Showing papers on "Social sustainability published in 1995"

The Role of Corporations in Achieving Ecological Sustainability

Abstract: Ecological problems rooted in organizational activities have increased significantly, yet the role corporations play in achieving ecological sustainability is poorly understood. This article examines the implications of ecologically sustainable development for corporations. It articulates corporate ecological sustainability through the concepts of (a) total quality environmental management, (b) ecologically sustainable competitive strategies, (c) technology transfer through technology-for nature-swaps, and (d) reducing the impact of populations on ecosystems. It examines the implications that these concepts have for organizational research.

The Concept of Environmental Sustainability

Abstract: This paper reviews the current status of the debate about the concept of environmental sustainability and discusses related aspects of growth, limits, scale, and substitutability. While the paths leading to environmental sustainability in each country or sector will differ, the goal remains constant. But this conceptualization is far from an academic exercise. Ensuring, within less than two human generations, that as many as 10 billions people are decently fed and housed without damaging the environment on which we all depend represents a monumental challenge.

Measuring sustainable development

Abstract: Part I Sustainable Development: Defining Sustainable Development * The Conditions for Sustainable Development * Measures of Economic Progress * Part II Sustainability and the State of the UK Environment: Air Quality * Water and Water Quality * Solid and Hazardous Waste * Biodiversity * Agriculture and the Environment * Forestry * Transport and the Environment * Part III The Political Dimension: The UK and the Global Environment * Sustainable Development: The Political and Institutional Challenge * References * Index

Social Development: The Developmental Perspective in Social Welfare

Abstract: Introduction A Definition of Social Development The Historical Context Theoretical Debates Strategies for Social Development Achieving Social Development The Institutional Perspective

200 Years of Sustainability in Forestry: Lessons from History

Abstract: Since the end of the 1980s the concept of sustainable development has gained general acceptance, but much uncertainty still exists on how to operationalize this concept. In forestry the concept of sustainability has been an accepted principle since the 18th century. The experiences with its application in forestry may contribute towards obtaining a better insight into the implications and operational significance of the concept of sustainability. This article describes the history of sustainability in forestry, including the various social values on which its interpretation has been based. The original principle of sustained yield has gradually been broadened to a more inclusive principle of sustainable forest management. The dynamics in social valuation of forest resources resulted in various attempts at practical operationalization of the principle. Notwithstanding 200 years of efforts to operationalize the concept of sustainability, its exact application in forestry remains troublesome. Three lessons are drawn: (1) the need to recognize the different nature of ecological limits and social dynamics, (2) the role of dynamic social values with respect to forest resources, and (3) the significance of operational experiences in trying to attain sustainability within a concrete context.

Methods of defining ‘sustainability’

Abstract: The notion of ‘sustainability’ emerged in The Ecologist's A Blueprint for Survival, in 1972. The quest to make modern civilization ‘sustainable’ inspired the UN's Stockholm Conference in 1972 and the ‘global trusteeship’ of subsequent international environmental treaties. ‘Sustainability’ is related to ‘futurity’, hence the Brundtland Commission in 1987 defined sustainable development as ‘development which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. ‘Sustainability’ animates ‘the precautionary principle’, affirmed by the European Union (EU) in 1990 in its Bergen Declaration on Sustainable Development, which requires ecological preservation in cases of scientific uncertainty where serious or irreversible damage is threatened. The Earth Summit in 1992 established ‘sustainable development’ as the most important policy of the 21st century. ‘Sustainability’ is at the heart of The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21, accords signed at the Earth Summit that herald a new paradigm of society, economics and the environment. The EU's Fifth Environmental Action Programme (1993) pursues ‘sustainability’ in industry, energy, transport, agriculture and tourism. ‘Sustainability’ has also been endorsed by the Clinton Administration (1994). In the light of these events, ‘sustainability’ is now used widely in biology, economics, sociology, urban planning, ethics and other domains. It is regarded as tantamount to a new philosophy, in which principles of futurity, equity, global environmentalism and biodiversity must guide decision-making. Far from being a mere doctrine of development science, ‘sustainability’ has emerged as a universal methodology for evaluating whether human options will yield social and environmental vitality.

Defining and measuring sustainability : the biogeophysical foundations

Abstract: This volume is based on papers prepared for the International Conference on the Definition and Measurement of Sustainability: The Biophysical Foundations, which was convened at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. from June 22 to 25 1992. The conference was conceived as an exercise to advance thinking on the biogeophysical foundations for defining and measuring sustainability and to provide useful policy considerations for international development community.

What Future for Economic and Social Rights

Abstract: It is a commonplace of discussions about human rights that economic and social rights, like the poor themselves, occupy a distinctly second class status.’ When human rights are mentioned, it is typically civil and political rights that spring to mind. When Western governments include the promotion of human rights in their foreign policy goals, it is the freedoms of expression and political association, the right to due process and the protection from state harassment that principally concern them rather than, say, access to the means of livelihood or to basic health care. And when the role of human rights NGOs is discussed, it is the work of organizations such as Amnesty International or civil liberties associations that we tend to think of. By the same token, our paradigm for a human rights violation is state-sponsored torture or ‘disappearance’ rather than, say, childhood death through malnutrition or preventable disease. This disparity between the two sets of rights was acknowledged by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights itself, in its statement to the Vienna World Conference of 1993:

Rural restructuring and social sustainability: some reflections on the Western Australian wheatbelt

Abstract: SUMMARY Over the past three decades the Western Australian wheatbelt has undergone dramatic economic, environmental and social changes precipitated, primarily, by the process of rural restructuring. Farm amalgamation, environmental degradation, labour market adjustments and severe population decline have been consistently noted trends throughout much of the wheatbelt. The ongoing and integrated nature of these problems has led to increasing calls for a more holistic approach to sustainable rural development. This paper argues that while considerable efforts are being made to find solutions to the economic and environmental problems faced in the wheatbelt, these endeavours do not address many important problems faced by rural communities. It therefore advocates the inclusion of a social dimension in any attempt to achieve an overall goal of rural sustainability.

Linking tourism, the environment, and concepts of sustainability: setting the stage.

Abstract: The tourism and recreation industry is at a crossroads in its development. Now one of the world's largest industries, it is increasingly confronted with arguments about its sustainability and compatibility with environmental protection and community development. Consideration of tourism, the environment, and concepts of sustainability should consider four key challenges: (1) a better understanding of how tourists value and use natural environments; (2) enhancement of the communities dependent on tourism as an industry; (3) identification of the social and environmental impact of tourism; and (4) implementation of systems to manage these impacts. THE CHALLENGE The tourism and recreation industry is confronted with serious and difficult choices about its future. The decisions made now will for decades affect the lifestyles and economic opportunity of residents in tourism destination areas. Many of these decisions are irreversible because once communities lose the character that makes them distinctive and attractive to nonresidents, they have lost their ability to vie for tourist-based income in an increasingly global and competitive marketplace. One option is to continue the road of the past, focusing on delivering the service and retail sectors that have provided the bulk of economic benefit to local communitiesólodging, transportation, food and retail salesówithout considering the emerging concerns about the industry. This option is based on assumptions about stability in values and preferences of travelers, and it delays answers to vital questions about the tourism product, appropriate scale and type of development, sustainability, and hosts' quality of life. These assumptions are questionable in an era of rapid social change where the future is no longer a straight-line projection of the past. Worldwide, tourism is undergoing fundamental change, from the experiences and settings travelers demand to the regulations governments impose to protect the environment. Signs of these shifts are everywhere, from tourism industry statements on the value of the environment (Cook and others 1992) to the demand for "ecotourism." This transformation of demand and values leaves the industry no alternative other than to pursue a different, yet difficult, courseóone that builds upon the key questions of purpose, objectives, values, and strategies. Decisions about tourism development are difficult. The fundamental questions they implyósuch as the visions we have for our communities, how changes brought about by development will impact these visions, and how the community can absorb such changesóhave largely been ignored in the past. These decisions are controversial because they will prevent or diminish some traditional uses of natural resources and affect the people who have or who might have benefited from those uses. Powerful economic forces entrenched in the current direction are reluctant to open dialogue. The decisions are essentially judgments reflecting divergent value systems and how those value systems will be integrated. Our clients, primarily the public, are communicating through changes in tasties and preferences and, consequently, they are demanding that the industry pursue sustainability and care of the environment. We need to systematically explore the linkage that exists, whether recognized or not, between tourism, the environment, and sustainability. To begin that exploration, I will briefly review the significance of sustainability and the environment and the questions that implies for tourism researchers. CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY As we humans become more aware of our impact on the Earth and its life support systems, we increasingly look for examples of economic and community development other than unconstrained growth. Some have argued that gross national product or per capita income are incomplete measures of well-being. These measures may not accurately portray the distribution of economic benefits among people, they do not faithfully capture important quality of life factors, and they do not measure the temporal or social distribution of existing and anticipated costs and benefits of resource development programs. Many argue for the development of "sustainable" economies as the new guidepost to deal with issues of growth, economic and community development, and environmental protection. Sustainable growth and natural resource development will help communities use natural resources more prudently and sensitively than in the past and ensure their continued survival. Sustainability contains the appeal of an attractive model for action but is difficult to implement practically or operationally. Sustainability is often associated with such terms as "sustainable development," "sustainable management," "sustainable agriculture," "sustainable forestry," and "sustainable tourism." In the tourism and recreation context, it is frequently associated with discussions of "ecotourism" and "nature-based tourism" (Boo 1990; Whelan 1991). Sustainability has become an attractive ideal for both scientists and activists, but operational details, objectives, or actions provided by advocaties are scarce. Dixon and Fallon (1989) conclude that the sustainability debate involves "how to pursue the goal and how to measure progress toward it." Sustainability, as Dixon and Fallon note, was originally a biophysical concept that is now being applied in a social and policy context, contributing to confusion about what is to be sustained and for whom. For example, by sustainability do we mean sustaining physical outputs, such as board feet of timber or room occupancy, or do we mean the ecological patterns and processes that maintain naturally occurring ecosystems? Or by sustainability are we concerned with the ongoing social, political, and cultural processes that give communities character and individuals security? Gale and Cordray (1991) defined eight approaches to the concept of forest sustainability, then in 1994 expanded this to nine (table 1). Gale and Cordray portray the discussion about sustainability as answers to four defining questions: What is to be sustained? Why sustain it? How is sustainability measured? And what are the politics? One of their approaches emphasizes the economic sustainability of natural resource-dependent social systems. This is a narrow approach, however, and does not address other relationships communities have with natural resources that make them dependent on these resources, such as access to forests for recreational, educational, and spiritual purposes. A related approach, also defined by Gale and Cordray, is the sustainability of human benefits that flow from natural resources. Again, this approach is narrowly focused on specific product benefits. Often, discussions of sustainability are presented within the context of stability, particularly about communities (defined in a territorial versus an interest sense). We generally want our communities to be stable and predictable and to provide a sense of belonging. Sustainability goes beyond economic considerations and biophysicial issues; it must deal with important concepts of social order, such as hierarchy, territory, and norms (Burch and DeLuca 1984). We must understand how tourism development may impact the distribution of wealth or power, may affect land uses and zoning laws, and may interject new behaviors or institutions. We must discuss the acceptability of tourism-based interventions in the normative social order: What do these changes mean for community stability? And we must consider factors affecting a community's capacity to deal with such interventions. In other words, how do the type and intensity of tourism-induced disturbances affect our social world? Sustainability definitions also frequently speak to intraand intergenerational equity and option maintenance. The tourism industry receives substantive criticism about the distribution of jobs and income (Barrett 1987; Smith 1989). While job quality encompasses more than wages and monetary benefits, inequities in income are a major concern that residents hold about tourism development (Martin and McCool 1992). Nearly 58 percent of the adult Montanans participating in the Martin and McCool (1992) study agreed that tourism industry jobs are low paying, and over 55 percent disagreed that their household standard of living was higher because of tourist expenditures. What is an equitable distribution of options and income? Sustainable tourism allows visitors to enjoy an attraction, community or region with a volume and impact in such a way that the local culture and environment are unimpaired (Hill 1992). Strictly speaking, tourism and recreation use always lead to some level of impairment in natural systems. The question is primarily how much change is acceptable. Hunt (1993) argued that the tourism industry should care both for visitors and for the places they visit: "the communities in which we live." Clearly, researchers view sustainability as more than physical commodities from natural ecosystems. Despite the extensive discussion about sustainability since the 1987 report from the World Commission on Environment and Development, which popularized the issue, few answers have been found. Entering sustainability-based management is essentially a value judgment, a decision that says that current management is inadequate or inappropriate. Sustainability is a concept decisionmakers can use to assess the consequences of actions on human communities. A human focus is deliberately taken here because it is the human population that places values on social structure, cultural values and traditions, economic opportunity, and ecosystems and their species. Maintenance of ecosystems and the protection of individual species are human-based values and, therefore, can be described from only a human viewpoint. Human communities are impacted in a variety of ways by tourism, including social structure and

Psychology and Sustainability: An Introduction

Abstract: The goals of this issue on psychology and the promotion of a sustainable future are (1) to introduce the breadth of environmental problems that currently face humanity, (2) to explore alternative courses of action that might facilitate the attainment of a sustainable future, (3) to expose the reader to interdisciplinary perspectives regarding sustainability, and (4) to introduce the results of empirical research whose application can assist in the promotion of sustainability. This first article provides a brief introduction to the environmental problems facing the world, an overview of social science research related to sustainability, and a summary of the articles in this issue.

The Concept of Sustainability

Abstract: The paramount importance of sustainability arose partly because the world is recognizing that current patterns of economic development are not generalizable. Present patterns of OECD per capita resource consumption and pollution cannot possibly be generalized to all currently living people, much less to future generations, without liquidating the natural capital on which future economic activity depends. Sustainability thus arose from the recognition that the profligate and inequitable nature of current patterns of development, when projected into the not too distant future, lead to biophysical impossibilities. The transition to sustainability is urgent because the deterioration of global life-support systems that is, the environment, impose a time limit. We do not have time to dream of creating space or more environment, such as colonizing the moon or building cities beneath the sea; we must save the remnants of the only environment we have, and allow time for, and invest in, the regeneration of what we have already damaged.

The enigma of social sustainability in rural Australia

Abstract: SUMMARY While much previous work has been done on the general concept of ecological sustainability, there is relatively little that examines the likely spatial aspects of a socially sustainable rural system. Having defined essential concepts, this study first identifies major current forces for rural change likely to influence any future sustainable system. It goes on to specify those features of modern rural social formations which I believe deserve retention. Finally, some essential requirements for a socially sustainable system are established.

Agriculture, society and environment: discourses on sustainability

Abstract: SUMMARY The discourse on sustainability is marked by widely differing interpretations of the concept. It is generally acknowledged, though, that sustainability concerns the interplay amongst social, economic and environmental dimensions. The emphasis on the respective components of this triumvirate differs amongst the various literatures, however, leading to alternative conceptions of the ‘sustainability problem’ and of the trajectory into the future. This paper seeks to elucidate a range of perspectives on sustainability, focusing particularly on interpretations in the context of agriculture and rural systems. The discussion is structured around six literatures: environmentalism and ecology, resource science, neoclassical—economic, ecological economics, political—economic and postmodernist. Closing remarks refer to the perceived need for an improved conceptualization of spatiality in the analysis of sustainability.

Social responsibility accounting, sustainability accounting and Islam

Abstract: Social Responsibility Accounting, Sustainability Accounting and Islam People in the present age have enjoyed unprecedented levels of (material) welfare due to the advancement of science and technology. O n the other hand, they have been suffering, considerable reductions in their socio-economic welfare due to the adverse effects of the activities of corporations. Since the 1980s the dimensions of this reduction in people's welfare has grown to a level which threatens, even, the sustainability of humans on the planet. People are well and truly in need of figuring a way out of these crises. This study aims to investigate the role accounting can play to this end. A great deal of business activities are socially undesirable. The micro local/regional-level socio-economic welfare-reducing problems of the 1960s and 1970s have grown to a macro global/universal-level. Their significance, furthermore, has increased to an extent which makes the bases of the sustainability of humans on the Earth questionable. The socio-economic ills of the 1960s and 1970s, such as air, water, noise, heat and soil pollution, oppression, production and sale of unsafe and faulty products as well as injustice and unfairness resulting from discrimination have all reduced the welfare of members of societies at the micro local/regional-level. With the crises of the 1980s and onward, the macro-level adverse results of the activities of corporations threaten the sustainability of not only the neighbouring habitants, but also the sustainability of all of the members of present as well as future generations. Such unsustainability issues as the greenhouse effect, the global warming of the planet, ozone layer erosion, acid rains, species annihilation and so forth have well and truly surpassed the social responsibility accounting issues of the 1960s and 1970s. A Sustainability Accounting is called for. This study is an attempt to research the way in which accounting can contribute to the solution of these problems. A cause-effect-analysis perspective will be taken to approach the problem. That is, the research will be held on the general assumption that the only basic and crucial way to treat any phenomenon is to perceive and study it in relation to its cause(s). If the causing phenomena are treated, the phenomenon itself is treated as well. To formulate a system of accounting for the welfare reducing and sustainability threatening issues, therefore, the underlying philosophical foundations/factors which rationalise and justify the undesirable activities of corporations will be investigated. Western capitalistic economic system, the dominant economic religion of most of the present day societies, will be critically analysed and compared with Islamic Economic System (IES). Based on the findings, then, solutions will be researched.

Sustainability and ‘the Market’: A Typology of Environmental Economics

Abstract: Since the subject of environmental economics first began to arouse public debate at the end of the 1980s, attention has focused on what are widely described as ‘market’ solutions to environmental problems. Predisposed as they are to market-based analysis, and to the abstract concept of ‘optimality’, the majority of environmental economists have been engaged either in studying ‘market-based mechanisms’ of environmental control, such as green taxes and tradable quotas, or in devising hypothetical markets by which to value environmental goods. Needing snappy headlines and uncomplicated arguments, media commentators have eagerly seized on the apparent Left-Right conflict in environmental policy, with the Left said to favour old-fashioned ‘regulation’, the Right the new solutions of the ‘free market’. Meanwhile real free market solutions, grounded in other policy areas, have been cheerfully applied to environmental issues by those with a genuinely ideological axe to grind.

Choosing our future : visions of a sustainable world

Abstract: Choosing our future : visions of a sustainable world / edited by Tanvi Nagpal and Camilla Foltz. p. cm. Each World Resources Institute Report represents a timely, scholarly treatment of a subject of public concern. WRI takes responsibility for choosing the study topics and guaranteeing its authors and researchers freedom of inquiry. It also solicits and responds to the guidance of advisory panels and expert reviewers. Unless otherwise stated, however, all the interpretation and findings set forth in WRI publications are those of the authors. For 2,500 years we have hoped and believed that if mankind could reveal itself to itself, could widely come to know its own cherished motives, then somehow it would tilt the balance of things in its own favor.

Sustainable development as a guide to community land use policy

Abstract: This paper develops a working definition of sustainable development to serve as a guide for land use policy. The authors trace the historical roots of sustainable development and show how the concept has evolved based on three perspectives: ecological sustainability; economic sustainability; and social sustainability. Next, they explore the internal conflicts and areas of agreement about what sustainable development is and is not. They then show how the concept implies a set of principles that can be applied to land use policy. They argue that the concept reflects in an elegant way the real trade-offs that must be made, highlighting the values at stake rather than obscuring them.

Universal Environmental Sustainability and the Principle of Integrity

Abstract: This paper seeks to focus the definition of environmental sustainability (ES), partly by distinguishing ES from social sustainability and from economic sustainability. The challenge to social scientists is to produce their own definition of social sustainability, rather than load social desiderata on to the definition of ES. Similarly with economic sustainability; let economists define it or use previous definitions of economic sustainability. The three types of sustainability—social, environmental and economic—are clearest when kept separate. They are contrasted in Table 1. While there is some overlap among the three in the goals of economic development (Figure 1), and certainly major linkages, the three are best disaggregated and addressed separately by different disciplines. Social scientists are best able to define social sustainability, and environmentalists do not have a major role in that task. The disciplines best able to analyze each type of sustainability are different; each follows different laws and methods. After disaggregating environmental sustainability we show that it is not ecosystem or nation specific, rather it is universal. Furthermore, we show that while all nations and eco-regions may need their own different approaches to ES, it is essentially non-negotiable.

Planning in the age of sustainability

Abstract: The vital role of land‐use planning in the quest for sustainability has been recognised only very recently. Yet real confusion still exists on what ‘sustainability’ means and whether or not it refers principally to sustainable development. This paper traces the origins of the concept in the destructive power of population growth and the expansion of economic activity since the mid‐eighteenth century, a secular phenomenon which has led to the rise of the environmentalist movements, particularly since the mid‐1960s. It is argued that the key mother‐concept is that of a sustainable society. Within that context a number of reasons are given for the protagonistic role of planning in achieving sustainability. A sustainability principle is proposed comprising five fields of action for land‐use planning and the paper concludes by arguing that planning has entered a new age in the responsibilities which confront it.

The sustainability of resources versus the sustainability of use: a comment

Abstract: (1995). The sustainability of resources versus the sustainability of use: a comment. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology: Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 294-296.