Sustainability

Our interdisciplinary research explores how pathways to sustainability, green transformations and equitable access to resources such as land, water and food can be achieved and help us meet the environmental as well as human development-related goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

Our work builds on a long tradition of critical social science engagement with environmental issues and resource politics in collaboration with partners globally. It explores how pathways to sustainability are shaped by political-economic and social processes, and understands how they are driven by technology, markets, states and citizens.  Our research sheds new light on how we can achieve green transformations that move us from fossil fuel to renewable energy, from throw-away to circular economies. It addresses the politics of sustainability, and understands how transformations occur at local levels as well as global, in both rural and urban settings, and be led by citizens as well as national governments. In doing so, it shines a light on how sustainable resource use, consumption and production is shaped by issues such as gender, livelihoods and politics.

People

Melissa Leach

Emeritus Fellow

Lyla Mehta

Professorial Fellow

Ian Scoones

Professorial Fellow

Amber Huff

Research Fellow

Jeremy Allouche

Professorial Fellow

Lars Otto Naess

Research Fellow

Wei Shen

Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster Lead and Research Fellow

Shilpi Srivastava

Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster Lead and Research Fellow

Programmes and centres

Recent work

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Showing 1453–1464 of 15343 results

Working Paper

The Enigma of the Central–Local Government Relationship and its Impact on Property Tax Administration in Developing Countries: The Ghanaian Perspective

ICTD Working Paper;151

Property tax administration is the bedrock for effective revenue mobilisation, development, and good local governance for local governments. Yet administering property taxation continues to be a major problem, especially for many developing countries. Scholarly explanations for this poor state...

Frank L.K. Ohemeng

Fariya Mohiuddin

22 November 2022

Opinion

Religion and agriculture: reflections from Zimbabwe

A recurrent theme in our research across Zimbabwe is the role of organised Christian religion in agriculture and rural livelihoods. The connection is not usually made. However, religious beliefs, practices and institutions have important influences, and these have changed over time. In the last...

21 November 2022

Opinion

Climate and Livestock: COP27 round-up

At COP27 world leaders have failed to address the climate and livestock debate thus failing to diffuse the misleading and dangerous narratives villainising livestock for climate change. Instead, livestock and livestock keepers are key to ensuring food, income and social security in the Global...

21 November 2022

News

IDS academic recognised in global list of highly cited researchers

For the third consecutive year, Ian Scoones, Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, has been included in the annual Highly Cited Researchers List that recognises the global influence of academics within their field. Ian Scoones is principal investigator of the ERC Advanced...

21 November 2022

Opinion

Listening to children: 2022’s inquiry into exploitative child labour

In this blog Stephen Collins, Consortium for Street Children’s Senior Legal and Advocacy Officer describes the contribution of the IDS-led ‘Child Labour: Action Innovation Research in South and Southern Asia’ programme (CLARISSA) to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children, and...

21 November 2022

Opinion

Sportswashing and the Gulf: investments into British football

On October 7, 2021, thousands of Newcastle United football fans gathered at the entrance of St. James’ Park. Across a sea of black and white Newcastle shirts, several supporters waved green flags bearing the Islamic testimony of faith: “there is no God but God. Muhammad is his prophet.” A...

Ali Reda

18 November 2022

Opinion

Climate and Livestock: COP27 round-up

At COP27 world leaders have failed to address the climate and livestock debate thus failing to diffuse the misleading and dangerous narratives villainising livestock for climate change. Instead, livestock and livestock keepers are key to ensuring food, income and social security in the Global...

17 November 2022

Opinion

Making the invisible visible in the sanitation chain

There has been great success in building toilets across the Global South. But the workforce and invisible infrastructures required to deliver safe sanitation for all receives much less attention, and sanitation workers still suffer severe discrimination.

17 November 2022

Why learn with us.

In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).

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