Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America

Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America PDF Author: Lynn Horton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In recent years, sustainable development has emerged as a central goal of the World Bank and grassroots activists alike. In Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America, Lynn R. Horton explores the implications of this new, often contested discourse and related policies for Central America's rural and indigenous poor. Drawing on the testimony of leaders and residents of three communities in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, Horton explores grassroots assumptions, values, and practices of sustainable development and, in particular, the ways in which they overlap with or challenge international financial institutions' discourse of sustainability. With a comparative, empirical approach, Horton also analyzes dominant practices linked to sustainable development - neoliberal reforms, project interventions, and environmental protection. She reveals how these practices support or undermine economic, cultural, and political opportunities for the rural and indigenous poor and impact these communities' advancement of their own visions of sustainability. Finally, the author explores processes of empowerment that enable communities to articulate and put into practice local visions of sustainability, which contribute toward broader social and structural transformations. Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America will interest sociologists, anthropologists, and others who study the theory and practice of sustainable development.

Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America

Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America PDF Author: Lynn Horton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
In recent years, sustainable development has emerged as a central goal of the World Bank and grassroots activists alike. In Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America, Lynn R. Horton explores the implications of this new, often contested discourse and related policies for Central America's rural and indigenous poor. Drawing on the testimony of leaders and residents of three communities in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, Horton explores grassroots assumptions, values, and practices of sustainable development and, in particular, the ways in which they overlap with or challenge international financial institutions' discourse of sustainability. With a comparative, empirical approach, Horton also analyzes dominant practices linked to sustainable development - neoliberal reforms, project interventions, and environmental protection. She reveals how these practices support or undermine economic, cultural, and political opportunities for the rural and indigenous poor and impact these communities' advancement of their own visions of sustainability. Finally, the author explores processes of empowerment that enable communities to articulate and put into practice local visions of sustainability, which contribute toward broader social and structural transformations. Grassroots Struggles for Sustainability in Central America will interest sociologists, anthropologists, and others who study the theory and practice of sustainable development.

The Struggle for Accountability

The Struggle for Accountability PDF Author: Jonathan A. Fox
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262561174
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
After a history of funding environmentally costly megaprojects, the World Bank now claims that it is trying to become a leading force for sustainable development. For more than a decade, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots movements have formed transnational coalitions to reform the World Bank and the governments that it funds. The Struggle for Accountability assesses the efforts of these groups to make the World Bank more publicly accountable. The book is organized into four parts. Part I describes the NGOs and grassroots movements that are the book's central focus. Part II presents case studies of four projects that provoked the emergence of transnational advocacy coalitions: Indonesia's Kedung Ombo dam, the Mt. Apo geothermal plant in the Philippines, Brazil's Planaforo Amazon development project, and the remarkable campaign of Ecuador's indigenous people to influence national economic policy that led to their participation in the design of a development loan. Part III looks at the origins and politics of reform in four areas of broader World Bank policy: the rights of indigenous peoples, involuntary resettlement, water resources, and the World Bank's institutional reforms that are supposed to encourage public accountability. In the last section, the editors discuss issues of accountability within transnational coalitions and assess the impact of advocacy campaigns on World Bank projects and policies. Contributors L. David Brown, Jane G. Covey, Jonathan A. Fox, Andrew Gray, Margaret E. Keck, Deborah Moore, Antoinette Royo, Augustinus Rumansara, Leonard Sklar, Kay Treakle, Lori Udall, David A. Wirth.

Environment and Citizenship in Latin America

Environment and Citizenship in Latin America PDF Author: Alex Latta
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857457489
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Scholarship related to environmental questions in Latin America has only recently begun to coalesce around citizenship as both an empirical site of inquiry and an analytical frame of reference. This has led to a series of new insights and perspectives, but few efforts have been made to bring these various approaches into a sustained conversation across different social, temporal and geographic contexts. This volume is the result of a collaborative endeavour to advance debates on environmental citizenship, while simultaneously and systematically addressing broader theoretical and methodological questions related to the particularities of studying environment and citizenship in Latin America. Providing a window onto leading scholarship in the field, the book also sets an ambitious agenda to spark further research.

Mexican Americans and the Environment

Mexican Americans and the Environment PDF Author: Devon G. Peña
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816550824
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Mexican Americans have traditionally had a strong land ethic, believing that humans must respect la tierra because it is the source of la vida. As modern market forces exploit the earth, communities struggle to control their own ecological futures, and several studies have recorded that Mexican Americans are more impacted by environmental injustices than are other national-origin groups. In our countryside, agricultural workers are poisoned by pesticides, while farmers have lost ancestral lands to expropriation. And in our polluted inner cities, toxic wastes sicken children in their very playgrounds and homes. This book addresses the struggle for environmental justice, grassroots democracy, and a sustainable society from a variety of Mexican American perspectives. It draws on the ideas and experiences of people from all walks of life—activists, farmworkers, union organizers, land managers, educators, and many others—who provide a clear overview of the most critical ecological issues facing Mexican-origin people today. The text is organized to first provide a general introduction to ecology, from both scientific and political perspectives. It then presents an environmental history for Mexican-origin people on both sides of the border, showing that the ecologically sustainable Norteño land use practices were eroded by the conquest of El Norte by the United States. It finally offers a critique of the principal schools of American environmentalism and introduces the organizations and struggles of Mexican Americans in contemporary ecological politics. Devon Peña contrasts tenets of radical environmentalism with the ecological beliefs and grassroots struggles of Mexican-origin people, then shows how contemporary environmental justice struggles in Mexican American communities have challenged dominant concepts of environmentalism. Mexican Americans and the Environment is a didactically sound text that introduces students to the conceptual vocabularies of ecology, culture, history, and politics as it tells how competing ideas about nature have helped shape land use and environmental policies. By demonstrating that any consideration of environmental ethics is incomplete without taking into account the experiences of Mexican Americans, it clearly shows students that ecology is more than nature study but embraces social issues of critical importance to their own lives.

Handbook of Social Movements across Latin America

Handbook of Social Movements across Latin America PDF Author: Paul Almeida
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9401799121
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This handbook covers social movement activities in Latin American countries that have had profound consequences on the political culture of the region. It examines the developments of the past twenty years, such as a renewed upswing in popular mobilization, the ending of violent conflicts and military governments, new struggles and a relatively more democratic climate. It shows that, from southern Chiapas to Argentina, social movements in the 1990s and especially in the 2000s, have reached new heights of popular participation. There is a lack of research on the politics of this region in the contemporary era of globalization, this volume partially fills the void and offers a rich resource to students, scholars and the general public in terms of understanding the politics of mass mobilization in the early twenty-first century. The contributors each address social movement activity in their own nation and together they present a multidisciplinary perspective on the topic. Each chapter uses a case study design to bring out the most prominent attributes of the particular social struggle(s), for instance the main protagonists in the campaigns, the grievances of the population and the outcomes of the struggles. This Handbook is divided into seven substantive themes, providing overall coherence to a broad range of social conflicts across countries, issues and social groups. These themes include: 1) theory of Latin American social movements; 2) neoliberalism; 3) indigenous struggles; 4) women’s movements; 5) movements and the State; 6) environmental movements; and 7) transnational mobilizations.

Global Champions of Sustainable Development

Global Champions of Sustainable Development PDF Author: Patricia Flynn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351176293
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embody the collective aspirations of the world’s peoples: peace, freedom, development and sustainability. The challenges associated with the struggle for attainment of these goals and objectives are as diverse and complex as the variety of human societies, national conditions and natural ecosystems worldwide. The problems to be addressed range from extreme poverty and pandemics to racism and refugee crises. Some of the best strategies and solutions to these problems emerged from unlikely places, ranging from the corporate boardrooms and halls of administration to the fields of civic engagement and the vortices of crises. Often, a single person is the dauntless driving force behind these innovative programs and courageous experiments that made all the difference to the poorest and most disadvantaged social groups. Somehow, they were able to turn the abstract goals and principles of sustainability into concrete programs and effective action. This book, the first of its kind, offers a platform that shares the individual experiences and personal studies of champions around the world that ‘make sustainability work’ in different contexts. In the trenches of practice, results are far from guaranteed, while sacrifice and obstacles are inevitable. These champions forge the paths forward – advocating ideas, mobilizing support and exercising leadership – in diverse nations, organizations and communities. In their struggle, they develop plans and solutions that inevitably involve adaptation, sacrifice, trade-offs and compromises that address the concerns of competing groups.

Handbook of Central American Governance

Handbook of Central American Governance PDF Author: Diego Sanchez-Ancochea
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135102368
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
Central America constitutes a fascinating case study of the challenges, opportunities and characteristics of the process of transformation in today’s global economy. Comprised of a politically diverse range of societies, this region has long been of interest to students of economic development and political change. The Handbook of Central American Governance aims to describe and explain the manifold processes that are taking place in Central America that are altering patterns of social, political and economic governance, with particular focus on the impact of globalization and democratization. Containing sections on topics such as state and democracy, key political and social actors, inequality and social policy and international relations, in addition to in-depth studies on five key countries (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), this text is composed of contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field. No other single volume studies the current characteristics of the region from a political, economic and social perspective or reviews recent research in such detail. As such, this handbook is of value to academics, students and researchers as well as to policy-makers and those with an interest in governance and political processes.

Weathering Risk in Rural Mexico

Weathering Risk in Rural Mexico PDF Author: Hallie Catherine Eakin
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816525003
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
From floods and droughts to tsunamis and hurricanes, recent years have seen a distressing and often devastating increase in extreme climatic events. While it is possible to study these disasters from a purely scientific perspective, a growing preponderance of evidence suggests that changes in the environment are related to both a shift in global economic relations and these weather-related disasters. In Weathering Risk in Rural Mexico, Hallie Eakin draws on ethnographic data collected in three agricultural communities in rural Mexico to show how economic and climatic change are not only linked in cause and effect at the planetary scale but also interact in unpredictable and complex ways in the context of regional political and trade relationships, national economic and social programs, and the decision making of institutions, enterprises, and individuals. She shows how the parallel processes of globalization and climatic change result in populations that are Òdoubly exposedÓ and thus particularly vulnerable. Chapters trace the effects of El Ni–o in central Mexico in the late 1990s alongside some of the principal changes in the countryÕs agricultural policy. Eakin argues that in order to develop policies that effectively address rural poverty and agricultural development, we need an improved understanding of how households cope simultaneously with various sources of uncertainty and adjust their livelihoods to accommodate newly evolving environmental, political, and economic realities.

The Economics of Ecology, Exchange, and Adaptation

The Economics of Ecology, Exchange, and Adaptation PDF Author: Donald C. Wood
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1786352273
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This book consists of three sections. The first, concentrating on ecology, further explores the theme of climate change. The second section focuses on exchange transactions and relations in a variety of situations and settings. Finally, papers in the third section share a concern with individual and group adaptations to certain conditions of life.

Sustainable Urban Development Reader

Sustainable Urban Development Reader PDF Author: Stephen M. Wheeler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317672178
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 631

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Book Description
Building on the success of its second edition, the third edition of the Sustainable Urban Development Reader provides a generous selection of classic and contemporary readings giving a broad introduction to this topic. It begins by tracing the roots of the sustainable development concept in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, before presenting readings on a number of dimensions of the sustainability concept. Topics covered include land use and urban design, transportation, ecological planning and restoration, energy and materials use, economic development, social and environmental justice, and green architecture and building. All sections have a concise editorial introduction that places the selection in context and suggests further reading. Additional sections cover tools for sustainable development, international sustainable development, visions of sustainable community and case studies from around the world. The book also includes educational exercises for individuals, university classes, or community groups, and an extensive list of recommended readings. The anthology remains unique in presenting a broad array of classic and contemporary readings in this field, each with a concise introduction placing it within the context of this evolving discourse. The Sustainable Urban Development Reader presents an authoritative overview of the field using original sources in a highly readable format for university classes in urban studies, environmental studies, the social sciences, and related fields. It also makes a wide range of sustainable urban planning-related material available to the public in a clear and accessible way, forming an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the future of urban environments.