Fair and Inclusive Environmental/Social Transition Alternatives: Learning from the 'Living Well' and 'Green Economy' pathways to sustainability

该项目将解决如何公平、公正和有效地向可持续社会过渡这一紧迫问题。它将通过提供证据和分析来做到这一点，这些证据和分析可以为当前关于市场/政府、经济增长/减速、结构/因素和技术/政治在实现平衡的社会、经济和环境目标方面的相对有用性和作用的社会科学辩论提供信息。为了研究这些首要问题，将对两种新出现的环境/社会范式--以市场为基础的“绿色经济”和重新分配的“良好生活”方法进行调查和对比。将根据2015年后新的联合国可持续发展目标(联合国，2014年)和环境正义指标(贝尔，2014年)标准，审查它们在实现可持续发展和环境正义目标方面的相对优点。该项目将通过以下方式评估两种截然不同的环境/社会转型路径/模式的效力、效率、公平性、政治可接受性、行政可行性和可转移性：(1)对相关的国际、纵向(2000-2016年)、国家一级的量化数据集进行二次分析；(2)初步收集和分析韩国(公认的绿色经济方法的国际领导者)和玻利维亚(处于制定改善生活方式的前沿)的相关质量数据。这将涉及确定绿色经济和美好生活模式的基本组成部分和背景；绘制与之相关的政策、方案和进程的地图；在理论和实践中确定共同点和分歧；评估它们实现选定的可持续发展目标和千年发展目标标准的相对能力；区分这些模式及其相关政策的惠益最大和最不有利的方面；确定每种模式所创造的机会和风险；以及查明相关政策执行的障碍。数据将来自可持续发展目标和国际发展倡议，以及来自各种来源的相关纵向统计数据；对50个利益攸关方(即政策受益者、政策制定者、政策实施者)的反复访谈；以及在四个社区(每个国家一个农村、一个城市)的参与性观察。访谈将使用尖端的视觉研究技术，包括文物和视频，帮助参与者更深入地反思和创造性地思考，帮助跨文化交流，加强参与和融洽，并通过视觉媒体促进传播，从而接触到更多不同的受众。这项工作的原创性在于，尽管已经有一些关于这些总体政策范式的单独描述性研究和新举措(例如，见环境署，2013a；2013b；2013c；2013d；2014)，但还没有出版的学术著作系统地审查它们对实现可持续发展目标和满足《可持续发展目标》标准的潜在、实际和相对影响。通过所产生的证据和分析，该项目将通过促进政策制定者和政策实施者就迈向可持续社会的步骤作出更好的决定，为制定更有效、更综合和更连贯的环境/社会过渡政策和做法提供信息。此外，政策告密者和积极分子可以利用这些信息更好地证实他们的需求并决定战略。此外，这项研究还将在从事政治生态、发展、政治学、环境研究等相关领域研究的学者中引发和深化辩论。这一扩大的知识库和辩论将有助于改善地方、国家和全球环境，为我们所有人带来更大的安全、健康和福祉。

This project will address the urgent question of how to carry out an equitable, just and effective transition to a sustainable society. It will do this by providing evidence and analysis which can inform current social science debates regarding the relative usefulness and role of markets/governments, economic growth/de-growth, structures/agents and technology/politics to achieve balanced social, economic and environmental goals. In order to examine these overarching questions, two newly emerging environmental/social paradigms, the market-based 'Green Economy' and the redistributive 'Living Well' approaches will be investigated and contrasted. They will be examined in terms of their relative merits for enabling sustainable development and environmental justice goals to be met, according to the new, post-2015, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN, 2014) and Environmental Justice Indicator (EJI) criteria (Bell, 2014). The project will assess the efficacy, efficiency, equitability, political acceptability, administrative viability and transferability of the two contrasting environmental/social transition pathways/paradigms through (1) secondary analysis of relevant international, longitudinal (2000-2016), country-level quantitative datasets; and (2) primary collection and analysis of relevant qualitative data in South Korea (a recognised international leader of the Green Economy approach) and Bolivia (at the forefront of developing the Living Well approach). This will involve identifying the essential components and contexts of the Green Economy and Living Well paradigms; mapping their associated policies, programmes and processes; establishing commonalities and divergences, in theory and in practice; assessing their relative ability to achieve selected SDGs and EJI criteria; distinguishing the most and least beneficial aspects of the paradigms and their related policies; ascertaining the opportunities and risks that each creates; and pinpointing the barriers to related policy implementation. Data will be derived from SDG and EJI relevant longitudinal statistical data from a range of sources; repeated interviews with 50 stakeholders (i.e. policy-beneficiaries, policy-makers, policy-implementers); and participatory observations in four communities (one rural, one urban in each country). The interviews will use cutting edge visual research techniques, involving artefacts and video, to help the participants think in a more deeply reflective and creative way, aid cross-cultural communication, enhance engagement and rapport, and facilitate dissemination via visual media so as to reach more diverse audiences. This work is original in that, though there have been some separate descriptive studies and new initiatives on these overarching policy paradigms (see, for example UNEP, 2013a; 2013b; 2013c; 2013d; 2014), there has been no published academic work which systematically examines their potential, actual and relative impact on delivering the SDGs and meeting EJI criteria. Through the evidence and analysis produced, the project will inform the creation of more effective, integrated and coherent environmental/social transition policies and practices by facilitating policy makers and policy implementers to make better decisions regarding the steps to a sustainable society. In addition, policy informers and activists can use the information to better substantiate their demands and decide upon strategy. Furthermore, the study will provoke and deepen debate among academics engaged in research on political ecology, development, political science, environmental studies and other related areas. This expanded knowledge base and debate will contribute to the improvement of local, national and global environments, leading to greater security, health and wellbeing for all of us.