Originally proposed by ecological economists, the concept of ecosystem services has gained traction in demonstrating the importance of ecosystems for providing goods and services to society. While much work has sought to develop and operationalise the concept as the basis of scientific research and ecosystem conservation, most thinking and practice around ecosystem services is based on a view of ecosystems as biophysical systems that interact with, yet are separate from, people. In this article, we build on critiques that this conceptual separation of nature and society is problematic, both in theory and practice, because it overlooks the multiple ways in which ecosystems are shaped by, and shape, human processes over time and space, both materially and symbolically. We propose advances in two directions. First, we retheorize ecosystem services as co-produced by biophysical and social processes, both materially and symbolically and over space and time, by ontologically redefining ecosystems as cultural landscapes. By doing so, we recognise the power relations that underpin the co-constitution of ecosystems and their users, including the continued dominance of formal science in producing knowledge about them. Second, we explore the epistemological implications of this retheorization: acknowledging that ecosystems are also social implies that human influences and meanings are not external to, but part of, ecosystem services. This expands the types of knowledge that are needed to better understand socio-ecological interactions, and inform the design and effectiveness of policy interventions.
This article presents some examples of teaching on environmental studies from recent Open University modules that encourage students to evaluate their role in responding to what should be seen as the greatest public welfare challenge of our age; global environmental degradation. This calls for a public education endeavour in its broadest sense, one involving not just the academy and students but the global public. Some universities in the UK have recognized that there is a now a climate emergency, raising the prospect of substantive changes to education governance, research and curriculum. Ecopedagogy offers the prospect of a new curriculum, a radical approach to education that resists the political and economic structures that generate environmental problems while working with social movements to generate an alternative environmental politics. It challenges those engaged in environmental education to rethink how they teach agency to students and what the role of the educator should be in equipping society to respond to environmental degradation. The article concludes that the recognition of a climate emergency suggests that universities should shift towards a more proactive ecopedagogical role as a matter of urgency.
annual review of the journal the “From Pedagogies for Sustainability to Transformative Social Change” International on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability Vancouver January My annual conference is one of the activities organised by the On Sustainability Research Network by Common Ground Research Networks in 2005. This network aims to provide a multidisciplinary space for considering holistically the many interconnected dimensions of sustainability. The publication of academic journals and books is an integral part of the research network’s work.
Jamaica faces several environmental threats, related to socio-economic inequalities, as a result of its sustainable development path. The latter stems from the island’s relationships with broader international policies as a Global South country. Within this context, the role of sustainable learning can be crucial to address environmental and societal challenges. At the same time, current literature on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) emphasizes the need to (i) explore the contributions of local sustainable learning models to the global ESD policy framework, and (ii) link local contributions to national and international contexts. Critical scholarship on ESD advises to consider diverse sustainable learning practices from developing countries, in order to shape ESD theories and practices in inclusive and participatory terms. Akin to the international discourse, studies on ESD in Jamaica highlight the need to bridge disconnects that exist between sustainable learning in schools and in communities. Hence, this study contributes to addressing existing gaps within ESD globally and in Jamaica, through the exploration of social, transformative and sustainable learning in a Jamaican rural school and community. I employed two main theoretical approaches in this research. Namely, transformative learning theories that draw on Mezirow, Sterling, Bateson and Freire guided the investigation of sustainable learning practices in the studied school and community. Secondly, I combined social learning with transformative learning theories to analyse the relationships among learners, teachers, community members, stakeholders and sustainable learning. Based on an ethnographic exploration of research participants’ meanings and practices, as well as content analysis of policy documents, findings show the predominance of issues around learning, values and leadership within sustainable learning. Additionally, local attitudes of resistance towards transformation among learners coexist with the role of local civil society organisations (CSOs), leadership and counter-culture values, which contribute to more transformative approaches to sustainable learning. The exploration of the relationships between local issues and broader policies and structural arrangements at the national and international levels uncovered a variety of disconnects. Therefore, understanding local sustainable learning experiences, combined with their interrelations with the broader ESD context, reveals insights to envision more effective sustainable learning approaches within ESD in Jamaica and abroad.
Community sustainability is particularly important for communities near mining operations as they can experience significant boom and downturn periods. The sustainability of a community is determined by its environmental, human, social, cultural, public structural, and commercial resources, its community capital. Research has been conducted on each of the elements of community capital; however, little is known regarding the overall impact of mining operations on community capital. Therefore, a review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted to gain insight into existing knowledge on each of the impact of mining operations on community capital. The quality of the chosen papers was appraised using a standardised critical assessment tool. Due to the varied methodology of the papers, the findings were thematically analysed. The results of this review identified that mining activities have negative impacts on the community through environmental degradation and consequent health problems, disruption to social networks, increased burden on public infrastructure, and economic dependence on a sometimes volatile mining industry. Minimising these impacts can increase the sustainability of mining communities after mining operations have reduced or ceased. Additionally, minimising these impacts can enhance community functioning while mining operation levels are at their peak.
The primary objective of this research is to show how waste-to-energy solutions can be introduced to small rural developing communities, while employing unique methods of community engagement and using the three pillars of sustainability to guide decisions. Waste management provides unique challenges to developing communities with no formally established way of disposing waste. It requires a revamping of social norms to develop a waste management system that the community accepts and also provides safe, efficient disposal. Thus, it is essential to understand how economics, energy, environment, community acceptance, and community engagement interact in the creation and employment of waste-to-energy systems in developing communities. A multiphase and mixed-methods research approach was employed in Sittee River, Belize that included waste audits, waste reduction modeling, and community interviews. The waste audits quantified the amount of food waste generated by the community and evaluated whether or not waste could be used to meet local school cooking needs. The USEPA's waste reduction model (WARM) quantified and compared the amount of greenhouse gases associated with burying, burning, river dumping, and anaerobic digestion of food waste. Additionally, community interviews explained the perceptions of current waste practices. While the WARM model proves the environmental advantage of using the anaerobic digester, the interviews reveal that the community does not understand the impacts of their current waste management practices. Community members are less concerned about the harmful effects of burying and burning trash, but are still interested in alternative waste management systems.
The aim of this paper is to consider the ways in which ideas of justice are applied in the national context of policy design and practice of forest management in Nepal. Concerns about justice have become increasingly prominent in forest management objectives across a range of governance initiatives—from state-controlled forests to community forestry and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) development. However, there remains a considerable gap between theoretical and public conceptions of justice as to its institutionalisation and practical operationalisation. With a detailed case study of Nepal’s community forestry and REDD+ processes, this paper analyses whether and how the ideas of justice are applied in forest governance. In particular, it assesses justice implications of policy processes and outcomes, including the Forest Act (1993), Forestry Sector Strategy (2014), Forest Policy (2015), and REDD+ Strategy (First Draft, 2015) and discusses the opportunities and challenges of addressing issues of justice and forest peoples’ rights through community forestry and REDD+ in Nepal. In so doing, this paper also draws some useful insights on how to link twin agendas of justice and sustainability in forest management.
