Introduction to the Intersection of Sustainability and Climate Change in Tropical Social Systems

Summary

In 2015 world leaders adopted the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals detailed in The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Recently, policy makers, archaeologists and other tropical scholars have been working with UNESCO Mexico, focusing on sustainability in tropical regions. One of the session discussants, Dr. Nuria Sanz, Director of UNESCO Mexico, has laid out the key aspects of particular important to tropical areas, resulting in the focus on five of the 17 goals: Goal 6—Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all; Goal 12—Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns; Goal 13—Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts; Goal 15—Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss; and Goal 16—Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. In this this paper, I discuss how archaeological data on ancient tropical societies can assist in devising strategies to address goals, with a particular focus on addressing the intersection of climate change and sustainability.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20039