TITLE:
The Challenge of Sustainable Development and the Imperative of Green and Inclusive Economic Growth
AUTHORS:
Michael Herrmann
KEYWORDS:
Green and Inclusive Economic Growth; Environment and Development; Demography; Sustainability
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.5 No.2,
February
19,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The greatest
challenge of the century is to meet the needs of current and future
generations, of a large and growing world population, while at the same time
ensuring the sustainability of the natural environment. The current development
model places unsustainable pressures on the natural resources—forests, land,
water and the atmosphere—and causes an
increasing frequency and intensity of natural and humanitarian disasters. The
paper agrees with increasing evidence that business-as-usual is not an option,
but it takes issues with many of the suggested policy responses. Human
wellbeing is inseparably linked to economic growth, and economic growth inevitably
has environmental implications. While it is impossible to decouple these
linkages, countries can promote more sustainable development pathways by
altering these linkages. To this end, they have three principle policy levers,
which will need to complement each other: Efforts to promote more inclusive
economic growth, efforts to increase resource-efficiency, and efforts to
address and harness demographic changes. The paper has important implications
for the discussions on sustainable development goals and the post-2015
development agenda, which takes place at the United Nations.