AGEC/FNR 406 LECTURE 35

Unsustainable Agriculture in the Philippines

Sustainable Development

Definition:

A pattern of economic development characterized by a condition in which some arbitrary indicator indicator of HUMAN well being does not decline over time.

The definition is anthropocentric.

attempts to combine efficiency + equity

Sustainability

Starts with a notion of a “capital base” from which current and future well-being are derived.

Contains both economic and ecological components

key issue: relative tradeoffs between natural and other forms of capital

Important Points1. Informed by ecology, but human-focused.

2. Emphasizes ecological limits and discontinuity

3. Emphasizes conservation of critical components of natural capital stock (e.g. critical set-asides)

4. Focuses on limits to deterioration of ecological assets at all levels: local-national-global

5. Asks “what is the carrying capacity of a system?”

6. Asks “what are appropriate measures of resilience?”

7. Questions traditional measures of wealth.

Indicators of Sustainability

Most approaches are consistent with benefit-cost analysis.

1. Green “Net” National Product (gNNP)2. Measures of “genuine savings”

1997 World Bank report: Expanding the Measure of Wealth

Key set of indicators for tracking over time…

Natural capital

Pastureland

Cropland

Timber

Nontimber forest products

Protected areas

Subsoil assets (minerals)

Fishing stocks

Human capital (education)

Social capital (institutions)

Key Indicators of Sustainability

Ecological Economics

Branch of environmental economics that takes as its foundations a strong interpretation of ecological sustainability.

environmental assets are special. rejection of “marginalist” perspective concern about energy and materials use discounting future costs is unacceptable

1. Irreversibility (can’t restore natural capital)

2. Uncertainty (systems poorly understood

3. Scale (threshold effects, large-scale damages)

Key Points 1. Alternative views of what sustainability means

2. Views differ according to options for substituting natural and manufactured capital

3. Global measures are likely to be imprecise

4. Resilience is a useful indicator, but difficult to measure

5. "Green" national income measurements would be a first step: they make SD measurable.

Some approaches to SD 1. Control pop growth, especially in environmentally critical areas

4. Reduce pollution emissions and waste

3. Eliminate reliance on fossil fuels

2. Ensure prices reflect both private and social costs

7. Develop new, appropriate "green" technologies

6. Slow rates of deforestation, soil erosion, and fishery depletion

5. Eliminate poverty, especially in LDCs

UN Agenda 21

Plan of action regarding human-environment impacts

Adopted by 178 governments at the UN Conference on Environment & Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992

Focus: local participation, nine major groups representing various “special” interests.

Follow-up World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002.