Sustainability and change

1. Sustainability and change KGA171 The Global Geography of Change Presented by Associate Professor Elaine Stratford Semester 1

3. Part 1 Looking forward, looking back

4. Revising Module 4 Lecture 4 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? What is meant by the terms ensuring state, political convergence and economic convergence? List the eight stages in the policy cycle. How does policy differ from law and from procedure? What is the IPCC? Its three working groups? Describe the main objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Define the term ‘scientification of politics’. What are some of the effects on climate change politics and policy of uncertainty? List and provide examples for each of the three geographies of climate change. Man thinking

5. Learning Objectives Module 5 Lecture 1 KGA171 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 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

6. 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 What is the author’s purpose? What key questions or problems does the author raise? What information, data and evidence does the author present? What key concepts does the author use to organize this information, this evidence? What key conclusions is the author coming to? Are those conclusions justified? What are the author’s primary assumptions? What viewpoints is the author writing from? What are the implications of the author’s reasoning? [from Foundation for Critical Thinking] Man reading a book

7. Part 2 restating the problem

8. 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.

9. Ecological footprint

10. 2) DAMAGE to ecological health 3a) DESTRUCTION of biological diversity WorldWatch Institute (2007) Vital Signs 2007-08

11. 3b) DESTRUCTION of cultural diversity UNESCO (2009)Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger

12. 4) DISEQUILIBIRUM in human populations Bergman and Renwick (2008) p.173.

13. 5) DISTORTION of economic distribution See also World Bank (2008) a country’s size = its proportion of global GDP

14. 6) DAMAGE to human health FAO (2008) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008, FAO, Rome, p.6

15. 7) DENIAL of political and moral responsibility Millennium Development Goals 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. Mark Lynch

16. “… 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].

17. Part 3 Definitional skirmishes, historical pathways, conceptual tangles

18. 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

19. Economy Society Environment

20. Variants on the triple bottom line Source: Sustainable Measures a b c

21. Community Liveability, safety SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT Equity Sustainability Environmental impact Resource conservation ECONOMY Economic viability Nuances on the triple bottom line Source: Eichler (1999)

22. Cultural system Social system BIOSPHERE Governance system Economic system Source: Eichler (1999)

23. Human ecosystem Social system Social institutions Health Justice Faith Commerce Education Leisure Government Sustenance Social cycles Physiological Individual Institutional Environmental Social order Identity Social norms Hierarchy Age Informal Wealth Gender Formal Power Class Status Caste Knowledge Clan Territory Critical resources Natural Energy Land & water Flora & fauna Materials & Nutrients Socio-economic Information Population Labour &Capital Cultural Organization Beliefs Myth Machlis et al. 1997

24. Sustainable Development: Interpretations

25. Part 4 Nailing the principles, absorbing the critiques

26. Principles of Sustainability (1) • Integration • Community involvement • Precaution • Equity • Continual improvement • Ecological integrity

27. Principles of sustainability (2) • Integration • Community involvement • Precaution • Equity • Continual improvement • Ecological integrity

28. Principles of sustainability (3) • Integration • Community involvement • Precaution • Equity • Continual improvement • Ecological integrity

29. Precaution explored • 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

30. Principles of sustainability (4) • Integration • Community involvement • Precaution • Equity • Continual improvement • Ecological integrity

31. Principles of sustainability (5) • Integration • Community involvement • Precaution • Equity • Continual improvement • Ecological integrity

32. Principles of sustainability (6) • Integration • Community involvement • Precaution • Equity • Continual improvement • Ecological integrity

33. Agenda 21, Rio Declaration, and WSSD documents

34. Critiques of sustainability and sustainable development