Sustainability and change
KGA171 The Global Geography of Change
Presented by Associate Professor Elaine Stratford
Semester 1
Part 1
LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK
Revising
Module 4 Lecture 4
1. In what ways might the state be a key
player in climate change politics and policy?
Why? How are the state’s actions
multiscalar in scope?
2. What is meant by the terms ensuring state,
political convergence and economic
convergence?
3. List the eight stages in the policy cycle.
4. How does policy differ from law and from
procedure?
5. What is the IPCC? Its three working groups?
6. Describe the main objectives of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
7. Define the term ‘scientification of politics’.
8. What are some of the effects on climate
change politics and policy of uncertainty?
9. List and provide examples for each of the
three geographies of climate change.
Man thinking
Learning Objectives
Module 5 Lecture 1
KGA171
Be able to:
• describe the symptoms of
unsustainable development and link
these to insights from earlier lectures
• explain the advent of sustainable
development and its refinement into
the goal of sustainability via the UN
system and international relations
• list and expand on the meaning of the
principles of sustainability
• summarize the main components of
Agenda 21
• explain certain critiques of sustainable
development as ‘inside’ the system it
seeks to overcome
•
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•
demonstrate knowledge of
geographical concepts, earth and
social systems and spatial patterns
of change
create and interpret basic maps,
graphs and field data
identify and analyse different
viewpoints to contribute to debates
about global development
communicate in reflective and
academic writing, referencing
literature when needed
Textbook Reading
Bergman and Renwick (2008) Chapter 9 – read the
introduction and summary, examine headings and
sub-headings, carefully look at illustrations and data,
and skim read text.
Doyle, T. (1998) Sustainable development and Agenda
21: The secular bible of global free markets and
pluralist democracy, Third World Quarterly, 19(4)
pp.771-86.
Critical reading
1.What is the author’s purpose?
2.What key questions or problems does the author
raise?
3.What information, data and evidence does the author
present?
4.What key concepts does the author use to organize
this information, this evidence?
5.What key conclusions is the author coming to? Are
those conclusions justified?
6.What are the author’s primary assumptions?
7.What viewpoints is the author writing from?
8.What are the implications of the author’s reasoning?
[from Foundation for Critical Thinking]
Man reading a book
Part 2
RESTATING THE PROBLEM
1) DEPLETION of (non) renewable resources
in the era of development, 1950-2000 - Infinite growth in a finite world?
WorldWatch Institute (2007)Vital Signs 2007-08: The trends that are shaping our future, WW Norton, New York, 33, 51, 55.
Ecological footprint
2) DAMAGE to ecological
health
3a) DESTRUCTION of
biological diversity
WorldWatch Institute (2007) Vital
Signs 2007-08
3b) DESTRUCTION of cultural diversity
UNESCO (2009)Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
4) DISEQUILIBIRUM in human populations
Bergman and Renwick (2008) p.173.
5) DISTORTION of economic distribution
a country’s size = its proportion of global GDP
See also World Bank (2008)
6) DAMAGE to human health
FAO (2008) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008, FAO, Rome, p.6
7) DENIAL of political and moral responsibility
Millennium Development Goals
Mark Lynch
envision “a new pattern of global integration
built on the foundations of greater equity,
social justice and respect for human
rights… Instead of seizing the moment, the
world’s governments are stumbling towards
a heavily sign-posted and easily avoidable
human development failure – a failure with
profound implications not just for the world’s
poor but for global peace, prosperity and
security”
UNDP (2005) Human Development Report 2005, UNDP,
New York, p.17.
“… we must … [make] the
benefits of our scientific
advances and industrial
progress available for the
improvement and growth of
underdeveloped areas. The old
imperialism – exploitation for
foreign profit – has no place in
our plans ... Greater
production is the key to
prosperity and peace”
[President Harry Truman, 1949,
Speech to US Congress, cited in Rist,
G. (2002) The History of
Development. Zed Books, London,
pp.71-2].
Part 3
DEFINITIONAL SKIRMISHES, HISTORICAL
PATHWAYS, CONCEPTUAL TANGLES
History of the Concept
• 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment Stockholm
• 1980 IUCN World Conservation Strategy
• 1982 UN Conference on Environment and Development
Geneva
• 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development,
Our Common Future [Brundtland Report]
• 1992 Earth Summit
• 2000 UN Millennium Summit
• 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development
Johannesburg
Economy
Society
Environment
Variants on the triple bottom line
Source: Sustainable Measures
a
b
c
Community
Liveability,
SOCIETY
safety
Equity
Sustainability
ENVIRONMENT
Environmental impact
Resource
conservation
ECONOMY
Economic viability
Nuances on the triple bottom line
Source: Eichler (1999)
Cultural
system
Social
system
BIOSPHERE
Governance
system
Economic
system
Source: Eichler
(1999)
Critical resources
Human ecosystem
Natural
Energy
Land & water
Flora & fauna
Materials & Nutrients
Socio-economic
Information
Population
Labour &Capital
Social system
Social institutions
Health
Justice
Faith
Commerce
Education
Leisure
Government
Sustenance
Social cycles
Physiological
Individual
Institutional
Environmental
Social order
Cultural
Organization
Beliefs
Myth
Identity
Age
Gender
Class
Caste
Clan
Social norms Hierarchy
Informal
Wealth
Formal
Power
Status
Knowledge
Territory
Machlis et al. 1997
Sustainable Development: Interpretations
Fault lines of
contestation
Conservative sustainable
development (Business as usual?)
Radical sustainable development
(New way of living?)
Degree of
Environmental
Protection
'Weak'
Natural capital is substitutable
Trade-off between economic
growth and environmental
protection
Nonegalitarian
Limited global redistribution
'Strong'
Acknowledges intrinsic values in
natural environment
Environmental limits
Equity
Participation
'Top-down'
Limited to the implementation
stage
Of instrumental value only
Policy Scope
Narrow interpretation
Restricted to the maintenance of
the resource base
Egalitarian
Recognizes vast maldistributions of
wealth; responsibilities to future
generations
'Bottom-up'
Directed to both objective-setting
and policy-implementation
Of intrinsic value
Broad interpretation
Includes both the maintenance of
environmental integrity and sound
human development – quality of
life
Part 4
NAILING THE PRINCIPLES,
ABSORBING THE CRITIQUES
Principles of Sustainability (1)
• Integration
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Community involvement
Precaution
Equity
Continual improvement
Ecological integrity
Principles of sustainability (2)
• Integration
• Community
involvement
•
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•
•
Precaution
Equity
Continual improvement
Ecological integrity
Principles of sustainability (3)
• Integration
• Community involvement
• Precaution
• Equity
• Continual improvement
• Ecological integrity
Precaution explored
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Preventative anticipation
Safeguarding ecological space
Proportional responses/cost-effectiveness of margins of error
Duty of care/onus of proof on those who propose change
Promoting the cause of intrinsic natural rights
Paying for past ecological debt
Principles of sustainability (4)
• Integration
• Community involvement
• Precaution
• Equity
• Continual improvement
• Ecological integrity
Principles of sustainability (5)
•
•
•
•
Integration
Community involvement
Precaution
Equity
• Continual
improvement
• Ecological integrity
Principles of sustainability (6)
•
•
•
•
•
Integration
Community involvement
Precaution
Equity
Continual improvement
• Ecological integrity
Agenda 21, Rio Declaration, and WSSD documents
Critiques of sustainability and sustainable
development