Sustainable Development : Issues and Perspectives

Contents: Foreword by Werner F. Schulz. Introduction. I. Local health tradition and sustainable development: 1. Medicinal plants of India: integrating livelihood options and conservation concerns/Chandra Prakash Kala and Bikram Singh Sajwan. 2. Transmission of traditional medicinal plant knowledge : local healers of Maharashtra, India/Shailesh Shukla. 3. Traditional medicine : a bridge to better health in Ghana/Mohammed Nadhir Ibn Muntaka and Grace Hampton. 4. Integrating the concept of sustainability into public health practice : a partnership, a process, and a practical tool/G.K. Verrinder. 5. Sui generis legislation and valuing biological resources : ethno-healing practices among tribes of Chhattisgarh/R.N. Pati. II. Environmental governance and sustainable development: 6. Vertical dimension of social integration: grass-roots activities for managing sustainability/Wolfgang Meyer. 7. Solid waste recycling in Malaysia : study of the households in the states of Terengganu and Perak/Abdelnaser Omran, Abdullah Mahmood and Hamidi Abdul Aziz. 8. Knowledge communication : the essence of sustainable governance/Kendal Hodgman. 9. Linking sustainable development to environmental governance: issues of forest villages in Chhattisgarh, India/R.N. Pati. 10. Added value in the process industry through integrated environmental engineering/Markus Thuer. 11. Types of relationships between firms communities and government : and their obstacles/Jose G. Vargas-Hernondez. 12. Co-operation and conflict between firms and communities : the Cerro de San Pedro case/Jose G. Vargas-Hernondez. 13. Educational systems under reform : a comparative perspective/Adela Coman. III. Poverty alleviation and sustainable development: 14. Treadle pumps : improvements and their contribution towards poverty alleviation/C. Pereira, J. Malca and F. Antunes. 15. Managing complexities in sustainable development/Wolfgang Amann and Shiban Khan. 16. Viable alternatives for sustainability : economic reforms in forest villages of Chhattisgarh/R.N. Pati. 17. Sustainable development : concept, scope and ecological perspectives/Prafulla Kumar Kara. IV. Sustainable agriculture: 18. Globalization of the Potato : an ancient Andean Indigenous Crop/Elayne Zorn and Leslie Sue Lieberman. 19. Incorporating indigenous knowledge -- challenges and opportunities : perspectives from Maya-Kacquikel Guatemala/Benjamin Levy. 20. Life culture and care of Polynesians : serving food is a big ritual/Salei\'a Afele-Fa\' Amuli. 21. Indigenous knowledge practices in sustainable agricultural production in the villages of Benue State, Nigeria/G.A. Abu, E.P. Ejembi and O.G. Okpachu. V. Indigenous rights and sustainable development: 22. Recognition of indigenous rights in contemporary Mexico : a historical-social approach/Jose G. Vargas-Hernondez. 23. Sustainable development : looking through the eyes of indigenous communities/Odile Schwarz-Herion. 24. Sustainable development in Mexico : How the indigenous communities view it/Dra. Maria De Lourdes Corcamo Solis. 25. Global sustainable development and significance of indigenous locality/Mert Bilgin. 26. On the threshold of change in rural belize : indigenous knowledge of rural women/Francis Higdon, Lori Zimmaro and Ashley Frost. 27. Sustainable development in Serbia/Slobodan Milutinovic. Index.

"Sustainable development is a major thrust area adopted for all development interventions initiated by different National Governments of the world as a follow up initiatives to resolutions of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The first global knowledge Conference at Toronto (1997) encouraged world leaders, policy makers, scientists and civil society representatives of developing countries to focus more on community based knowledge systems and development practices and incorporate them in ongoing development initiatives for achievement of sustainable development. It is realized that the synergy between local knowledge and development efforts would ensure the achievement of MDGs. The forces of globalisation have affected the indigenous communities and their empowerment process in different parts of the globe. In 1998, World Bank for the first time launched the indigenous knowledge for development programme to explore local knowledge systems and development practices and integrate the best practices into the framework of sustainable development. Linking indigenous knowledge with sustainable development has been experimented across different regions of the globe.

This book is an outcome of explorative research conducted on the issues of sustainable development by scientists of various research institutes and universities of India, Malaysia, Portugal, Switzerland, U.S.A. and Romania. It is recognized that the economic benefits and incentives associated with indigenous practices would ensure preservation of local knowledge and achievement of sustainable development." (jacket)