The International Implementation Scheme (IIS) - Unesco

DESD International Implementation Scheme (IIS)
focusing largely on poverty there is the implicit assumption that poverty is the problem, and that
by moving from poverty to wealth, sustainable development will be achieved. However, we must
exercise extreme caution in seeing poverty as a cause of unsustainable development, since it is
the rich who have much higher levels of unsustainable production and consumption. They are
able to make choices which the poor, trapped in a cycle of deprivation and vulnerability, are
unable to make. While the rich are able to adopt patterns of sustainable development, they
frequently are reluctant to do so – the poor have few if any options but to make use of their
immediate environment. Poverty is linked to environmental degradation as the poor have no
choice but to seek and avail themselves of scarce natural resources such as fuelwood and
water. Problems of over-consumption and over-development are key factors in addressing
environmental conservation and protection, as well as sustainable production and consumption.
Economic growth as a component of development
Economic growth is a major component of development – indeed it has until recently been seen
by some as both the means and the goal of development. As the economy grows, pressures on
the Earth’s natural systems and resources intensify. For instance, from 1950 to 1997:
- the use of lumber tripled,
- the use of paper increased six fold,
- the fish catch increased nearly fivefold,
- grain consumption nearly tripled,
- fossil fuel burning nearly quadrupled, and
- air and water pollutants multiplied several fold.
The unfortunate reality is that the economy continues to expand, but the ecosystem on which it
depends does not, creating an increasingly stressed relationship.
Source: Brown 1998: 91.
With regard to the use of resources, sustainable development calls for a twofold response in
both industrialised and developing countries: responsible patterns of production and
consumption, and pro-active stewardship of resources of all kinds. As the Brundtland
Commission put it: ‘sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.’
Sustainable development is closely linked to processes of globalisation. The problems and
challenges which the promotion of sustainable development addresses are global in scope –
indeed they relate to the very survival of the planet as the host of human society. In some areas
of the world, the effects of globalisation pose a threat to the survival of local communities,
particularly of minorities and indigenous peoples, and to the forests and other habitats on which
such communities depend. Changing patterns of world trade and production trigger new
challenges of migration, settlement, infrastructure, pollution and resource depletion. On the
other hand, the faster and denser connections which characterise globalisation – electronic
communication, data capacity, storage and processing, air travel, media networks and many
more – can be harnessed in order to enable more effective and concerted action to tackle them.
A view of sustainability
Sustainability relates to ways of thinking about the world, and forms of social and personal
practice that lead to:
• ethical, empowered and personally fulfilled individuals;
• communities built on collaborative engagement, tolerance and equity;
• social systems and institutions that are participatory, transparent and just; and
• environmental practices that value and sustain biodiversity and life-supporting
ecological processes.
Source: Hill et al. 2003.
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2005