India's Social Sector and SDGs


Book Description

This book explores the intersectional perspective of sustainable social development in key sectors, such as education and skill development, health and nutrition, gender concerns, and food security and agriculture in India. It delves into contemporary concerns of poverty, employment and inclusive growth, and social marginalisation and inequality. The volume brings together the contributions of various stakeholders from academia, research organisations, NGOs and policymakers to address social-sector issues and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Indian context. It reflects on policies, strategies and performance in the context of Constitutional goals and the commitment to global SDGs and examines the character and contours of social development in the country. Comprehensive and topical, this volume will be useful to scholars, researchers, policymakers and practitioners of development studies, political studies, sociology and development economics.




Sustainable Development Goals


Book Description

This volume examines the practicality of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in India, and includes policy analyses and statistical assessments of comparative data between India and different countries. With a focus on poverty and economics, the contributors offer sector and state specific performance analyses of each goal, determining the feasibility for different states and regions to implement a given goal under conditions of extreme poverty and economic distress. Readers will learn how to perform comprehensive economic performance analyses, and how to apply these methods at local and regional scales within the framework of sustainable development. The book will be of interest to students and researchers studying sustainable development, economics, and policy analysis, as well as NGOs and government agencies working towards achieving the SDGs in impoverished nations.




Industrial Policy for the Sustainable Development Goals Increasing the Private Sector’s Contribution


Book Description

How can governments support the private sector’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? This book investigates the contribution of firms to the SDGs, particularly through their core business, taking into account inter-sectoral linkages and global value chains, using novel techniques and data sources.




Social Science and Sustainability


Book Description

Sustainability policies shape the ways that society and the economy interact with the environment, natural resources and ecosystems, and address issues such as water, energy and food security, and climate change. These policies are complex and are, at times, obscured by contestation, uncertainty and sometimes ignorance. Ultimately, sustainability problems are social problems and they need to be addressed through social and policy change. Social Science and Sustainability draws on the wide-ranging experience of CSIRO’s social scientists in the sustainability policy domain. These researchers have extensive experience in addressing complex issues of society–nature relationships, usually in interdisciplinary collaboration with natural scientists. This book describes some of the evidence-based concepts, frameworks and methodologies they have developed, which may guide a transition to sustainability. Contributions range from exploring ways to enhance livelihoods and alleviate poverty, to examining Australians’ responses to climate change, to discussing sociological perspectives on sustainability and how to make policy relevant. Researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers around the globe will find this book a valuable and thought-provoking contribution to the sustainability literature. It is also suited to academics and students in postgraduate-level courses in social sciences and sustainability, or in courses in applied sociology, applied social psychology and other applied social sciences.




OECD Insights Sustainable Development Linking Economy, Society, Environment


Book Description

A succinct examination of the concept of sustainable development: what it means; how it is impacted by globalisation, production and consumption; how it can be measured; and what can be done to promote it.




Sustainable Development Goals for Society Vol. 1


Book Description

Written by 43 authors from Africa, Europe and Latin America, this book presents 19 topics addressing poverty in the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leadership in implementing SDGs, and SDGs in service delivery and local government. As the world has gone past five years of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the intertwined 17 SDGs, new opportunities in research continue to open up. Hence, documenting some of the initiatives put in place around the world regarding the implementation of the SDGs is one of the aims of this publication. With 10 years remaining, the book further enhances the desire to scale up SDGs implementation. The selection of case studies from the selected regions also provides a balance in terms of how the SDGs are being rolled out for economic growth, environmental stewardship and social protection. The ambition remains even with the challenge brought by the COVID-19 pandemic that preoccupied the whole of 2020; spilling over to 2021. There is no doubt that resources have been diverted, but the world must stay on the course to 2030 and beyond. Therefore, the book is relevant for several stakeholders including the academics, development partners, government officials and other individuals that are involved in making sure no one is left behind in the lead to 2030.




Social Development and the Sustainable Development Goals in South Asia


Book Description

This book assesses the roadmap for the implementation of the SDGs in South Asia, focusing in particular on the areas of poverty reduction, inequality, health/well-being and water and sanitation. South Asia is amongst the fastest growing regions in the world, with an aggregate GDP in excess of two trillion US dollars, but at the same time it has significant deficits in human development, with 37 per cent of the world's poor and nearly half of the world's malnourished children. For South Asia, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a constructive opportunity to end many of the region's deprivations in a time-bound and systematic manner. Starting with the legacy of the Millennium Development Goals, the book goes on to provide a country-by-country overview of strategies for addressing the problems of poverty, health, water and sanitation. South-South Cooperation and in particular the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are discussed and, finally, the editors present a summary of policy priorities for social development. This book aims to be a useful resource for researchers, policy influencers, planners, implementers, students, and activists aiming to push to achieve the SDGs.




Sustainable Development Insights from India


Book Description

This volume is a collection of essays that provide a comprehensive coverage of multiple aspects of the discourse on environment, development and sustainability. It is designed to bring in a host of perspectives highlighting the synergies and the trade-offs in this debate, showcasing research along with policy implications of putting research into use. The global discussion on sustainability paints the broad canvas for this book. This volume aims to probe some contemporary issues that will help in understanding the sustainability narrative in India. The topics span over a host of questions on energy, environment, natural resources and related constituents of development. The discourse further extends to the role of economic modelling, public policy debates, political intervention, stakeholders’ response, community participation and so on. The discussions are often based on empirical support, review of existing literature as well as policy analysis. With an ultimate aim to understand the overall development narrative of the people of India, the discourse takes in its ambit the nuances of resource utilisation, economic growth, COVID-19 impacts, competitiveness and market structures, urbanization, sectoral reforms, environmental hazards, climate change, pollution, natural resource accounting and management to name a few. The book is divided into four sections, namely, The Big Picture: Evolving Perspectives; The Energy Scenario: Dilemmas and Opportunities; Sustainability Cross-Cuts: Developmental Aspects and Externality Empirics: Knowledge and Practice. The first section contains commentaries on the overarching themes of economic growth, development and sustainability. It presents some emerging perspectives on the developmental crisis that has emerged through the environmental lens with additional focus on the need for inclusion of creativity, knowhow, technology and financial resources to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The second section brings out the dilemmas and opportunities in the energy sector, that has been a key player in discussions of sustainability, especially for India where significant technological advances in conventional forms of energy supply coexists with fairly low levels of per capita energy consumption and energy security is a key challenge. The section on sustainability crosscuts attempts to highlight the problems and processes of mainstreaming the sustainability question into conventional thinking through the concepts of a circular economy, green accounting techniques, institutional and governance structures, public policy and inclusive growth, amongst others. The last section presents some empirical studies on environmental externalities, the unaccounted environmental effects of economic production and consumption and finally the behavioural aspects of the stakeholders that are crucial in the larger narrative of sustainable development. This edited volume contains contributions of reputed scholars from various Indian universities, research institutions and professionals from outside academia, who are proven experts in their fields. The link between policy, practice, and well-being of the large vulnerable population of India is the major focus of enquiry that will help researchers, practitioners and policy planners in conducting further research in energy, environment, resource and linked areas of development economics. General readers with an active interest in energy, environment, and economic development are also likely to find this book an interesting read, especially in the times of several environmental challenges facing humankind.




Sustainable Development Goals and Migration


Book Description

This book looks at migration in contemporary society and its interrelations with development. It presents the complexities and dilemmas associated with migration, the changes in theoretical and historical perspectives on migration and development, and the role of policies and the sustainable development goals in this context. The volume views migration as a phenomenon for advancing human development outcomes. It deals with wide-ranging issues including labour migration, the idea of decent work, migration and transnationalism, remittances, social networks and capital, and addressing poverty. The chapters highlight the focus of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its relevance on migrant rights, safeguarding livelihoods and health. They also offer insights into regional and international co-operation on policies for migration, social growth and protection, and citizenship. With comparative analyses of data, trends and development indicators as well as various case studies, this volume examines the impact of migration on international relations and politics, labour market outcomes, gender, youth and education among others. It also discusses the loss of lives and livelihoods due to the Covid-19 pandemic, its impact on migration and the effects of the pandemic on the contemporary discussions on migration and SDGs. Rich in empirical data, this book will be an excellent read for scholars and researchers of migration and diaspora studies, development studies, refugee studies, public policy and governance, international relations, political studies, political economy, sociology and South Asian Studies.




Taking Stock of Industrial Ecology


Book Description

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.