Sustainable Development and Sustainable Science. Where We Came From, Where We Are Now and Where We Are Heading? Part I: The History of the Concept
Magdaléna Drastichová
Technical University of Ostrava (Czechia)
Abstract
This work focuses on the origin, the history and milestones that led to the conceptualization of sustainable development (SD). Not only is the concept of SD broad, but it is often used interchangeably with the more general (but sometimes also more specific) concept of sustainability. The concept of SD is analysed based on its development and relationships with sustainability and related scientific (theoretical) and practical concepts. The rationale behind this work lies in clarifying the meaning of SD, including the concept of sustainability, and, on the basis of this, identifying the main ways of moving closer towards the aims of SD, including quality of life and wellbeing. The limitations of the concept are identified and summarized, as are the alternatives to SD and sustainability. The rationale behind this work lies not only in the clarifying of the SD concept, but also in the normative evaluation of this concept in relation to the wellbeing and quality of life of the Earth’s population for an infinite time period, while maintaining the supply of ecosystem services which the planet provides, taking into account that these resources are not only a source of people’s wellbeing, but are essential for people’s survival in general. Hence this work includes an in-depth sophisticated consideration of the SD concept based on its historical development, with a focus on the most crucial milestones, as well as normative assessments of the concept resulting from this knowledge.
JEL Classification: I10, I13, I15, I18, Q01
Keywords:
development, history, progress, quality of life, sustainable development, sustainability, wellbeingReferences
ACHTERHUIS H., 1993, Scarcity and Sustainability, in: Global Ecology, ed. Sachs, W.: 104-116, Zed Books, London.
Google Scholar
AGYEMAN J., BULLARD R. D., EVANS B., 2003, Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Google Scholar
AKENJI L, BENGTSSON M., 2014, Making sustainable consumption and production the core of sustainable development goals, Sustainability, 6(2): 513-529.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su6020513
Google Scholar
ALLEN R., 1980, How to Save the World, Kogan Page, London.
Google Scholar
ASARA V., OTERO I., DEMARIA F., CORBERA E., 2015, Socially Sustainable Degrowth as a Social-Ecological Transformation, Sustainability Science, 10(3): 375-384, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0321-9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0321-9
Google Scholar
AZMANOVA A., PALLEMAERTS M., 2006, The European Union and Sustainable Development: Internal and External Dimensions, Politeia/VUB Brussels University Press, Brussels, Belgium.
Google Scholar
BAKER S., 2006, Sustainable development. Routledge, London and New York.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203495933
Google Scholar
BATEMAN I. J., MACE G. M., FEZZI C., ATKINSON G., TURNER K., 2011. Economic analysis for ecosystem service assessments, Environmental and Resource Economics, 48: 177-218, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-010-9418-x.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-010-9418-x
Google Scholar
BEEKS J. C., 2016, Which of the current diverse ideas on alternative Economics are the best for adequately and Comprehensively addressing the great Transition to climate, energy, and biodiversity Sustainability? California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.
Google Scholar
BENGTSSON M., ALFREDSSON E., COHEN M., LOREK S., SCHROEDER P., 2018. Transforming systems of consumption and production for achieving the sustainable development goals: moving beyond efficiency, Sustainability Science, 13: 1533-1547, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0582-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0582-1
Google Scholar
BOYD J., BANZHAF S., 2007. What are ecosystem services? The need for standardized environmental accounting units, Ecological Economics, 63(2-3): 616-626, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.01.002
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.01.002
Google Scholar
CAPRA F. 1983, The Turning Point: Science, society and the rising culture, Wildwood House, London.
Google Scholar
CARSON R., 1962, Silent Spring, Fawcett Crest, New York, Reprint edition, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1970.
Google Scholar
CARLEY M., CHRISTIE I., 1992, Managing Sustainable Development, Earthscan, London.
Google Scholar
COOMER J., 1979, Quest for a Sustainable Society, Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK.
Google Scholar
DRASTICHOVA M., 2018, The Theory and Measurement of Sustainable Development, SAEI, 52, VSB-TU Ostrava, Ostrava.
Google Scholar
DREXHAGE J., MURPHY D., 2010, Sustainable Development: From Brundtland to Rio 2012, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), New York.
Google Scholar
DU PISANI J. A., 2006, Sustainable development – historical roots of the concept, Environmental Sciences 3(2): 83-96.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15693430600688831
Google Scholar
ECKERSLEY R. 1992, Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an ecocentric Approach, UCL Press, London.
Google Scholar
EHRLICH, P. R., 1968, The Population Bomb, 1st ed., Ballantine Books, New York.
Google Scholar
EISENMENGER N., PICHLER M., KRENMAYR N., NOLL D., PLANK B., SCHALMANN E., WANDL M.-T., GINGRICH S., 2020, The Sustainable Development Goals prioritize economic growth over sustainable resource use: a critical reflection on the SDGs from a socio-ecological perspective, Sustainability Science, 15: 1101-1110, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00813-x.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00813-x
Google Scholar
GOLDSMITH E., 1972, Blueprint for Survival, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Google Scholar
GOWDY J. M., 1994. Discussion papers: progress and environmental sustainability, Environmental Ethics 16(1): 41-55, https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics199416140.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/enviroethics199416140
Google Scholar
GROBER U., 2007, Deep roots: A conceptual history of 'sustainable development' (Nachhaltigkeit), WZB Discussion Paper, No. P 2007-002, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB), Berlin.
Google Scholar
GROBER U., CUNNINGHAM R., 2012, Sustainability: A cultural history: 156, Green Books, Cambridge.
Google Scholar
HANDL, G., 2012, Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Declaration), 1972 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992, United Nations, https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/dunche/dunche.html (https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/dunche/dunche_e.pdf).
Google Scholar
HARDIN G., 1968. The tragedy of the commons, Science, New Series 162(3859), p. 1243-1248.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243
Google Scholar
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), 2002, Summary of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Earth Negotiations Bulletin, 22(51): 1-18.
Google Scholar
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), 1980, World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development, IUCN-UNEP-WWF.
Google Scholar
IUCN, UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme), WWF (World Wildlife Fund), 1991, Caring for the Earth: a Strategy for Sustainable Living, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Google Scholar
KATES R. W., PARRIS T. M., LEISEROWITZ A.A., 2005, What is Sustainable Development? Goals, indicators, values, and Practice, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 47(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2005.10524444.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2005.10524444
Google Scholar
KLARIN T., 2018, The Concept of Sustainable Development: From its Beginning to the Contemporary Issues, Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, 21(1): 67-94, https://doi.org/10.2478/zireb-2018-0005.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/zireb-2018-0005
Google Scholar
KUMAR S., KUMAR N., VIVEKADHISH S., 2016, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Unfinished Agenda and Strengthening Sustainable Development and Partnership. Indian journal of community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine 41(1): 1-4, https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.170955.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.170955
Google Scholar
La NOTTE A., D’AMATO D., MÄKINEN H., PARACCHINI M. L., LIQUETE C., EGOH B., GENELETTI, D., CROSSMAN, N. D., 2017, Ecosystem services classification: A systems ecology perspective of the cascade framework, Ecological Indicators, 74: 392-402, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.11.030.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.11.030
Google Scholar
LOREK S., SPANGENBERG J. H., 2014, Sustainable consumption within a sustainable economy – beyond green growth and green economies, Journal of Cleaner Production, 63: 33-44, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.08.045.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.08.045
Google Scholar
MA 2005, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.
Google Scholar
MAES J., LIQUETE C., TELLER A., ERHARD M., PARACCHINI M. L., BARREDO J. I., GRIZZETTI B., CARDOSO A., SOMMA F., PETERSEN J., 2016. An indicator framework for assessing ecosystem services in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, Ecosystem services, 17:14-23.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.10.023
Google Scholar
MARTINEZ-ALIER J., 2003, The Environmentalism of the Poor: A study of ecological conflicts and valuation, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781843765486
Google Scholar
MEADOWS D. H., CLUB OF ROME, POTOMAC ASSOCIATES, 1972, The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind, Universe Books, New York.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1349/ddlp.1
Google Scholar
MERCHANT C., 1980, The Death of Nature: Women, ecology and the scientific revolution, Wildwood House, London.
Google Scholar
MOLINA M. J., ROWLAND F. S., 1974, Stratospheric sink for chlorofluoromethanes: Chlorine atomc-atalysed destruction of ozone, Nature 249(5460): 810-812.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/249810a0
Google Scholar
MÜLLER F., BURKHARD B., 2012, The indicator side of ecosystem services, Ecosystem Services 1(1): 26-30, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2012.06.001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2012.06.001
Google Scholar
Drastichová /Problemy Ekorozwoju/Problems of Sustainable Development 2/2021, 7-18 17
Google Scholar
OECD 2020, A territorial approach to the Sustainable Development Goals: synthesis report, OECD Urban Policy Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/0a305c62-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/0a305c62-en (20.02.2022).
Google Scholar
OLIVEIRA A., CALILI R., ALMEIDA M. F., SOUSA M., 2019, A systemic and contextual framework to define a country’s 2030 agenda from a foresight perspective, Sustainability, 11(22): 6360, https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226360.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226360
Google Scholar
PAXTON L., 1993, Enviro Facts 3: sustainable development. Howick, South Africa: Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa.
Google Scholar
PSA (the Philippine Statistics Authority), 2022, How are the Sustainable Development Goals different from MDGs?, https://psa.gov.ph/content/how-are-sustainable-development-goals-different-mdgs (26.03.2022).
Google Scholar
REDCLIFT M., 1992, Sustainable Development and Global Environmental Change: Implications of a changing agenda, Global Environmental Change: 32-42.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0959-3780(92)90034-5
Google Scholar
REDCLIFT M., BENTON T., 1994, Social Theory and the Global Environment, 1st ed., Routledge, London, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203427903.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203427903
Google Scholar
SCHUMACHER E. F., 1973, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered: 25 Years Later... with Commentaries, Hartley & Marks Publishers, Pradway.
Google Scholar
SPANGENBERG J. H., 2008, The World at Crossroads. Towards an expansionist or a sustainable future – lessons from history, https://www.academia.edu/339472/Sustainable_Development_-_Past_Conflicts_and_Future_Challenges._Taking_stock_of_the_sustainability_discourse.
Google Scholar
THE ECOLOGIST, 1993, Whose Common Future? Earthscan, London.
Google Scholar
THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD), 2002, Summary of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Earth Negotiations Bulletin 22(51):1-18.
Google Scholar
THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD), 2022, Do Mega-Conferences Advance Sustainable Development? Still Only One Earth: Lessons from 50 years of UN sustainable development policy, https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/do-mega-conferences-advance-sustainable-development (2.12.2021).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS (UN), 2022a, Millennium Declaration. Millennium Summit of the United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/development/devagenda/millennium.shtml (1.02.2022).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, 2022b, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/rio20 (2.12.2021).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, 2012, Letter dated 18 June 2012 from the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, A /CONF.216/5*, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N12/378/75/PDF/N1237875.pdf?OpenElement (3.02.2022).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, 2002a, Global Challenge. Global Opportunity. Trends in Sustainable Development, published for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 26 August – 4 September 2002, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/critical_trends_report_2002.pdf (2.03.2022).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, 2002b, Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August – 4 September 2002, https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/478154#record-files-collapse-header (3.02.2022).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, 1997, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992), http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/envirp2.html (2.02.2022).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS, 1992, Agenda 21, United Nations Conference on Environment & Development Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 to 14 June 1992, United Nations, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf (29.12.2021).
Google Scholar
UN General Assembly, 2015, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, seventieth session Agenda items 15 and 116, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, A/RES/70/1, Distr.: General 21 October 2015, https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E (5.12.2021).
Google Scholar
UN General Assembly, 2012, The future we want, Sixty-sixth session, Agenda item 19, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 27 July 2012, A/RES/66/288*, Distr.: General 11 September 2012, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/66/288&Lang =E (3.12.2021).
Google Scholar
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP), 2022, Human Development Reports, http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev (30.01.2022).
Google Scholar
STODDART H., RIDDLESTONE S., VILELA M., 2012, Earthsummit 2012. Principles for the Green Economy a collection of principles for the Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, https://earthcharter.org/library/principles-green-economy/ (3.02.2022).
Google Scholar
TEEB, 2009, The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity for national and international policy makers – summary: responding to the value of nature 2009, TEEB – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for National and International Policy Makers, Geneva, Switzerland.
Google Scholar
VAN ZON H., 2002, Geschiedenis & Duurzame Ontwikkeling. Duurzame Ontwikkeling in Historisch Perspectief: Enkele Verkenningen, Werkgroep Disciplinaire Verdieping Duurzame Ontwikkeling, Nijmegen/Groningen.
Google Scholar
VON CARLOWITZ H. C., 1713, Sylvicultura Oeconomica, oder Haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäßige Anweisung zur Wilden Baum Zucht, Braun, Leipzig.
Google Scholar
WALLACE K. J., 2007, Classification of ecosystem services: problems and solutions, Biological Conservation, 139: 235-246, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2007.07.015.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2007.07.015
Google Scholar
VITOUSEK, 1994, Beyond Global Warming: Ecology and Global Change, Ecology, 75(7): 1861-1876.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1941591
Google Scholar
WARD B., DUBOS R., 1973, Only One Earth. The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet, 304 p., Harmondsworth, Mddx: Penguin Books, England.
Google Scholar
Drastichová /Problemy Ekorozwoju/Problems of Sustainable Development 2/2021, 7-18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35784/pe.2022.2.01
Google Scholar
WEITZ N., CARLSEN H., NILSSON M., SKÅNBERG K., 2018, Towards systemic and contextual priority setting for implementing the 2030 Agenda, Sustainability Science, 13: 531-548, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0470-0.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0470-0
Google Scholar
WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (WCED), 1987, Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.
Google Scholar
Authors
Magdaléna DrastichováTechnical University of Ostrava Czechia
Statistics
Abstract views: 95PDF downloads: 55
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.