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Unequal sustainabilities: The role of social inequalities in conservation and development projects

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  • Nicole D. Peterson

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="sea212030-abs-0001"> In this article, I examine the efforts of a national marine protected area in Loreto, Mexico, to create sustainable development through regulations and economic development programs. I argue that these kinds of efforts can ignore social aspects of sustainability, particularly the ways that existing economic, political, and social inequalities interact with sustainability efforts through flawed participatory processes, misunderstandings of community values, and the lack of attention to the impact of a larger socioeconomic context. Instead, we should focus on how inequalities are reproduced, altered, challenged, and constructed by the policies and practices of sustainability. I propose that greater commitment to an integrated social, environmental, and economic sustainability can provide the space needed for alternative visions and values as well as real progress toward sustainability.

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  • Nicole D. Peterson, 2015. "Unequal sustainabilities: The role of social inequalities in conservation and development projects," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 264-277, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecanth:v:2:y:2015:i:2:p:264-277
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/sea2.12030
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Boyce, James K., 1994. "Inequality as a cause of environmental degradation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 169-178, December.
    2. James Boyce, 1994. "Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation," Published Studies ps1, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    3. Ravnborg, Helle Munk, 2003. "Poverty and Environmental Degradation in the Nicaraguan Hillsides," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1933-1946, November.
    4. Peter Newell, 2005. "Race, Class and the Global Politics of Environmental Inequality," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 5(3), pages 70-94, August.
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    2. Goodman, Rachael, 2017. "Borrowing Money, Exchanging Relationships: Making Microfinance Fit into Local Lives in Kumaon, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 362-373.
    3. Margaret V. du Bray & Rhian Stotts & Melissa Beresford & Amber Wutich & Alexandra Brewis, 2019. "Does ecosystem services valuation reflect local cultural valuations? Comparative analysis of resident perspectives in four major urban river ecosystems," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 21-33, January.

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