Transcript AGEC/FNR 406 LECTURE 35 Unsustainable Agriculture in the Philippines Sustainable Development Definition: A pattern of economic development characterized by a condition in which some arbitrary indicator.

AGEC/FNR 406
LECTURE 35
Unsustainable Agriculture in the Philippines
Sustainable Development
Definition:
A pattern of economic development
characterized by a condition in which some
arbitrary indicator indicator of HUMAN well
being does not decline over time.
The definition is anthropocentric.
attempts to combine efficiency + equity
Sustainability
Starts with a notion of a “capital base” from
which current and future well-being are
derived.
Contains both economic and ecological
components
key issue: relative tradeoffs between natural
and other forms of capital
Important Points
1. Informed by ecology, but human-focused.
2. Emphasizes ecological limits and discontinuity
3. Emphasizes conservation of critical components of
natural capital stock (e.g. critical set-asides)
4. Focuses on limits to deterioration of ecological
assets at all levels: local-national-global
5. Asks “what is the carrying capacity of a system?”
6. Asks “what are appropriate measures of resilience?”
7. Questions traditional measures of wealth.
Indicators of Sustainability
Most approaches are consistent with benefit-cost
analysis.
1. Green “Net” National Product (gNNP)
2. Measures of “genuine savings”
1997 World Bank report:
Expanding the Measure of Wealth
Key set of indicators for tracking over time…
Key Indicators of Sustainability
Natural capital
Pastureland
Cropland
Timber
Nontimber forest products
Protected areas
Subsoil assets (minerals)
Fishing stocks
Human capital (education)
Social capital (institutions)
Ecological Economics
Branch of environmental economics that takes as its
foundations a strong interpretation of ecological
sustainability.
environmental assets are special.
rejection of “marginalist” perspective
concern about energy and materials use
discounting future costs is unacceptable
1. Irreversibility (can’t restore natural capital)
2. Uncertainty (systems poorly understood
3. Scale (threshold effects, large-scale damages)
Key Points
1. Alternative views of what sustainability means
2. Views differ according to options for substituting
natural and manufactured capital
3. Global measures are likely to be imprecise
4. Resilience is a useful indicator, but difficult to
measure
5. "Green" national income measurements would be
a first step: they make SD measurable.
Some approaches to SD
1. Control pop growth, especially in environmentally
critical areas
2. Ensure prices reflect both private and social costs
3. Eliminate reliance on fossil fuels
4. Reduce pollution emissions and waste
5. Eliminate poverty, especially in LDCs
6. Slow rates of deforestation, soil erosion, and
fishery depletion
7. Develop new, appropriate "green" technologies
UN Agenda 21
Plan of action regarding human-environment impacts
Adopted by 178 governments at the UN Conference
on Environment & Development (UNCED) in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992
Focus: local participation, nine major groups
representing various “special” interests.
Follow-up World Summit on Sustainable
Development held in Johannesburg in 2002.