Abstract
Abstract. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an assemblage of interwoven goals intended to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030” (United Nations, 2020). The SDGs have been the subject of extensive research and debate, particularly regarding their feasibility and global applicability in our COVID-19 world. This research considered the question of progress toward sustainable development from the perspective of professionals involved in sustainability education and movements across diverse Global South settings. Participants emphasized three key themes: the role of poverty in sustainability efforts and challenges within the Global South, shortcomings of Global North-based notions and strategies of development, and the importance of local knowledge derived from Global South perspectives. The discussion considers more emancipatory possibilities for sustainable and just living.
Impact and Implications.
This research highlights insights of sustainability scholars and activists within diverse Global South settings, whose accounts rarely inform psychological science and global discourses of sustainable development. Participants emphasize the role of poverty in sustainability efforts within the Global South, and note the extent to which efforts toward sustainability are intricably linked to social justice. The findings further reveal shortcomings of Global North-based notions and strategies of development and the importance of local knowledge derived from Global South perspectives. This research contributes to expanding knowledge on sustainability in ways that are more attuned to Global South realities, where the majority of the human population lives. It further illuminates gaps in the UN Sustainable Development model and illuminates alternative, more broadly emancipatory possibilities for sustainable and just living.
References
(2015). Decolonizing psychological science: Introduction to the special thematic section. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 213–238. 10.5964/jspp.v3i1.564
(2008). Toward a 'just' sustainability? Continuum, 22(6), 751–756. 10.1080/10304310802452487
(2015). Constructing the rights of nature: Constitutional reform, mobilization, and environmental protection in Ecuador. Law and Social Inquiry, 40(4), 937–968. 10.1111/lsi.12141
(1994). Reflections on sustainability, population growth, and the environment. Population and Environment, 16(1), 5–35. 10.1007/bf02208001
(2019). Sustainable development goals and informal economies in Latin America: The bargaining power of informal economies in a sustainable context. Dialogos Latinoamericanos, 28(20), 53–56.
(2013). Our roots run deep as ironweed: Appalachian women and the fight for environmental justice. University of Illinois Press.
(2015). Deploying qualitative methods for critical social purposes. In G. S. CannellaM. S. PérezP. A. Pasque (Eds.), Critical qualitative inquiry: Foundations and futures (pp. 243–263). Left Coast Press.
(2009). Environmentalism of the poor and sustainable development: An appraisal. JOAAG, 4(1), 1–10.
(1995). Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the third world. Princeton University Press.
(2018). Decolonizing development: A decolonial approach to the psychology of economic inequality. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 4(2), 198–209. 10.1037/tps0000157
(1965). The wretched of the earth (C. Farrington, Trans.). Grove Press. (Original work published 1961).
(1961). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.
(2010). Realities toolkit #09: Using email interviews. ERSC National Center for Research Methods. https://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1303/1/09-toolkit-email-interviews.pdf
(2000). Environmentalism: A global history. Oxford University Press.
(1997). Varieties of environmentalism: Essays North and South. Earthscan.
(2021). The anti-colonial politics of degrowth. Political Geography, 88(3), 102404. 10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102404
(2020). COVID-19 pandemic ignorance and the 'worlds' of development. In P. CarmodyG. McCannC. ColleranC. O’Halloran (Eds.), COVID-19 in the global south: Impacts and responses (pp. 7–16). Bristol University Press. 10.46692/9781529215892.003
(2016). The victims of unsustainability: A challenge to sustainable development goals. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 23(2), 113–121. 10.1080/13504509.2015.1111269
(2017). Roads to riches or ruin? Science, 358(6362), 442–444. 10.1126/science.aao0312.
(2019). Developing a method of critical thematic analysis for qualitative communication inquiry. Howard Journal of Communications, 30(1), 92–106. 10.1080/10646175.2018.1439423
(2017). Postcolonialism and psychology: Growing interest and promising potential. In The SAGE Handbook of qualitative research in psychology (pp. 306–317). SAGE Publications Ltd. 10.4135/9781526405555.n18
(1994). Writings for a liberation psychology (A. Aron & S. Corne, Trans.). Harvard University Press.
(2020). COVID-19 and global inequality. In P. CarmodyG. McCannC. ColleranC. O’Halloran (Eds.), COVID-19 in the global south: Impacts and responses (pp. 161–172). Bristol University Press. 10.46692/9781529215892.017
(2020). Environmental justice and the SDGs: From synergies to gaps and contradictions. Sustainability Science, 15, 1621–1636. 10.1007/s11625-020-00789-8
(2009). Complexity systems, thinking and practice: Skills and techniques for managing complex systems. In A. Stibbe (Ed.), The handbook of sustainability literacy: Skills for a changing world (pp. 156–164). Green Books.
(2018). The Global South is rich in sustainability lessons that students deserve to hear. Nature, 557, 485–488. 10.1038/d41586-018-05210-0
(2020). Reset sustainable development goals for a pandemic world. Nature, 583, 198–201. 10.1038/d41586-020-01999-x
(2016). Affirming our world: Gender justice, social reproduction, and the sustainable development goals. Development, 59, 121–126.
(2005). Assessing evidence of environmental inequities: A meta-analysis. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 24(2), 223–247. 10.1002/pam.20088
(2018). A good life for all within planetary boundaries. Nature Sustainability, 1(2), 88–95. 10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4
(2005). Assessing evidence of environmental inequities. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 24(2), 223–247. 10.1002/pam.20088
(2005). Conquest: Sexual violence and American Indian genocide. South End Press.
. (2015). The Sustainable Development Goals. https://sdgs.un.org/
. (2020). The sustainable development goals report 2020. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2020.pdf
(2022). SDG9 – Industry, innovation, and infrastructure. Emerald Group Publishing.
(2008). Challenges in operating sustainability initiatives in Northwest Mexico. Sustainable Development, 16(6), 401–409. 10.1002/sd.357
