The Challenges of Sustainable Development Part II

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Envr E-115 09/30/08 Lecture3
The Challenges of Sustainable Development Part II
Dr. Kazi F. Jalal Harvard University Extension
School
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Outline of Lecture

• Determinants of Sustainable Development
• Consumption
• Production
• Distribution
• Sustainable Development- Reality or Myth?
• Case Examples of Sustainable Development

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Determinants of Sustainable Development

• CONSUMPTION
• beyond reasonable limits set by nature
• PRODUCTION
• characterized by gross inefficiencies and
  mismanagement in the use of water, energy, and
  minerals
• DISTRIBUTION
• which is grossly inequitable

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CONSUMPTIONthe selection,adoption,use,disposal
and recycling of goods and servicesWikipedia
(2005)
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Some Reasons to Look at Consumption Patterns

• 1. Eco-efficiency alone can not meet the natural
  resource appetite following current consumption
  patterns.
• 2. Focus on consumption enables us to look at
  what is being consumed and how consonant is it in
  meeting the basic needs of people
• 3. Close look at Consumption pattern will
  illustrate vividly that the poor not only consume
  less but also pollute little

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Ecological Footprint(http//www.footprintnetwork.
org/)is a representation of environmental
consequences of consumption expressed in terms of
acres of land and water area required to satisfy
the food, housing, energy, and transportation
needs of a person/country

• Components of footprint
• -Food
• -Shelter
• -Transport

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Who consumes?Parikh et al(1992) Consumption
patterns,UNCED
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Consumer spending populationState of the
World, 2004
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Religious Revolt Against Consumerism

• Christianity
• Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of
  greed a persons life does not consist in the
  abundance of possessions.
• Confucianism
• Excess and deficiency are equally at fault.
• Buddhism
• By the thirst for the riches, the foolish man
  destroys himself as if he were his own enemy.

Source UNDP, 1998
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Religious Revolt Against Consumerism

• Hinduism
• When you have the golden gift of commitment you
  have everything.
• Islam
• It is difficult for a person laden with riches
  to climb the steep path that leads to bliss.
• Taoism
• One who knows he has enough is rich.

Source UNDP, 1998
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Global obesity is on the rise!It is a time
bomband a global epidemicCurrently 1.1
billion people in this world are
overweight/obese___________________________Glo
bal obesity websitewww.esrc.ac.uk (2006)
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Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of body fat
based on height and weight.
BMI w/h2 w weight in kg h height in
meters BMI Categories Underweight 18.5 Normal weight 18.5 24.9 Overweight
25 29.9 Obese 30
http//www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi http//www.cdc.go
v/nchs/nhanes.htm
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Source .S.R.C(2006) Global Obesity website
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Worldwide trends in child obesitySource Int.
Assoc. for the study of child obesity, March, 2006
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PRODUCTION
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Current Industrial Production Patterns 5 Basic
Problems

• Using materials processes causing environmental
  degradation and health hazards
• Inefficiency of production causing system loss
  and environmental degradation
• Failure to reflect negative externalities in
  product cost

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Current Industrial Production Patterns 5 Basic
Problems

• Subsidies on energy, water, fertilizers which
  mostly benefit the non-poor
• Transaction costs are significantly higher for
  the poor

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New Agricultural Revolution (Green 2 Revolution)

• Redistributive policies that favor access of the
  poor to land and modern inputs
• Increased public expenditure in less favored
  agricultural land
• Increased attention to the needs of small holder
  farms and landless laborers including credits

All elements have significant impact on poverty
reduction
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New Agricultural Revolution (Green 2 Revolution)

• Increased investment in rain-fed agricultural
  areas
• Decentralized agricultural research, development,
  and extension system focusing on soil and water
  management

All elements have significant impact on poverty
reduction
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DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES
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World Development Report 2006 Equity
Development

• Inequality of distribution of resources results
  in poverty weakens prospects for development
• To correct the situation WB recommends ensuring
  more equitable access by the poor to health care,
  education, credit, land rights and justice system
  among others
• Increase the level of development assistance
  which is more effective in reducing the income
  gap between the rich and the poor

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Sustainable Development- a Reality or Myth?
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Recent Studies on Future Scenarios for
Sustainable Development
Which World? Scenarios for the 21st Century
Global Destinies, Regional Choices
-Allen Hammond of the World Resources Institute,
1998 Bending the Curve Toward Global
Sustainability -Global Scenario Group,
Stockholm Environment Institute, 1998 Great
Transition The Promise and Lure of the Times
Ahead -Global Scenario Group, Stockholm
Environment Institute, 2002
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Sustainable Development 2050

• MARKET WORLD

• GDP growth
• Technological innovation
• Global economic integration
• Market-based instruments for environmental
  protection

2. FORTRESS WORLD

• Government control against social wrong-doings
  and unconstrained markets
• Meeting basic needs for all

3. TRANSFORMED WORLD

• Fundamental change in social values and cultural
  norms
• New coalition for power sharing and working from
  grassroots up
• Market force still remains effective tool for
  economic growthnot a substitute but a supplement
  to the following
• Economic, environmental and social choices
  determined by people in a participating and
  democratic manner
• Promote and maintain solidarity, peace and
  justice in the world

Constructed from various sources
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Critics view of SD

• SD is more about establishing global peace and
  democracy than intergenerational equity
• The World is not going to run out of natural
  resources
• The real state of the world is better than what
  the environmentalists think
• SD can be damaging for the poor
• Ineffective development assistance is a major
  hindrance to SD

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Definition of EHMs

• Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid
  professionals who cheat countries around the
  globe out of trillion dollars. They funnel money
  from the World Bank, the US Agency for
  International Development (USAID), and other
  foreign aid organizations into the coffers of
  huge corporations and the pockets of a few
  wealthy families who control the planets natural
  resources
• -John Perkins, 2004

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TOR of EHMs

• Claudine told me that there were two primary
  objectives of my work. First, I was to justify
  huge international loans that would funnel money
  back to MAIN and other U.S. companies (such as
  Bechtel, Halliburton, Stone Webster, and Brown
  Root) through massive engineering and
  construction projects. Second, I would work to
  bankrupt the countries that received these loans
  (after they had paid MAIN and the other US
  contractors, of course) so that they would be
  forever beholden to their creditors, and so they
  would present easy targets when we need favours,
  including military bases, UN votes, or access to
  oil and other natural resources.

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End of the confession

• In the concluding part of his book, John Perkins
  stated
• This story must be told. We live in a time of
  terrible crisis- and tremendous opportunity. The
  story of this particular economic hit man is the
  story of how we got to where we are and why we
  currently face crises that seem insurmountable.
  The story must be told because only by
  understanding our past mistakes will we be able
  to take advantage of our future opportunities..
  Most important, this story must be told because,
  for the first time in history, one nation has the
  ability, the money, and the power to change all
  this. It is the nation where I was born and the
  one I served as an EHM The United States of
  America.

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CASE STUDIES Smith Jalal (2000) Sustainable
Development in Asia Asian Development Bank
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Rainwater Harvesting in Alwar, Rajasthan,
Indialargest mobilization of people for
environmental regeneration

• Problem
• Drought-stricken villages with dry wells and a
  low water table
• Project
• In the mid-1980s, Tarun Bharat Singh, a local
  voluntary organization, assisted a village in
  building 3 small rain water harvesting structures
  called check dams. Check dams store monsoon
  rains, irrigate fields, and allow water to
  percolate through the ground to increase water
  table.

Source Agarwal et al, 1999 Agarwal and Narain,
1999
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Rainwater Harvesting in Alwar, Rajasthan, India

• Progress
• Now 3,000 water harvesting structures in 650
  villages.
• Villagers and TBS regenerated 6,500 m2 of land.
• Groundwater tables have increased by 6 m on
  average.
• Forest cover increased by 33
• 5 formerly seasonally dry rivers flow perennially
• Agriculture is more productive and
  self-sustaining
• Average annual per capita income increased by
  19.78
• For every dollar invested in check dams, economic
  production in villages increased by 4.20.

Source Agarwal et al, 1999 Agarwal and Narain,
1999
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Rainwater Harvesting in Alwar, Rajasthan, India

• Social Impact
• Project has helped reverse some of the negative
  social impacts associated with environmental
  degradation. As a result, there is
• reduced migration
• increased attendance in schools
• reduced crime rates
• increased participation of women in village
  decisions

Source Agarwal et al, 1999 Agarwal and Narain,
1999
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Improved Cook-stoves Program in the Peoples
Republic of China

• Background
• Initiated in the early 1980s, covered almost 76
  of rural households after 15 years of
  implementation without any direct government
  subsidy.
• Strategies
• Work began in areas where people showed desire
  for improved cook-stoves.
• Research and development were geared toward
  designing stoves to match local conditions of
  fuel, cooking, and heating needs.

Source Parikh et al, 1999 Yao, 1999 Natarajan
1999
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Improved Cook-stoves Program in the Peoples
Republic of China

• Strategies
• Regular, systematic, and consistent monitoring
  and evaluation have been an integral part of the
  program since its inception.
• Government contributions are small (about 15)
  and restricted to training, administration, and
  promotion
• Flow of money between bureaucratic levels is
  minimal.
• Production of the critical parts of the
  combustion chamber is centralized to ensure
  long-term, high-efficiency stove performance.

Source Parikh et al, 1999 Yao, 1999 Natarajan
1999
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Corporate Synergy Systems in Taipei, China

• Objective
• To promote clean production in supply chains
  consisting of small and medium-sized enterprises
  using the corporate synergy system management
  approach.
• Corporate synergy systems are initiated under
  leadership of large companies, where upstream
  suppliers and downstream buyers are organized to
  achieve common goals. Central firms of a CSS rank
  and reward the suppliers in the chain.

Source Chiu et al, 1999 van Berkel and Krygar,
1994
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Corporate Synergy Systems in Taipei, China

• CSS in Action
• Cheng-Loong Paper Manufacturing Company organized
  CSS program with
• 2 Central Firms
• 10 upstream suppliers that provide waste paper,
  machinery, chemicals, energy, transportation
  services
• 3 downstream buyers who are suppliers
• 90 of participating firms were small and
  medium-sized enterprises

Source Chiu et al, 1999 van Berkel and Krygar,
1994
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Corporate Synergy Systems in Taipei, China

• Results
• Cheng-Loong system implemented 868 clean
  production options in 13 months.
• Participating firms invested 991,000 in clean
  production measures, resulting in annual benefit
  of 3.5 million.

Source Chiu et al, 1999 van Berkel and Krygar,
1994
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Case Studies Lessons Learned

• At the grassroots level, necessary conditions for
  SUSTAINABILITY of DEVELOPMENT are
• Well targeted programs (in terms of area
  population)
• Minimum bureaucracy
• Supportive role of the government
• Active role of the community, NGO, and private
  sector
• Stakeholders responsibility and sense of
  ownership
• Strategy for commercialization
• Replication of success stories

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Case Studies Results Achieved

• People (particularly the marginalized groups)
  derived economic and environmental benefits
• Investments are paid off over a short period of
  time
• Occupational hazards were minimized
• Cooperation and understanding between affected
  communities, NGOs, and private sector increased
• Market and policy failures were minimized
• Development became meaningful and sustainable.

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The idea of confession

• Tossing and turning in my bed, I found it
  impossible to deny that Charlie and everyone else
  on our team were here for selfish reasons. We
  were promoting U.S.foreign policy and corporate
  interests. We were driven by greed rather than by
  any desire to make life better for the vast
  majority of Indonesians. .in the middle of the
  night I often had to console myself with a
  promise that someday I would expose the truth.