Sociologists in the Service of Sustainable Development?: NGOs and Environment-Society Studies in the Developing World
2002
Rudel, Thomas K.
In the course of implementing plans for sustainable development, sociologists in developing countries use ideas from natural resource sociology rather than from environmental sociology. They draw upon these ideas as employees of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who manage integrated conservation and development programs (ICDPs). Beginning in the 1980s, donors provided funds for ICDPs, so scientists created NGOs to carry out the projects and hired colleagues to do the work. Because ICDPs aim to help poor people acquire, manage, and conserve natural resources, their design and implementation require that NGO staff engage with the core issues in natural resource sociology. Donors have not supported projects in areas like environment justice that draw upon the expertise of environmental sociologists, so NGOs that practice environmental sociology have not emerged. Urbanization and increased local-level mobilization around pollution issues may increase the opportunities for doing environmental sociology in the developing world in the near future.
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