Unit 03_ Sustainable Development_ Exploring the Contradictions
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Dec 6, 2023
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Unit 03: Sustainable Development:
Exploring the Contradictions
Activity 3.1: Sustainable Development
This self-guided activity is ungraded and designed to encourage further contemplation
of the unit topic. The concept of sustainable development is often defined as the ability
to meet “needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.”
To get us thinking about the inter-generational politics of sustainability and development,
try to think of some examples of costs and benefits that have been passed onto you by
previous generations. Along the same lines, what are some of the contemporary
environmental problems (i.e., problems created by your generation) that are going to
affect the lives and needs of future generations?
You may want to conduct a search on the internet for more information.
Instructor’s Notes for Unit 03
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is one of those ideas that captured the imagination of an
entire generation of environmentalists, politicians, intellectuals, students, public officials
and the general public. However, it is also an idea that is frustratingly difficult to define
and, arguably this is why it has had such a widespread appeal. This week, we explore
some of the ways in which sustainable development has been interpreted and applied
at the international level (e.g. in the form of the sustainable development goals) and in
the Canadian context.
We begin by situating the concept in relation to environmental policy discussions about
the ways in which sustainability has been used in governing renewable natural
resources, such as forests and fisheries. Here we pay particular attention to Dryzek’s
discussion about resource management, including the idea of “maximum sustainable
yield.” Next, we follow the globalization of the concept, exploring the role that
international conferences - such as the Stockholm Summit of 1972 and the Rio Earth
Summit in 1992 - played in articulating sustainable development as a set of principles
that could be used in reconciling the imperatives of economic growth with the need to
protect the environment. More recently, we look at the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), the 17 goals that were agreed upon by the UN General Assembly in 2015 to
address multiple challenges relating to poverty, sustainability and economic
development. Finally, we examine the ways in which the sustainable development has
been interpreted and applied in the Canadian context.
Economic Growth as a Priority?
In completing the required readings by Dryzek, Toner and Meadowcroft and Griggs et
al., it is important to bear in mind the following issues that have important bearing on the
ways in which we understand and evaluate the contribution of sustainable development
to contemporary politics and policy.
One issue that has long pre-occupied critics of sustainable development is the notion
that it upholds a model of development that prioritizes economic growth at the expense
of other important priorities, such as environmental sustainability, social equity and
respect for human rights. If we define sustainable development as a model that meets
the “needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs,” then we would be hard-pressed to find economic policies that actually
adhere to these norms and principles. Indeed, many critics (cited in the Dryzek reading)
have argued that the concept ignores the structural-historical factors that drive
environmentally destructive practices, including especially the relationship between
industrialization and economic growth. For this reason, many have argued that
sustainable development is at best a reformist agenda that legitimates the status quo
while ignoring the needs of the global poor. Others therefore contrast the reformism of
sustainable development with a more radical agenda (e.g. the “environmentalism of the
poor”) aimed at addressing the root causes of global poverty. At the heart of this agenda
is a much stronger emphasis on the ability of poor and politically marginal groups in
society to secure and sustain access to resources and a healthy environment.
Geopolitical Dimensions of Sustainable Development
A second and related issue concerns the geopolitical dimensions of sustainable
development. One of the issues that pre-occupied both the Stockholm Summit in 1972
and the Earth Summit in 1992 was the need to incorporate low income countries into a
global consensus on the environment. On issues like biodiversity conservation and
climate change, many developing countries argued - and continue to argue - that global
environmental agreements (such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change) impose serious constraints on their ability to develop. At the heart of this
position is the notion that wealthy countries were able to industrialize on the basis of
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