Vulnerability–resilience indexes fail to grasp all dimensions of sustainability, whereas sustainable development has gained momentum. We fill this gap with a hierarchical multimetric composite index (Net Vulnerability Resilience Index: NVRI) whose robustness relies on a mathematical algorithm...

Since the publication of path-breaking contributions on the governance of environmental resources in the early 1990s many political initiatives have been taken, many governance experiments have been run, and a large multidisciplinary field of research has opened up. The aim of this...

Adaptation has long been neglected in the debate and policies surrounding climate change. However, increasing awareness of climate change has led many stakeholders to look for the best way to limit its consequences and has resulted in a large number of initiatives related to adaptation,...

Chemical industry's managers have developed since mid-1970' a management and prevention risk policy named “Responsible Care”. This policy was a first draft for a sustainable management even if these two concepts were not exactly synonymous. Through genealogy of this practice and its use in a...

In Europe, the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development (SD) are closely linked. Yet this approach to CSR has only taken shape in the last ten years and it is not shared by everyone. The objective of this article is to present the different stages of the CSR...

In 1987, the Brundtland Commission famously defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future”. This paper is concerned with translating this definition in the framework of the neoclassical one-sector model of...

The concept of global performance is used in managerial literature in order to assess companies' implementation of sustainable development. It refers to an holistic conception of performance. In this this paper we intend to confront the theoretical representation of a balanced integration of...

Sustainable development requires a mix of policies that can simultaneously address social, economic and environmental objectives. While the preceding chapters of this book have focused on agricultural, environmental and socio-economic aspects and related policies, this chapter looks at the...

We investigate the dynamic effect that the Tandroy's unsustainable practices have on the forest. The Tandroy people live in Androy, a region located in the southern part of Madagascar. They are mainly an agricultural and cattle herding society whose subsistence relies on the slash-and-burn...