CHAPTER 4

SUSTAINABILITY
DEVELOPMENT
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
“Meeting the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.”

“meeting the needs”,

“the present”
“compromise”
“ability of future generations”
“meet their own needs”
• SD is an approach that will permit continuing
improvements in the quality of life with a
lower intensity of resource use, thereby
leaving behind for future generations an
undiminished or even enhanced stock of
natural resources and other assets.
 SUSTAINABILITY

“The possibility that human

and other forms of life on earth
will flourish forever.”

“Enough, for all, forever.”

 Different views
Three approaches
• Economic: Maximize income while maintaining a
constant or increasing stock of capital
• Ecological: Maintaining resilience and robustness of
biological and physical systems
• Socio-cultural: Maintaining the stability of social and
cultural systems
Elements of sustainability
Environment
•biodiversity
•materials
•energy
•biophysical interactions

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

 Elements of sustainability

•money and capital

•employment
•technological growth
•investment
•market forces
Economy

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

 Elements of sustainability

•human diversity (cultural, linguistic, ethnic)

•equity (dependence / independence)
•quality of life
•institutional structures and organization
•political structures
Society

- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987

 SOCIETAL SUSTAINABILITY

QUALITY OF LIFE

Environmental
 MUNICIPAL SUSTAINABILITY
Ecological Integrity
Sustainable Water quality & consumption
Municipality Green space Air quality
(28 Indicators) Waste diversion,
GHG emission reduction
Economic Security Urban biodiversity
Employment participation
Unemployment rate Social Well-being
Household shelter spending Life satisfaction Crime rate
% Low income people Health and access to care
Household debt Cultural Events Homelessness
Infrastructure & Governance & Empowerment
Built Environment Education Voter turnout
Density Green buildings City council diversity
Green transportation use Household garbage limit
Local food production GHG reduction target
Renewable energy
Clean tech business opportunity

Corporate Knights 5th Annual Sustainable Cities Rankings, Winter 2011

MOST SUSTAINABLE CANADIAN CITIES
Ecological Economic Govern’ce & Infrastructure Social
Integrity Security Empower’nt & Built Envir’t Well-Being
Large Cities Total
Toronto 5.5 6.2 7.9 7.3 7.7 6.9
Edmonton 7.1 6.2 5.3 4.7 7.2 6.1
Ottawa 4.8 7.3 6.0 4.1 7.6 6.0
Calgary 5.8 6.6 5.5 4.5 7.6 6.0
Montreal 5.2 4.4 5.3 6.8 7.5 5.8
Medium Cities
Vancouver 6.5 6.0 7.6 7.7 7.5 7.1
Mississauga 5.5 7.6 5.7 5.3 7.6 6.3
Halifax 6.3 7.1 6.7 4.3 6.8 6.2
Hamilton 5.2 7.5 6.8 4.0 6.8 6.1
Quebec 4.5 8.4 5.9 3.7 7.7 6.1
Winnipeg 4.6 7.4 5.0 5.5 6.9 5.9

Corporate Knights 5th Annual Sustainable Cities Rankings, Feb. 2011

 MOST SUSTAINABLE SMALL CITIES

Ecological Economic Govern’ce & Infrastructure Social

Integrity Security Empower’nt & Built Envir’t Well-Being
Small Cities Total
Victoria 5.2 7.2 7.2 7.6 8.2 7.1
Saskatoon 4.7 7.4 6.6 4.5 7.4 6.1
Saint John 4.6 8.2 5.5 4.6 7.5 6.1
Yellowknife 5.7 6.4 6.1 4.3 7.6 6.0
Charlottetown 4.6 6.3 5.2 5.4 7.3 5.8
Whitehorse 4.7 5.7 6.9 2.8 6.5 5.3

Corporate Knights 5th Annual Sustainable Cities Rankings, Feb. 2011

 Economic dimension
Capital: produces a stream of goods and
services into the future
– Financial capital
– Manufactured capital; durable capital
– Human capital; stocks of learned skills
– Intellectual capital; accumulation of knowledge and
skills not embodied in individuals
– Social capital; Set of institutions and customs
– Natural capital; renewable and nonrenewable
 Weak vs Strong sustainability
• Weak sustainability; man made and natural
capital substitutable. Sum must be non-
declining
– Implications?
• Strong sustainability; man made and natural
capital with limited substitutability, each stock
must be non-declining separately
– Implications?
 Strong or weak?
Robert Repetto – Economic Approach
“The core idea of sustainability is that current
decisions should not impair the prospects for
maintaining or improving future living
standards. This implies that our economic
system should be managed so we can live off
the dividends of our resources”.
• Resources – all resources
 Economic dimension
Jonathan Harris Tufts U
• An economically sustainable system must be
able to produce goods and services on a
continuing basis, to maintain manageable size
of government and external debt and to avoid
sectoral imbalances (maintain diversity)
 Environmental dimension
D. Pearce
• Sustainable development is (1) development subject
to a set of constraints which set resource harvest
rates at levels not higher than managed natural
regeneration rates and (2) use of the environment as
a waste sink on the basis that waste disposal rates
should not exceed rates of managed or natural
assimilative capacity of the ecosystem
 Quantifiable
– Managed or natural regeneration rate
• Forest resource
• X1 biomass removed/unit time
• X2 biomass regenerated/unit time
• X1<=X2
– Managed or natural waste assimilative capacity
• Wastewater effluent
• Y1 = PPM discharged BOD/unit time
• Y2 = PPM BOD capacity /unit time
• Y1<=Y2
 Environmental dimension
Jonathan Harris Tufts U
• A stable resource base, do not overwhelm the
waste assimilative ability of the environment
nor the regenerative services of the
environment, deplete non-renewables only to
the extent we invest in renewable substitutes.
 Social Dimension
Jonathan Harris Tufts U
• Achieve distributional equity, adequate
provision of social services including health
and education, gender equity and political
accountability and participation
3 Approaches
 Economic Approach to SD
• Robert Repetto
“The core idea of sustainability is that current
decisions should not impair the prospects for
maintaining or improving future living
standards. This implies that our economic
system should be managed so we can live off
the dividends of our resources”.
• Resources – all resources
 Ecological approach to SD
IUCN
• SD is about maintenance of essential
ecological processes and life support systems,
the preservation of genetic diversity and the
sustainable utilization of species and
ecosystems
 Social Approach to SD
Ed Barbier
• SD is directly concerned with increasing the
standard of living of the poor, which can be
measured in terms of increased food, real
income, education, health care, water supply,
sanitation and only indirectly concerned with
economic growth at the aggregate.
 The principle
• Protect the environment and at the same time
fulfill economic and social objectives
• Operational criteria:
– Economic objectives should not be maximized without
satisfying environmental and social constraints
– Environmental benefits should not be maximized without
satisfying economic and social constraints
– Social benefits should not be maximized without satisfying
economic and environmental constraints
 The principle – meant to deliver
1. Economic growth and equity; not leaving any
region behind
2. Conserving natural resources and the
environment; for us and future generations
3. Social development; Ensure rich fabric of social
and cultural diversity, ensure rights of workers,
empowerment and at the same time ensure
jobs, education, food, health care, energy etc.
 Sustainability: PROBLEMS
• Depletion of finite resources
– fuels, soil, minerals, species
• Over-use of renewable resources
– forests, fish & wildlife, fertility, public funds
• Pollution
– air, water, soil
• Inequity
– economic, political, social, gender
• Species loss
– endangered species and spaces

- WCED, 1987
Sustainability: SOLUTIONS
u Cyclical material use
– emulate natural cycles; 3 R’s
u Safe reliable energy
– conservation, renewable energy,
substitution, interim measures
u Life-based interests
– health, creativity, communication,
coordination, appreciation, learning,
intellectual and spiritual development
The Power of SD Remains Dormant
Locked in Isolated Issues

Clean AIDS
Air Prevention

Climate
Equity
Change

Sustainable
Sustainable Development Peace
Consumption

Poverty Bio-
Eradication diversity
Population
Growth
 Many Paths to SD

• Good legislation/governance
• Economic incentives
• Overcoming corruption
• Environmental protection
• Human rights/security
• Infrastructure (roads to banking)
• 40 issues identified in Agenda 21
Nine ways to achieve sustainability
1. Leave everything in pristine state, or return it to
pristine state
2. Develop so as to not overwhelm carrying capacity of
the system
3. Sustainability will take care of itself as economic
growth proceeds (Kuznets)
4. Polluter and victim can arrive at an efficient solution
by themselves (Coase)
5. Let the market take care of it!
 Nine ways to achieve sustainability?
6. Internalize externalities
7. Reinvest rents for nonrenewable resources
8. Let the national economic accounting systems reflect
defensive expenditures
9. Leave for future generations the options or the
capacity to be as well off as we are
 One example:

Guideposts for Sustainability

(after Nickerson, 1993)

Activities are sustainable when they:

1. Use materials in continuous cycles.

2. Use continuously reliable sources of
energy.
3. Encourage desirable human traits
(equity; creativity; communication;
coordination; appreciation; intellectual
and spiritual development).
 Guideposts for Sustainability
Activities are not sustainable when they:
1. Require continual inputs of non-renewable
resources.
2. Use renewable resources faster than their
rate of renewal.
3. Cause cumulative degradation of the
environment.
4. Require resources in quantities that could
never be available for people everywhere.
5. Lead to the extinction of other life forms.
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE -
POLLUTION
Solar Energy
• The greatest advantages of solar energy are
that it is completely free and is available in a
limitless supply. Both of these factors provide
a huge benefit to consumers and help reduce
pollution. Replacing non-renewable energy
with this type of energy is both
environmentally and financially effective
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE -POLLUTION
Wind Energy
• Wind energy is another readily available energy
source. Harnessing the power of wind energy
necessitates the use of windmills; however, due to
construction cost and finding a suitable location, this
kind of energy is meant to service more than just the
individual. Wind energy can supplement or even
replace the cost of grid power, and therefore may be
a good investment and remains a great example of
sustainable development.
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE –
waste/resources
3R : Reduce, Reused, Recycle
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE –
Stormwater

- to reduce or eliminate the hazards to public health and safety cause by

excessive storm water runoff, reduce economic losses to individuals and
the community at large, and protect conserve and promote the orderly
development of land and water resources.
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
• Used of oil Palm Biomass (frond, trunk, fibre,
shell, empty fruit bunch)
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
• Used of rice husk as biomass in cement
industry
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
Green Transportation - Electric Railway
Transportation
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
Ecovillage
Establish a co-housing community that embraced
sustainable principles and deep neighborhood
engagement :

1. Replace any natural features that would be destroyed

during the construction process
2. Restore natural features that had been destroyed as
the result of previous uses
3. Create prairies, wetlands, and savannah in
undeveloped open spaces
 EXAMPLE OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE – economy
• Minimize packaging
• Recycle packaging material
• Used green packaging material ( natural
degradation such as starch)
 Recap
• What is sustainable development?
• Why sustainable development is important?
• List three categories of sustainablity
development.
• What is the relationship between sustainable
development and public health?
• How to improve sustainable development