Making sense of sustainability

Alan Atkisson does not belie expectations of those who have been following him ever since he first published Believing Cassandra, over a decade ago. The Sustainability Transformation is a must-read book for all those who have wanted to get a sense of what ‘sustainability’ means and how indeed can it be put into practice. Staying optimist, the author takes the reader into the world of immense possibilities.

Through case stories and personal anecdotes, Atkisson engages the reader on the essentials of making a sense of our interconnectedness with nature. The story of the dusky sparrow has transformative power – generating a desire to change things for the better. Faced with a choice between saving the dusky and reducing the bother of mosquitoes, local authorities chose the latter for setting up the space center at Central Florida, the habitat for this endemic bird.

Using his widely adopted ISIS Method – Indicators, Systems, Innovation and Strategy – Atkisson helps reader search for ‘sustainability’ within the complex jungle of such stories. Good Life Index is one such tool that helps awaken interest in sustainability and communicate its basic concepts to encourage people dig down into the details for a more systemic understanding, beyond the ordeal of the daily news.

Written in an informal and personal style, the Sustainability Transformation acts like a trigger towards positive change, both in thinking and in action. It demolishes many ill-conceived notions about ‘failure’ and helps the reader enter the world of immense ‘possibilities’. Through rigor of analysis, Atkisson has developed an excellent combination of theory and practice. No wonder, it is as much a book of theory as an operating manual, inspiring and visionary at each step.

Written with passion, conviction and foresight, the book argues that the ultimate vision of a sustainable world is immensely possible. And that too, in our life time only.....Link

The Sustainability Transformation
by Alan Atkisson 
Earthscan, London
323 pages, US$ 29.95

Across the fence negotiations

Be it the Ganges, Cauvery or Krishna, sharing river waters across sub-national or international boundaries has remained a formidable challenge. For decades on end, the treaties and tribunals haven’t been able to strike a deal for water sharing amidst warring sub-regions and regions. Quite often such conflicting situations get politicized beyond redemption, forcing popular sentiments to run over cooperative processes.

Yet, there are rivers like Mekong, Nile and Danube, passing through 6, 9 and 10 countries respectively, whose waters has been amicably shared amongst riparian countries. Notable is the fact that despite being culturally and politically diverse, countries in Africa, Europe and East Asia have been able to check politically hazardous conditions from overwhelming the water-sharing principles.

As the name suggests, the book provides an idealized view of how transboundary water management should be done. However, what should happen is not necessarily what does happen in real life. To illustrate the complexity involved in managing water across boundaries, fifteen diverse but successful initiatives from river-basins across the world have been presented. These cases present an experience-based inventory of strategies for transboundary water governance.

Transboundary Water Management is a well-researched book that not only provides the theoretical basis of managing water across boundaries but enlists approaches that have indeed worked too. As water rises higher on the political agenda, with lives of more and more people being either affected by too much or too little water, the book should provide a conceptual framework for planners and politicians to negotiate their compelling concerns.

It is a book of hope that considers transboundary waters a challenge that can be dealt with.....Link

Transboundary Water Management
by Anton Earle, Anders Jagerskog and Joakin Ojendal (Eds)
Earthscan, London; 261 pages, US$ 60