Language
Country/Area
No result found
The Roots of Sustainable Development: How a 1989 Blueprint Changed the World
Since the publication of the Green Economy Blueprint in 1989, the debate on sustainable development has raged. This work, written by Peirce, Marcandiya, and Barbier, among others, provides a fundamental theoretical basis for the interchangeability between natural and man-made capital, thereby promoting the development of environmental economics. Scholars at that time proposed the concepts of "weak sustainability" and "strong sustainability", which adopted completely different strategies in resource management and economic development.
Weak sustainability and strong sustainability
Weak sustainability advocates that natural capital and human capital are interchangeable, which means that even if natural capital suffers losses, as long as the value of human capital exceeds or is equal to the value of natural capital, it can be considered sustainable.
The idea is that different types of value can be measured in the same way. Therefore, replacing an area of natural forest with a park or farmland can be considered sustainable if the economic or recreational value it provides is equal to its loss of biodiversity and other environmental impacts. Strong sustainability, on the other hand, believes that natural capital should be maintained or enhanced independently of human-made capital, arguing that certain natural resources cannot be replaced because they serve critical ecological functions.
Theoretical foundation of sustainable development
Sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present generation while protecting the environment and ensuring that the needs of future generations can be met.
In order to better understand the concept of weak sustainability, it is first necessary to explore the capital theory of sustainability. This concept is not only about the contemporary distribution of resources, but also covers issues of intergenerational equality. As a key theory, the capital approach prompts policymakers in theory and practice to evaluate the equitable distribution of resources, which should ideally leave future generations with at least the same level of capital as previous generations.
Theoretical development and practical cases
An example of the direct impact of weak sustainability advocacy is the Norwegian government pension fund. The fund is invested by Norway's state-owned oil company Statoil ASA, which uses surplus profits from its oil to build a pension portfolio currently worth more than $1 trillion. This capital not only generates income, but also reduces scrutiny for future generations from becoming an extreme consideration. Another example is Nauru in the South Pacific. The country is famous for its phosphate mining. Although it has a high per capita income in the short term, it has paid an irreversible price on the environment and almost made the entire island uninhabitable. This is undoubtedly a threat to the weak. Important challenges to the concept of sustainability.
Governance and policy recommendations
In practice, economist Hartwick's laws provide a model for governance. This model determines how much investment in man-made capital is needed to offset the consumption of natural resources. According to this work, all profits derived from non-renewable resources must theoretically be invested in man-made capital.
Criticisms of the model
Critics point out that weak sustainability may not reflect true environmental conditions, which is particularly important for countries facing resource depletion and biodiversity loss.
Although some scholars such as Beckman believe that the concept of sustainability may be redundant and unrealistic, the exploration of sustainable development has not stopped there. On the contrary, re-examining “social legacy” may open up new ideas for the future view of resources.
As society pays more and more attention to sustainability, can we rethink a new path of sustainable development from the lessons of the past to promote a balance between ecological protection and economic growth?
