Abstract
The magnitude of damages done to our ecosystem is despicable and rages from the amount of toxic chemicals, including pesticides, particularly in the U.S. and many industrialised countries, their effects whether immediate, personal or direct are worrisome (Gottlieb, 2003). The grave areas of concern include: global climate/atmospheric change, toxic wastes, loss of land, loss of species, loss of wilderness, devastation of indigenous peoples, human patterns and quantities of consumption, genetic engineering (Gottlieb, 2003). While the notions and praxis of international peacebuilding diplomacy, democratic peace and liberal peace have globally mitigated large-scale conflicts at the international, inter states and regional level, a new front of conflicts and threats to human security and peace has opened, and that concerns the anthropogenic causes of climate change. The planetary boundary framework (PBF) assists in providing quantified data and analysis based on science about “the risk that human perturbations will destabilize the [Earth system] at the planetary scale” (Steffen et al., 2015). Planetary boundaries are described as “scientifically based levels of human perturbation of the [earth system] ES beyond which ES functioning may be substantially altered” (p. 736). Although this framework does not dictate the way society should develop, because they emanate from political decisions, taking into account human dimensions, which are not incorporated in the PBF, notes: “by identifying a safe operating space for humanity on Earth, the PB framework can make a valuable contribution to decisionmakers in charting desirable courses for societal development” (Steffen et al., 2015, p. 736). This chapter discusses the aims and objectives of the book, the rationale, the concepts of civil society and the Anthropocene; it explains the designs and methods involved along various theoretical frameworks covered by different chapters contained in this volume. Finally, it gives the structure of the book and draws summative conclusion on the general perspective of the book. The next sections deals with the various aspects of the civil society concept.
Kiyala, J. C. K., & Harris., G. T. (2022). Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene: An Overview. Springer Nature Switzerland.
https://doi.org/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-95179-5