Redclift, Michael. 1992. "The Meaning of Sustainable Development." Geoforum 25 (3): 395-403.

Summary:

Redclift argues that writers interested in defining sustainable development differ, quite basically, in their focus of what should be sustained. He identifies three parameters of sustainable development: 1) a focus on ecological parameters supposes that the resource base, specifically renewable resources, should be sustained; 2) advocates of an economic and political emphasis argue for a human-centered understanding of sustainable development focusing especially on social and economic objectives, for example, the elimination of poverty; 3) finally, if one acknowledges that different cultures define their needs and the appropriate means for obtaining those needs, one attends to issues of sustaining cultural systems and peoples.

Secondly, Redclift discusses the eight principles of sustainable development as described in the second World Conservation Strategy, Caring for the Earth, published in 1991 (a reflection of the Brundtland report). In application of these criteria to policy implementation, Redclift discusses two points: priority issues and priority actions. Priority issues include determination of scale, reversibility and urgency. Priority actions include consideration of effectiveness and practicality.

Third, Redclift argues that there are two contradictions evident in discussions of sustainable development: difference of emphasis - due to their concern with the impacts human activity has on biospheric processes, while some argue that technology should be developed which minimizes these degradative impacts. Others (radical ecologists) call for a redefining of the ends of development as well as the means; they argue that technological solutions are self-defeating in the long run. The second contradiction proposes that sustainable development must attend to the structural inequalities of the global system. For example, environmental concerns in the North center on the value determined by wilderness preservation while, in the South, value is derived from the destruction of wilderness into commodities.

Finally, Redclift argues that there are three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, political and epistemological dimensions. His focus on these three expands the discussion to include that which tends to be ignored in most Northern discussions of sustainable development, such as international and cross-cultural factors.

Keywords: ecological, social (cultural systems and peoples), economic and political sustainability; international equity; participatory democracy