An article on participatory development by Lila Buckley for the Worldwatch Institute. Although it describes a research project by the Xinjiang Conservation Fund (XCF) focused on wildlife conservation in rural areas, this approach holds great potential for sustainable development in cities. Involving local residents in the protection of natural resources can help engender a lasting commitment to good stewardship based on a clear understanding of its longterm value.

Quoted: Established in 2001, the group is “dedicated to the conservation of Xinjiang” and carries out activities such as investigations on species habitat, poaching, and the illegal wildlife trade; environmental education initiatives with universities; and research, publishing, and forums to enhance public awareness of conservation and wildlife protection. Unlike its counterparts in the government, XCF’s efforts begin with the local people. Recent field investigations took researchers to Xinjiang for a month to research wildlife and interview people living in the Reserve. The team lived with and shared meals with the residents and conducted interviews with over 60 households.

The Mayors for Climate Protection website (www.coolmayors.org) offers a variety of resources for reducing CO2 emissions in cities throughout the world. It also includes profiles of the growing list of U.S. mayors who have signed on to this initiative.

Quoted: Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched The US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement on February 16, 2005, the day the Kyoto Protocol went into effect in 141 countries, without US participation. The agreement calls for Seattle and other U.S. cities that have signed the agreement to meet or beat the goals of the Kyoto protocol, which call for a 7 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Close to 300 cities have signed the agreement.

Great Communities (greatcommunities.org) is a San Francisco Bay area nonprofit dedicated to sustainable planning and development. They are especially focused on reducing the need for automobile transportation at the local, regional, and state levels.

Quoted: The Bay Area has an incredible opportunity to fundamentally shift growth to be more equitable and sustainable. We can redirect growth away from natural areas and working farms, and instead reinvest in our existing communities, many of which have been ignored for too long. We can build homes that provide choices so that all residents, at every income level, can find great communities to live, work, and play: communities with access to good jobs, schools, parks, transportation, shopping, and other necessities.

Jane Jacobs’s observations on city neighborhoods are so insightful, including her early advocacy of mixed-use communities where people can live, work, walk, and shop at viable local businesses. She is critical of modernist planning that placed low-income people in “projects” and uprooted urban neighborhoods in favor of highways and sterile civic spaces. Her ideas on the benefits of local economies, population density, and decreased reliance on automobiles are very well aligned with sustainable development and environmental conservation.

Synopsis from Powells Books: A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century. The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy. Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jane Jacobs’s monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities.

Photo credit: things magazine

There is a strong connection between civic action, human rights, development, and environmental conservation in Wangari Maathai’s work. She even takes on urban planning issues in protesting the use of public park land for a high rise building. An inspiring and completely engaging memoir.

The Greenbelt Movement International (GBMI) is a non-profit organization founded by Wangari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. The Green Belt Movement addresses problems associated with poverty and environmental degradation at the grassroots level. The featured photo can be found at the Photo Slideshows section of the GBMI Web site.