Sustainable Development and Geographical Space: Issues of Population, Environment, Globalization and Education in Marginal Regions (In Association With Igu - Dynamics of Marginal and Critical Regions)

The issue of sustainable development is perhaps of more significance to marginalized regions and their communities throughout the world than their more central counterparts. While the world-wide political, sociological and economic processes resltling in globalization and deregulation have increased the marginalization of peripheral areas, the other major global trend, a general degradation of the ecosystem, also affects marginal populations more as their work is more likely to involve the use of natural resources. The fact that these communities suffer more from environmental, economic and social problems also tends to prevent them adopting a sustainable use of these local resources. Using a series of international case studies from both developed and developing countries, this volume explores issues of sustainable development in marginalized regions of the world. In particular, it discusses population development and sustainability, and environment and sustainability from the point of view of regional development, the issue of globalization and sustainability and the role of education in encouraging a sustainable path of development. The contributors focus on the "human" aspects of development, as well as evaluating the usefulness of the concept of "sustainability" in geographical and economic research and provide an insightful overview of the issues that touch sustainability in marginal and critical regions.