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What's social about natural resources and why do we need to theorise it?
Citation
Lockie, S and Higgins, VJ and Lawrence, G, What's social about natural resources and why do we need to theorise it?, Environment, Society and Natural Resources Management: Theoretical Perspectives from Australasia and the Americas, Edward Elgar, G Lawrence, S Lockie, and V Higgins (ed), Cheltenham, UK, pp. 1-15. ISBN 978 1 84064 449 4 (2001) [Research Book Chapter]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2001 Edward Elgar
Abstract
For decades, social scientists have struggled for recognition as valid contributors to natural resource management (NRM). Overshadowed by the seemingly obvious importance of soils, hydrology, agronomy, biology, ecology and a host of other apparently ‘natural’ dimensions of NRM, the social dimensions of NRM have all too often been ignored. So how much have things changed? Since the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 (WCED, 1987) there has been growing international recognition of the relationships between what we understand as natural and social resources, or between environments and people. The WCED argued that sustainable use of natural resources was impossible without ensuring social and economic development, equity and justice. Environmental issues were thus also social, trade and economic issues. While it would be misleading to trace widespread change to a single report or event, it is evident nevertheless that as we begin the new century NRM policy statements from governments, non-government organisations and multilateral organisations alike embrace components of a new 'language' of partnerships, capacity building, institutional support, public participation, community initiatives, environmental health, community health, social capital, international cooperation, education, and a host of concepts and ideas once foreign to the natural sciences.
Item Details
Item Type: | Research Book Chapter |
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Keywords: | natural resource management, theory |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Environmental sociology |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in human society |
UTAS Author: | Higgins, VJ (Professor Vaughan Higgins) |
ID Code: | 142529 |
Year Published: | 2001 |
Deposited By: | Office of the School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2021-01-21 |
Last Modified: | 2021-03-12 |
Downloads: | 40 View Download Statistics |
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