FeatureSustainability and sustainable development: Historical and conceptual review
Introduction
As we approach the end of the second millenium, we find ourselves overwhelmed by complexities unprecedented in human history. Today, mankind has the capacity to produce far more information than anyone can absorb, to foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change far faster than anyone’s ability to keep pace (Senge 1990). Parallel to (or as a result of) this unprecedented labyrinth of complexity, we have a myriad of systemic dysfunction, each with its own ecological, economic, and social dimensions without simple cause or solution. This has led to the evolution of new concepts, including that of sustainable development as a basis for overcoming the environmental challenges.
It has been nearly a decade since the terms “sustainable development” and “sustainability” “rose to the prominence of mantra—or a shibboleth” (Daly 1996) following the 1987 publication of the UN-sponsored World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) report, Our Common Future. Despite its acclaimed vagueness and ambiguity, the WCED definition of sustainable development has been highly instrumental in developing a “global view” with respect to our planet’s future.
Since then, thousands of initiatives have been taken at local, national, and global levels in an attempt to address different aspects of the environmental challenges. A number of encouraging local outcomes have ensued from these activities. However, their impact in shaping “our common future” on a more sustainable basis seems to be minimal when measured against the enormity of the global environmental challenges. This has led to an increasing level of frustration and disenchantment, even among the different groups promoting the concept of sustainable development (Mebratu 1996).
In the 1980s, some proclaimed that sustainable development was no more than a catch phrase that eventually would wither out as the concept of appropriate technology of the 1970s did. Contrary to this belief, the influence of the concept has increased significantly in national and international policy development, making it the core element of the policy documents of governments, international agencies, and business organizations. This has led to a widening of the discourse on the concept of sustainable development, resulting in a wide variety of definitions and interpretations.
This article reviews the environmental parallels in human history, the historical perspective of the evolution of the concept of sustainable development, and the current definitions and interpretations of sustainable development. Furthermore, the article identifies the major conceptual flaws of current definitions, together with the source of the flaws.
Section snippets
The Ecological Parallel
The natural system possesses self-regulating mechanisms, which are composed of a complex web of positive and negative feedback systems operating within the context of the carrying, regeneration, and assimilation capacity of the respective systems. Mobility of plants and animals, as an essential element of self-regulation of the biotic system, has played a major role in the evolution of the planet Earth. As an integral part of the animal kingdom, mobility governed by ecological factors has
The Evolution of the Concept
The report, Our Common Future, published by WCED, is taken as a starting point for most current discussions on the concept of sustainable development. This report, a comprehensive one produced through a global partnership, constituted a major political turning point for the concept of sustainable development. But it is neither the starting point nor the possible end of the conceptual development process. As any conceptual process governed by general evolutionary theory, there are some
Conceptual Analysis
Beginning with the general position on the pending environmental crisis faced by humanity, one finds two extremely polarized variations. At one end of the environmental debate spectrum is the Limits to Growth school, advocated by such groups as the Club of Rome, “which has done much to dramatise (Bhaskar and Glyn 1995) the issue of environmental constraints by projecting a drastic showdown and even collapse.” At the other end are the technocrat/economist optimists, exemplified perhaps by parts
Cross-Cutting Flaws
Alongside the variations of interpretation within the different versions, one observes fundamental flaws running across the different versions of sustainability. These cross-cutting flaws are discussed under the headings of epistemological flaws, the cosmic (mis) perception, the misconception of the “environment,” and ethics and vision.
Conclusion
Contrary to the dominant belief of attributing ecological disaster exclusively to the industrial society, there is strong historical evidence that ecological factors were key elements in the rise and fall of ancient civilization and in two of the major social transformations, namely, the agricultural and industrial transformations. An in-depth look at the different religious teachings, medieval philosophies, and traditional beliefs as the major repositories of human knowledge besides modern
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