Sustainable Development:

Emergence of the Concept

and Historical Origin

SD: development that meets the

needs of the present, without
compromising the ability of the
future generation to meet their
own needs
 3 mega crises
Crisis of development (poverty)
Global political economic changes
– Problem of debt
– IMF restructuring programmes (SAP)
Reduction of govt. expenditure on social programmes
Export promotion in agricultural production
Political economic changes within the nation
– Concentration of power and capital by
merchants, industrialists and rich farmers
– Systematic reduction of access to common pool
resources
Poverty as a reality
Low-income countries contribute 6.4 % to
the total world GNP (1.7 % without China
and India)
US$ 520 of per-capita for low-income
countries ($380 without China, India) in
contrast to $21,400 for UK, $29,340 for
USA and $40,080 for Switzerland
Non-economic aspects of poverty (HDI
since 1990 by UNDP)
– Life expectancy
– Educational attainment
– Standard of living
45 countries had high HDI ranks, 94 had medium
and 35 had low ranks
lack of access to safe drinking water (41 % with
access)
Women are systematically in a worse position in
exposure to poverty and its effects
widening gap between rich and poor both within
and across nations
Magnitude of poverty reflects
– Failure of dev project, dev thinking & dev studies
– Provided fertile ground for SD to flourish
– Concept of dev deepened and broadened to include
dimensions of empowerment, cooperation, equity,
sustainability, participation, security, etc.
Environmental Crisis
Population growth combined with:
– Unsustainable resource consumption
– degradation of resources – pollution, mis-use,
deforestation, desertification
WWF’s ‘Living Planet Index’, 1998
– Indicators: global forest cover, population of
fresh water and marine species (102 each)
– LPI fell by 30 % between 1970 and 1995
– Forest cover declined over 10 %
– Fresh water species declined 45 %
– Marine species declined 35 %
UNEP’s ‘Global Biodiversity Assessment’,1995
: 5 – 20 % of the 14 million plant and animal species
are threatened with extinction
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(1988)
: brought a consensus that human action indeed
affecting global climatic patterns
: First World Climate Conference – Geneva (1978)
: Kyoto Conference, 1995
:Called attention to problems of green house gases
The crisis of global insecurity
Post WW – II: UNO and Bretton Woods Institutions
were created with a hope for world peace
Wars: problem for dev. and environment
– Proxy wars
– Resource wars
– Ethnic wars
– Secessionist wars
These three crisis inter-connected and reinforce
each other
Conflict between Earth (nature) and World
(humanity)
Historical origin of SD

Mainstream thinking about SD associated

with ideas of environmental concerns and
conservation of nature in Europe and US
However, we need to understand the ideas
that emerged in periphery
– Environmental ideas and concerns of SOUTH
1.Emergence of Tropical Environmentalism
Eurocentric and Americocentric focus
dominate the SD debate
– George Perkin Marsh (1864): Man and Nature
Ecological impacts of emergent capitalism
and colonial rule
– Led to an awareness about environmental limits
and need for conservation
– Scientist and botanist appointed by trade
companies warned about environmental limits
– First environmental ideas developed in colonial
periphery – where capitalist expansion met
resource rich tropical societies
2.Nature Preservation and emergence of SD
Conservation of wild-life and nature has been
the deep-seated roots of SD thinking
Foundation of institutions for conservation
began in 19th century (first in Britain)
– Legislation for protection of sea-birds
– Royal society for protection of birds, 1893
– National trust for places of historic interest and
natural beauty, 1894
– Society for promotion of nature reserves, 1912
Parallel developments in other parts of
Europe and America
American Developments
– Yellowstone National Park – 1872
– Boone and Crocket Club – 1887
– Sierra Club – 1892
Conservation primarily aimed at
protection of nature within industrialised
nations
Colonial conservation by end of 19th
century
– In Africa, India (1865)
– Resistance to colonial conservation in India
Motives of colonial conservation
Resources appropriated both for use of
private capital and as a source of revenue
Response to environmental degradation
Reflected ideas of tropical nature as ‘Eden’
and to be protected from rash of humanity
Conservation for hunting (mostly in Africa)
– Commercial hunting for ivory and skin
– Hunting for meat for railway construction
workers
– Ritualised/idealised hunting with obsession for
sportsmanship, adventure
Post WW–II Conservation Efforts
Renewed through:
– International office for the protection of nature (IOPN)
– International Committee for Bird Preservation (ICBP),
and
– Swiss league for protection of nature
Basle Conference in 1946 by UNESCO
– Need for a new organisation and constitution
1948: a constitution adopted with a new name:
International Union for Protection of Nature (IUPN)
1956: IUPN changed to International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCN)
IUCN
Focused outside industrialised world
Collected data on endangered species
Conservation of wider resources than simply
wild life
Conservation – “management of air, water, soil,
mineral and living species including human, so as to
achieve the highest possible quality of life” (New
Delhi Conference, 1969)
– Africa Conference in 1968: conservation of
economic resources of soil and water
3. Tropical Ecology
Science of Ecology developed by end of 19th
cen. in Europe and USA
Ecology offered new, value-free and
apolitical ways of not only understanding but
also managing nature
Science of ecology applied to environment of
tropical world
– Analysed the vegetation of the tropics
British Ecological Society – founded in 1914
– Published ‘Journal of Ecology’
4. Ecology and the Balance of Nature
(1920s – 30s)
Ecology provided a scientific methodology for
analysis of environment
Development of animal ecology (1927)
Ecology’s contribution for SD thinking
– Concept of ecosystem
– Idea of balance between predator and prey
– Idea of maximum sustainable yield
– Ideas of equilibrium and stability
Nature as a machine, which could be upset with
human intervention
Ecologists as scientific managers of environment
and engineers of nature
5. Ecological managerialism (post war)
Significant role of ecology in the post war era
Ecology: not as a source of data, but ‘a
model for practice of development’
Science of ecology and environment not only
to inform development, but to ‘direct dev.’
Ecological managerialism penetrated into
development planning
The whole process led to an environmental
thinking of the developmental process
6. Ecology and Economic Development
By 1950s/60s: a recognition of ecological impacts
of development
– Attempts for ‘environmentally benign dev.’
Several international meetings/conferences
followed
– Virginia conf. in 1968: ecological aspects of international
dev
– Rome Conf. in 1970: ecological impacts of dev
Publication of ‘Ecological Principles of Economic
Development’ by IUCN & Conservation Foundation
Discussions about ecological impacts of large dams
Development of principles of Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA)
7. Environmentalism and global crisis
Rise of new environmentalism in late 60s and
70s in US and Western Europe
– 1972: Stockholm Conference – environmental
crisis is global crisis
– Growth of neo-malthusian thinking (talk about
population growth)
Important publicaitons
– Tragedy of commons – G. Hardins, 1968
– Only one earth – Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos,
1972
– Limits to growth – Meadows et al, 1972
– Blue print for survival – Goldsmith et al., 1972