Based largely on research that contributed to the UNRISD inquiry into the social dimensions of green economy, this paper has attempted to show why such dimensions need to be factored
12 Suggestions for SDGs from CSOs included goals and indicators for: combating poverty, changing consumption patterns, public
participation, sustainable livelihoods, access to redress and remedy, environmental justice, access to information, and subsidies and investment (see UN-DESA 2012).
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into debates and policy dialogues to ensure that transition paths are both green and fair. The social dimensions highlighted above include: knowledge, belief systems and values of different groups; social structures, institutions and relations; and the distributional consequences of change processes of policies for different social or interest groups. Incorporating these issues into our analyses tells us much about human behaviour and the capacity to adapt and respond to change; possible sources of resistance to transition; as well as who might win or lose, and what to do about it, in change processes. Viewing green economy from a social development perspective points to a range of issues and questions that are often neglected by researchers, activists and policy makers, which, in turn, can lead to major imbalances in the orientation of green economy policies. Our analysis of social policy and participation in the context of green economy highlights two arenas of public and civil intervention that are crucial for achieving economic, social, environmental and emancipatory objectives associated with sustainable and rights-based development.
Building a knowledge base that overcomes problems of disciplinary bias and fragmentation is crucial for recognizing the centrality of social dimensions of green economy and sustainable development. The approach developed in the paper suggests that numerous social science disciplines and subdisciplines have much to contribute to debates and dialogues on green economy transition. As noted in part 1, however, analysis of global environmental change tends to be dominated by a small number of academic fields. As the International Social Science Council (ISSC) has emphasized, not only do multiple disciplines have much to contribute, but knowledge needs to cohere.13 Incorporating multiple disciplines and knowledge will require
“defragmenting research efforts”, and promoting interdisciplinarity (with inputs from and collaboration among diverse scholarly fields) and transdisciplinarity, (collaboration across the natural and social sciences and between researchers and other societal actors) (Hackman and St.
Claire 2012:8–9).
Problems of bias, blind spots and fragmentation characterize not only knowledge but also policy and action. Policy choices for a green and fair economy need to be informed by more diverse forms of knowledge and recognize also the multiplicity of social institutions (such as norms, regulation, rights, trust and cooperation) and social relations (such as class, gender and ethnicity) that underpin people’s capacities to adapt to change. Furthermore, evaluation of the impacts of technological, economic and ecological change on different social and economic groups is essential to inform policy choices.
We have seen that where social issues are addressed, the focus is often, first, on issues of protection and compensation of those negatively affected by certain processes of change, and second, on attaining co-benefits (for example, green jobs or community forestry) associated with the different economic, social, environmental spheres of sustainable development. A third set of policy interventions and governance arrangements related to social reproduction, redistribution, rights and effective participation, which is key for structural transformation compatible with sustainable development, tends to receive less attention.
Social policies can move beyond the current narrow focus; they can assist in tackling structural causes of vulnerability to environmental change; in changing behaviours, whether related to management and use of natural resources or towards green consumption; and in ensuring the distributional outcomes of any transition process are just. Green goals can, and indeed must, increasingly be incorporated into existing social policy priorities and instruments. To do this effectively, social and eco-social policies can, for example, address the distributional consequences of energy prices and green taxes on different income groups; mitigate the social costs of industrial restructuring, through the creation of green jobs and related training programmes; set standards of decent work associated with green jobs; and protect and promote the livelihoods and rights of rural populations and communities in the context of market-based
13 In 2011 and 2012, the ISSC undertook an extensive enquiry into how to raise the profile of social science research in knowledge and policy on climate change and global environmental change (ISSC 2012).
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conservation mechanisms (PES, REDD+), green growth policies (export-led agriculture, large-scale water infrastructure development), green technologies (biofuels, renewable energy) and other green economy schemes.
The analysis in this paper suggests that the scope for meaningful change is much greater when policy, institutions, participation and innovation come together in ways that are complementary and synergistic. Several such complementarities have been noted: cooperation and technological innovation in rural India (Agarwal 2010); decentralization, incentives and active citizenship in UK transition towns (Merritt and Stubbs 2012); cooperative organization, government training and fair pricing in Malaysia (Herzi and Ghazali 2012); and public-private partnerships and collective or community organizing in Brazil (Bastos Lima 2012; Rival 2012a).
The joining-up of policy tools with participatory processes and coalitions of multiple actors often emerges as a determinant of initiatives that are conducive to fair and sustainable development.
Collaborative governance can facilitate resource mobilization, the pooling of competencies, and ensuring complementarities and synergies that otherwise would not exist. And we have seen how governance arrangements can facilitate collaboration not only of multiple actors (state, market, civil society and community) but also at multiple scales (international, regional, national, subnational and local). Ongoing contestation within governance is also important to ensure that voice translates into influence, and that consultative processes serve to democratize—rather than simply legitimize—policy making. This points to the importance of the empowerment and organization of traditionally disadvantaged social actors.
A green society depends crucially on the capacity of such groups to organize collectively, engage in advocacy and bargaining, and be part of broader coalitions for change. We have also seen that activism and advocacy at different scales need to connect with local struggles both in terms of the analysis of problems and solutions and mobilization strategy. The scope for such connectivity currently appears to be increasing in contexts where (i) regional and global forums, such as the World Social Forum, exist, (ii) a culture of networking is taking root, (iii) technological opportunities associated with the Internet and social media facilitate communication, and (iv) situations of crisis energize the quest for alternative models of development. In this regard, developments at the People’s Summit in Rio+20 appear significant.
The process of intra-civil society dialogue, networking and coalition-building, which has been a feature of the World Social Forums, was taken a step forward. The findings of several thematic discussion groups cohered in a platform for change that attempted to provide a blueprint for
“Another Future is Possible” (Thematic Social Forum 2012). This marked the latest phase in a process of social movements activism that has attempted to go beyond criticizing by proposing alternatives.
Ultimately, public policies need to be rooted in a strong social contract between a state and its citizens, creating solidarity and a consensus for change across social and economic groups.
Addressing global environmental challenges in a globalized world will require a new environmental-social contract that extends from local and national levels to the global arena; it will need to be associated with stronger mechanisms of global social and environmental governance over the management and provision of global public goods (WBGU 2011). Such a contract will need to be grounded in rights of citizenship or entitlements linked to employment or residence; as well as in principles of universalism, solidarity and intergenerational equity.
This in turn calls for a focus not just on policies and outcomes, but on the institutional arrangements and processes for achieving them. Key in this regard is a focus on the agency, empowerment and accountability of social actors—states, business, civil society, communities and individuals—in bringing about the structural and institutional changes necessary for a transformation to sustainable development.
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