Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment

"Local communities are now, more than ever before, experiencing environmental change. These changes draw attention to the discrepancy and conflict between their own views and the views of the initiators of development, such as governments and multilateral organizations. "Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment" addresses the idea that under changing conditions sustainable development can only be achieved when communities overcome the view conflict and are free to set their own goals. Each community goes through a process of judging an environmental change event, creating meaning about it and ultimately making a decision on how to act. Using a case study of the Trio indigenous peoples in Suriname, the 'Conflict and Sustainability in a Changing Environment' presents an 'inside' view of a community on the path towards sustainable development when facing climate change. It presents a new methodology -- VIEW -- for analyzing a community's view when progressing through the different stages of development. The book concludes that sustainable development under environmental pressure can only be achieved when looking through the eyes of the community in a respectable and truly bottom-up approach. "--