Environment And Industry In Developing Countries

This impressive study compares the adoption of environmentally sound technology in industrial sectors in eight developing countries. In combining a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies on rich empirical data the authors open the technological change black box and are able to formulate clear conclusions on the drivers and barriers for technological change. A major contribution to better understanding and governing environmentally-sound technological change. Arthur P.J. Mol, Wageningen University, The Netherlands All theory is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green , says Goethe. This book is very green (that is empirical) about a green topic: the adoption of environmentally sound technologies in developing countries, using triangulation for assessing the factors behind such choices. A very nice study on an important topic. René Kemp, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, The Netherlands Industries located in developing countries have made major improvements in environmental performance since the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. More specifically, their record in reducing energy-use and water-pollutant intensities has been better than developed countries. This significant new book investigates what motivates industries in developing countries to adopt environmentally sound technology (EST) a subject about which very little is actually known. The authors present the findings of a United Nations study of the factors that determined EST adoption by 105 manufacturing plants in four different sectors within eight developing countries. They explore both factors internal to the plants as well as external factors including governments, markets and civil society. Environment and Industry in Developing Countries will be of great interest to development assistance agencies supporting programmes for industrial environmental management in developing countries, and also to graduate school programmes in economic development, technology management, as well as in international business.

This study examines the employment implications of sustainable development, especially for developing countries, and reviews current approaches to minimizing environmental degradation. Spectacular economic growth since 1945, based largely on technological advance, has entailed major environmental costs which, this book claims, cannot be sustained, except at the risk of our own survival.

'This book makes a timely and important contribution to the controversial area of development policy and practice. The country case studies provide valuable insights into ways in which countries have sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed in rising to the challenges of industry-led development, through which to raise income levels and social equity across an entire economy in an environmentally sustainable manner. The framework for the case studies and their interpretation provide a sharp focus for the considerable amount of detail that supports the analysis of different approaches in different national circumstances. The book's highly practical basis challenges accepted wisdoms of economic and development theory where it feels the need to do so. The editors and authors are to be commended on an excellent piece of work that will be of value to theorists, planners and practitioners in developing countries, and to international institutions aiming to support them.' - Clive George, University of Manchester, UK Many developing and transition economies have not yet undertaken the policy integration measures needed to enhance the impact of industry on sustainable development. In this original and insightful book, national experts from Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey and Zimbabwe - countries which all have designated national sustainable development strategies - report on the extent to which recent changes in industrial, environmental and technology policies have more closely aligned industrial development with the aims of sustainable development.

How can we design more sustainable industrial and urban systems that reduce environmental impacts while supporting a high quality of life for everyone? What progress has been made towards reducing resource use and waste, and what are the prospects for more resilient, material-efficient economies? What are the environmental and social impacts of global supply chains and how can they be measured and improved? Such questions are at the heart of the emerging discipline of industrial ecology, covered in Taking Stock of Industrial Ecology. Leading authors, researchers and practitioners review how far industrial ecology has developed and current issues and concerns, with illustrations of what the industrial ecology paradigm has achieved in public policy, corporate strategy and industrial practice. It provides an introduction for students coming to industrial ecology and for professionals who wish to understand what industrial ecology can offer, a reference for researchers and practitioners and a source of case studies for teachers.

First published in 1992. The world is not living within its means. Current development policies, in both industrial and developing countries, are wasting resources and destroying the commons on which we all depend. The world is set on a path of deepening poverty and a deteriorating environment. New policies are needed to achieve sustainable development. This book presents an integrated series of essays on the policies for sustainable development from one of the leading policy research institutes on environment and development issues. It concentrates on the developing world and looks at the specific sectors to which the policies have to be applied. Beginning with a discussion of what constitutes sustainable development, it goes on to deal with the institutional arrangements needed to mobilise human resources for change and the economic policies for sustainable natural resource management. It then examines the policies needed in agriculture, urban development, industry, forests, drylands, energy use, finance, population and consumption. Throughout it demonstrates how those directly involved are best placed to manage their environments and resources. Policies must support the experience and resourcefulness of local people. Sustainable development requires that they control their own futures. This title will be of great interest to students of Environmental Studies.

Publisher description

"Sustainable development" quickly became the universal goal for environmentalists in the 1990s, motivated by the 1988 Brundtland Report and the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. When the time came to bring theory into reality, sustainable development revealed far more complexity than first anticipated. To attain sustainable development in the full sense of the phrase"meeting present needs without compromising the resources needed for future societies"environmental and social concerns would need a constant presence in all major economic decisions. The Cornerstone of Development: Balancing Environmental, Social, and Economic Imperatives profiles many of the first attempts to implement sustainable development initiatives worldwide. The model: Canada's experience with "multistakeholder" decision-making. Under the guidance of Canada's National Task Force on Environment and Economy, nationwide and provincial round tables brought government officials together with corporate officers to formulate sustainable development guidelines. Authorized by the Canadian government to serve as an "Agenda 21 organization," the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) subsequently researched the feasibility of adapting the multistakeholder approach to the needs and practices of developing countries. The results are in these pages: valuable case histories from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Canada, each recounting the risks and benefits from integrating environmental, social and economic policies. When IDRC members were asked for ways to address environmental sustainability, they had few examples to follow"and little evidence that such endeavors could be fulfilled. The research and problem-solving efforts they produced are now collected here, for the guidance of other environment/development balance programs worldwide.

Two and a half billion people are affected directly on a day to day basis by the allocation and use of primary local resources. Yet `official' development economics has concentrated on headline international issues and only recently begun to take account of the dependence of poor countries on their natural resources, the link between acute poverty and environmental degradation, and the problems associated with the management of local common property such as soil and soil cover, water, forests and their products, animals and fisheries. In these volumes, which are part of the WIDER programme on the Economics for the Environment, expert contributors provide a set of authoritative studies of emerging development issues, ranging from foundational matters to case studies, original research (in areas where there has been a paucity of work) to survey papers. They address both analytic and empirical issues on the role of environmental resources in the development process, presenting explanations of existing situations and policies for the future. A wealth of interests and backgrounds is represented, and reflected in the cross-fertilization between papers.