Ecological Contradictions of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Malaysia

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promote a broad set of socio-economic and environmental goals. Through a case study on Malaysia, this paper investigates how economic Goal 8 (economic growth), Goal 9 (industry), and Goal 17(increased partnerships) are likely to conflict with environmental Goal 13 (climate action), Goal 14 (life below water), and Goal 15 (life on land). We analyze data from Economy-Wide Material Flows Analysis (EW-MFA) that captures Malaysia’s aggregate resource use over time and also assess the likely economic and environmental contradictions for Malaysia’s future trajectory by looking at major drivers of Malaysia’s economic growth. Using policy-scoring, we provide a detailed analysis of how the various sectors of growth are likely to result in synergies or trade-offs with the environmental SDGs. We find substantial contradictions between the economic and environmental SDGs for Malaysia. Our paper questions whether or not, when examining a concrete case study, economic and environmental SDGs are compatible.

Green Transition of Iron Cities: A Comparative Case Study of Kitakyushu and Pohang

This comparative case study explores why two cities similar in socio-economic factors diverge in their pathways to environmental improvement. Our research looks at the changing local economies and environmental pollution problems facing Kitakyushu in Japan and Pohang in South Korea. Both cities drove their nations’ rapid economic growth as the main heavy industry hubs but have performed radically differently vis-à-vis public demands for environmental improvement despite sharing much in common. Employing the advocacy coalition framework as a main analytical tool, we examine the unfolding of policy efforts to turn a manufacturing-oriented industrial city into a “greener” city responding to environmental objectives and the respective outcomes. The research reveals that variations in regulatory decentralization, external events and coalition opportunity structures largely explain the observed discrepancy in green transition between the two settings. Our findings contribute to expanding scarce case study literature illustrating the mechanisms that can underpin environmental improvements in cities that have served as the location of heavy industries and offer suggestions for advancing them.

Paradoxes of Ratification: The Nagoya Protocol and Brazilian State Transformations

This article explores the paradoxical behaviour of Brazil in relation to its national and international approaches to the regulations of access to genetic resources and benefits sharing with indigenous and other traditional communities. Brazil was one of the leaders in the international negotiations that led to the UN Nagoya Protocol but only ratified it 11 years later, after remarkable transformations of its internal biodiversity laws. We suggest that the seemingly contradictory behaviour has been shaped by the country’s internal political and ideological changes. This transformation goes hand in hand with substantial changes in state–society relations, particularly with regard to the balance of coalitions’ power between indigenous groups and industrial and agrarian elites. The article builds on the literature on state transformations and relies on the Advocacy Coalition Framework to show the importance of considering the impact of national-level politics on the fate of international agreements.

Quality of Life and the Carbon Footprint: A Zip-Code Level Study Across the United States

Much sustainability scholarship has examined the environmental dimensions of subjective and objective well-being. As an alternative measure of human well-being, we consider the notion of quality of life and draw on a framework from the sustainability literature to study its association with ecological impact, specifically the carbon footprint. We conduct a quantitative analysis, combining zip-code level data on quality of life and the carbon footprint per household for the year 2012 across the continental United States ( n=29,953). Findings consistently show a significant, negative association between quality of life and the carbon footprint. Our findings point to the potential advantages of utilizing robust objective measures of quality of life that extends beyond economic well-being and life expectancy alone. Furthermore, our findings question the conventional wisdom that sustainability requires sacrifices, while suggesting opportunities for how increased levels of sustainability may be achieved while retaining high levels of quality of life.

Waste Pickers and Their Practices of Insurgency and Environmental Stewardship

Informed by different grassroots learning and educational practices engaged in waste management, and drawing from the concepts of insurgent citizenship and environmental stewardship, we examine the role of waste picker organizations and movements in creating new pathways towards more sustainable environmental waste governance. Two case studies (Argentina and Brazil) demonstrate how waste pickers inform and educate the general public and raise the awareness of socio-environmental questions related to waste management. Different educational practices are used as strategies to confront citizens with their waste: to see waste as a consumption problem, resource, and income source. Our paper draws on grassroots learning (social movement learning and insurgent learning) and education (stewardship) aimed at the transformation of waste practices. We argue that waste pickers play an important role in knowledge production promoting recycling, in landfilling less and recovering more resources. We conclude that waste pickers act as insurgent citizens and also are environmental stewards.

Climate Change and Young People in Uganda: A Literature Review

The disruptions of anthropogenic climate change are increasingly severe. People living in sub-Saharan Africa are especially exposed to these risks, and amongst them young people. It is well established that climate disruptions have the potential to halt education, displace populations, and wreck infrastructure. This rigorous literature review focuses on climate change in the landlocked East African country of Uganda, demographically the world’s third youngest country, where young people struggle to get by due to insufficient work opportunities. Extended to other countries in the Eastern and Central African region, the review considers what is known about the intersection of youth livelihoods and climate change; young people’s susceptibility to climate disruption due to limited resources and livelihood options; and the constraints around their responses. The review findings suggest the need for substantial youth informed interventions to bolster young people’s economic resilience and adaptive capacity given the worsening climate change and prolonged population growth.

A Climate Backlash: Comparing Populist Parties’ Climate Policies in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden

The rise of authoritarian populism has disrupted the patterns of party competition in many Western societies. Related to this development, the current debates in the United States and European Union illustrate how empirical science on climate change may become intensely politicized, and all ambitious climate policies challenged in the contemporary political landscape. We set out an analytical framework with three ideal types of political strategies for opposing climate policies: climate science denialism, climate policy nationalism, and climate policy conservativism. Empirically, the article investigates populist resistance to ambitious climate change policy in the Nordic context, where countries have sought to assume global leadership in climate politics and have considerable public support for climate action. In an analysis of the evolving positions of populist parties in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in recent elections, the article sheds light on the interconnection between populism and climate change policy.

A Systems-Based Approach to Analyze Environmental Issues: Problem-Oriented Innovation System for Water Scarcity Problem in Iran

Environmental issues such as water scarcity are typically multidimensional problems, and resolving them requires a systems-based approach and socio-technical innovations. This article applies the “Problem-oriented Innovation System (PIS)” as a new approach to resolve water scarcity problem. In Iran, this has not been the case as natural water scarcity along with decades of mismanagement has turned water scarcity into a national crisis and caused several interrelated socioeconomic problems. Using case study, in this article, Iran’s water scarcity is analyzed to see how the PIS is able to help resolve this problem. Results indicate that the inefficient management and monitoring the water scarcity and lack of appropriate standardization and tariffs are the most important system failures of the water scarcity PIS in Iran. Also, the most important policy implications are moving toward decentralization in water management based on a participatory approach and establishing a national drought monitoring system.

More ‘Creative’ Than ‘Destructive’? Synthesizing Schumpeterian and Developmental State Perspectives to Explain Mixed Results in Korea’s Clean Energy Shift

We develop a new way of analysing the state’s strategic role in the clean energy shift. We do so by synthesizing Schumpeterian understandings of ‘creative destruction’ and techno-economic change with cutting-edge developmental state theorizing centred on ‘developmental environmentalism’. Our approach allows us to explain South Korea’s mixed results in the clean energy shift over the 2008–2020 period by focussing on varying degrees of alignment between the state’s ‘creative’ and ‘destructive’ ambitions and capabilities. Following a period of misalignment characterized by a creative emphasis (2008–2015), we have seen growing alignment between the state’s ‘creative’ and ‘destructive’ endeavours (2015–present). On the basis of our analysis, we anticipate that Korea’s hitherto mixed results are likely to give way to more consistent strides towards greening the national economy. Beyond Korea, our fresh analytical approach may be applied to other national contexts, helping to advance broader debates about the state’s strategic role in the clean energy shift.

The Politics of Transnational Advocacy Against Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian Extractive Projects in the Global South

Activists in the global South have been navigating two powerful trends since the mid-1990s: intensifying state repression and rising investment in extractive projects from the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). In this context, this article explores the underlying forces determining the formation, endurance, and power of BRICS–South transnational advocacy networks (TANs) opposed to BRICS-based corporate extraction in the global South. By analyzing activism against Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian extractive projects in Ecuador, Ethiopia, and Mozambique, respectively, the research reveals the critical importance of domestic politics and civil society characteristics in both the BRICS and host states for shaping BRICS–South TANs, including which groups assume leadership, the extent of cross-national cooperation, and the role of nonprofits headquartered in the global North. The findings uncover core reasons for the variable resiliency and capacity of BRICS–South TANs, opening up new avenues of research and offering valuable insights for activists and policymakers.