SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Development and Definition
1. Concept evolving for over 40 years since the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm)
  1. Since it gained prominence, its definition and description has varied
  2. Gained recognition alongside other related issues e.g. conservation, ecosystem services and social concerns
  3. Has to evolve and be adapted to the real world: for all sectors including finance, investors, economists and traders
    1. SD Projects need to be:
      1. 1) Economically and Financially Viable
      2. 2) Environmentally Sound
      3. 3) Take into account Social Issues
      4. 4) Governed & Supported Appropriately
    2. National Income redefined as: "sustainable social net product" (Sir John Hicks)
    3. Savings, as a % of GDP, should be greater to or equal to the sum of the depreciation of human knowledge plus the depreciation of human-made capital plus the depreciation of natural capital
      1. Strong sustinability requires EACH to increase or remain constant over time, Weak just requires SUM to increase or remain constant
  4. Originated with quantities such as MSY - working at the maximums - but this is not necessarily sustainable in the long term
2. 1987: World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by the Prime Minister of Norway: Gro Harlem Brundtland, report: "Our Common Future" or the Brundtland Report
  1. landmark document
  2. creating separately existing environmental institutions is not enough because env issues are an integral part of all development policies
  3. Env issues are crucial to economic consideration as part of energy decisions, social issues and development work
  4. "Sustained human progress not just in a few places for a few years, but for the entire planet into the distant future"
3. 1992 UN Conference of Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro - The Earth Summit:
  1. Endorsed "Agenda 21" a "Think piece" and program of action governing human activities with impact on the environment
    1. 2002 Wold Summit on Sustainable Development, heads of state and world leaders committed to implement Agenda 21
  2. Finalised the UN Climate Change Convention and Biodiversity Convention, signed my many heads of states
    1. responsible for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol
      1. It's Clean Development Mechanism: designed in part to assist participating developing countries in achieving sustainable development
4. Brundtland Report 1987: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
  1. Reppetto, R. 1986 "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 systems should be managed so that we can live off the dividends of our reourses"
  2. Daly, H.E. 1987 "increase in moral knowledge or ethical capital for mankind"
  3. Munasinghe, M. 1993: 3 approaches to SD - the triple bottom line
    1. 1) economic - maximising income while maintaining a constant or increasing stock of capital
    2. 2) ecological - maintaining resilience and robustness of biological and physical systems
    3. 3) social-cultural - maintaining stability of social and cultural systems
    4. used to gauge success of projects
Key References: Rogers, Jalal and Boyd 2008 "An Introduction to Sustainable Development"
Achievability
1. Measuring Environmental Quality (Rogers and Jalal et al. 1997): "9 ways to achieve sustainability"
  1. 1) Leave/Return everything in a pristine state
  2. 2) Develop without overwhelming the carrying capacity of the system
    1. what is the globes carrying capacity?
    2. If it is exceeded - what next?
  3. 3) Sustainability will take care of itself as economic growth proceeds: Kuznets Curve
    1. continuously degrading system with development of populations
  4. 4) Polluter and victim can arrive at an efficient solution themselves (Coase)
    1. Can work well on a small scale - national or global?
    2. Transaction costs high
  5. 5) Let the markets take care of it - the invisible hand
    1. Prices on pollution and permits on pollution trading
  6. 6) Internalise the Externalities
    1. How to value and quantify externalities for economic analysis?
  7. 7) National economic accounting systems should reflect defensive expenditures - accounting should consider resources
    1. GDP is benefited by pollution and resource use: indicates expenditures
  8. 8) Reinvest rents for non renewable resources - strong and weak sustainability
    1. large oil companies are investing profits into renewable technologies
  9. 9) Leave future generations the options or the capacity to be as well off as we are
    1. Can we continue to progress and improve? How do we ensure it?
2. Life - Cycle Analysis
  1. can prove the sustainability of small lifestyle choices
  2. look at raw materials, production and disposal (potential heat recovery) / reusability
  3. Environmental impacts: pollution, emissions, raw materials, utilities e.g. electricity
  4. imperative to achieve SD to consider environmental concerns, new legal requirement, economic and social costs
3. Considerations
  1. population growth, consumption, production, pollution, effects of legal requirements, poverty, international law and environmental agreements
  2. poverty, population, inequality, pollution, policy and market failures, prevention and management of natural disasters
    1. Environmental Degradation and Poverty
      1. The two cycles need to be broken if development is to be sustainable
Good Governance
1. Accountability - answerable for their actions and behaviour
2. Participation & Decentralisation - involvement of stakeholders and redistribution away from a central organisation - to local governance
3. Predictability - laws, regulations and policies must be fair and consistently applied so that people can predict the consequences and outcomes of violating them
4. Transparency - info on government actions and policies before and after action, must be available to the general public

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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	Created by ka783 almost 9 years ago