The concept and theory of Sustainable Development

1. China’s sustainable development The concept and theory of Sustainable Development GuoRu Ph.D. CESE, Tongji University ruguo@tongji.edu.cn

2. Outline • Ice-breaking game • Why sustainable development? • What is sustainable development? • Sustainable development in China • Critiques on sustainable development

3. Ice-breaking game

4. An Interview (5 minutes) • Work in pair and ask your partner the following questions(3 minutes): • Do you always use sustainable mode of transportation ( such as public transport ，bicycle and walking)？ • Have you participated in community(or campus) activities？ • Do you always eat local food？ • Discuss with your partner the reason of your choices(2 minutes)

5. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. --- Martin Luther King

6. Why Sustainable Development?

7. Something New Under the Sun：Criticism on Growth Worship • Historian J.R. McNell • The meaning: the place of humankind within the natural world is not what it was • Growth worship as the mainstream ideology in Socialism and Capitalism • After the Great Depression of the 1930s: nature figured as a storehouse of resource waiting to be used

8. The Earliest Ecological Economics:Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) • An England Priest, Principle of Population (1798) • Population growth is exponential while food supply growth is linear. There exists the trend that the growth of population will exceed that of food supply • Different comments on Malthus • Failure anathema prophet (失败的诅咒先知) • The first economist who combine the economy with ecology • His idea implied: economy as subsystem of ecosystem; population carrying capacity

9. Efficiency Only Buys Time • Infinite growth in a finite system is an impossible goal and will eventually lead to failure • Two approaches of growth worship • Market Economy (the West): decentralized markets; greater efficiency • Planned Economy (USSR, China ): centralization; low efficiency • Because of its greater efficiency, the West can kept going for a bit longer in its impossible quest • But efficiency only buys time, the infinite growth is impossible.

11. The Development Gap Christie, I and D. Warburton, 2001, p.7, Table 1.1

12. The development gap • The geography of the development gap is more complex than a simple ‘North-South divide’ • Latin America has HDI levels similar to eastern Europe; China’s HDI and some others in SE Asia are relatively high • South Asia has a concentration of levels below 0.6 • Level in the Middle East are relatively high, although not in Yemen, Syria and Iraq • The picture for Africa is very complex, with the extreme north and south having decent HDI levels

13. Unsustainable Exploitation of Resources • Since 1971, global energy use has increased by 70% and is expected to rise 2% per year in the next 15 years. This will increase greenhouse gases by 50% over current levels. • Increased atmospheric nitrogen from fossil fuel combustion and farming of root crops, which release nitrogen, has intensified the occurrence in of acid rain • Natural resources (e.g. soils, forests, fish aquatic habitats) continue to decrease in quantity due to fires, pollution and human influence

14. Unsustainable Exploitation of Resources • Loss of biological diversity has resulted from human activities such as deforestation and pollution. • 40% of our global economy is dependent on biologically derived products. • 17 million hectares of tropical forest destroyed each year • 70-100 species disappear every day • Water, soil and air have been strained due to high pollution levels.

15. The State of the Planet Climate Change Diagram from IPCC

16. The State of Our Planet Consequences: Four Earths needed in 2100 2003 2100 1900 2050

17. Viewing The Earth As A Ship • The earth as a ship, gross material production of the economy as the cargo • We are navigating unknown seas and no one can predict the weather for the voyage Resources are limited， What should be the priority?

18. Our goal is: • To load the ship to the limit • To maintain areas of the ship for our comfort and enjoyment • To maintain it in excellent condition for future generations

19. What is Sustainable Development?

20. Growth and Development • Growth（增长） is a quantitative increase in size, or an increase in throughput • Throughput（吞吐量）is the flow of raw materials and energy from the global ecosystem, through the economy, and back to the global ecosystem as waste • Development（发展）is the increase in quality of goods and services, as defined by their ability to increase human well-being, provided by a given throughput • Carrying capacity （承载力） is the population of humans that can be sustained by a given ecosystem at a given level of consumption, with a given technology • Sustainable development（可持续发展）is development without growth----that is, qualitative improvement in the ability to satisfy wants (needs and desires) without a quantitative increase in throughput beyond environmental carrying capacity • Limits to growth ≠ limits to development

21. Sustainable development Social Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs Environmental Economic

22. History • Stockholm 1972: UN Conference on the Human Environment • Report of the World Commission on the Environment and Development: “Our Common Future”,1987. • Rio 1992: UN Conference on Environment and Development: Agenda 21(a non-binding, voluntarily implemented action plan of the United Nations with regards to sustainable development.) • Johannesburg 2002: 2nd World Summit on Sustainable Development • Rio +20 ,2012:UN Conference on Sustainable Development, with sustainable development governance and green economy as the main themes

23. Far-Reaching Ethical, Political and Economic Implications • Raised the environmental issue to a high level; • Recognizing the issue of intra-generation and inter-generation equity; • While, still allowing for growth and development; • And bound all countries to a global effort.

24. Who does sustainable development? • The UN and its agencies • Dozens of environmental conventions and programs(UNDP) • National, state, local governments, communities • 110 national, over 6000 local Agenda 21s • Non-governmental organizations • Thousands involved • Industry Sectors • All firms involved in service provision from cradle to cradle • Companies and other Organizations • Environmental Management Systems; Corporate social responsibility/sustainability programs; ethical investing • Consumers • Green consumer movements, fair trade

25. Ecological Definition • IUCN, WWF and UNEP. 1980. • Sustainable development - maintenance of essential ecological processes and life support systems, the preservation of genetic diversity, and the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.

26. Core Economic Definitions Robert Haveman. 1989. • Sustainable development is the maintenance or growth of the aggregate level of economic well-being, defined as the level of per capita economic well-being. John Pezzey. 1989. • Our standard definition of sustainable development will be non-declining per capita utility - because of its self-evident appeal as a criterion for inter-generational equity.

27. Social Definitions David Munro,1995. • Sustainable development is a complex of activities that can be expected to improve the human condition in such a manner that the improvement can be maintained. Nazli Choucri, 1997. • The process of managing social demands without eroding life support properties or mechanisms of social cohesion and resilience.

28. Integrating economic definition with environment Johan Holmberg, 1992. • Sustainable development means either that per capita utility or well-being is increasing over time with free exchange or substitution between natural and man-made capital; or that per capita utility or well-being is increasing over time subject to non-declining natural wealth. There are several reasons why the second and more narrow focus is justified, including: • Nonsubstitutability between environmental assets (the ozone layer cannot be recreated); • Uncertainty (our limited understanding of the life-supporting functions of many environmental assets dictates that they be preserved for the future); • Irreversibility (once lost, no species can be recreated); • Equity (the poor are usually more affected by bad environments than the rich).

29. Integration and Fundamental Change? Maurice Strong, 1992. • Sustainable development involves a process of deep and profound change in the political, social, economic, institutional, and technological order, including redefinition of relations between developing and more developed countries. World Bank, 1992.. • Sustainable development means basing developmental and environmental policies on a comparison of costs and benefits and on careful economic analysis that will strengthen environmental protection and lead to rising and sustainable levels of welfare.

30. Sustainable Development as a Balance Environment Society Economy

31. Sustainable development in China: China’s Agenda 21

32. China’s Agenda 21 • 1978 Open Door Policy, rapid industrialization & urbanization  serious environmental problems • June 1992: UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro • July 1992: the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC) & the State Science & Technology Commission (SSTC) were appointed as the leading institutions for co-ordinating all ministries, departments and non-government organizations to work together to formulate China’s Agenda 21—’White Paper on China’s Population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century’

33. China’s Agenda 21 • SDPC: socio-economic planning • SSTC: research and development • ACCA21: The Administrative Centre for China’s Agenda 21—secretariat set up in May 1994, http://www.acca21.org.cn/ • March 25, 1994: China’s Agenda 21,the first national agenda 21 formulated after the 1st Earth Summit

34. China’s Agenda 21 • Four parts: • Comprehensive strategy and policy of sustainable development • Sustainable social development • Sustainable economic development • Rational utilisation of resources and environmental protection • Agenda 21: a guide document for drawing up medium & long-term plans on socio-economic development: Five Year Plans & sectoral plans at different levels

35. Strategic SD Concepts: • To promote the shift in economic structure & the mode of economic development: improving quality of development in growth • Relying on science and technology: integrating science, education & the economy • To promote moral & ethical development & to strengthen democracy & legal systems • Control population growth • Policies and laws on utilization & protection of natural resources • Controlling pollution & preventing soil erosion • ‘Help the poor’ programmes • National policy, legal system, decision making and management coordination mechanisms for SD

36. Understanding Sustainable Development • There exists the limits to growth since natural resource is finite. In other words, growth has its ecological constraints. • Since natural resource is finite, thus how to distribute these scarce resources is a very important issue. A more equal distribution system can relief the contradiction between intra-generation, intergeneration, and inter-species, which can secure a more sustainable future. In other words, growth has its moral constraints. • How to use scarce resources to meet our needs? Under the ecological and moral constraints, an efficient allocation mechanism (eg., market mechanism) is necessary for a sustainable development

37. Critiques on sustainable development • Discussions of sustainable development and sustainable living are also criticized by some as overly anthropocentric. • Arguing against consumption and overpopulation on the grounds that they are depleting resources and threatening the well-being of present and future generations can ignore harms done to the natural world itself.

38. Homework • Give your own view to the following question（less than 1500 words). • How does your country(or region) reflect a history of sustainable development? • Deadline：3.26