Teaching Note: Session I

Sustainability: Definitions, Emergence & Approaches

What is Sustainability?
Sustain + Ability
Or, the ability to sustain
IUCN (2008) talks about the sustainability
pathway as a transition to a world that
sustains abundant, diverse and worthwhile
life, human and otherwise, and does so
humanely.

This brings forth the core

questions related to Sustainability

To sustain what?
To sustain for how long?
The Board on Sustainable Development of
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, in
its report titled Our Common Journey: A
Transition toward Sustainability reflected
on some of these questions such as the time scale, the major categories and the various
worldviews surrounding these.
Historical References to Sustainability
Sustainability, the concept was stated by the

French (durabilite and durable),

German (Nachhaltigkeit, literally meaning lastingness, and nachhaltig) and

IUCN (2008): Transitions to Sustainability: towards a humane and diverse world

Dutch (duurzaamheid and duurzaam)

for centuries (Van Zon 2002: 20, 21, 22)

In Sylvicultura Oeconomica, 1713, Hans Carl von Carlowitz suggested the term nachhaltende
Nutzung (sustainable use), giving the first documented mention of the term sustainability.
George Perkins Marsh, in Man and nature (1864): Man has long forgotten that the earth was
given to him for usufruct alone, not for consumption, still less for profligate waste.
The earth is fast becoming an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant, and another era of equal
human crime and human improvidence, and of like duration with that through which traces of
that crime and that improvidence extend, would reduce it to such a condition of impoverished
productiveness, of shattered surface, of climatic excess, as to threaten the depravation,
barbarism, and perhaps even extinction of the species.
John Stuart Mill (1883), was the first proponent suggesting an alternative to the dominant pattern
of economic development and natural resources overuse
"If the earth must lose that great portion of its pleasantness which it owes to things that the
unlimited increase of wealth and population would extirpate from it, for the mere purpose of
enabling it to support a larger, but not a better or a happier population, I sincerely hope, for the
sake of posterity, that they will be content to be stationary, long before necessity compel them to
it." (Mill 1883: 452 454)
W. Stanley Jevonss The Coal Question, 1866, spoke of a scenario wherein Britains coal
reserves would not last approximately another century
To allow commerce to proceed until the source of civilization is weakened and overturned is
like killing the goose to get the golden egg. Is the immediate creation of material wealth to be
our only object? Have we not hereditary possessions in our just laws, our free and nobly
developed constitution, our rich literature and philosophy, incomparably above material wealth,
and which we are beyond all things bound to maintain, improve, and hand down in safety? And
do we accomplish this duty in encouraging a growth of industry which must prove unstable, and
perhaps involve all things in its fall?

If we lavishly and boldly push forward in the creation and distribution of our riches, it is hard to
over-estimate the pitch of beneficial influence to which we may attain in the present. But the
maintenance of such a position is physically impossible. We have to make the momentous choice
between brief greatness and longer continued mediocrity.

The Timeline of Sustainability

In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote his pioneering work giving a grim view of the future due
to the burgeoning human population with food projections unable to match up with the
requirements.

1950 The world's population reaches 2.5 billion.

1960 The world's population reaches 3 billion.

1960s Small is Beautiful

1960s Rachel Carsons Silent Spring

1970 First Earth Day

1970s: the Club of Rome, simulation carried out by Professors from MIT, resulting in
the prophetic book, Limits to Growth that helped create the concept of Sustainability as
understood.
If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food
production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this
planet will be reached sometime within the next one hundred years. The most probable
result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial
capacity

1972: The UNEP, in 1972, organized what came to be known as the Stockholm
Conference, where, conflicts between environment and development were first
acknowledged globally, and humans responsibility to preserve and maintain the
environment stressed unequivocally.
A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the
world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through ignorance
or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on

which our life and well being depend. Conversely, through fuller knowledge and wiser
action, we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better life in an environment
more in keeping with human needs and hopes
The conference led to the establishment of numerous national environmental protection
agencies and the United Nations Environment Programme

1973: The Chipko Movement in India focusing on deforestation and environmental

degradation, influencing forestry practices and womens participation in environmental
issues

1974: The world's population reaches 4 billion

1980: The term sustainable development is first introduced into the international policy
debate by the World Conservation Strategy

1985: The Antarctic ozone hole is discovered.

1986: An accident at the nuclear station in Chernobyl causes a massive toxic radioactive
explosion

1987: The world's population reaches 5 billion

WCED 1987 Brundtland Commissions definition:

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet theirs.
It embraces two key notions:

The concept of needs, in particular those of the worlds poor, to which overriding
priority should be given.

The idea of limits to the environments ability to meet present and future needs

1990: The United Nations World Summit for Children is held in New York; it links
environmental impacts to future generations.

1992: Rio - The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development is held in
Rio de Janeiro; agreements are reached on Agenda 21, the Convention on Biological
Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and nonbinding Forest
Principles
The Business Council for Sustainable Development publishes Changing Course,
establishing the business interest in promoting sustainable development

1997: Delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change sign
the Kyoto Protocol; the protocol commits developed nations to reducing overall
emissions of several greenhouse gases and mechanisms to encourage NorthSouth
cooperation on emissions reduction

1998: The People's Republic of China experiences the worst floods in decades; two-thirds
of Bangladesh are underwater for several months from monsoons; Hurricane Mitch
destroys parts of Central America; 54 countries are hit by floods and 45 by drought; the
earth experiences the highest global temperature ever recorded

1999: The world's population reaches 6 billion

2002: The World Summit on Sustainable Development is held in Johannesburg, marking

the 10-year anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development; the summit promotes partnerships as a non-negotiated approach to
sustainability
The Global Reporting Initiative formulates guidelines on how organizations should report
on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their business activities

2004: Wangari Muta Maathai, the founder of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya, is the
first environmentalist to be awarded a Nobel Prize

2005: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is released; experts from 95 countries

provide scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for
human well-being

2007: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes its fourth assessment
report on climate change; the report posits that climate change policies are best addressed
by integrating them within the broader framework of sustainable development strategies

2009: Multiyear sea ice all but disappears from the Arctic Ocean
Scientists introduce the concept of planetary boundaries in a highly influential article in
Nature
China overtakes the United States as the worlds largest emitter of GHGs, but ranks only
78th in per capita emissions. Record increases in GHG emissions globally put emissions
on track with the worst-case projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change

2011: The worlds population reaches 7 billion

2012: The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development gathers in Rio de

Janeiro to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and the 10th anniversary of the 2002
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg; it focuses on two themes: a
green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and
the institutional framework for sustainable development.

2015: UN General Assembly adopts the Sustainable Development Goals: 17 goals with a
time phase of 2030
Paris Climate Change Agreement signed by unprecedented number of countries target of
well below 2 C agreed upon unanimously.

Sustainability Definitions & Approaches

From the very beginning, multiple definitions of sustainability and approaches have abounded.
The section below takes a look at some definitions, in coherence with the specific approach, key
terms and thinkers, in order to illustrate the perspectives, as also the evolution of sustainability
thinking, esp. in the past few decades.

Movement from the Holocene to the Anthropocene and the concept of Planetary Boundaries:
Nine Earth-system processes and associated thresholds, which, if crossed, have the potential to
cause unacceptable environmental change; together, and through the interaction between these
indicators, they define the safe operating space for humanity.
The nine defining include the climate change; rate of biodiversity loss (terrestrial and marine);
interference with the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; stratospheric ozone depletion; ocean
acidification; global fresh water use; change in land use; chemical pollution; and atmospheric
aerosol loading

The Concept of Intergenerational Equity

Reinforced by the Brundtland Commission, a very evocative definition of the concept can be
found in these sentences of Thomas Jefferson
Then I say the earth belongs to each...generation during its course, fully and in its own right.
The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances, the third of the second,
and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and

not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid
during the course of it's own existence. - Thomas Jefferson, 1789, September 6
The concept implies that in addition to the planetary limits to extraction and use of resources
such as air, water, energy, and so on, there is a need to be careful that there are enough resources
available for our future generations as well in order that they may live at approximately the same
comfort, convenience, and satisfaction as the present.
The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet development and
environmental needs of present and future generations. - Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development, 1992
Definitions highlighting Resource Utilization
Sustainability implies living within the regenerative capacity of the biosphere (Wackernagel
et al., 2002, p. 9266), or maintaining natural capital (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996)
'The basic idea [of sustainable development] is simple in the context of natural resources
(excluding exhaustibles) and environments: the use made of these inputs to the development
process should be sustainable through time...If we now apply the idea to resources, sustainability
ought to mean that a given stock of resources-trees, soil quality, water and so on-should not
decline." (pp 9-10) Markandya and Pearce (1988a)
"Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems" (IUCN/UNEP/WWF Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. (Gland,
Switzerland: 1991))
(1) a sustainable scale of the economy relative to its ecological life support system; (2) a fair
distribution of resources and opportunities, not only among members of the current generation of
humans, but also among present and future generations (and even in some formulations among
humans and other species); and (3) an efficient allocation of resources over time that adequately
accounts for natural capital (Daly, 1990)
These definitions, largely by economists, highlight two specific areas
1. Resource utilization (exhaustible, stock of resources, natural capital, efficiency of allocation)

2. Carrying capacity of the ecosystem (regenerative capacity, sustainable scale, finite limits)
As the basis of the conventional growth paradigm Rostows (1962) five stage economic
development model is taken, with its five stages of: Traditional society, preconditions for takeoff, take-off, drive to maturity and the age of high mass consumption
Strong & Weak Sustainability: The debate in this case is about whether or not natural
resources may not be completely substitutable with technical, or man made resources. Weak
sustainability proponents claim that it is possible to substitute natural resources with others while
strong proponents state the importance of maintaining access to natural capital for future
generations. Thus, Pearce and Atkinson (1993) and Victor (1991) state that if natural and
other capital are substitutable then the weak sustainability criterion of preserving aggregate
capital can be applied, but if there are limits on substitution then the strong sustainability
criterion of preserving natural capital may be relevant.

The economic approaches, (capital theory, neo classical approach, techno centric and resource
substitution approach), have focused on refuting the argument of resource scarcity for
current and future generations. They spoke of valuation of natural capital and
ecosystem services, and brought in terms such as willingness to pay, stressing on the
potential of economic valuations for natural resources and ecosystem services.
The major argument of the economists was that, with scarcity of natural resources,
people would start to explore possibilities, whether through technological progress,
improving efficiency and consequent decreasing material flow, the possibility of scarce
natural resources being substituted with more abundant ones, or renewable modes, to
ensure that a natural resource never actually finishes.

Growth, Steady State, and Degrowth

In the past few years, new ideologies for moving away from the dominant growth paradigm as
seen in Rostows model have emerged. Prominent among these include the steady state concept
of Herman Daly, and the concept of degrowth, which has also been prominently mentioned by

economists over the past two centuries. Both suggest a turning away from the later stages of
Rostow to a comparatively sustainable scale for the economy.
Daly, for example, talks of the pathway as one where growth gives way to a steady state.
Strategies for attaining steady state economy include limiting throughput2 with the help of strict
resource quota usages, population growth, and income distribution strategies.
Schneider (2010) defined sustainable degrowth as an equitable downscaling of production and
consumption that increases human wellbeing and enhances ecological conditions at the local
and global level, in the short and long term. Here then, the focus is on multi-pronged action
towards bringing about reduction in existing intensive resource depletion rates, while at the same
time ensuring preservation and adherence to positive social conditions and overall well-being.
Sustainable degrowth is characterized by the elements of choice, democratic principles, political
ideologies, and voluntary chosen limits towards reducing consumption.
Both steady state economy and degrowth distance themselves from conditions such as recession,
or depression, often accompanied by poor social and economic conditions such as
unemployment and poverty.

Biocentric vs. Anthropocentric viewpoints: The anthropocentric position places human being
at the centre, with its proposition that the value of nature is utilitarian, or functional, and linked
to its capacity to support human life and sustenance. The biocentric position, talks of the inherent
value of nature, environment, and species as a central tenet of environmentalism. The ecocentric
or biocentric position suggests that each species, nature, are priceless, and do not require to be
valued against any criteria, or standard (Toman, 1994). They are as entitled to preservation and
continuation as human beings.

Gaia Hypothesis
In 1972, James Lovelock gave the Gaia hypothesis (named after the Greek earth goddess). As
per this view, there is continuous, collaborative interaction taking place between the living
organisms of earth and the inorganic environment. In this case, the living organisms are not just
passive participants, but carry out active interactions for mutual influence, in order to maintain
critical life support mechanisms, esp. temperature and atmosphere. Gaia, according to the
2

the amount of material, data, etc., that enters and goes through something (such as a machine or system)

hypothesis, is viewed as a total self-organizing and self-reproducing, organic, spatio-temporal,

and teleological system with the goal of maintaining itself. The hypothesis, thus suggests that the
Earth, rather than a dead planet, functions more like a living organism. It highlights
interdependencies within and among the organic and inorganic world. Other proponents of this
view included Edward Goldsmith, who founded the Ecologist magazine.

Capability approach: The Capability approach was given by Martha Nussbaum and Amartya
Sen in the 1990s. The approach describes capabilities as a persons ability to do valuable acts
or reach valuable states of being (Sen, 1993: 30) (cited in Burger, 2011). Human beings need to
develop those basic capabilities which allow them to do certain basic things (Nussbaum, 1992:
218) (cited in Burger, 2011).
It therefore states, that a good life ought to be one which allows the individual to develop and
exercise his/ her unique capabilities, through highlighting the potential of human beings and the
freedoms accorded to them to fulfill their capabilities. The capability approach was at the core of
indicators such as human development index, the premise being that lives which are somehow
bereft of the opportunity of actualizing these essential capabilities should not be judged as a a
good human life (Nussbaum, 1992: 220).
The approach makes use of the principle of human dignity in the search of the ideal of living a
decent life. Hence, capabilities are considered as essential for formation of an aggregated
criterion of well-being, while also operating as a modus for evaluating social fairness in society.

Systems Approach
Systems thinking stresses on the interactions and relationships within various parts of a system as
being of higher significance than the parts on their own (Hjorth & Bagheri, 2006). Following this
approach is essential for various actors and stakeholders to take into account various systems
aspects, to cross boundaries of science, and to create new conceptual frames that highlight
interactions. Systems thinking, in context of sustainability offers a platform for integration of the
needs of multiple stakeholders, and a set of implements to handle the most stubborn problems in
everyday life and work (Hjorth & Bagheri, 2006).

Triple Bottom Line Approach: In 1997, John Elkington first introduced the phrase Triple
Bottom Line in his book Cannibals with Forks. Elkington defined sustainability and
sustainable development as: Sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of
economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. Companies aiming for
sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line but against the triple
bottom line.
According to this approach, businesses need to pay equal attention to their financial profits, as
well as environmental and social concerns and their role in building a positive society.

The Three Pillar/ Three Circle Approach to Sustainability

"maximize simultaneously the biological system goals (genetic diversity, resistance, biological
productivity), economic system goals (satisfaction of basic needs, enhancement of equity,
increasing useful goods and services) and social system goals (cultural diversity, institutional
sustainability, social justice, participation)" (Barbier 1987, quoted in Abrahamson 1997, p. 31)
It is the connection of humans, their economies and societies to the ecosystems that support them
which defines sustainable development. (Reference: OECD Insights: Sustainable Development:
Linking economy, society, environment, 2008 pg. 33)
Fraser Basin Councils Charter for Sustainability defines sustainability as, Living and managing
activities in a way that balances social, economic, environmental and institutional considerations
to meet our needs and those of future generations. State of the Fraser Basin Report,
Sustainability Snapshot 4: The Many Faces of Sustainability. 2009.

The people-planet-profit or social-economic-environment model has emerged as one of the most

used and foundational pillar of sustainability. It is illustrated with use of three intersecting circles
forming a Venn diagram, with each circle interdependent and interlinked with the others. The
understanding of each sphere and its role in context of the others needs to be reflected upon
(Thomas A, 2010). Each looks after a particular domain and brings with it its own rights, respect
and responsibility. The interaction between multiple spheres may thus generate conflicts or build
a harmonious relationship. For sustainability achievement the conflict resolution, interfaces,
interactions and interdependencies between the economic, social and environmental spheres are
crucial (Thomas A, 2010).

Developed North & Developing South: Differing sustainability orientations:

In broad terms the concept of sustainable development encompasses:
(1) help for the very poor because they are left with no option other than to destroy their
environment;
(2) the idea of self-reliant development, within natural resource constraints;
(3) the idea of cost-effective development using different economic criteria to the traditional
approach; that is to say development should not degrade environmental quality, nor should it
reduce productivity in the long run;
(4) the great issues of health control, appropriate technologies, food self-reliance, clean water
and shelter for all;
(5) the notion that people-centered initiatives are needed; human beings, in other words, are the
resources in the concept." (p98) Tolba (1987)-Executive Director, U.N. Environmental
Programme (quoted from Pezzey, 1992)

"...the concept of sustainable economic development as applied to the Third World... is therefore
directly concerned with increasing the material standard of living of the poor at the 'grassroots'
level, which can be quantitatively measured in terms of increased food, real income, educational
services, health-care, sanitation and water supply, emergency stocks of food and cash, etc., and
only indirectly concerned with economic growth at the aggregate, commonly national, level. In
general terms, the primary objective is reducing the absolute poverty of the world's poor through
providing lasting and secure livelihoods that minimize resource depletion, environmental
degradation, cultural disruption and social instability." (p.103) Barbier (1987) (quoted by Pezzey,
1992)