Environment, Development, Agriculture

This reissue, first published in 1995, focuses on philosophy and social science in human ecology, and includes case studies dealing with the problems of political implementation of development plans and schemes. Part One deals with theory, including a comprehensive introduction to the field and an overview of the conceptual modelling typical in human ecology. Part Two moves towards questions of human behaviour and action, exploring the relationship between environmental ethics and policy in terms of the justification and implementation of human interactions with nature and the environment on an ecologically sustainable basis. In Part Three, the author focuses on environmental policy in China since 1949 and on a regional case study in India. The final part of the book discusses the prospects for sustainable development more broadly, in terms of favouring ecological and cultural variety in agriculture and of viewing the relationship between human beings and the natural environment as a matter of overexploitation rather than crisis.

Bernhard Glaeser is the President of the German Society for Human Ecology (DGH), LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) Corresponding Member (previously Scientific Steering Committee) and member of the IMBER (Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research) Human Dimensions Working Group (IMBER HD). He joined the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) in 1976, became Professor of Human Ecology in 1995 at Goteborg University (Sweden) and Professor of Sociology in 2001 at the Berlin Free University, Department of Political and Social Sciences. Glaeser holds degrees in economics, philosophy and sociology. He has done environmental and sustainability research in Germany, Sweden, Tanzania, China, India and Indonesia and is affiliated with various international editorial and advisory boards.