Presentation Review: Weak Vs Strong Sustainability

Weak vs Strong Sustainability PRESENTATION LEARNING Introduction (1) • Sustainable development: development that does not reduce the capacity to provide and fulfill society's per capita utilities. • Furthermore, it can be stated that at a minimum level, sustainable development must not jeopardize the natural systems that support all life on earth. • But what does it mean and how to be sure? • Please note, Sustainability is not static: WHY? 🡺 substitution of natural capital depends on technology and user preferences, both of which can change over time 🡺 it is DYNAMIC in nature Sustainable Development and Economic Concepts • In the economic definition, capital in an economic system is a "reserve" or stock of real goods, which has the ability to produce goods (or utilization functions) in the future. • Furthermore, natural resources, which are reserves of goods and services, and have the ability to produce goods and services and other functions, are classified as capital in the factors of production. • Alfred Marshal, in particular, understood the role of natural resources in contributing to production. This is reflected in the principle that natural resources can expand (or recover) slowly. Economic Paradigm (1) • From an economic perspective, with an emphasis on efficiency, the problem is not the irreversibility of natural resource depletion, but rather how future generations can be compensated for the loss of natural resource stocks. • It can be said that economic efficiency has a different criterion than concept of sustainability 🡺 Communities must determine the best allocation of today's total resource endowment to enhance activities economy and welfare, and how much of these total resources should be utilized. saving, for the well-being of generations to come. Sustainability Paradigm • In general, there are two (2) sustainability paradigms: WEAK Sustainability (WS) and STRONG Sustainability (SS) • The main difference between the two is related to the contrasting assumptions about the substitutability of natural capital, where WS is a substitution paradigm, while SS can be considered a non-substitution paradigm. • The fundamental debate about sustainable development is whether we are choose to adopt a strong or weak conception of sustainability. (please divide the group, if there is already a pro strong group, please assign a pro strong group. sustainability and pro weak sustainability): 5 minutes Strong vs Weak Sustainability Strong vs Weak Sustainability (2) Strong vs Weak Sustainability (3) Strong vs Weak Sustainability (4) • In this model, a system follows a pathway where it changes from the exploitation stage, where colonization occurs after succession in a disturbed or pioneer site, to the conservation stage. • In the conservation stage the system has reached a climax stage and requires consolidation. • After the conservation phase, resources become abundant and the biomass structure becomes "mature" so as to release the accumulated energy and nutrients present in the threshold. The released nutrients and energy are then available for the next stage of exploitation. Strong vs Weak Sustainability (4) • In the context of sustainable development, these two characteristics affect the availability of resources as natural capital stock that fuels development. • Maintaining natural capital stocks has a variety of meanings. This concept can be applied to recovered resources. • For non-recoverable resources, this concept is irrelevant, because even a positive utilization rate with a minimum value will reduce natural resource stocks. • Managing recovered resources poses different challenges than managing non-recovered resources. • In the utilization of non-recoverable resources, the biggest challenge lies in the allocation of stocks that are continuously depleted from one generation to another before reaching the transition to resource recovery. On the other hand, management of recovered resources involves maintaining a continuous flow of resources in an efficient manner. Thus, in the management of recovered resources the regeneration cycle of the reserves is important. Sustainable Development as a Philosophy There are four main components of the concept of sustainable development, namely: • Efficiency in allocation. Sustainable development has broader implications than just allocative efficiency, which is the main focus of neoclassical economics of resource scarcity. Sustainable development also addresses issues of justice, equity and distribution. These issues have a time dimension that often involves people with different generations. In addition, well-being, not just human well-being, is a major factor in the concept's goals. • Biophysical boundaries. Sustainable development is closely related to biophysical boundaries. The dynamics of natural resources have their own cycles, where the natural resource system is closely linked to the larger system, the earth cycle. Sustainable Development as a Philosophy (2) • Knowledge. Sustainable development demands ecological sustainability, which is closely related to knowledge. The issue of ecological sustainability requires an in-depth study, related to the social system and value system in society, in the context of human desires (human). The accumulation of knowledge can be expected to improve ethics and morals. society as actors in the economic process. • Uncertainty. Sustainable development is always about decision-making under conditions of uncertainty. The ever-changing components of the system, matter - energy - information, trigger this uncertainty. Changes in these components will result in changes in technology, income and preferences. The issue is not whether or not these changes occur, but rather how and when they occur, and furthermore, the implications of these changes for future resource availability. Thank You!