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Towards the New Understanding of Sustainable Development
Igor [email protected]
Higher School of Economics
Moscow, Russia
Oxford, November 18-19, 2011
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Sustainable development – classical definition
Sustainable development is that one which “implies meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs” (Brundtland report)
Strong sustainability
Weak sustainability
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Conventional economic development model
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Strong sustainability “Each generation should leave
water, air, and soil resources as pure and unpolluted as when it came on earth... Each generation should leave undiminished all the species of animals it found existing on earth” (UNESCO)
Natural capital shouldn’t be decreased and shouldn’t be substituted by any other form of capital
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‘Weakness’ of strong sustainability Any consumption of non-renewable resources
even if it is necessary for human development conflicts with the strong sustainability concept
Stopping consuming natural resources will lead to the degradation of human civilization – it is both unpractical and immoral
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Weak sustainability Sustainable development
requires that across generations there should be no decline in the possibility of total capital to generate flows of service
The aim of sustainable development is the increase (at least non-diminution) of total welfare which is comprised of natural, physical and human capital
Any form of capital can be substituted by the others
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Adjusted net savings (World Bank)
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‘Weakness’ of weak sustainability: look at ANS data!
ChinaBangladesh
IndiaKorea Rep.
RomaniaBelarus
SwedenCosta Rica
BelgiumIsraelJapan
GermanyIndonesiaPakistan
MexicoPeru
EthiopiaFrance
CanadaBrazil
EgyptUK
South AfricaRussia
USASaudi ArabiaSudan
GreeceAngola
-35 -25 -15 -5 5 15 25 35 45
Source: WB, 2009
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“Strong’ sustainability, overriding all other considerations, is morally unacceptable as well as totally impractical; and ‘weak’ sustainability, in which compensation is made for resources consumed, offers nothing beyond traditional economic welfare maximization”
W. Beckerman (1994)
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Critical natural capital Critical natural capital –
the part of natural capital which has vitally important functions and can’t be substituted by any other forms of capital or even other types of natural capital
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Conventional sustainable development concept proceeds from the prerequisite that the larger amounts of physical, human and natural capital generation possesses the better it is able to respond to challenges it faces, including natural resource and environmental ones
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Iceland
Switzerland
Costa Rica
Sweden
Norway
Mauritius
France
Austria
Cuba
Colombia
EPI (2010): Top10 countries
Source: www.epi.yale.edu
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Tragedy of the commons Each herdsman wants to
graze more and more cattle on the pasture, but it leads to degradation
Situations of the conflict between individual and common interests – social dilemma
Garrett Hardin (1968)
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Why do institutions matter? They help to resolve social
dilemmas Ostrom (1990) showed that
some communities can manage the commons efficiently and others can’t. It depends on whether the community is able to build robust institutions Elinor Ostrom (1990)
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Better institutions result in lower transaction costs which have significant importance while solving social dilemmas.
Institution of trust! Fukuyama (1995): the deficit of trust is like an additional tax imposed on transactions
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Correlation between EPI and Trust Index
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Robust institutions decrease the vulnerability of society to environmental challenges!
Sen (1999): there have never been hunger in democratic societies even if these societies are poor! Vulnerability of society to environmental challenges is not a matter of poverty but a matter of poor institutions
Why do institutions matter?
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Institutions of civil society are able to unite the whole society in green initiatives. Due to civil society’s efforts “green” becomes up-to-date – more and more people (and than firms and governments) become “greener”
Why do institutions matter?
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Weak sustainability concept + critical natural
capital + addition of institutional capital
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Thanks for your
attention!