About Environmental ethics and Sustainable Development
Though the practice of development is as old as human civilization, the study of development has a relatively short history, really dating back only as far as the 1950s. Since then, the interdisciplinary field of development studies has seen many changes in thinking regarding the meaning and purpose of development (ideologies) and in development practice in the field (strategies of development). During the first United Nations Development Decade of the 1960s, development thinking (encompassing these aspects of ideology and strategy) prioritized economic growth and the application of modern scientific and technical knowledge as the route to prosperity in the underdeveloped world at that time. However, by the second UN Development Decade of the 1970s, inequality between and within countries had in fact worsened. Many developing countries had achieved economic growth as measured by Gross National Product (GNP) but this ‘development’ was not shared equally amongst the populations of these nations. By the third UN Development Decade of the 1980s, distributional issues, such as improving the income levels of target populations, were accepted as fundamental parts of any development strategy. Phrases such as ‘growth with equity’ or ‘redistribution with growth’ emerged in the 1970s and encapsulated the recognition that economic growth remains a fundamental ingredient within development thinking and action, but that the nature of that growth was critical to ensuring that the benefits do not fall solely to a minority of the population. However, both modernization theory and the radical critique have been criticized for over-emphasizing the economic dimensions of development. By the 1980s, ‘development’, in contrast, was seen as a multidimensional concept encapsulating widespread improvements in the social as well as the material well-being of all in society. In addition, it was recognized that there was no single model for achieving development and that investment in all sectors was required, including agriculture as well as industry. Above all, ‘development’ needed to be sustainable; it must encompass not only economic and social activities, but also those related to population, the use of natural resources and the resulting impacts on the environment. Specifically, it was also widely recognized by academics and practitioners in many fields, both in the developing and more industrialized countries, that development to date has regularly led to the degradation of resources, for example. Mounting world poverty is also testimony to the failure of such economic and social transformations to deliver even basic goods to many people (particularly in the developing regions). It was suggested that these patterns and processes of development will not be able to supply the needs of the world’s population into the future and cannot deliver the higher standards of living to the rising numbers of people essential to the conservation of the environment. By the late 1980s, commission, World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), was formed by the United Nations. The commission was an independent group of 22 people drawn from member states of both the developing and developed worlds, and charged with identifying long-term environmental strategies for the international community. In 1987 the commission came up with the famous Brundtland Report and the term sustainable development has ‘gained a currency and is widely used in development discourses. According to the report sustainable development was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Since then, the demand to pursue policies aimed at achieving ‘environmentally friendly development’ or ‘sustainability’ has become a clarion call for many countries. The commission also identified core issues and necessary conditions for sustainable development viz: population and development, food security, species and ecosystems, energy, industry, and the urban challenge. As a result, since the last two decades, environmental issues have been firmly established in development thinking and practice. Hence, the central aim of this course is to acquaint student with specialized knowledge concerning the nexus between development and environment and tools of environmental mainstreaming such as environmental impact assessment. Moreover, it will equip students with the necessary conceptual understanding of natural resource management, environmental management and sustainability. While in doing so attention is paid to the Ethiopian situation.