Ortwin Renn

The rapid growth of the world population - nearly six-fold over the last hundred years - combined with the rising number of technical installations especially in the industrialized countries has lead to ever tighter and more strained living spaces on our planet. Because ofthe inevitable processes oflife, man was at first an exploiter rather than a careful preserver of the environment. Environmental awareness with the intention to conserve the environment has grown only in the last few decades. Environmental standards have been defined and limit values have been set largely guided, however, by scientific and medical data on single exposures, while public opinion, on the other hand, now increasingly calls for astronger consideration of the more complex situations following combined exposures. Furthermore, it turned out that environmental standards, while necessarily based on scientific data, must also take into account ethical, legal, economic, and sociological aspects. A task of such complexity can only be dealt with appropriately in the framework of an inter­ disciplinary group.

Risk as we now know it is a wholly new phenomenon, the by-product of our ever more complex and powerful technologies. In business, policy making, and in everyday life, it demands a new way of looking at technological and environmental uncertainty. In this definitive volume, four of the world's leading risk researchers present a fundamental critique of the prevailing approaches to understanding and managing risk - the 'rational actor paradigm'. They show how risk studies must incorporate the competing interests, values, and rationalities of those involved and find a balance of trust and acceptable risk. Their work points to a comprehensive and significant new theory of risk and uncertainty and of the decision making process they require. The implications for social, political, and environmental theory and practice are enormous. Winner of the 2000-2002 Outstanding Publication Award of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association

Die langfristige Sieherung der natiirliehen Lebensgrundlagen, wirtschaftliehe Stabilitat und soziale Vertragliehkeit bilden die drei Dimensionen, die das Leitbild der Nachhaltigkeit zu vereinbaren sueht. Dabei verlangt nachhaltige Entwicklung einen Riehtungswechsel, wenn es zukiinftig gelingen soli, nieht mehr yom Naturkapital selbst, sondem von den Zinsen zu leben. Die Idee, aueh kiinftigen Generationen eine lebenswerte Umwelt zu hinterlassen, findet breite Zustimmung, doch iiber das Wie herrscht Unsieherheit. Wie konnen die Ziele einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung gefunden werden, und wie sieht ein soleher Weg fur Deutschland aus? Welehe Voraussetzungen miissen Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft erfiilien, urn die Weichen zu stelien? Urn diese komplexen Fragen zu beantworten, beauftragte die Enquete- Kommission Schutz des Mensehen und der Umwelt Wissensehaftler und Forsehungsinstitute mit der Aufarbeitung einzelner Themenbereiche: - Nationaler Umweltplan - Globalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit - Institutionelle Reformen - UmweltbewuBtsein und -verhalten - Risiko-und Technikakzeptanz - Bauen und Wohnen - Versauerung von Boden Mit der Veroffentliehung ihres Studienprogramms unter dem Titel Konzept Nachhaltigkeit will die Enquete-Kommission die aktuelien Forschungsergeb- nisse Politik, Wissensehaft, Wirtsehaft und nieht zuletzt einer interessierten Offentlichkeit zur Verfiigung stelien. Die in den Studien geauBerten An- siehten miissen nieht mit denen der Enquete-Kommission iibereinstimmen. leh hoffe, daB die Veroffentliehung dazu beitragt, die Diskussion zu beleben, und daB sie Mut macht zu weiteren Schritten in Riehtung Nachhaltigkeit.

Brown and her colleagues offer an unprecedented analysis of how multinational corporations and developing countries manage, in the face of differing values, to relate as each proceeds in the interest of particular development objectives. Through three case studies involving Du Pont Agrichemical, Occidental Chemical, and Xerox and the countries of India and Thailand, the authors illustrate how the differing values of the host country and the corporation influence decisions. It offers valuable insights into the anatomy of decision-making in a highly sensitive and increasingly scrutinized segment of contemporary business. This is a particularly timely examination of multinational enterprises, of the impact of corporate cultures, sustainable development, hazard management and environmental issues seen in relationship to developing countries' values, needs, and objectives.