Using case studies from Africa, South America, Asia and the Caribbean, this book examines the progress made in uniting national aspirations of sustainable development strategies with their local implementation. Comparing the situation on the ground with formal national environmental action plans, the book compares progress, or the lack of progress, between different sectors, cultures, regions and resources throughout the developing world. It examines whether local knowledge and actions are undermining national aspirations or whether they are being ignored at the national level with detrimental consequences to sustainable development. The measurement of sustainable development, the role of formal and informal education in sustainable development and the significance of diverse voices in the practice of sustainable development are considered. The book draws lessons from those cases which appear to be experiencing positive moves towards sustainability and examines whether common frameworks exist which suggest that good practice may be transferable from one milieu to another.

Written by 43 authors from Africa, Europe and Latin America, this book presents 19 topics addressing poverty in the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leadership in implementing SDGs, and SDGs in service delivery and local government. As the world has gone past five years of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the intertwined 17 SDGs, new opportunities in research continue to open up. Hence, documenting some of the initiatives put in place around the world regarding the implementation of the SDGs is one of the aims of this publication. With 10 years remaining, the book further enhances the desire to scale up SDGs implementation. The selection of case studies from the selected regions also provides a balance in terms of how the SDGs are being rolled out for economic growth, environmental stewardship and social protection. The ambition remains even with the challenge brought by the COVID-19 pandemic that preoccupied the whole of 2020; spilling over to 2021. There is no doubt that resources have been diverted, but the world must stay on the course to 2030 and beyond. Therefore, the book is relevant for several stakeholders including the academics, development partners, government officials and other individuals that are involved in making sure no one is left behind in the lead to 2030.

The aim of this report is to present an overview of the 17 Goals using data currently available to highlight the most significant gaps and challenges.

This volume presents North American best practices and perspectives on developing, managing and monitoring indicators to track development progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in local communities and cities. In 4 main sections, the book presents and frames the many ways in which community indicator programs are either integrating or retooling to integrate the SDGs into their existing frameworks, or how they are developing new programs to track and report progress on the SDGs. This is the first volume that focuses on SDG adoption within the context of North Americans cities and communities, and the unique issues and opportunities prevalent in these settings. The chapters are developed by experienced academics and practitioners of community planning and sustainable development, and will add broad perspective on public policy, organizational management, information management and data visualization. This volume presents a case-study approach to chapters, offering lessons that can be used by three main audiences: 1) teachers and researchers in areas of urban, regional, and environmental planning, urban development, and public policy; 2) professional planners, decision-makers, and urban managers; and 3) sustainability activists and interested groups.

In the face of megatrends such as globalisation, climate and demographic change, digitalisation and urbanisation, many cities and regions are grappling with critical challenges to preserve social inclusion, foster economic growth and transition to the low carbon economy. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set the global agenda for the coming decade to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. A Territorial Approach to the Sustainable Development Goals argues that cities and regions play a critical role in this paradigm shift and need to embrace the full potential of the SDGs as a policy tool to improve people's lives. The report estimates that at least 105 of the 169 SDG targets will not be reached without proper engagement of sub-national governments. It analyses how cities and regions are increasingly using the SDGs to design and implement their strategies, policies and plans; promote synergies across sectoral domains; and engage stakeholders in policy making. The report proposes an OECD localised indicator framework that measures the distance towards the SDGs for more than 600 regions and 600 cities in OECD and partner countries. The report concludes with a Checklist for Public Action to help policy makers implement a territorial approach to the SDGs.

The absence of effective government, one of the most important issues in current international law, became prominent with the failed state concept at the beginning of the 1990s. Public international law, however, lacked sufficient legal means to deal with the phenomenon. Neither attempts at state reconstruction in countries such as Afghanistan and Somalia on the legal basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter nor economic liberalisation have addressed fundamental social and economic problems. This work investigates the weaknesses of the failed state paradigm as a long-term solution for international peace and security, arguing that the solution to the absence of effective government can be found only in an economic and social approach and a true universalisation of international law.

This book offers readers a diversity of perspectives, experiences and practical examples from various facets of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) that can propel practice, further research and inform decision-making in the region, thus making for more cogent and effective ESE. The Caribbean region is comprised of what is said to be the largest number of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), together with the non-island nations of Belize, Guyana, and Suriname. Although diverse with respect to governance, size, topography, and income, the Caribbean region has a common set of geographic and socio-economic characteristics that make it vulnerable to environmental hazards, economic challenges and social instability. Further to these particular vulnerabilities are various phenomena that pose critical sustainability challenges, two of which are climate change and crime and violence. Consequently, responsive and relevant ESE is needed to address these issues through knowledge enhancement, attitudinal change, skills development and behaviour change. As we seek solutions, this text brings together various empirical and theoretical contributions focused primarily on the English-speaking Caribbean region, that explore a number of areas such as ESE pedagogy, teacher education, values education and progress evaluation. This volume will be a key resource for educators, policymakers, scholars and advanced students of ESE, as well as those interested in protecting our planet. It was originally published as a special issue of Environmental Education Research.

This revised and updated third edition of Gender and Development provides a concise, accessible introduction to gender and development issues in the developing world and in the transition countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The nine chapters include discussions on: changes in theoretical approaches, gender complexities and the Sustainable Development Goals; social and biological reproduction including changing attitudes to family planning; variation in education and access to housing; differences in health and violence at major life stages for women and men; natural disasters, climate change and declining natural resources; and gender roles in rural and urban areas. There is also enhanced coverage of topics such as global trade, sport as a development tool, masculinities and sustainable agriculture. Maps and statistics have been updated throughout and their coverage widened. New case studies have been added on Bangladesh, violence in Peru and India, and halal tourism and garbage collection in the Maldives. The book features student-friendly items such as chapter learning objectives, discussion questions and annotated guides to further reading and websites. The text is enlivened throughout with examples and case studies drawn from the author’s worldwide field research and consultancies with international development agencies over four decades and her experience of teaching the topic to undergraduates and postgraduates in many countries. Gender and Development is the only broad-based introduction to the topic written specifically for a student audience. It will be an essential text for a variety of courses on development, women’s studies, sociology, anthropology and geography.

This edited collection presents stories of children and young people’s entanglements with times of ongoing crisis in the Anthropocene. The authors use biographical narratives and arts-based methodologies to further the discussion surrounding young people’s well-being, resilience, and enterprise. Through these stories, they seek to critically engage with the literature on the Anthropocene and interrogate concepts such as agency, structure, and belonging.