Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
9.
The link between ecological and
social paradigms and the sustainability of
environmental management: a case study
of semi-arid Tanzania
Claire H. Quinn and David G. Ockwell
Introduction
Over the last two decades, sustainable development has become widely
accepted as the goal that environmental management should strive to
achieve. The idea of sustainable development has evolved due to the inherent
tensions between economic development and the desire to protect the envi-
ronment. The most commonly used dei nition comes from the Brundtland
Report , which dei nes sustainable development as: 'Development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs' (WCED, 1987, p. 43).
The argument in favour of sustainable development has often been
characterized as a response to the fact that economic development
in a capitalist market economy leads to environmental degradation
(Carter, 2001; Anand, 2003). This, however, fails to recognize that some
approaches to protecting the environment can result in negative economic
impacts where such protection prevents previous economic uses of natural
resources - a particularly important issue for developing countries where
the poorest people often depend most directly on natural resources for
their livelihoods. In such situations, the challenge for environmental man-
agers working to achieve sustainable development is how to protect and
conserve natural resources at the same time as protecting the livelihoods of
poor people. Furthermore, management approaches also need to enable
poor people to develop opportunities to improve their economic situation
and lift themselves out of poverty in the long term. Recognition of this
link between sustainable environmental management and the eradication
of poverty is central to the thinking behind goals 1 and 7 of the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals, which aim, respectively, to erad-
icate extreme poverty and ensure environmental sustainability. Within this
context, therefore, 'environmental management for sustainable develop-
ment' needs to protect the environment at the same time as protecting and
developing the livelihoods of those people who depend on it.
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