Graaf, H. J. de, C. J. M. Musters and W. J. ter Keurs. 1996. "Sustainable Development: Looking For New Strategies." Ecological Economics 16: 205-216.

Thesis:

Sustainable development is "a development of a socio-environmental system with a high potential for continuity because it is kept within economic, social, cultural, ecological and physical constraints" (p. 214).

Summary:

The authors argue for a "more complete strategy for sustainable development" (p. 205). They describe a "socio-environmental system" which integrates ecological, social and economic sustainability principles. Further, they emphasize the importance of consensus in decision-making negotiations.

An analysis of the traditional strategies, environmental sustainability and ecological economics, concludes that neither of these approaches is complete. For instance, the limits to growth argument assumes that carrying capacity can accurately be measured and that it is possible to convince the public of the importance in reducing consumption. Proponents of the economic sustainability stance assume, for one, that environmental quality can be assigned a market price. Again, while these principles are important, alone they only address part of the problem.

The authors call for a recognition of political factors in discussions about sustainability: "...most researchers seem to consider sustainable development merely as a technical problem. And yet we have shown that political decisions are at the heart of assessing carrying capacity, correcting the GNP, or taxing" (p. 209).

A new strategy, the socio-environmental system, integrates cultural and environmental processes. Further, the authors argue for a consensus process to lead to the political decisions: "So the ideal strategy is one that searches for consensus between all the people involved in the development of a socio-environmental system a whole" (p. 210).

There are two components to this process (for which the authors call for further study): the management of negotiations and equitable supply of information. In managing the negotiations, eight tasks are required. The first three are as follows: 1) It should specify what socio-environmental system should reach a sustainable development; 2) It should gather the relevant groups of people around the negotiating table; 3) It should convince parties that negotiations are needed (see p. 212).

The second component regards the information supplied to interested parties. This tends to categorically be either value-laden or factual: what human needs and wants are at stake and how can these needs and wants be satisfied? The authors provide additional notes about the information (see p. 213-214).

Keywords: sustainable development, socio-environmental system, decision-making, information, consensus