Fair Future Resource Conflicts, Security and Global Justice

About this book

In this hugely important intellectual, ethical and ultimately practical analysis from the internationally renowned Wuppertal Institute, the authors address the two problems that define our age - social justice and environmental sustainability. How can those in poor countries raise their standards of living, on a planet with limited resources, without putting it under additional environmental stress?

Going beyond the outdated North and South divide, they construct the necessary intellectual and moral platform for fundamental progress in the opening decades of the 21st century.

Contents

1 JUSTICE FOR REALISTS 1.1 Connective World - The new vulnerability/ Levels of interdependence/Preventive justice 1.2 Divided World - Distance among nations/ Inequality within/The drift of world poverty 1.3 Finite World - What are limits?/Signs of overshoot 1.4 Justice in an Age of Limits - 3x environmental justice/The dilemma of catching-up 2 UNEQUAL SHARES 2.1 The Triad of Omnivores - Geographical distribution of resources/Comparative appropriation/Distribution of damages 2.2 Unequal Ecological Exchange - The triad and their "colonies"/Ecological trade balance/Rich country illusion 2.3 The Newcomers and their aspirations - The new consumer countries/Global cities and their hinterland/The new consumer class 3 ARENAS OF APPROPRIATION 3.1 Geopolitics: the Hand on the Oil - Spheres of control/Mid-term depletion point/More demand, less supply/Exit as security strategy 3.2 Foreign Trade: Appropriation of Land - Export vs. Subsistence/Marginalization of farmers and land/Migration - in whose benefit?/A distortion of free trade 3.3 Investments: Diversion of Water - Caputered water/Virtual water/Polluted water/Lucrative water 3.4 International Law: Patents on Plants - Rise of biopiracy/hose knowledge?/Disputes between institutions/Treaties and interests 4 PARADIGMS OF RESOURCE JUSTICE 4.1 Long-Distance Ethics - Interest in security/ Interest in self-respect/Interest in cosmopolitanism 4.2 Recognition and Redistribution - Justice as recognition/Justice as redistribution 4.3 Protecting Livelihood Rights - Natural spaces and human rights/Human rights, human duties 4.4 Cutting Back Resource Claims - Egalitarianism as an exception/Subsistence before affluence/ Freedom before Overconsumption 4.5 Making Exchange Equitable - Value, added and creamed off/Learning from fair trade 4.6 Redressing Disadvantages - Common but differentiated responsibilities/Ecological debt 5 FAIR WEALTH 5.1 Contraction and Convergence - Coming down and climbing up/Resource consumption and welfare 5.2 Descent from High Consumption - Efficiency, consistency, sufficiency/Energy for example/ Transport for example 5.3 Ecological Leapfrogging - Distributed energy/ Mobility without car-dependence/Regenerative agriculture/Are multilateral finance institutions helpful? 6 GOVERNANCE FOR ECOLOGY AND FAIRNESS 6.1 Equity in the Greenhouse - Molecules and human rights/ hares of the atmosphere/A cheque per head 6.2 Fairness and Diversity - Sovereignty as shield/ Rights of local communities 6.3 Fair Trade Instead of Free Trade - Development rights ahead of market access/Human rights ahead of market access/Environmental rights ahead of market access/Approaches for reinventing the WTO 6.4 Civic Duties for Corporations - Beyond the balance sheet/How useful are voluntary standards?/Responsible to the world society 7 WHAT IS EUROPE WORTH? 7.1 Make law not war - Kyoto - and what else?/ Farewell from Marrakech/Alliances for a fair future Endnotes, References

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Biography

WOLFGANG SACHS, editor of the bestselling and immensely influential Development Dictionary (1856490440, Zed Books, 1992, 11th impression, 20,000 copies sold), is an internationally renowned authority on development and the environment. He is a senior research fellow at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and a long-time activist in the German and Italian green movements.