Disparate perceptions and conceptual frameworks of environment and the
relationship between humans and nature often lead to confusion,
constraints on co-operation and collaboration and even conflict when
society tries to deal with today's urgent and complex environment
research and policy challenges. Such disparities in perception and
"world view" are driven by many factors. They include differences in
culture, religion, ethical frameworks, scientific methodologies and
approaches, disciplines, political, social and philosophical traditions,
life styles and consumption patterns as well as alternative economic
paradigms. Distribution of poverty or wealth between north and south may
thus be seen as consequence of the above mentioned disparities, which is
a challenge for it's universal reasoned evaluation. This volume
discusses a wide range of factors influencing "Environment across
Cultures" with a view to identifying ways and means to better
understand, reflect and manage such disparities within future global
environmental research and policy agendas for bridging the gap between
ecology and economy as well as between societies. The book is based upon
the results of a scientific symposium on this topic and covers the
following sections: Cross Cultural Perception of Environment; Ethics and
Nature; Environment, Sustainability and Society. Corresponding
contributions were made by well-known scientific authors representing
different cultural spheres in accordance with the inter-cultural
approach of this effort.
