -- Notes -- Index
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Improving freight and rail transport -- Reducing traffic congestion and encouraging modal shifts -- Reducing growth in air transport greenhouse gas emissions -- Reducing oil dependence -- Notes -- 7 Decoupling Economic Growth from Greenhouse Gas Emissions -- Appreciating the Cost of Inaction on Climate Change -- Estimating the Cost of Action on Climate Change -- 1 Assumptions about the availability of non-carbon backstop fuels -- 2 Assumptions about the efficiency of economic responses -- 3 Assumptions about energy and product substitution -- 4 Assumptions about involvement in joint implementation -- 5 Assumptions about revenue recycling -- 6 Assumptions about air pollution damages -- 7 Assumptions about climate change damages -- Support for Ambitious Commitments to Emissions Reductions Targets -- A Framework for Decoupling Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Stabilization Trajectories -- Notes -- 8 Decoupling Economic Growth from Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resilience -- The Complex Challenge of Reducing Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resilience -- Economic Risks and Benefits Associated with Biodiversity and Natural Systems -- Responding to the Challenge of Deforestation -- Responding to the Challenge of the Loss of Topsoil and Desertification -- Responding to the Challenge of the Depletion of Global Fisheries -- Responding to the Challenge of the Growth of Invasive Species and the Loss of Wildlife -- Notes -- 9 Decoupling Economic Growth from Freshwater Extraction -- The Complex Challenge of Freshwater Extraction and Use -- Economic Benefits Associated with Reducing Freshwater Consumption -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Freshwater Extraction for Grazing -- Decoupling Economic Growth from Freshwater Extraction for Cropping -- 1 Appropriate selection and rotation of crop species -- 2 Sub-surface drip irrigation and irrigation scheduling
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What Is Needed to Underpin a National Decoupling Agenda? -- Element 1: Past Appreciation - An Historical Perspective -- Element 2: Ecosystem Resilience - Assessing and Monitoring the Resilience of Natural Systems -- Element 3: Performance Evaluation - Appropriate Decoupling Indicators -- Element 4: Decoupling Requirements - Determining the Required Scale and Speed of Decoupling -- Element 5: Cost of Inaction - Investigate the Costs of Inaction on Decoupling Efforts -- Element 6: Costs of Action - Estimating the Costs of Action on Decoupling Efforts -- Element 7: Economic Resilience - Investigating and Understanding the Resilience of the Economy -- Element 8: International Cooperation - Identifying the Potential for Synergy with Global Efforts -- Element 9: Assessing and Accounting for the National Security Benefits of Decoupling -- Notes -- 6 Responding to the Complexity of Climate Change -- The Overarching Moral, Economic, Scientific and Technological Challenge of Our Age -- Facing Unprecedented Challenges and Opportunities -- Unprecedented speed -- Unprecedented scale -- Unprecedented uncertainty -- Unprecedented need for education -- Unprecedented need for collaboration -- Unprecedented need for cooperation -- Unprecedented interconnectivity -- Signs of Change in the International Business Community -- Signs of Change within Regulations and Policies -- Climate neutral nations and cities -- 2020 Greenhouse gas reductions regional targets (summarized in Table 6.1) -- Energy efficiency targets -- Energy standards for buildings -- Energy-efficient products and services -- Disconnecting electricity utility profits from energy sales -- Differential tariffs and smart meters -- Increasing the role of renewable energy -- Increasing the use of feed-in tariffs (FITs) -- Reducing private vehicle transport greenhouse gas emissions
Additional Edition:
Print version Desha, Cheryl Cents and Sustainability London : Taylor & Francis Group,c2010 ISBN 9781844075294
Language:
English
Keywords:
Electronic books
URL:
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