Download Free Governing Agricultural Sustainability Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Governing Agricultural Sustainability and write the review.

Although GM crops are seen by their advocates as a key component of the future of world agriculture and as part of the solution for world poverty and hunger, their uptake has not been smooth nor universal: they have been marred by controversy and all too commonly their regulation has been challenged as inadequate, even biased. This book aims to understand these dynamics, examining the impacts of GM crops in diverse contexts and their potentials to contribute to sustainable agricultural futures. Part 1 draws on research from three global ‘rising powers’ – Brazil, India and Mexico – exploring the views of scientists, farmers and publics. Using a diverse array of ethnographic and qualitative methodologies, the book examines the dynamics that have underpinned the controversy in three diverse geo-political contexts, the manner in which dominant institutional framings have been closely aligned with the interests of powerful elites, and the multiple ways in which these have been resisted through local, symbolic and material practices. Part 2 comprises a series of short comment pieces from 11 leading social and natural scientists responding to the question of how to develop a policy framework for the responsible innovation of sustainable, culturally appropriate and socially just agricultural GM technologies. This innovative book offers new insights for researchers and postgraduates in Science and technology studies, Agro-ecology and Environmental Studies, Development studies, Anthropology, Human Geography, Sociology, Political Science, Public Administration, Latin American studies, and Asian studies.
Although GM crops are seen by their advocates as a key component of the future of world agriculture and as part of the solution for world poverty and hunger, their uptake has not been smooth nor universal: they have been marred by controversy and all too commonly their regulation has been challenged as inadequate, even biased. This book aims to understand these dynamics, examining the impacts of GM crops in diverse contexts and their potentials to contribute to sustainable agricultural futures. Part 1 draws on research from three global ‘rising powers’ – Brazil, India and Mexico – exploring the views of scientists, farmers and publics. Using a diverse array of ethnographic and qualitative methodologies, the book examines the dynamics that have underpinned the controversy in three diverse geo-political contexts, the manner in which dominant institutional framings have been closely aligned with the interests of powerful elites, and the multiple ways in which these have been resisted through local, symbolic and material practices. Part 2 comprises a series of short comment pieces from 11 leading social and natural scientists responding to the question of how to develop a policy framework for the responsible innovation of sustainable, culturally appropriate and socially just agricultural GM technologies. This innovative book offers new insights for researchers and postgraduates in Science and technology studies, Agro-ecology and Environmental Studies, Development studies, Anthropology, Human Geography, Sociology, Political Science, Public Administration, Latin American studies, and Asian studies.
This book encompasses a broad range of natural resource sectors, with discrete chapters on water, land, forestry, fisheries, mining, petroleum and agriculture. Given this broad range of areas, the focus of the publication is narrowed to provide an overarching holistic perspective that is supportive of a systems-thinking approach. Recognizing that there are many useful publications elsewhere that detail extensively the specific regulatory elements of sound laws in the respective areas, this book offers the specific prism of highlighting approaches that embrace the pillars of sustainable development, i.e. approaches that recognize and are informed by economic, social and environmental considerations and impacts.
Food security and sustainability are arguably the most important issues facing the agri-food sector at the beginning of a new millennium. In an era of globalization, where nation states appear to have a diminishing role in governing these matters, the existing and emerging power relations underpinning agri-food regulation demand renewed scholarly attention. Drawing upon the expertise of some of the most prominent writers in rural sociology, geography and anthropology, this book shows how globalization processes open up a new regulatory politics in which ‘non-political’ forms of governing play an increasingly influential role in shaping agricultural production and consumption. The first of its kind to critically and comprehensively examine new forms of governing and regulation, this important text explores the relationship between globalization and new sites, spaces and agents of agricultural regulation, using detailed case studies in developed nations to illustrate points made. Demonstrating the political significance of regulatory mechanisms extending beyond the state, the book also discusses the consequences for the governing of the agri-food sector.
"This book is a state-of-the-art reference book that explores how rural policymakers and stakeholders can use information and communication technologies to sustainably manage agricultural and natural resources"--Provided by publisher.
This book presents a modern framework for understanding and improving agrarian sustainability and its governance. It incorporates the interdisciplinary New Institutional and Transaction Costs Economics (combining Economics, Organisation, Law, Sociology, Behavioural and Political Sciences) and suggests a new framework for analysis of mechanisms of governance of agrarian sustainability. Moreover, all available mechanisms affecting individual and collective actions for achieving economic, social, environmental, intra and inter-generational goals of sustainable development are embraced including formal and informal institutions ("rules of the game"), "invisible hand of market" (market competition), individual initiatives (codes of behaviour), contractual arrangements (private order), "visible hand of the manager"(fiat), collective decision-making (collective order), government intervention (public order), multinational actions (international order) and hybrid modes. The book provides effective tools for understanding, analysing and improving public policies, business strategies, and individuals and collective actions for sustainable development.
This book presents a multidisciplinary collection of original contributions made by the leading scholars and practitioners on researching, building, and maintaining sustainable agricultural systems. Being the first of its kind, the book is divided into two volumes. This book presents a comprehensive and informed review of the current state of multidisciplinary knowledge on sustainability in agriculture. The gaps in the scholarly literature are identified and rigorously analyzed, presenting a clear picture of the promising research directions. The authors critically analyze the very concept of sustainable agricultural systems, primarily focusing on the interactions existing between their integral components and with external environments. Relying on the provisions of complex systems science, the scholars then discuss the best approaches and methodologies used to build a comprehensive understanding of agricultural systems, with relation to achieving and maintaining their sustainability. More than that, this book holds two rich sections on (1) agricultural economics and (2) rural sustainability. Understanding sustainable development as a movement toward clearly defined and measurable goals, a set of chapters explore those policies, practices, technologies, and management systems that have an impact on the sustainability of agricultural systems. Agricultural sustainability is an urgent issue to be addressed, and this book makes a unique contribution. Due to its practical focus, the book appeals to practitioners and policymakers working in agricultural economics, governance, and sustainability, not just academics. This is also a valuable resource for graduate students interested in agricultural systems, sustainability, as well as complex systems theory and practice.
Sustaining our agricultural landscapes is no longer just a technical, scientific or even political problem, but it has evolved into a socially complex, so-called wicked problem of conflicting social governance and economics. This creates an extreme economic obstacle where the value of ecosystem services remains low and diffuse and the transactions costs remain high and multiple.Using Uber-like business platform technology and a shared governance model, a symbiotic demand for environmental benefits is created. Enabling multi-sector transactions for environmental benefits, this platform innovation would remedy the "tragedy of the commons"; the economic nemesis to achieving landscape sustainability. In a nutshell, to sustain our agricultural landscapes a transdisciplinary approach supported by a shared governance model housed within a multi-sided platform in needed. This book introduces an assessment framework identifying governance actors, styles and ratios for socio-ecological systems. The assessment uses a new governance compass to identify the types of actors completing which tasks and identifies the styles of governance used to complete the tasks. It is aimed to anyone involved in sustainability science, agricultural policy planning, or integrated landscape design.
This timely book provides an accessible insight into how the concept of sustainable development can be made operational through its translation into legal terms. Understood as a multidimensional legal principle, sustainable development facilitates coherent international law making. Using this notion as an analytical lens on the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the book considers the unresolved question of what a sustainable and coherent agricultural trade agreement could look like.