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Environmental Governance

James Evans author Craig Thomas author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:22nd Dec '23

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Environmental Governance cover

Climate change is prompting an unprecedented questioning of the fundamental bases upon which society is founded. Businesses claim that technology can save the environment, while politicians champion the role of international environmental agreements to secure global action. Economists suggest that we should pay developing countries not to destroy their forests, while environmentalists question whether we can solve ecological problems with the same thinking that created them. As the process of steering society, governance has a critical role to play in coordinating these disparate voices and securing collective action to achieve a more sustainable future.

Environmental Governance is the only book to discuss the first principles of governance, while also providing a critical overview of the wide-ranging theories and approaches that underpin policy and practice today. It places governance within its wider political context to explore how the environment is controlled, manipulated, regulated and contested by a range of actors and institutions. This book shows how network and market governance have shaped current approaches to environmental issues, while also introducing approaches such as transition management and adaptive governance. In so doing, it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches currently in play, and considers their political implications.

This second edition has been comprehensively updated to build upon the success of the acclaimed first edition, with a new chapter on the environmental governance of outer space and updated analysis of international climate change summits. It provides a ground-breaking overview of dominant and emerging approaches of environmental governance, forging critical links between them. Each chapter has been updated with new case studies, key debates and figures, and includes questions for discussion and further reading. It is essential reading for students of the environment, politics and sociology, and, indeed, anyone concerned with changing society to secure a more sustainable future.

"Environmental Governance offers an original and important contribution to understanding the current situation of the environment, highlighting that neither technology, nor scientific discovery are sufficient to address contemporary issues. Rather the book offers insights into how humans manage environmental questions today: governance. It explains the growth of governance strategies and arrangements over time and the shift away from largely governmental approaches. The book is a valuable teaching resource, demystifying what seem irrational and obscure processes that often appear insuperable."

Professor Stephanie Pincetl, Director California Center for Sustainable Communities,UCLA, USA.

"This text is the perfect guide to the key issues, theories and debates in environmental governance. Comprehensive in scope, sophisticated in analysis and accessible in delivery, it offers a trusted roadmap through which to navigate the ever-growing thicket of this exciting and important field. If a user-friendly manual was indispensable when the book was first published, this expertly updated second edition has become even more necessary given the significant developments of the last decade."

Dr Mark Usher,Senior lecturer in Environmental Geography and Director MSc Environmental Governance, University of Manchester, UK.


'Environmental Governance offers an original and important contribution to understanding the current situation of the environment, highlighting that neither technology, nor scientific discovery are sufficient to address contemporary issues. Rather the book offers insights into how humans manage environmental questions today: governance. It explains the growth of governance strategies and arrangements over time and the shift away from largely governmental approaches. The book is a valuable teaching resource, demystifying what seem irrational and obscure processes that often appear insuperable.'

Professor Stephanie Pincetl, Director, California Center for Sustainable Communities,UCLA, USA

'This text is the perfect guide to the key issues, theories and debates in environmental governance. Comprehensive in scope, sophisticated in analysis and accessible in delivery, it offers a trusted roadmap through which to navigate the ever-growing thicket of this exciting and important field. If a user-friendly manual was indispensable when the book was first published, this expertly updated second edition has become even more necessary given the significant developments of the last decade.'

Dr Mark Usher,Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography and Director, MSc Environmental Governance, University of Manchester, UK

ISBN: 9781032369679

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 570g

286 pages

2nd edition