Premium
Unequal sustainabilities: The role of social inequalities in conservation and development projects
Author(s) -
Peterson Nicole D.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
economic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2330-4847
DOI - 10.1002/sea2.12030
Subject(s) - sustainability , vision , social sustainability , inequality , context (archaeology) , politics , sustainable development , citizen journalism , participatory development , social inequality , economic growth , socioeconomic status , political science , sociology , economics , geography , ecology , population , mathematical analysis , law , demography , mathematics , archaeology , anthropology , biology
In this article, I examine the efforts of a national marine protected area in Loreto, Mexico, to create sustainable development through regulations and economic development programs. I argue that these kinds of efforts can ignore social aspects of sustainability, particularly the ways that existing economic, political, and social inequalities interact with sustainability efforts through flawed participatory processes, misunderstandings of community values, and the lack of attention to the impact of a larger socioeconomic context. Instead, we should focus on how inequalities are reproduced, altered, challenged, and constructed by the policies and practices of sustainability. I propose that greater commitment to an integrated social, environmental, and economic sustainability can provide the space needed for alternative visions and values as well as real progress toward sustainability .