Finn Arne Jørgensen examines the development of the Scandinavian beverage container deposit-refund system, which has the highest return rates in the world, from 1970 to the present day. He reveals the challenges faced when the system was exported internationally and explores the critical role of technological infrastructures and consumer convenience in modern recycling.

Alternative Futures brings together 35 essays on India’s future, written by a diverse set of authors: activists, researchers, media persons, those who have influenced policies, and those working at the grassroots. Divided into four sections—Ecological Futures, Political Futures, Economic Futures, and Socio-Cultural Futures—the book covers a wide range of issues including environmental governance, biodiversity, democracy and power, law, agriculture, pastoralism, industry, languages, learning and education, knowledge, health and sexuality among others.

Arjaan Pellis, Annemiek Pas, and Martijn Duineveld build upon Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems Theory to study the multidimensional nature of resource-based conflicts in and around Loisaba conservancy in Kenya.

The authors investigate how land cover, land use, and protected area management affects communities around a forest reserve in the Philippines. They conclude that incorporating local livelihoods into forest conservation strategies results in a measure of sustainability and positively impacts the socioeconomic well-being of communities near the protected area.