ABSTRACT
To pull together the contributions made in this volume, we start with Gary Larsen’s (Chapter 3) observation that, although they generally appear in discussions of sustainability either as threats to the natural environment or as subsumed in their economic roles, “people are the very raison d’ etre of the quest for sustainability in the fi rst place.” Larsen’s aim was “to give voice to and place people in the very center of their own development as agents and as benefi ciaries.” As Kristen Magis and Craig Shinn (Chapter 2) point out, “Principle 1 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development places people directly at the center of sustainable development,” while noting that, “in the pursuit of human development, the environment must be protected and sustained.”
