Antoniades, Andreas, Antonarakis, Alexander, Gilman, Jonathan and Kempf, Isabell (2022) The crises-poverty-sustainability nexus in the context of the sustainable development goals and covid-19. In: Antoniades, Andreas, Antonarakis, Alexander and Kempf, Isabell (eds.) Financial crises, poverty and environmental sustainability: challenges in the context of the SDGs and covid-19 recovery. Sustainable development goals series . Springer, Cham, pp. 1-15. ISBN 9783030874162

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Abstract

This chapter offers an introduction to the volume Financial Crises, Poverty and Environmental Sustainability: Challenges in the Context of the SDGs and Covid-19 Recovery. The first part examines the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on socio-environmental sustainability. The pandemic crisis has triggered multiple and interacting social, economic and environmental impacts. Mitigating these impacts post-pandemic will require policy actions intent on transforming our current unsustainable socio-environmental model, i.e. managing to use the Covid-19 crisis as an opportunity to build forward better. The second part of the chapter assesses the Covid-19 support packages and recovery strategies. We find that existing policy actions are falling short from the transformation that is required to bring our planet onto a sustainable socio-environmental path. For instance, we observe social exclusion and leaving behind those most in need, increase in atmospheric emissions, and loss of biodiversity. In this context, we argue for a rethink of the underlying assumptions that have determined the economy-environment interaction in our societies. We advocate the need to move away from the commercialisation of nature and a ‘net-zero’ rationale, towards a ‘do no harm’ and ‘common good’ approach. Our transition to sustainability requires nothing less than a new global eco-social contract. The third part of our chapter presents summaries of the volume’s case-studies that inform the above analysis and demonstrate how the above challenges are manifested in countries and communities across the globe.

Item Type:	Book Section
Keywords:	financial crises, pandemic crisis, Covid-19, green recovery, Socio-economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, sustainability transition, inequality, do no harm, eco-social contract
Schools and Departments:	School of Global Studies > International Relations
Research Centres and Groups:	Sussex Sustainability Research Programme
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2022 09:05
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2022 09:54
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/103743

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