This concise and accessible text explores how the international community is responding to the challenge of sustainable development. It also investigates the prospect for and barriers to the promotion of sustainable development in the high consumption societies of the industrialised world, including the USA and the EU, the Third World and the economies of transition in East and Central Europe. The book considers the global impact of China's industrial boom as well as how Chinese investments are shaping the prospects for sustainable development on the African continent. This global coverage is balanced by investigating how local action, ranging from the transition towns movement in the UK to the Green Belt movement in Kenya, can contribute to the pursuit of sustainable development.