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The 17 United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) are an important step in defining what sustainable development looks like in practice. However, to make concrete progress toward the SDGs, it is essential to understand how they are perceived and can be acted upon locally or regionally. In this study, we draw on survey and focus group research carried out in Newfoundland and Labrador, on the east coast of Canada, to analyze how the SDGs are interpreted in a regional context. Our research questions are as follows: Which SDGs have the highest salience for participants and may be leveraged for sustainability policy and practice? Which political actors are seen as having the capacity to implement the goals into policy and practice? Sustainable development goals aligned with economic sustainability are emphasized and seen as particularly important. However, economically oriented SDGs are viewed as compatible with a broad range of SDGs. Overall, respondents view the provincial government as the most salient actor with the capacity to implement sustainability policy and practice for the region. However, despite its perceived importance, participants assess provincial government performance very poorly regarding SDG implementation. In terms of the governance dimension of sustainability, our results highlight the importance of attending to the roles of mid-level political actors, as well as their relationships with national and local/municipal governments, in pursuing regional sustainability.

Hydroelectric projects are often pursued on the promise of economic development and environmental co-benefits as a source of low-carbon energy. We analyse the case of the Muskrat Falls hydropower mega-project (located in Labrador, Canada) to understand why this project failed to live up to its promised benefits, but instead delivered a double disaster of economic cost and environmental risk. The key concepts of anti-reflexivity and deep stories help us understand why the project assumed an aura of inevitability in political and public discourse until it was too late to change course. Drawing on publicly available data and secondary sources, we identify the constellation of social forces that maintained political anti-reflexivity about the economic and environmental risks of the project and led to a double economic and environmental disaster. Our analysis identifies vital lessons for countering anti-reflexivity and improving environmental governance related to energy mega-projects.

Review(s) of: 'Assessing and restoring natural resources in post-conflict peacebuilding', by David Jensen and Steve Lonergan, eds, New York: Earthscan, 2012.

The volume discusses case studies to demonstrate the considerable parallels between post-conflict regimes around the world without first providing theoretical context. [...]while the volume's introduction of assessment processes for analyzing post-conflict scenarios is groundbreaking, the volume does not bridge the gap between theoretical perspectives on ecological restoration and peacebuilding and the practical application of these ideas in an assessment process. [...]these communities must prioritize the issues that will be addressed by their limited funding, and leave other problems to the wayside. The design of environmental assessment processes requires reflection to ensure that the criteria are relevant to the problems that the locality is facing.

Review(s) of: Assessing and restoring natural resources in post-conflict peacebuilding, by David Jensen and Steve Lonergan, eds, New York: Earthscan, 2012.

Review(s) of: 'Assessing and restoring natural resources in post-conflict peacebuilding', by David Jensen and Steve Lonergan, eds, New York: Earthscan, 2012.