Sustainable

Development
Introduction
History – Assessing the principle
Learning Outcome

At the end of this topic, students should be able to :-

1) Understand the details of sustainability perspectives
2) Define the Sustainable Development in referred to 3
dimensions
3) Describe in details the 3 main dimensions of
Sustainable Development
 Roadmap
🠶 Setting the stage of sustainability – the debate
🠶 What defines the limits to growth?
🠶 Sustainability, sustainable yield etc
🠶 Nine ways to achieve sustainability
🠶 Sustainable development
🠶 Definitions
🠶 3 dimensions
🠶 3 approaches
🠶 Key issues to keep in mind
Roadmap

🠶 History SD

🠶 The beginning

🠶 Stockholm

🠶 The road to Rio

🠶 Our common future

🠶 Agenda 21

🠶 CSD :- Comission on
Sustainable Development ;
CBD :- Convention on
Biological Biodiversity ,
UNFCC:- United Nation
Framework of Convention
on Climate Change.

🠶 Rio plus 10

🠶 Johannesburg

🠶 Millennium development
goals
Setting the
stage
► Malthus – Principle of population
“Population when unchecked
increased in a geometric ratio
and subsistence for man in an
arithmetical ratio”
► Renewed Malthusians
► Club of Rome - Limits to
growth – Donella
Meadows et al
► Lester Brown –
Worldwatch Institute –
warnings of immediate
collapse
(https://m.youtube.com/w
atch?v=DO2xl39nBAA)
► Remind us that sooner or later
unchecked consumption will
get us in trouble
Limits to Growth
 Setting the stage
🠶 Ester Boserup – believed “necessity is the mother of inventions” –
increased population pressures act as an incentive to the
development of new technology and food production
🠶 Julian Simon, Wilfred Beckerman – limits only set by human ingenuity
not resources
🠶 Lomborg – assessing Simons claims
🠶 Who to believe?
Long run vs short run

🠶 Physical limits set by Nature – or what?

🠶 In the long run we are limited without changes in
technology
🠶 In the short run rely on human ingenuity to keep us
going
Sustainability

🠶 Selected to bridge the gulf between development

and environment

🠶 Originally used in
🠶 Fisheries “maximum sustainable yield”
🠶 Forestry “maximum sustainable cut”
🠶 Hydrology “maximum sustainable pumping rate”
Renewable Resources
Population growth
► Logistic or density
dependent growth
► Upper limit to the
ultimate size
► Determined by carrying
capacity
► What defines CC?
► Growth curve u-shaped

Growth determined by:

Pt = Pt-1 + r*(CC - Pt-1)/CC
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)

Original Equation
🠶 St = St-1 + Gt - Et
🠶 Extraction affects stock
size.
🠶 Sustainable yield:
extraction equal to
growth
🠶 G=E
Renewable resources

🠶 Maximum
sustainable yield
(MSY)
🠶 Complex dynamics
- stock possibly
grows drastically
with decreased
harvest
Sustainability?

🠶 What is a sustainable fishery?

🠶 How would you define it?

Nine ways to achieve
sustainability
1. Leave everything in pristine state, or
return it to pristine state
2. Develop so as to not overwhelm carrying
capacity of the system
3. Sustainability will take care of itself as
economic growth proceeds (Kuznets)
4. Polluter and victim can arrive at an
efficient solution by themselves (Coase)
5. Let the market take care of it!
Nine ways to achieve
sustainability?
6. Internalize externalities
7. Reinvest rents for nonrenewable
resources
8. Let the national economic
accounting systems reflect defensive
expenditures
9. Leave for future generations the
options or the capacity to be as well
off as we are
 Sustainable Development

“Sustainable development
is development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising the
ability of future generations
to meet their own needs"
Brundtland Commission
“Our common future” 1987
Dissecting

“meeting the needs”,

“the present”
“compromise”
“ability of future generations”
“meet their own needs”
Different views

🠶 Robert Repetto
“The core idea of sustainability is that current decisions
should not impair the prospects for maintaining or
improving future living standards. This implies that our
economic system should be managed so we can live
off the dividends of our resources”.
🠶 Resources – all resources
Mohan Munasinghe

🠶 SD is an approach that will permit continuing

improvements in the quality of life with a lower
intensity of resource use, thereby leaving behind for
future generations an undiminished or even enhanced
stock of natural resources and other assets.
Different views

► Mohan Munasinghe – three approaches

► Economic: Maximize income while
maintaining a constant or increasing stock
of capital
► Ecological: Maintaining resilience and
robustness of biological and physical systems
► Socio-cultural: Maintaining the stability of
social and cultural systems

► Triple bottom line

3 Dimensions
Economic dimension
Capital: produces a stream of goods and services into the future
►Financial capital
►Manufactured capital; durable capital
►Human capital; stocks of learned skills
►Intellectual capital; accumulation of
knowledge and skills not embodied in
individuals
►Social capital; Set of institutions and
customs
►Natural capital; renewable and
nonrenewable
Weak vs Strong sustainability

🠶 Weak sustainability; man made and natural capital

substitutable. Sum must be non-declining
🠶 Mining Coal that used for Electricity Production
🠶 Implications?: Global warming : Climate change and
CO2
🠶 Strong sustainability; man made and natural capital
with limited substitutability, each stock must be non-
declining separately
🠶 Palm Oil Mill Effluent AS BIOGAS PRODUCTION :-
RENEWABLE RESOURCES
🠶 Implications:- Less production of solid waste disposal into
the landfill
Strong or weak?

Robert Repetto – Economic Approach

“The core idea of sustainability is that current decisions
should not impair the prospects for maintaining or
improving future living standards. This implies that our
economic system should be managed so we can live
off the dividends of our resources”.
🠶 Resources – all resources
Economic dimension

Jonathan Harris Tufts U

🠶 An economically sustainable system must be able to
produce goods and services on a continuing basis, to
maintain manageable size of government and
external debt and to avoid sectoral imbalances
(maintain diversity)
Environmental dimension

D. Pearce
► Sustainable development is (1)
development subject to a set of
constraints which set resource harvest
rates at levels not higher than managed
natural regeneration rates and (2) use of
the environment as a waste sink on the
basis that waste disposal rates should not
exceed rates of managed or natural
assimilative capacity of the ecosystem
Quantifiable

► Managed or natural regeneration rate

► Forest resource

►X1 biomass removed/unit time

►X2 biomass regenerated/unit time
►X1<=X2
► Managed or natural waste assimilative capacity
►Wastewater effluent
►Y1 = PPM discharged BOD/unit time
►Y2 = PPM BOD capacity /unit time
►Y1<=Y2
Environmental dimension

Jonathan Harris Tufts U

🠶 A stable resource base, do not overwhelm the waste
assimilative ability of the environment nor the
regenerative services of the environment, deplete
non-renewables only to the extent we invest in
renewable substitutes.
Social Dimension

Jonathan Harris Tufts U

🠶 Achieve distributional equity, adequate provision of
social services including health and education,
gender equity and political accountability and
participation
3 Approaches
Economic Approach to SD

🠶 Robert Repetto
“The core idea of sustainability is that current decisions
should not impair the prospects for maintaining or
improving future living standards. This implies that our
economic system should be managed so we can live
off the dividends of our resources”.
🠶 Resources – all resources
Ecological approach to SD

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

🠶 SD is about maintenance of essential ecological
processes and life support systems, the preservation of
genetic diversity and the sustainable utilization of
species and ecosystems
Social Approach to SD

Ed Barbier
🠶 SD is directly concerned with increasing the standard
of living of the poor, which can be measured in terms
of increased food, real income, education, health
care, water supply, sanitation and only indirectly
concerned with economic growth at the aggregate.
 Sustainable Vs
Unsustainable

🠶 17SDGs components in the SD

The principle

► Protect the environment and at the same time

fulfill economic and social objectives
► Operational criteria:
►Economic objectives should not be
maximized without satisfying
environmental and social constraints
►Environmental benefits should not be
maximized without satisfying economic
and social constraints
►Social benefits should not be maximized
without satisfying economic and
environmental constraints
The principle – meant to
deliver
1. Economic growth and equity; not leaving
any region behind
2. Conserving natural resources and the
environment; for us and future
generations
3. Social development; Ensure rich fabric of
social and cultural diversity, ensure rights
of workers, empowerment and at the
same time ensure jobs, education, food,
health care, energy etc.
Confusion

🠶 Sustainable development
vs.
🠶 Sustainable production
🠶 Sustainable extraction
🠶 Sustainable use
🠶 Sustainable yield
To consider

🠶 Define sustainable development of the Icelandic

Geothermal system
🠶 Define the sustainable ?development of the solid
waste management?
 History of SD
1. The Beginning
🠶 1962; “Silent spring” – Rachel Carson
🠶 1963 International biological programme
initiated
🠶 1967 Environment defense fund pursues
legal options to protect environment
🠶 1968 Paul Ehrlich “The population bomb”
🠶 1968 Club of Rome
 History
2. The Beginning
► 1968; Intergovernmental conference for rational use
and conservation of the biosphere
► UN GA authorizes the Human Environment
conference in Stockholm
► 1969 NEPA formed – EPA established
► 1970 - 71 Natural Resources Defense Council formed,
earth day, Greenpeace established, IIED
► 1971 Founex Report
► 1972 Club of Rome report published “Limits to
Growth”
Timeline of the environmental
conservation concept

Source:- Cioruta et al.,(2018)

International Conferences Timeline

Source:- Cioruta et al.,(2018)

 1st Milestone :- First
Conference
🠶 1972 Stockholm, United Nations Conference on
Human Environment
🠶 First international recognition of environmental
problems and the link between human behavior
and environmental issues
🠶 Focus on environment vs development
🠶 Concept Sustainable development argued as
the solution to this dilemma
🠶 Led to creation of UNEP
 First Conference 1972
🠶 Conference themes
🠶 the interdependence of human beings and the
natural environment;
🠶 the links between economic and social
development and environmental protection;
and
🠶 the need for a global vision and common
principles.
The Road to Rio
Towards Rio
►1972 Oil Crisis
►Evidence mounts for increasing scarcity
►1980 World Conservation strategy released
(IUCN)
►Towards Sustainable development
►Poverty, population pressure, inequity, trade
►Global 2000 commissioned
►1983 World Commission on Environment
and Development formed
►Gro Harlem Brundtland (chair)
 World Commission on
Environment and Development
(1983)
Mandate to work for 3 years to:
► To propose long-term environmental strategies for
achieving sustainable development to the year
2000 and beyond;
► To recommend ways in which concern for the
environment may be translated into greater co-
operation among developing countries and
between countries at different stages of
economic and social development
► To consider ways and means by which the
international community can deal more
effectively with environmental concerns, in the
light of the other recommendations in its report;
► To help to define shared perceptions of long-term
environmental issues
 The Road to Rio (Con’t)
🠶 1984 Worldwatch publishes the first
State of the World Report
🠶 1985 Antarctic ozone hole found
🠶 1985 Villach Austria, climate change
predicted
🠶 1986 IUCN Conference on Environment
and Development
🠶 1987 Our Common Future Published
🠶 Prompts the Earth Summit in Rio
 2nd Milestone:- Our Common
Future
🠶 Argue for a new era of economic growth, growth that
is forceful, and at the same time environmentally and
socially sustainable.
🠶 Three dimensions of SD
🠶 Environment
🠶 Economics
🠶 Social
🠶 Not clear on specifics
The Earth Summit – third
milestone
►1992, The United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development
►Rio 1992
►178 nations
►2400 NGO´s
►17000 participants

Unparalleled emphasis and interest in the

environment – and how to achieve
balanced solutions
 The Earth Summit
Outcomes
► Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development
► Agenda 21
► Convention on Biological Diversity
► Forest Principles
► Framework Convention on Climate
Change
► Establishing the CSD – began operating in
1993
Rio Declaration
🠶 Non-binding
🠶 Consists of 27 Principles intended to guide
future sustainable development around
the world
🠶 http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf1
51/aconf15126-1annex1.htm
Rio Declaration – Key
highlights
► Humans at the center
► States have the right to use their own resources as they see fit
► Must integrate the environment into development plans
► Should facilitate increased public participation
► States should enact environmental legislation and should
cooperate where needed
► Should actively discourage or prevent relocation of activities
or substances harmful t the environment or human health
► Apply the Precautionary approach
► Internalize environmental costs and use economic instruments
► EIA should be undertaken for proposed activities
► Peace, development and environmental protection are
interdependent and indivisible
 Agenda 21
► A comprehensive blueprint of action to be
taken globally, nationally and locally by
organizations of the UN, governments, and
major groups in every area in which humans
influence the environment.
► The task is to balance economic development
with social and environmental objectives
► 21?
► 40 Chapters, 4 sections, 100 programme areas
► Non-binding
 The 4 sections
Section I: Social and Economic Dimensions
► Including combating poverty, changing consumption
patterns, population and demographic dynamics,
promoting health, promoting sustainable settlement
patterns and integrating environment and development
into decision-making.
Section II: Conservation and Management of Resources for
Development
► including atmospheric protection, combating
deforestation, protecting fragile environments,
conservation of biological diversity (biodiversity), and
control of pollution.
Section III: Strengthening the Role of Major Groups
► Including the roles of children and youth, women, NGOs,
local authorities, business and workers.
Section IV: Means of Implementation
► Including science, technology transfer, education,
international institutions and mechanisms and financial
mechanisms.
 Local Agenda 21
🠶 Agenda 21 involves action at international,
national, regional and local levels.
🠶 Some national and state governments have
legislated or advised that local authorities take
steps to implement the plan locally (Chapter
28)
🠶 Such programmes are often known as 'Local
Agenda 21' or 'LA21'.
Example :- LA21 for Iskandar Putri

Source:- Majlis Bandaraya IskandarPutri City

Council,2020)
 United Nation Framework of
Climate Change (UNFCCC)
🠶 Binding
🠶 Signed initially by 153 nations –
now been ratified by enough
nations to be implemented
🠶 Described commitments to
reduce emissions of GHG
UNFCC :- Example of
Achievements and Efforts

Source:-UNFCC, 2020
 Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD)
🠶 Binding
🠶 Signed by 156 nations initially
🠶 Deals with:
🠶 Economic exploitation of genetic
material and biodiversity
conservation
🠶 Creating protective areas and
draw up national plans for
conservation
Convention on forest
management
🠶 Non-binding
🠶 Short statement on principles for a global
consensus on forest management
 Commission for SD
► Was established by the General Assembly to
monitor and facilitate efforts to implement the
diverse goals of the earth summit – in particular
agenda 21.
► Supposed to promote dialog and encourage
partnerships among governments, UN agencies
and the NGO community.
► Lacks both power to make binding resolutions and
its own financial resources to fund programs.
► Reports directly to ECOSOC
 Commission on Sustainable
Development - functions
1. Provides a forum for the discussion of a wide range of subjects
related to SD. Supposed to strengthen the participation of
groups such as NGO’s indigenous peoples, local
governments, workers women and the young.

1. Monitors progress made by industrial and developing

countries towards SD and implementing Agenda 21. Protocol
for reporting has been agreed upon – and at least..
► 137 countries have submitted reports.

2. Have encouraging organizational developments but little has

been done to implement key provisions agreed upon at the
Earth Summit => But keep in mind – the CSD lacks powers to
do anything about it.
History – After Rio

3. After Rio
► 1993 First meeting of the CSD
► 1995 World Summit for Social
development
► 1996 The Summit of the Americas on SD
► 1997 UN GA review of the Earth Summit
progress
► 2000 UN Millennium Summit – declaration
of the Millennium Goals
► 2001 EU sustainable development
strategy
► 2002 Rio plus 10 - Johannesburg
 Millennium Declaration
🠶 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
🠶 The eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) form a blueprint agreed
to by all the world´s countries and all
the world´s leading development
institutions.
 The Millennium Goals
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Achieve gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
• Integrate the principles of sustainable
development into country policies and programs
• reverse loss of environmental resources
• Reduce by half the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water
8. Develop a global partnership for sustainability
The Millennium Goals
🠶 http://www.un.org/millenniumgo
als/

🠶 Take a look at the indicators and

the most recent report
3) Rio plus 10. Johannesburg

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)

2002 Johannesburg
► Established to assess progress on implementation
of the results of the Rio summit – in particular
Agenda 21.
► The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,
agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (Earth Summit 2002) affirmed UN
commitment to 'full implementation' of Agenda
21, alongside achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals and other international
agreements.
► Non-binding
► No new conventions
Johannesburg

► Johannesburg Declaration
► Targets set for economic factors and poverty
reduction – e.g.
►Halve by 2015 the population living on less than 1$
a day
►Ensure by 2015 all children complete primary
education
► Non-quantitative targets for environment
►Substantially increase global share of renewable
energy sources
►Achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the
current rate of loss of biodiversity
 Johannesburg
🠶 Focus:
🠶 Social pillar of SD
🠶 Fight poverty
🠶 Mutually enhancing poverty and environmental
degradation is one of the factors preventing SD
🠶 Address equitable access to resources
🠶 Debt relief programs
🠶 Increasing ODA
Source:-
https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/white/2012/html/topics/topi
 The three dimensions
🠶 The three conferences defined
the three dimensions
🠶 Stockholm (Environment)
🠶 Rio (Economics)
🠶 Johannesburg (Social)
Move towards fostering
synergy
🠶 International community seems to agree on the
general goals of SD
🠶 Efforts remain fragmented – e.g. little link
between various environmental agreements
🠶 Increased cooperation required between
various agreements (e.g. CBD and UNFCCC) –
and there seems to be willingness to do this.
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)
• January 2015: post-2015
development agenda.

• The process culminated in

the subsequent adoption of
the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development,
with 17 SDGs at its core

• At the UN Sustainable
Development Summit in
September 2015
• https://youtu.be/0XTBYMfZy
rM

Adopted from :- (United Nations, 2020)

The Precautionary Principle

🠶 Where environmental consequences of

regulatory inaction are (1) in some way
uncertain (2) but non-trivial, we must act
🠶 In essence minimizing risk – setting minimum
acceptable risk
🠶 Already implemented into EU legislation and USA
legislation
 How can we get towards
SD?
1. How do we define it?
• What does it mean?
• What is the objective?
• What are the basic principles?
2. How do we know if we are moving there?
• Indicators
3. How to move further?
• From indicators to action
 Sustainable Development

“Sustainable development is development

that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs"
Brundtland Commission
“Our common future” 1987
Economic dimension

🠶 An economically sustainable system

must be able to produce goods and
services on a continuing basis, to
maintain manageable size of
government and external debt and to
avoid sectoral imbalances (maintain
diversity)
Environmental dimension

🠶 A stable resource base, do not

overwhelm the waste assimilative ability
of the environment nor the regenerative
services of the environment, deplete
non-renewables only to the extent we
invest in renewable substitutes.
Social Dimension

🠶 Achieve distributional equity, adequate

provision of social services including
health and education, gender equity
and political accountability and
participation
The principle

🠶 Protect the environment and

at the same time fulfill
economic and social
objectives
The three core drivers of un-
sustainability
🠶 Consumption
🠶 Use of resources beyond the reasonable limits
set by nature
🠶 Production
🠶 Gross inefficiencies in production.
🠶 Distribution
🠶 Inequitable distribution e.g. distribution of
global income between rich and poor
 Distribution
Myths The champagne glass
► Most environmental
degradation is done by
the poor
► Poverty reduction leads
to environmental
degradation
► Population growth
necessarily leads to env.
degradation
► The poor are too poor to
invest in env.
► Poor people lack
technical knowledge for
resource management
 Conclusion

🠶 Is a long journey towards SD

🠶 End-point not definable
🠶 Each country/region has different goals,
based on economic circumstances,
population size, stage of development,
resource endowment etc.
🠶 General vague principle agreed upon
Thank You