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Welcome to the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development

Welcome to the website of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development.

We are a small charity working to develop ideas and innovative practices so that democratic decision-making can work better for sustainable development.

We believe that democracy will need to adapt and evolve to meet twenty-first century sustainable development challenges, and that it will need to do so fast. 

Issues like climate change, resource scarcity and population growth will create huge pressures for democratic decision-making. The risk is that badly prepared democracies may become less democratic as a result of these pressures.

Sustainable development calls for concerted efforts to make sure that democracy is resilient. 

Our events, analysis and engagement aim to work out who needs to do what to make sure that democracy delivers sustainable development.

“If we want to tackle climate change, we will need more democracy not less. Not only within countries, but also between countries“.
Chandra Bhushan, Associate Director, Centre for Science and Environment

“Unsustainable development has been described as the biggest market failure the world has ever seen. Yet surely it is the biggest failure of democracy the world has ever seen.”
Sara Parkin, Founder Director, Forum for the Future

“[We need] a democracy for posterity, an ecological democracy that enables both the citizen and the representative to be capable of designing sustainable futures for a very long way ahead…”
Professor Tim O’Riordan

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From the Blog

March 10, 2010 – 7:15 pm

Event on ‘mobilising democracy to tackle climate change’, London, 19-20 April 2010

FDSD is pleased to announce a collaboration with Schumacher College- the International Centre for Sustainability, Dartington Hall Trust, Salzburg Global Seminar and Goodenough College in London to present an international leadership seminar on…

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February 25, 2010 – 12:01 am

Hungary’s Green Ombudsman puts environmental futures at the heart of decision-making

Press release

OFFICE OF THE HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY IN LONDON
FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
UK ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ASSOCIATION

PRESS RELEASE

Hungary’s Green Ombudsman puts environmental futures at…

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February 2, 2010 – 7:15 pm

The lure of benign dictatorship

aralchains
There is a narrative which is emerging on the fringes of green politics – in throw-away comments, or after a few drinks – which characterises Copenhagen as not just the…
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January 26, 2010 – 1:43 pm

The Decade of the Citizen

youarewhatyoubuy

Adding to some of the themes explored in an earlier post on the idea of the ‘consumer citizen’, this post from guest blogger Jules Peck, over at Citizen Renaissance, argues that…

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January 4, 2010 – 9:40 pm

Corporate responsibility, democracy and climate change

IRNBDS logo

I’m re-reading a paper of mine that has just been published by the International Research Network on Business, Development and Society.

The paper is called “Corporate Social Responsibility: What Next?”, and it…

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