Local Currencies

Towards a Sustainable Society

The roots of the ecological and societal crises are socio-economical. The globalisation of the markets cannot be decoupled from heavy environmental impacts (carbon emission, resources extraction, pollution) and foster inequalities. Therefore, we need to buffer its effect by relocalising the economy, that would benefit both the environment and the people. In this regard, local currencies display several advantages, as they aim to protect, stimulate and orientate the economy towards socially and environmentally sustainable goals.

Seven key concepts should be fulfilled by local currencies to build sustainable economies (Lewis and Conaty, 2013) :

1. Social qualities: Economic systems are part of social systems, and therefore supporting personal capacities, promoting human connectedness and social capital, developing trust, social networks, and an ability to self-organise are key.
2. Interdependence and localisation: There must be an appropriate balance between localisation of economic activity and interconnections between different spatial scales and time periods.
3. Diversity: Diversity in ecological, social, economic and financial systems should be promoted.
4. Innovation: Learning and experimentation promotes the process of adaptation.
5. Governance: Access to and control over resources and democratic structures supports the innovation process and the development of social capital.
6. Feedback loops: At the individual level this means supporting a person’s ability to function well, and at the system level this requires information flows as part of the adaptation cycle.
7. Ecosystem services: A resilient world would consider and assess all the ecosystem services that the economy currently disregards.