IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cid/wpfacu/5.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Quest for Global Sustainability: International Efforts on Linking Environment and Development

Author

Listed:
  • Henrik Selin
  • Bjorn-Ola Linner

Abstract

This paper analyzes global cooperation and policy making on the integration of environment and development issues over the 20th century up until the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The paper applies four analytical perspectives to these issues: the emergence and influence of an international environment and development discourse; an international political push for more multilateralism and building of new multilateral institutions; power politics including the influence of Cold War relations; and North-South politics and conflicts. These analytical perspectives are applied through four historical periods. First, we study how early international action on species protection and natural resource management were expanded into a broader environment and development agenda in the 1960s. Second, we examine the preparations for, holding of and outcomes of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. Third, we study the international debate and policy actions on environment and development issues in the early 1970s to early 1980s. Fourth, we examine environment and development events and actions in the early 1980s through to the decision by the UN General Assembly to organize UNCED. Much of the existing literature on international cooperation and policy making on sustainable development looks at this issue from a comparatively short historical perspective. In this paper, we argue that there is a need for a much more detailed examination of pre-UNCED events on environment and development, which are an important part of international politics that have not yet been subject to much sustained analytical attention and in-depth analysis. Studying these early efforts on environment and development issues in more detail will help us better understand conceptual and political backgrounds to UNCED and ongoing efforts on sustainable development. We argue that all four analytical perspectives provide important insights into global cooperation and policy making on environment and development issues through all four historical periods. There are moreover often strong connections between different policy efforts over time, as one event is shaped by and builds on earlier ones. Examining specific explanatory factors, North-South politics and conflicts are increasingly important in the post-WWII period. Keywords: sustainable development, environmental protection, development, conservation, natural resource management, United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE), New International Economic Order (NIEO), World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)

Suggested Citation

  • Henrik Selin & Bjorn-Ola Linner, 2005. "The Quest for Global Sustainability: International Efforts on Linking Environment and Development," CID Working Papers 5, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
  • Handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/cid/files/publications/fellow_graduate_student_working_papers/005-2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Bartelmus, Peter, 2003. "Dematerialization and capital maintenance: two sides of the sustainability coin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 61-81, August.
    3. Michael A. Toman, 1994. "Economics and "Sustainability": Balancing Trade-Offs and Imperatives," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 70(4), pages 399-413.
    4. Cox, Robert W., 1979. "Ideologies and the New International Economic Order: reflections on some recent literature," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 257-302, April.
    5. Meyer, John W. & Frank, David John & Hironaka, Ann & Schofer, Evan & Tuma, Nancy Brandon, 1997. "The Structuring of a World Environmental Regime, 1870–1990," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 623-651, October.
    6. Hansen, Roger D., 1975. "The political economy of North-South relations: How much change?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 921-947, October.
    7. Engfeldt, Lars-Goran, 1973. "The United Nations and the Human Environment – Some Experiences," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(3), pages 393-412, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Björn-Ola Linnér & Henrik Selin, 2013. "The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: Forty Years in the Making," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(6), pages 971-987, December.
    2. Nuno Quental & Júlia Lourenço & Fernando da Silva, 2011. "Sustainability: characteristics and scientific roots," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 257-276, April.
    3. Mathias Friman & Björn-Ola Linnér, 2008. "Technology obscuring equity: historical responsibility in UNFCCC negotiations," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 339-354, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Toman, Michael & Pezzey, John C., 2002. "The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles," RFF Working Paper Series dp-02-03, Resources for the Future.
    2. Wang, Sen, 2004. "One hundred faces of sustainable forest management," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3-4), pages 205-213, June.
    3. Joel Bothello & Afshin Mehrpouya, 2019. "Between regulatory field structuring and organizational roles: Intermediation in the field of sustainable urban development," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 177-196, June.
    4. YUNG-JAAN Lee, 1999. "Sustainable wetland management strategies under uncertainties," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 67-79, March.
    5. Helen Scarborough & Jeff Bennett, 2012. "Cost–Benefit Analysis and Distributional Preferences," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14376.
    6. William D. Nordhaus, 1992. "Lethal Model 2: The Limits to Growth Revisited," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(2), pages 1-60.
    7. Lin, Yu-Hsuan, 2015. "Sustainability and International Environmental Agreements," MPRA Paper 83823, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Jaeger, William K., 1995. "Is sustainability optimal? Examining the differences between economists and environmentalists," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 43-57, October.
    9. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    10. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    11. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    12. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    13. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    14. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    15. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    16. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    17. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    18. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    19. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    20. Parnphumeesup, Piya & Kerr, Sandy A., 2011. "Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk) CDM project in Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3591-3601, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainable development; environmental protection; development; conservation; natural resource management; United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE); New International Economic Order (NIEO); World Commission on Environment and Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • Q30 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cid:wpfacu:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chuck McKenney (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ciharus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.