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The Origins and Contested Interpretations of
Sustainable Development
The concept of sustainable development has long attracted debate and
analysis from virtually all academic standpoints and has transcended the
often impenetrable disciplinary boundaries of the social and natural sciences.
Many authors have striven to find a single all-purpose definition of sustain-
able development - even by the early 1990s over 70 different definitions have
been proposed (Steer & Wade-Gery, 1993)! - while others have questioned
whether the concept, due to its ambivalence and ambiguity, holds any practi-
cal or theoretical relevance to issues of environment and development (Lélé,
1991; Mundt, 2011; Redclift, 1987). Indeed, some, such as the post-develop-
ment school, argue that not only sustainable development but development
as a global project in all its guises is a failed concept (Rahnema & Bawtree,
1997). Therefore, it is not surprising that sustainable development, both as
an overall development paradigm and in its specific manifestations, such as
tourism, remains the subject of intense debate (Sharpley, 2009b).
The origins of the concept can be traced to the 1960s and the coincidence
of the perceived environmental crisis and a global institutional response. In
1968, the UNESCO Biosphere Conference held in Paris and the Ecological
Aspects of International Development Conference in Washington both add-
ressed concerns about the planet's ecological carrying capacity under growing
pressures from human activity. They also heralded the ascendancy of a new
environmental awareness in the industrialised West. The 1972 UNCHE in
Stockholm, referred to above, is noted for being the first concerted interna-
tional effort to address environmental problems and is described as a mile-
stone in the development of global responses to environmental issues (Reid,
1995). However, whilst the West was concerned primarily with the threat of
pollution due to excessive industrial development, developing economies were
more concerned that resource conservation was a luxury which only the West
could afford to engage in. For them, a lack of development was the key to
environmental damage, hence the notion of the 'pollution of poverty'. The 26
principles agreed upon by the 119 governments and 400 non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) reflected both sets of concerns, with 'integrated devel-
opment' seen as a means of overcoming the perceived paradox between eco-
nomic growth and environmental protection. However, as Adams (1992)
observes, the overall theme of the conference was that development (i.e. gro-
wth) need not be impaired by environmental concerns.
However, the Stockholm Conference did succeed in placing issues of
environment and development on the international political agenda, whilst
its lasting achievement was the creation of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). UNEP has been active in encouraging countries to
establish environmental policies and was a key figure in the preparation of
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