Editorial

The Rio and Johannesburg conferences have put sustainable development and natural resource management high on the political agenda. The aim is noble and urgent – nothing less than "saving the earth" while at the same time improving the life quality of all. Nobody doubts that the complexity of the issue makes the collaboration of various disciplines necessary. Scientists of today must collaborate in interdisciplinary teams if they want to find the solutions which failed to be produced by specialised academics. We need to combine social and natural sciences in order to acquire a holistic perspective which can integrate an in-depth understanding of the causes and consequences of our actions if we want to find sustainable solutions to environmental problems. It requires not only the creation of new technologies able to mitigate the consequences of economic development, but also new systems of management which give people more agency and responsibility. The creation of new knowledge must go hand in hand with a bottom-up or participatory approach, ensuring that the solutions produced are adapted to the needs of the beneficiaries, and that local actors are not left out of the management of their own resources.

We hope that Paideusis can become a meeting place for the scientists who believe that finding sustainable solutions to environmental problem requires better communication between people having different world views, whether cultural or academic. The present number, with its four articles reflecting the complexity of natural resource management in different african contexts, is a first step in that direction.

Quentin Gausset