IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i6p2600-d1361561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unveiling Understandings of the Rio Declaration’s Sustainability Principles: A Case of Alternative Concepts, Misaligned (Dis)Connections, and Terminological Evolution

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Axon

    (Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, UK)

Abstract

The myriad and contested meanings of ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ lead many to refer to both concepts as meaningless, oxymoronic, and paradoxical. Yet breaking down such terms to their key principles allows for introducing core concepts, constituent meanings, and associated practices that should enable greater understanding. Despite this, understandings of the interconnected nature of sustainability and sustainable development lack a holistic perspective among students. Exploring this area further, this paper presents findings from a 6-year longitudinal survey at Southern Connecticut State University which asked sustainability studies students ( n = 150) for their perspectives on the Rio Declaration’s principles of sustainability. Findings from this study elucidate the many disconnections students form predicated on limited real-world global awareness of sustainability projects alongside breaking down broad concepts to those accommodated by contemporary socio-environmental discourse. Conversely, sustainability students consider alternative concepts such as responsibility, cooperation, accountability, intersectionality, and new economic pathways to be of value and necessity as opposed to the sustainability principles encompassed in the Rio Declaration. Summarising the alternative concepts that are preferable to sustainability students, and exploring the principles and implications of related disconnections and terminological evolution, this article argues for increasing engagement from sustainability academics to explore this departure from some of the discipline’s core foundations.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Axon, 2024. "Unveiling Understandings of the Rio Declaration’s Sustainability Principles: A Case of Alternative Concepts, Misaligned (Dis)Connections, and Terminological Evolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:6:p:2600-:d:1361561
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/6/2600/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/6/2600/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katrina Brown & Esteve Corbera, 2003. "Exploring equity and sustainable development in the new carbon economy," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(sup1), pages 41-56, November.
    2. Tilton, John E., 2016. "Global climate policy and the polluter pays principle: A different perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 117-118.
    3. Greg Muttitt & Sivan Kartha, 2020. "Equity, climate justice and fossil fuel extraction: principles for a managed phase out," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(8), pages 1024-1042, September.
    4. David Schlosberg & Lisette B. Collins, 2014. "From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(3), pages 359-374, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luna, Marcos & Nicholas, Dominic, 2022. "An environmental justice analysis of distribution-level natural gas leaks in Massachusetts, USA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    2. Alaina Kinol & Elijah Miller & Hannah Axtell & Ilana Hirschfeld & Sophie Leggett & Yutong Si & Jennie C. Stephens, 2023. "Climate justice in higher education: a proposed paradigm shift towards a transformative role for colleges and universities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 1-29, February.
    3. Tice, Julianne & Batterbury, Simon PJ, 2023. "Who Accesses Solar PV? Energy Justice and Climate Justice in a Local Government Rooftop Solar Programme," Ecology, Economy and Society - the INSEE Journal, Indian Society of Ecological Economics (INSEE), vol. 6(02), July.
    4. Tracey Osborne & Sylvia Cifuentes & Laura Dev & Seánna Howard & Elisa Marchi & Lauren Withey & Marcelo Santos Rocha da Silva, 2024. "Climate justice, forests, and Indigenous Peoples: toward an alternative to REDD + for the Amazon," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(8), pages 1-28, August.
    5. McGrath, F.L. & Carrasco, L.R. & Leimona, B., 2017. "How auctions to allocate payments for ecosystem services contracts impact social equity," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 44-55.
    6. Yanguas Parra, Paola & Hauenstein, Christian & Oei, Pao-Yu, 2021. "The death valley of coal – Modelling COVID-19 recovery scenarios for steam coal markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    7. Kosoy, Nicolás & Corbera, Esteve, 2010. "Payments for ecosystem services as commodity fetishism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1228-1236, April.
    8. Ploy Achakulwisut & Peter Erickson & Céline Guivarch & Roberto Schaeffer & Elina Brutschin & Steve Pye, 2023. "Global fossil fuel reduction pathways under different climate mitigation strategies and ambitions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Kılkış, Şiir & Ulpiani, Giulia & Vetters, Nadja, 2024. "Visions for climate neutrality and opportunities for co-learning in European cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    10. Catherine Potvin & Petra Tschakert & Frédéric Lebel & Kate Kirby & Hector Barrios & Judith Bocariza & Jaime Caisamo & Leonel Caisamo & Charianito Cansari & Juan Casamá & Maribel Casamá & Laura Chamorr, 2007. "A participatory approach to the establishment of a baseline scenario for a reforestation Clean Development Mechanism project," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(8), pages 1341-1362, October.
    11. Howard, Rebecca Joy & Tallontire, Anne & Stringer, Lindsay & Marchant, Rob, 2015. "Unraveling the Notion of “Fair Carbon”: Key Challenges for Standards Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 343-356.
    12. Matias, Denise Margaret S. & Tambo, Justice A. & Stellmacher, Till & Borgemeister, Christian & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2018. "Commercializing traditional non-timber forest products: An integrated value chain analysis of honey from giant honey bees in Palawan, Philippines," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 223-231.
    13. Morgan, Edward A. & Buckwell, Andrew & Guidi, Caterina & Garcia, Beatriz & Rimmer, Lawrence & Cadman, Tim & Mackey, Brendan, 2022. "Capturing multiple forest ecosystem services for just benefit sharing: The Basket of Benefits Approach," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    14. Adam G. Bumpus & Diana M. Liverman, 2008. "Accumulation by Decarbonization and the Governance of Carbon Offsets," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 84(2), pages 127-155, April.
    15. Lorenzo Pellegrini & Murat Arsel & Gorka Muñoa & Guillem Rius-Taberner & Carlos Mena & Martí Orta-Martínez, 2024. "The atlas of unburnable oil for supply-side climate policies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Leopold, Franziska & Blum, Bianca & Walter, Larissa, 2023. "Tax-financed Basic Income – Comparison between three financing schemes and their normative implications," FRIBIS Policy Debate April 11, 2023, University of Freiburg, Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS).
    17. Kathleen McAfee, 2012. "The Contradictory Logic of Global Ecosystem Services Markets," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 105-131, January.
    18. Xie, Huiming & Shen, Manhong & Wang, Rui, 2014. "Determinants of clean development mechanism activity: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 797-806.
    19. Jurjonas, Matthew & Seekamp, Erin & Rivers, Louie & Cutts, Bethany, 2020. "Uncovering climate (in)justice with an adaptive capacity assessment: A multiple case study in rural coastal North Carolina," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    20. Dylan Gibson & Leslie A. Duram, 2020. "Shifting Discourse on Climate and Sustainability: Key Characteristics of the Higher Education Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:6:p:2600-:d:1361561. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.