In October 2022, I gave a presentation for the National Conference of the Animal Justice Party (Australia). For this, I emphasised the point that the political movement for animals has a lot to gain from engaging with the sustainability agenda, in particular in light of the transformation to sustainability which in some places, in some ways, in some contexts, has begun:

“Animals and the Sustainability Transformation: What the Political Movement for Animals can gain from engaging with the Sustainability Agenda.”

Here the abstract:

The concepts of sustainability, resilience, adaptation and transformation are called on to address the multiple crises we are facing. They represent policy goals or program objectives. Following a brief overview of these concepts, this presentation focuses on transformation, and on the transformative potential of animal justice pursuits. The intersection of animal justice, sustainability, transformation and the policy context is outlined. From there, it is argued that a clear distinction between sustainability and sustainable development needs to be made, that sustainability needs to be advanced as an interspecies notion, that interspecies sustainability needs to be a critical orientation for transformation, and that transformation needs to be advanced as a normative concept based on multispecies justice. Engaging with the sustainability transformation agenda opens new platforms to centre animal interests. Ultimately, it is about establishing animals as stakeholders in and co-creators of the transformation. Examples for what this means in practice are given.

Edited 11 Jan 2024