Interactions between Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability for Adolescent Development

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable development (SD) is a ubiquitous term within the development sphere. Yet, clear insight into what SD entails and how to achieve it is often inadequate and it runs the risk of becoming a popular but elusive discourse (Mensah, 2019). Sustainable development is most frequently interpreted using the definition outlined by the Brundtland Commission as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987 p. 41). In order to strengthen the conceptual clarity of SD and better inform efforts to make this an achievable reality, Mensah (2019) has outlined a framework that centres SD on three interconnected pillars: environmental, economic and social. In this framework, successful sustainable development requires an integrated approach that balances these three pillars.

Historically, however, this balance has been skewed with an emphasis on the development of the economic needs of the population with less attention paid to the environmental impacts; as such the mainstream indicator of human progress—gross domestic product (GDP)—has been heavily criticised for not reflecting environmental damage or levels of equality (Causa et al., 2015; Hickle and Kallis, 2019). Although the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to protect the planet while ending poverty and improving health and education, some scholars have highlighted the inherent conflict between social–economic development and ecological sustainability and within the SDG goals themselves (Spaiser et al., 2016; Hickle, 2019).

There is a growing evidence base indicating that children and youth, particularly girls in low- and middle-income countries, are highly vulnerable to both the direct and indirect implications of ecological breakdown (Diwakar et al., 2019; Plan International, 2019; Pereznieto et al., 2020). Consequently, it is vital to pay greater attention to the environmental aspects of sustainable adolescent development—a critical window of physical, cognitive and socio-emotional change in the life course—so as to better mitigate environment risks and promote resilience. In order to achieve greater visibility of these issues, there is also growing recognition that SD should be a participatory process that builds on meaningful participation and shared decision-making (Bass et al., 1995; Howard and Wheeler, 2017). Thus, understanding the extent and ways in which adolescent and youth voices are included in the process of sustainable development is an important field of inquiry.

With intensified global interest in questions of sustainable development as highlighted by international dialogues around the 2021 UN Conference on Climate Change, this Special Issue aims to critically examine the way in which the three SD pillars—environmental, economic and social—interact in relation to adolescent and youth wellbeing and development in diverse low- and middle-income countries. We invite abstracts that explore these interactions empirically and attend to the ways in which policy and programmes can more effectively support the development, empowerment and agency of adolescents and ensure that sustainable development approaches are inclusive of all young people.

References

1. Bass, S.; Dalal-Clayton, B.; and Pretty, J. Participation in Strategies for Sustainable Development. Environmental Planning Issues. International Institute for Environment and Development: London, UK, 1995.
2. Causa, O.; de Serres, A.; and Ruiz, N. Can pro-growth policies lift all boats? An analysis based on household disposable income. 2015, Vol. 2015/1. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1787/eco_studies-2015-5jrqhbb1t5jb (accessed on 1 March 2021).
3. Diwakar, V.; Lovell, E.; Opitz-Stapleton, S.; Shepherd, A. and Twigg, J. Child Poverty, Disasters and Climate Change: Investigating Relationships and Implications over the Life Course of Children. Overseas Development Institute: London, UK, 2019.
4. Hickel, J. The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet. Dev. 2019, 27, 873–884, doi:10.1002/sd.1947.
5. Hickel, J. and Kallis, G. (2020). Is Green Growth Possible? New Polit. Econ. 2020, 25, pp. 469–486.
6. Howard, J.; Lopez-Franco, E.; and Wheeler, J. Participatory Monitoring and Accountability and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Learning Report of the Participate Network, 2017. Available online: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (accessed on 1 March 2021).
7. Mensah, J. Sustainable development: Meaning, history, principles, pillars, and implications for human action: Literature review. Cogent Soc. Sci. 2019, 5, 1653531, doi:10.1080/23311886.2019.1653531.
8. Pereznieto, P., Rivett, J., and le Masson, V. Ending violence against children while addressing the global climate crisis. Overseas Development Institute: London, UK, 2020.
9. Climate change. Focus on women and girls. Plan International position paper, 2017. Available online: https://plan-international.org/publications/climate-change-focus-girls-and-young-women (accessed on 1 March 2021).
10. Spaiser, V.; Ranganathan, S.; Swain, R.B.; Sumpter, D.J.T. The sustainable development oxymoron: quantifying and modelling the incompatibility of sustainable development goals. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol. 2017, 24, 457–470, doi:10.1080/13504509.2016.1235624.
11. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 1987.

Dr. Nicola Jones
Ms. Megan Devonald
Dr. Khadija Mitu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainable development
• adolescents
• climate change
• participation
• low- and middle-income countries