Managing resources sustainably on the local level is essential for achieving the global goal of sustainable development. The importance of people's participation for sustainable development has recently become increasingly acknowledged yet there is little understanding of the multiple dimensions that such participation involves. Grassroots Environmental Action questions the viability of traditional management systems. Case studies from Latin America, Asia and Africa focus on areas where local people are vigorous actors in the determination of their own future and that of their environment.

`The studies offer stimulating reading for researchers and development planners.' - Ileia Newsletter

`This is a stimulating book containing much information of great value.' - International Journal of Environmental Studies

` ... The book is well organised and contains much interesting information through its well documented case studies and ample bibliographical accompaniment. It is an important collection not only for development specialists, but for anyone interested in the fate of environmental movements.' - Environmental Politics

Is sustainable development the answer to environmental decline and development failure? In 1987, the Brundtland Commission concluded that sustainable development would integrate environmental concerns into mainstream policies, shifting focus from weak and peripheral environmental management to the socio-economic policy sources of environmental impacts. The 1992 Earth Summit confirmed this approach, endorsing integrated environmental and economic accounting by policy makers. Green accounting is now being implemented to formulate national policies for sustainable development. Environment, Growth and Development offers an analysis of sustainable economic growth and development based on operational variables derived from the new systems of green accounting. A complete revision and expansion of the first edition, this book offers a new focus on macroeconomic aspects through its analysis of green accounting methods, comparing the goods of economic production and consumption with the bads of losses of natural resources and environmental quality. Beyond economics, ways of evaluating social, cultural, aesthetic or ethical issues are also proposed.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an informa company.