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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Working Paper

Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century

IDS Discussion Paper 296

The purpose of this paper is to provoke discussion by exploring and elaborating the concept of sustainable livelihoods. It is based normatively on the ideas of capability, equity, and sustainability, each of which is both end and means.

Gordon Conway

1 October 1992

Journal Article

Flexible Specialization: A New View on Small Industry?

23

This IDS Bulletin is a product of the working group 'Industrialisation Strategies' of the European Association of Development Institutes (EADI). At the general EADI conference in Oslo, June 1990, members of the working group expressed interest in exploring the relevance of flexible...

Jesper Rasmussen
Meine Pieter van Dijk

1 July 1992

Journal Article

Counterpart Funds and Development

IDS Bulletin Vol. 23 Nos. 2

Counterpart funds play an important, growing and often controversial role in developing countries. The IDS Bulletin reviews the issues and connects counterpart funds to wider themes in development: poverty targeting, aid conditionality, the management of the budgetary process — and many...

1 May 1992

Book

Poll Tax Rebellion

The gripping inside story of the biggest mass movement in British history, which at its peak involved over 17 million people. Using a combination of photos, text and graphics, and drawing on the voices of activists and non-payers it describes the everyday organisation of local anti-poll tax...

31 March 1992

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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