Publishers: SDPI
and Sang-e-Meel
Pages: 306
Price: PKR 1200

Peace
and Sustainable Development in South Asia: The Way Forward,
jointly published by SDPI and Sang-e-Meel, was launched at the inaugural of the
Fourteenth Sustainable Development Conference in December 2011. The anthology
consists of 12 peer-reviewed and edited papers that were presented at SDPI’s
Thirteenth Sustainable Development Conference in December 2010.

The world has seen deep-rooted and relentless
socio-economic or ecological changes over the last five decades. However, the global
North and South are still a long way from achieving the objectives of just and
equitable sustainable development. This anthology presents thematic research
cases from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan which propose that since local
communities often bear the greatest brunt of adverse financial and
environmental changes, it is through them and their local institutions that
mechanisms to deal with and integrate their concerns into policy making should
come about.

Human beings have
fundamentally altered the world’s ecosystems and the continuous
escalation of greenhouse gas emissions is ever more likely to cause irrevocable
and cataclysmic effects. Shafqat Kakakhel reviews the financing of climate
change-related actions at COP16 and points out that developing countries
acquiesced in the flawed framework contained in the Cancun Agreements, while
Javeriya Hasan explores energy conservation by encouraging energy efficient ‘green’
buildings in Pakistan’s domestic sector.

Aneel Salman
advocates for a shift in state-centric approaches towards mainstreaming,
strengthening and empowering local institutions and communities to build
resilience in combating Pakistan’s environmental and climate change challenges,
while Prakash Tiwari proposes that in order to help backward communities in
attaining economic growth and food security in the Himalayas, critical natural
resources should be institutionalised at the grass-root level. Looking at
agricultural land acquisition by foreign investors in Pakistan, Antonia Settle
concludes that in order for meaningful development to be achieved, significant
political participation must be fostered, which can only arise through
substantial equality between citizens (to which land reform is mandatory) and
access for all to quality education.

Faisal H. Shaheen
suggests that more resources should be allocated in urban Pakistan to mobilising
individuals and communities for initiatives such as rain water harvesting and
storm water management. Badiul Alam Majumdar and John Coonrod share details of
a unique social mobilisation programme about hygiene, sanitation and water supply
in Bangladesh when traditional top-down, service delivery approaches fail.

The state of the
environment and markets also depends on the peace and security situation within
(and outside) a country’s borders. Bishnu Raj Upreti concludes
that ethnic federalism
is not suitable for Nepal’s multiethnic society where none of the groups are in
majority, while Anita Ghimre believes that it is important to acknowledge the
agency, heterogeneity and orientation of IDPs in South Asia so that they can be
used as agents of sustainable development in the rural villages. Ayesha Salman
shares the story of a Pakistani woman to highlight the devastation that can be
caused by religious discrimination and emphasises that religious moderation can
only come through early childhood education and awareness.

To
obtain a copy of the book, please contact Ali Amer at aliaamer@sdpi.org

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