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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 2029–2040 of 15426 results

News

Gender inequalities deepen in multiple countries due to impacts of Covid-19

New research reveals how Covid-19 has deepened gender inequalities and gender poverty in countries including India, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, Benin and Burkina Faso. Three studies commissioned by the Covid-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) initiative found that women working in the informal...

17 March 2022

Opinion

New Handbook: Youth active citizenship for decent jobs

Today, IDS and three of our partners in Zimbabwe launch a Handbook that will help to integrate youth active citizenship strategies in employment interventions. It is not just the magnitude of youth unemployment that is a global challenge, but the creation of enough decent, good-quality jobs for...

17 March 2022

Past Event

Inclusive trade

Trade and poverty: What do we know?

'Trade and poverty’ has absorbed huge amounts of research over the last two decades but it has failed to provide a definitive general answer to the question ‘does increased trade reduce poverty?' Watch now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7AwgTCYf6g This seminar provided an overview...

17 March 2022

Journal Article

Galvanising and Fostering Sub-National Government Leadership for Area-Wide Sanitation Programming

H2Open Journal 5 (1)

Government leadership at both the national and sub-national levels is an essential step towards ensuring safely managed sanitation services for all. Though the importance of sub-national government leadership for water, sanitation and hygiene is widely acknowledged, to date much of the focus...

Mable Chanzu & 10 others

16 March 2022

Publication

World Water Day 2022 – Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible

The theme for World Water Day 2022 is ‘Groundwater – Making the Invisible Visible’. Groundwater is water found underground in aquifers – geological formations of rocks, sands and gravels, that hold substantial quantities of water. Groundwater feeds springs, rivers, lakes and wetlands,...

16 March 2022

Past Event

Ukraine – global development and economic implications?

The world has been reeling in shock at the devastation being caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Beyond the grave and urgent humanitarian needs for the people of Ukraine, and the millions now displaced, the impacts of the war will potentially be wide reaching and have long-term...

16 March 2022

Working Paper

Donor Action for Empowerment and Accountability in Nigeria

IDS Working Paper 565

Multiple development actors are interested in stimulating more inclusive fiscal governance. Efforts to generate greater budget transparency, citizen participation in resource allocation, and public oversight of government spending are commonplace. How can development donors and lenders support...

16 March 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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