Local Sustainable Development: How Can Equity Issues be Examined at the Local Level ?

Abstract

Both equity and action at the local level are seen as critical to most definitions of sustainable development. This is perhaps best captured in the phrase ‘community based sustainable development’. But the term community is often used to imply action at the local level, without either community or local being clearly defined. Furthermore the term community is often used as if communities were homogenous in economic and political terms, suggesting that the only equity problems to be resolved will be differences between communities. This neglects consideration of how significant equity, specifically the existence of economic and political inequality within communities, will be to the ways in which the challenges of sustainable development are addressed at the local level.

The authors would like to thank Neil Adger for his helpful comments during the preparation of the paper.