Fair and Inclusive Environmental/Social Transition Alternatives: Learning from the 'Living Well' and 'Green Economy' pathways to sustainability

This project will address the urgent question of how to carry out an equitable, just and effective transition to a sustainable society. It will do this by providing evidence and analysis which can inform current social science debates regarding the relative usefulness and role of markets/governments, economic growth/de-growth, structures/agents and technology/politics to achieve balanced social, economic and environmental goals. In order to examine these overarching questions, two newly emerging environmental/social paradigms, the market-based 'Green Economy' and the redistributive 'Living Well' approaches will be investigated and contrasted. They will be examined in terms of their relative merits for enabling sustainable development and environmental justice goals to be met, according to the new, post-2015, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN, 2014) and Environmental Justice Indicator (EJI) criteria (Bell, 2014). The project will assess the efficacy, efficiency, equitability, political acceptability, administrative viability and transferability of the two contrasting environmental/social transition pathways/paradigms through (1) secondary analysis of relevant international, longitudinal (2000-2016), country-level quantitative datasets; and (2) primary collection and analysis of relevant qualitative data in South Korea (a recognised international leader of the Green Economy approach) and Bolivia (at the forefront of developing the Living Well approach).

This will involve identifying the essential components and contexts of the Green Economy and Living Well paradigms; mapping their associated policies, programmes and processes; establishing commonalities and divergences, in theory and in practice; assessing their relative ability to achieve selected SDGs and EJI criteria; distinguishing the most and least beneficial aspects of the paradigms and their related policies; ascertaining the opportunities and risks that each creates; and pinpointing the barriers to related policy implementation.

Data will be derived from SDG and EJI relevant longitudinal statistical data from a range of sources; repeated interviews with 50 stakeholders (i.e. policy-beneficiaries, policy-makers, policy-implementers); and participatory observations in four communities (one rural, one urban in each country). The interviews will use cutting edge visual research techniques, involving artefacts and video, to help the participants think in a more deeply reflective and creative way, aid cross-cultural communication, enhance engagement and rapport, and facilitate dissemination via visual media so as to reach more diverse audiences.

This work is original in that, though there have been some separate descriptive studies and new initiatives on these overarching policy paradigms (see, for example UNEP, 2013a; 2013b; 2013c; 2013d; 2014), there has been no published academic work which systematically examines their potential, actual and relative impact on delivering the SDGs and meeting EJI criteria. Through the evidence and analysis produced, the project will inform the creation of more effective, integrated and coherent environmental/social transition policies and practices by facilitating policy makers and policy implementers to make better decisions regarding the steps to a sustainable society. In addition, policy informers and activists can use the information to better substantiate their demands and decide upon strategy. Furthermore, the study will provoke and deepen debate among academics engaged in research on political ecology, development, political science, environmental studies and other related areas. This expanded knowledge base and debate will contribute to the improvement of local, national and global environments, leading to greater security, health and wellbeing for all of us.

Though there may be no one best way to realise a sustainable and just society (see Hulme, 2009), it is important to compare alternative pathways because this can reveal the strengths, weakness, opportunities and risks inherent in various approaches. Academic research can help support policy-makers and policy-influencers in deciding which might be the most appropriate courses of action to realise such a sustainable society by revealing and challenging explicit and implicit assumptions about problems, pathways, actors, practices and progress. Therefore, this research is intended to make a strong impact on environmental/social and economic policy-makers and policy-influencers (including the public) so as to support better decision-making on transition to a sustainable society. By increasing awareness of the Green Economy and Living Well paradigms and their implications for social, environmental and economic policy, it will help to clarify the stepping stones necessary. This will also enable policy informers and activists to better substantiate their demands and decide upon strategy. More widely, by contributing to the knowledge base necessary to make effective, efficient and widely supported steps towards improving environmental and social policy, the project will enhance health and well-being for all those around the world who currently or potentially live in inadequate environments.

Hence, the research will be of interest and use to policy makers (including, for example, national and regional governments and supra-national organisations such as the OECD, UNEP and the World Bank); policy informers/influencers/activists such as non-governmental organisations working on social and environmental issues and social movements (including, for example, the International Labour Organisation, WWF, Great Transition Initiative, Green Economy Coalition, and the Green Growth Institute): policy implementers (including, for example, civil society organisations working on environmental/social issues, as well as national and regional governments); academics working directly on environmental justice, political ecology, sustainable development, poverty and social exclusion, as well as tangentially on related themes (see 'Beneficiaries' section of the Je-S form); the general public who may well be concerned and disturbed by media reports of impending environmental catastrophe and be seeking explanations and solutions; those directly involved in the project who will benefit from the opportunity to pose and answer relevant questions; the space to reflect on their own knowledge and experience; the networking and collaborative opportunities that will arise; and an enhanced public profile for themselves and their organisations.

The project will particularly enhance collaborative work and debates between advocates of those studying and working on the two seemingly opposing paradigms of Green Economy and Living Well and facilitate dialogues and networks between those interested in equitable green transitions. It will also specifically feed into work on the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and the surrounding debates about how they might best be achieved. In addition, it will expand discussions around the conceptualisation and measurement of environmental justice and how this can be integrated into debates around sustainability.

These impacts will be achieved via briefings to the most relevant policy making and policy informing bodies; knowledge exchange visits to ITUC's Environmental Policy section and UNRISD's Sustainable Development Programme: a specifically organised international conference; presentation of the research at practitioner conferences; journal publications; press releases to relevant media outlets; creation of short videos made available on YouTube and the project website; and a tri-lingual interactive website for the project (English, Spanish, Korean) (see 'Pathways to Impact' statement for further information).