Such strategies are intimately and mutually related to scientific understandings, as well as to the political and economic context in which science is pursued. This is manifested in contesting views resulting in very LDN-193189 in vivo different pathways, as illustrated by the Stern Review (Stern 2006). This buy PCI-32765 theme serves to scrutinise pathways to sustainability by critically analysing proposed mechanisms for and pathways to sustainable societies. The broad domains of options available for the state are marketisation, regulation

and democratisation (see Fig. 4). Fig. 4 Three domains of responses to sustainability challenges available for the state Marketisation The public sector increasingly adopts values and practices from the private sector in fields such as health, education and environmental management. This marketisation trend is ubiquitous but particularly strong in transitionary economies with rapid industrialisation (Rigg 2006). As a response to the threat of global climate change, we see the emergence of a global carbon market and a new ‘carbon economy.’ The current global climate policy regime relies, to a large extent, on market mechanisms such as emissions trading, joint implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism. Regarding adaptation

to climate change, insurance as an adaptation AS1842856 strategy represents a rapidly growing market where major financial players are increasingly active. Payments for environmental services (PES) is emerging as

a universal tool for the integrated management of natural resources, such as biodiversity, water and soils (Pagiola et al. 2005). In the development debate, market integration is often described as a panacea (Sachs 2005). Proponents of marketisation argue that markets are most effective for dealing with problems, while opponents fear that this will compromise values related to democracy, citizenship Benzatropine (Eikenberry and Kluver 2004) and equity (Rigg 2006). In the context of this research agenda on sustainability challenges, marketisation can, thus, be scrutinised for its effectiveness and its impact on social justice. Regulation There are profound challenges regarding legal regulations of sustainability. While environmental problems are often transboundary, much regulation is based on national law. New forms of regulative bodies transcending the nation state are, therefore, needed. Since there is no legal bearer of a right belonging to future generations, contemporary law is challenged by the intergenerational approach to sustainability. We, therefore, need more emphasis on both regulatory techniques and ethical principles (Gunningham et al. 2003).