Sustainable development explained - part 2

    
....The functional relationship between the different  forms  of  capital  are  complex,  they  depend  on many  factors   as  well   as   the   achieved   level  of  social development   and  can be expressed  in an  unlimited number of variants and characteriscs.

relation between environmental,economic and social factors

      This  complexity   is  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  economics  treats  the  utilization  of  different forms  of  capital  as  alternates.  In  other  words, the acquisition of one kind of welfare deprives us of another one. For instance, the building of  a  pig farm takes  away  farming land,  pollutes  the  air  with ammonia and may cause environmental   pollution   with   wastes.  Some   factors  do  not   have  an  alternative,  because  nothing  can compensate for their loss. Functioning of capital is accompanied by two types of changes:

•  quantative,  expressed  in  economics  by  its  depreciation (D)
•  qualitative,  that  may  be  positive  when  improving quality , marked with (Y) and negative or degrading (D), when quality  is deteriorating.

          Every  capital may increase  –  this  is  progressive development  (G)  and,  vice  versa,  decrease  or  regress.  Development   is   assumed   to   be   sustainable when  quality   improves  and   progressive   development  prevails  over   the   quantative  changes   related   to  capital   decrease   and   quality    deterioration.     Conditionally, sustainable development can be expressed for  all forms of capital as follows:

         G + Y > A + D.

Sustainable  development  is  a  function  of  the capital as well:

         Ys = f ( Kпр,Км,Кс ).

The  most  recent  concept  of  sustainable development  in  the  XX  century  was  adopted  at   the  UN  Conference  on   Environment   and   Development   in   Rio  de     Janeiro   in   1992.  It  is  based  on  a  concept  dating  back  to  1987  and  states that sustainable development is “a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of  investments,  the orientation of   technological  development;  and  institutional change  are  all  in  harmony  and   enhance    both current  and  future  potential  to  meet  human needs  and  aspirations"

In agenda 21 of Rio  de  Janeiro,  sustainable  development  is  defined as “one that will accommodate the basic needs of  its  present  inhabitants  while  preserving  the resources  that will enable  future generations  to flourish”. The agenda has formulated   27 principles   of   sustainable  development  that  synthesize   the
global problems of mankind  and  have to  be  solved   on  world, national and local levels.  Agenda 21   is
not  legally  obligating  as  international treatees  but   is  important   for  government policies   concerning
environment and development.


Sources:
1.Mill J. S. Principles of Poli﬒ cal Economy, Parket, L., 1857.
2.Daly, H., Steady State Economics, Freeman, San Francisco, 1977.
3.Our Common Future. Word Commission of Environment and Development, New York, 1987, p.46