Unit II: Sustainability

Dimensions

Morguefile. (2019). 14. Recuperada de:

https://morguefile.com/photos/morguefile/14/pop publicada bajo licencia
de CC0 Creative Commons)

José Rico Pérez & María del Rosario Ruiz Torres

 Objective

After completing this unit, the student will

determine the economic, environmental and
social dimensions of sustainabilty. He or she will
be able to to differentiate them and achieve an
efficent resource administration.
 Defining Sustainable
Development

The term sustainable development began to gain wide

acceptance in the late 1980s, after its appearance in Our
Common Future, also known as The Brundtland Report.
The result of this United Nations (UN) commission created to
propose “a global agenda for change” alerted the urgency of
re-thinking our ways of living and governing.
To “responsibly meet humanity’s goals and aspirations” would
require new ways of considering old problems as well as
international cooperation and coordination.

Strange, T. y Bayley, A. (2008). Sustainable development. Paris: OECD, p. 24

 Two Concepts

Development: the act or process of developing; growth;

progress.

Sustainable development: development that meets the needs

of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.

Strange, T. y Bayley, A. (2008). Sustainable development. Paris: OECD, p. 24

The UN General Assembly explicitly called attention to two
ideas:
• The well-being of the environment, of economies and of
people is inextricably linked.

• Sustainable development involves cooperation on a global

scale.

Strange, T. y Bayley, A. (2008). Sustainable development. Paris: OECD, p. 24

 Sustainable
Development is about
Integration
Developing in way that benefits the widest possible range of
sectors, across borders and even between generations.

“Governments face the complex challenge of finding the right

balance between the competing demands on natural and
social resources, without sacrificing economic progress.”

Sustainable Development: Critical Issues

IMPORTANT NOTE: economic growth alone is not enough: the economic,
social and environmental aspects of any action are interconnected.

Cited in Strange, T. y Bayley, A. (2008). Sustainable development. Paris: OECD,

p. 24
 Three Pilars Of Sustainable
Development

At the core of sustainable development is the need to consider

“three pillars”:

Society Environment Economy

people, habitats and economic systems are

inter-related
 Social dimension

• Consists in recognizing the right to equitable

access to common goods for all human beings,
between genders and between cultures
(Enkerlin, et al., 2000).
 Environmental
dimension

• The future of development depends on the capacity

that institutional actors and economic agents have to
know and manage, according to a long-term
perspective, its stock of renewable natural resources
and its environment. In this dimension, special
attention is paid to biodiversity and, mainly, to
resources such as land, water and vegetative cover
(forest), which are the factors that in a shorter term
determine the productive capacity of those spaces
(Sepúlveda, et al., 1998, cited by Díaz and Escárcega,
2009)
 Environmental
dimension

ECOSYSTEM:
• The ecosystem is the set of species in a given area that
interact among themselves, through processes such as
predation, parasitism, competition and symbiosis, and
with their abiotic environment to disintegrate and
become part of cycles of energy and nutrients. The
species of the ecosystem, including bacteria, fungi,
plants and animals, are dependent on each other. The
relationships between species and their environment
facilitate the flow of matter and energy within the
ecosystem. (CONABIO, 2019)
• In an ecosystem we all depend on everyone
 Economic
dimension

• Maintain economic development in the optimal

direction towards human welfare, reducing existing
inequality. Taking into account the restrictions that
imposes natural capital (Priego, 2003, cited by Díaz
and Escárcega, 2009).
 Economic
dimension

• GDP (PIB in México) is the monetary value of the

final goods and services produced by a country in a
given period. GDP is a representative indicator that
helps measure the growth or decrease of the
production of goods and services of companies in
each country, only within its territory. This indicator
is a reflection of the competitiveness of companies.

• It does not take into account negative externalities

that some productive activities generate, for
example, environmental pollution
 References

1. CONABIO. (2019). Mexican biodiversity. Recuperado de:

https://www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/v_ingles/ecosystems/whatis1.html.

2. Díaz, R. y Escárcega, S. (2009). Desarrollo sustentable. Oportunidad

para la vida. México: Mc Graw Hill.

3. Enkerlin, E. C., Cano, G., Garza, R. A. y Vogel, E. (2000). Ciencia

ambiental y Desarrollo Sostenible. México, D.F.: Thomson Editores,
México, D.F.

4. Strange, T. y Bayley, A. (2008). Sustainable development. Paris: OECD.