Criticism of sustainable development and Sustainable development in the Southeast Asian context

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Criticism of sustainable development: The implementation in Southeast Asia

. Introduction

The concept of 'sustainable development' has become a popular topic of intense debate and extensive discourse since its inclusion in the World Commission on Environment and Development Bruntland Report in 1987. 'Our common future' is now believed to be the discourse of 'sustainable development'. Academics originally thought it was a breakthrough and had the potential to become ethos for further positive economic and environmental reforms. Unfortunately, following the promulgation of the sustainable development concept, its actual meaning became increasingly clouded, with different definitions being adopted across groups. Some people may think that the term sustainable development 'has become more of a catch-phrase than a revolution of thought, and employing its use has simply fuelled the interests of advocates of exponential economic growth, undermining environmental reforms.'(Hove,2004:48). Others contended that the common usage of'sustainable development' was too narrow in its preoccupation with stewardship and the interests of future generations while these were important factors in the concept, it should also include other goals, such as 'providing adequate income...reducing disparities...and providing equitable access to resources.'(Pierce,1992:312). Sustainable development is often discussed as a purely environmental objective, but this paper will explore its broader relevance and its emergence as a new development paradigm at many scales for example political, economic, social and cultural aspects. This paper is going to analyse both the positive and negative points of the discourses of sustainable development and draw out the practical problems that stand within the world today. The essay outlines the issues concerning sustainable development that it has addressed, and even more importantly, what it has failed to address and whether the discussions it can reflected genuinely new ideas about development. Why did the concept of sustainable development emerge? What exactly is this concept of sustainable development and its relevance for different parts of the world and difference scales of application? These questions would be considered in this essay.

2. Literature review

2.1 The origins of sustainable development

Environmental degradation is now apparent a global problem. In addition to the over consumption and deterioration of what were once considered free goods such as air and water, escalating scarcity of natural resources, deforestation, desertification and threatened bio-diversity are now commonplace across the spectrum. One of the positions put forward is that environmental degradation is the result and inevitable price of economic development. However, environmental quality directly affects human welfare, especially health, living conditions and global climate change. The public generally recognize the need of an 'ongoing system to continue functioning into the indefinite future without being forced into decline through exhaustion...of key resources.' (Pierce, 1992:306) and sustainable development is a strategy by which communities seek economic development approaches that also benefit the local environment and quality of life.

'Sustainable development' is commonly understood to have originated from a publication of UN-affiliated World Commission on Environment and Development(UNCED) in 1986 which is known as 'Brundtland Report'. To describe the way of relieving environmental degradation, the concept of sustainable development has been first used and laid out its guiding principle of 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'(WCED, 1987: 43) It was the starting point for the acknowledgment of the relationship between environmental degradation and poverty and emphasises meeting human needs in a manner that respects intergenerational responsibility. The report concluded that if we continue to use up natural resources as we do at present, if we ignore the plight of the poor, if we continue to pollute and waste, then we can expect a decline in the quality of life.(Pierce, 1992:306). Over-consumption in the first world and poverty in the third world are the major causes of environmental degradation.

Following on Earth Summit from the Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, they had created international agreements which respect the interests of all and protect the integrity of the global environmental and developmental system and recognize the integral and interdependent nature of the Earth. Three supplementary areas were agreed including; a statement of Forestry Principles, the Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biodiversity and it step forward from previous meetings as it concerned not solely our ecosystem, but life itself. There is the idea of the world being one family, with different countries representing family members who should act in each other's best interests - an analogy frequently employed in global environmentalist discourse (Gupta, 1998:302). The conference aimed to establish a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new levels of cooperation among States, key sectors of societies and people. Hopes and expectations were high, with the belief that the world would take major steps towards sustainable development by adhering to the new ideals that integrated economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

Sustainable development is about creating: 1)sustainable economies that equitably meet human needs without extracting resource inputs or expelling wastes in excess of the environment's regenerative capacity, and 2)sustainable human institutions that assure both security and opportunity for social, intellectual, and spiritual growth. It is examining the patterns of development so that future generations can live as well as the present generation. It emphasised that 'Environmental degradation is neither the inevitable price of, nor a desirable path for, economic development.' (UNDP, et al, 2005) It means that in order to protect our earth and its environment from destruction of its resources, we need to reverse the recent development style, improving the quality of human life while protecting the Earth's capacity for regeneration, so that we sustain our environment as our future generation could also be benefited from what we have done.
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2.2 Mainstream concepts of sustainable development

Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony. Rather, it is an ongoing process of evolution in which people take actions leading to development. Apart from the Bruntland Report definition, the concept of sustainable development has been evolved. These approaches can be categorized not only by how they differ in terms of policy toward the environment e.g. ecocentric versus anthropocentric; strong regulation versus free market.

The 'ideal' model aimed at structural change of the society. Growth is measured in qualitative terms and non-monetary wealth through individual quality rather than ...

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