Sustainability and Social Justice
Document Type
Article
Abstract
National governments, International Financial Institutions, and the G-20 have intensified investments of infrastructure to boost economic growth in the wake of economic recessions and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This infrastructure enables investments in large-scale agriculture, ranching, mining, and oil and gas extraction which tend to intensify the current inequalities. These activities is slated to occur in tropical forests and on lands historically occupied by Indigenous, Afro-Descendant, Traditional and other rural peoples. This has unprecedented negative impact on the ecosystem, the biodiversity as well as on the peoples.
This article calls for a 'three-leg' agenda to align infrastructure, development, and sustainability. The first one deals for the stakeholders and society at large to rethink our understanding of the relationships between infrastructure and development. The second one involves with infrastructure planning and decision-making which must be based on territorially-based planning that includes all voices that are affected by these changes. Lastly, approaches to infrastructure planning must greatly expand the scope for public debate and oversight of what infrastructure is needed.
Publication Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publication Date
9-8-2020
Volume
117
Issue
36
First Page
21829
Last Page
21833
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2015636117
Keywords
infrastructure, Brazil, Peru, Latin America, development, forests, tropical forests, biodiversity
Repository Citation
Bebbington, Anthony; Chicchon, Avecita; Cuba, Nicholas; Greenspan, Emily; Hecht, Susanna; Bebbington, Denise Humphreys; Kandel, Susan; Osborne, Tracey; Ray, Rebecca; Rogan, John; and Sauls, Laura, "Priorities for Governing Large-scale Infrastructure in the Tropics" (2020). Sustainability and Social Justice. 23.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/23