Linking the discourse on sustainability and governance

Abstract

During the 1960s and 1970s concerns intensified about the degradation of the environment as a result of economic growth in the industrialized world, including what was then the European Economic Community (EEC). The high profile (and very pessimistic in tone) ‘Club of Rome’ report published in 1972 was extremely influential (Meadows et al. 1972). The report was criticized, however, as it concentrated solely on the physical limits to growth and portrayed the future as one in which environmental ‘Armageddon’ would be the outcome of the then chosen path of economic development. The discourse which was current during this period was one of seemingly irreconcilable differences between those whose focus was the environment and others whose focus was economic growth and development. The environmental discourse was seen as incompatible and separate from that of the development discourse. The development discourse consisted of economic growth and modernization theories, but without addressing critical environmental and ecological issues. Both the environmental and the development discourses appeared to ignore questions of inter-generationaldependency and under-development caused by environmental challenges: ‘In short the major theories and models of development articulated under the conservative-capitalist and radical-socialist perspectives (had) a common drawback in their relative indifference towards the implications of environmental issues for human development’ (Haque 2000: 4). As the 1980s progressed, it was evident that such disparate views were unacceptable to politicians and the general public and did not lead to constructive action. The search was on for a more positive and comprehensive model of development which would form the basis of political and economic policies and instruments. The United Nations World Commission on Development (1984) produced what has become the accepted and authoritative conceptual model of sustainable development in its 1987 report (commonly known as the Brundtland Report (BR), named after its Chair, the then Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland). The BR model of sustainable development replaced the Western centric model of development which emphasized economic growth. The model sought to reconcile the ecological, social and economic dimensions of development both at the present time and into the future:Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs . . . [furthermore] sustainable development is a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional changes are made consistent with future as well as present needs.