Conceptual Innovation in Environmental Policy

<b>Concepts and their role in the evolution of modern environmental policy with case studies of eleven influential concepts ranging from environment to sustainable consumption.</b><p>Concepts are thought categories through which we apprehend the world; they enable but also constrain reasoning and debate and serve as building blocks for more elaborate arguments. This book traces the links between conceptual innovation in the environmental sphere and the evolution of environmental policy and discourse. It offers both a broad framework for examining the emergence evolution and effects of policy concepts and a detailed analysis of eleven influential environmental concepts.</p><p>In recent decades conceptual evolution has been particularly notable in environmental governance as new problems have emerged and as environmental issues have increasingly intersected with other areas. Biodiversity for example was unheard of until the late 1980s; negative carbon emissions only came into being over the last few years. After a review of concepts and their use in environmental argument chapters chart the trajectories of a range of environmental concepts: environment sustainable development biodiversity environmental assessment critical loads adaptive management green economy environmental risk environmental security environmental justice and sustainable consumption. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars and policy makers and also offers a novel introduction to the environmental policy field through the evolution of its conceptual categories.</p><p><b>Contributors<br></b>Richard N. L. Andrews Karin Bäckstrand Karen Baehler Daniel J. Fiorino Yrjö Haila Michael E. Kraft Oluf Langhelle Judith A. Layzer James Meadowcroft Alexis Schulman Johannes Stripple Philip J. Vergragt</p>