Introducing the Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance and Development
Case, Peter, Wood, Jacob, and Ng, Eddy (2024) Introducing the Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance and Development. Journal of Tropical Futures, 1 (1). pp. 3-11.
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Abstract
With almost 3.8 billion people living between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the tropics are one of the fastest-growing regions in the world (Callender and Topp, 2020). Almost 99% of the people in the Tropics are considered to be living in ‘developing nations’ (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019). These figures are set to grow further with many predicting that those living in the tropics will include one in every two people by 2050 and 55% of the world's children under the age of five years (State of the Tropics Report, 2014). In terms of their geographic and environmental significance, the tropics make up only 40% of the world's total surface area; however, the region hosts more than 80% of the planet's terrestrial biodiversity and more than 95% of its mangrove and coral reef-based biodiversity (State of the Tropics Report, 2014). From an economic development perspective, the tropical region's economy is growing 20% faster than the Rest of the World, with many tropical nations acting as key contributors to world trade, politics and innovation (State of the Tropics Report, 2020). Nonetheless, only a little more than 17% of the world's gross national product is generated in the tropics, with the vast majority of economic activity, some 65%, occurring in more temperate climates (State of the Tropics Report, 2020).