Economic Vs Environmental Sustainability

Sustainability has 3 pillars:


Environmental - preserving needs of today without compromising needs of future. Involves protecting biodiversity and reducing pollution


Economic - using resources in an optimal way that can be achieved over the long term. Involves access to money, no corruption etc.


Social - a social system that operates in a way of keeping a level of wellbeing that can be sustained in the future Involves freedom of speech and access to healthcare and education.


The common problem faced is that as countries develop and industrialize they consume more and more natural resources are used up. This is happening at rate which is not sustainable. The challenge faced is that western consumption needs to be curbed and we increasing the standard of living in developing countries without increasing environmental impact or resource use.
Traditionally countries have developed at expense of environment. However according to the Kuznets curve a country gets to a stage where in order to increase GDP per capita further it needs to improve the environment. This could be due to the increased wealth and developed society are more aware of the environment. German economist Karl-Heinze Paque says that 'environmental protection comes from affluence'.


ESI was the original indicator of environmental sustainable development. It was in place from 1999 to 2005, it had 21 indicators and Finland topped the ESI with 75.1,
Since 205 the ESI has been replaced with the EPI which ranks countries and focuses more on outcome indicators. Switzerland top the EPI followed by Luxembourg. Note that the top 10 on the EPI are developed countries this backs up the statement from Paque.


So the real problem lies with the 2/3 of the population living in developing countries who need to improve the quality of life without destroying the environment by using up resources or impacting the environment too heavily. We need to live within our limits.


An example of sustainable development is in the Galapagos islands who pursue sustainable tourism. See ecotourism post to see case study.


Another example of sustainable development is Curitiba in Brazil. See other post for case study.