Book review: Strategy for sustainable business: environmental opportunity and strategic choice by L. Crosbie and K. Knight (ed), McGraw-Hill, 1995. xi+270 pp, £24.95, (hdk), ISBN 0 07 709133 7
✍ Scribed by Jan Bebbington
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 27 KB
- Volume
- 6
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0964-4733
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The authors argue that people living in cities are confronted with a great variety of environmental problems, and consequently, the best solution for these problems will be found at the local level. This book was written in collaboration with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, the United Towns Development Agency, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), and the United Nations Environmental Programme. The intention of the authors was to publish this book as a contribution to the discussions at the Habitat Conference in Istanbul in 1996.
The book claims that, in 1987, the Brundtland Commission's report Our Common Future gave rise to new challenges in environmental policy aiming to realise sustainable development. The Rio conference in 1992 resulted in Agenda 21, which specifically calls on local authorities to develop and implement measures for sustainable development. The authors take as their starting point that the Habitat II conference elaborated on those parts of environmental policy which were left out in Rio.
The major part of the book is a description and analysis of 17 case studies related to subjects such as democratisation and consensus building, waste management, local sustainable community initiatives, municipal finances, participation of citizens, implementation of a local environmental action plan, solar energy, water pollution and drinking water, and local Agenda 21. The cities and regions are located in many parts of the world. However, there are no case studies from Australia, and only one case study from Central and Eastern Europe is discussed. All case studies were given the same format, which facilitates their comparison. The studies give, in general, a good impression of the context, the case itself, the results and challenges, and the direction for the future. Researchers in the field of local implementation of Agenda 21 will find a comprehensive source of issues at stake in this field.
The authors intend to give an overview of the relevant problems in the beginning of the book. In this respect, they are not successful. First, nothing is said about the content of the concept of sustainable development. Of course, the authors do not need to present an extensive