ECO - Justice and an Emergent Missiological Aspect

In this paper the researcher discusses about the missiological discourse happening today, the researcher strongly believes that the, focus of eco -justice must be laid on the paradigm shift from the human to the earth. In this shift, the earth is the starting point and not the human. The human is only a part of the earth. Thus, the entire creation of God, the human and the nonhuman will become the subjects in the mission of God. The Oikos of life is dominated, exploited, manipulated and destroyed. People live together with all other living beings, and all the living beings are mutually interdependent. The eco -justice mission engagement of the Church is to raise up all living beings as a sovereign subject, interdependent to carry out politics of life promoting security, justice and peace. The mission movements of the Church need to work for profound renewal of the ecological stewardship and spirituality of integral life. Life-centered vision is a key component of mission.[1]Recapturing the life-centeredness in the variety of religious and cultural experiences is at the root of our understanding of God, people and the humankind as well as of our spirituality and just norms that promote eco -justice. Keywords: Church, Community, Integrity, Dignity, Justice, Responsibility, Eco -Justice, Mission, Globalization, Consumerism, Eco -Spirituality Etc.,

Transboundary Water Governance in the Kabul River Basin: Implementing Environmental and Public Diplomacy Between Pakistan and Afghanistan

This research highlights the outcomes of the environmental diplomacy workshop held between members of civil society from Afghanistan and Pakistan on water cooperation in the Kabul River Basin, one of the most heavily conflicted transboundary river basins in the world. Lack of trust among these upstream and downstream riparian partners and persistent failures of Track 1 diplomacy initiatives has led to an absence of governance mechanisms for mitigating the water security concerns in the region. This research shows that science and public diplomacy, democratic participation, and social learning may pave a way to clear local misconceptions, improve transboundary water cooperation, and increase ecological stewardship in the Kabul River Basin.

Terraforming and Eco-Economics in the Mars Trilogy

In Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993), and Blue Mars (1996), Robinson uses the speculative science of terraforming an alien world to explore the complex relationships between planetary ecology--the interlocking, autopoietic systems that allow life to flourish--and political economy, the distribution of scarce resources among competing populations and interests. At the center of the trilogy lies what Robinson calls “eco-economics,” his challenge to the default assumption that economics means the exploitation, degradation, and eventual exhaustion of natural resources. Terraforming transforms Mars over the course of the three novels and becomes a means to imagine the birth of a new planetary order that confronts head-on the obstacles to utopian progress: socioeconomic conflict, environmental degradation, racial and religious antagonisms, state violence, and corporate greed. As it undergoes its sea-change from red to green to blue, Mars offers its citizens (and the novels’ readers) a means to imagine a utopian future that replaces the politics of scarcity and desperation with hard-won forms of cooperation, ecological stewardship, democracy, and diversity.

Salvation or Commodification? The Role of Money and Markets in Global Ecological Preservation

Rather than view the market as a tool for addressing climate change, through carbon tax or carbon permits, we argue that redefining “property” is more effective. Instead of right to exclude and absolute individual ownershp, we recommend ecological communities which prioritize human relationships and ecological stewardship. Global federations of ecological regions will manage nutrient flows on the local and global level, with democratic participation informed by ecological science. New values of caring for the earth will support and sustain new forms of solidarity. JEL Classification: B5, Q5

The meaning and practice of stewardship in South Africa

Stewardship offers a means of addressing social-ecological sustainability challenges, from the local to the global level. The concept of stewardship has had various meanings attached to it over time, and the links between the theory and practice of stewardship are not well understood. We sought to characterise the practice of stewardship in South Africa, to better understand the relationship between theory and practice. We found that practitioners’ understandings of stewardship coalesce around two core notions: the idea of stewardship as ‘responsible use and care’ of nature, and stewardship as a ‘balancing act’ between stewards’ use of natural resources for agricultural production and their responsibility to protect and manage the wider ecosystem. Stewardship practice in South Africa is strongly influenced by the biodiversity stewardship tool; however, many practitioners are integrating biodiversity stewardship with other approaches. These emerging social-ecological stewardship initiatives operate at landscape-level and work towards integrated social and ecological stewardship outcomes, by facilitating collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Further research is needed to better understand what is required to support these integrated, collaborative and cross-sectoral initiatives. Policy mechanisms that facilitate integrated place-based stewardship practice can contribute to expanding the practice of biodiversity stewardship in South Africa. Significance: Our findings contribute to a growing understanding of what stewardship looks like in South Africa and how it is put into practice. We show that biodiversity stewardship is a prevalent understanding of stewardship practice in South Africa and is often combined with other approaches for sustainable landscape management. A broader understanding of stewardship, for example through the concept of social-ecological stewardship, can enable more integrated, collaborative approaches to landscape management, addressing the wide range of environmental and social development challenges faced in rural landscapes across South Africa.

Planning for Street Trees and Human–Nature Relations: Lessons from 600 Years of Street Tree Planting in Paris

Planting rectilinear regularly spaced and low-diversity rows of trees along sidewalks is the dominant streetscaping practice in Western cities. Street trees provide shade, pleasant pedestrian environments, and ecological benefits. I interrogate the origin of this surprisingly stable practice by exploring the last 600 years of street tree planting in Paris. Paris’ iconic tree-lined boulevards have influenced streetscapes worldwide. This model of royal and imperial origins stems from, and reproduces, a complex mode of human–nature relations involving biophilia, the use of orderly nature as a symbolic commodity and, more recently, ecological stewardship.