Environment and Development: Attitudinal Impediments to Policy Integration

Abstract

Attitudes towards the concept of sustainable development—an approach to development which integrates economic, social, and environmental, considerations in development planning and decision-making—are evaluated according to six sectors of public interest: the private sector, the general public, government, the academic and research sector, labour, and the voluntary sector.The study is empirical. Attitudinal data are gathered from a content analysis of public briefs submitted in 1983 and 1984 to the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada. For each sector, attitudes towards development planning are assessed, with particular attention given to attitudes affecting the integration of economic and environmental considerations in development planning.The study shows that a commitment to private-sector views is strongly, although negatively, related to environmental concern. Private-sector interventions are not only the least sympathetic of all six sectors towards the integration of economic and environmental policies, but the majority of interveners in this sector are opposed to the very concept. Given this, there are major attitudinal obstacles to the acceptance of the concept beyond the rhetorical level.