Implementing Sustainable Development

Despite all the talk of sustainability, there has not been enough action to halt or reverse the impacts of climate change.

Decades after the Rio Earth Summit and despite the many policies and commitments to move toward sustainable development, there continues to be a serious implementation gap.

Implementing Sustainable Development focuses on the challenges of turning international commitments and policy promises into local action. Through global examples and cases, the authors examine not only the core principles, but also successful and failed efforts to address the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainable development. They systematically guide readers through the technical, legal, economic, administrative, political, ethical, and cultural feasibility of putting sustainable development solutions in place. Based on broad research, Claudia María Vargas and Phillip J. Cooper offer a practical and useful approach to identifying and addressing policy implementation challenges—what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Features of this thoroughly revised second edition include:

Dozens of case studies from the throughout the world

An overview of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Action-oriented solutions to the challenges of sustainable development

Careful consideration of local and indigenous knowledge

Key issues of equity, equality, and the importance of community involvement