Sustainability challenges notes lectures
11-9-2019
Sustainability science probes interactions between multiple disciplines and systems.
Environment = natural capital and consists of two categories (natural resources and
ecosystem services).
Natural resource = anything obtained from the environment to meet human needs and
wants. Three types, inexhaustible (like solar energy), renewable (trees) and nonrenewable or
exhaustible (fossil fuels).
Ecosystem services/ ecosystem services, most important type is the provisioning services
(like water and food), after that is the regulating services (like climate regulation) and the
final type is the cultural services (educational and recreational). All these services are
important for human well-being.
The DPSIR framework (drivers, pressures, state, impact and response model of intervention)
depicts the influence of the different factors in one picture (look at the presentation for the
picture).
Drivers forces: main driver is human development. Divided into five points:
- Demographics (exponential growth after the industrial revolution). Even though the
population is growing less fast, it is still expected to be growing the next couple of
decades.
- Economic processes (the consumption (of resources and media) of humans has been
growing rapidly since the 1960’s), problem with this is the usage of electronics that
don’t have a long lifetime (or are to expensive to fix when broken). The process of
production to disposal isn’t sustainable.
- Scientific and technological innovation
- Distribution patters processes
- Cultural, social, political and institutional
Human development index: life expectancy, level of education, gross national income per
capita. Gives a look on the development of certain countries.
Sustainable development is development that meets the need of the present without taking
away the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Global challenges Brundtland:
- Population and human resources
- Food security
- Species and ecosystems (biodiversity)
- Energy (choices for environment and development)
- Industry (producing more with less)
- The urban challenge (the organization of all the humans, where do they live etc.)
, Another look on Sustainable Development
- It is about space and time
- Triple P (people, planet, profit)
- Bottom-up and top-down approaches
Example of ‘golden rice’
This rice contained chemicals that when digested became vitamin A. This could solve the
shortage of vitamin A in developing countries. There is a lot of resistance because people are
against genetic modification. Space and time: short term affects might change in the far
future. Used in poor nations, but developed in rich countries. Triple P: people: positive
benefits of health, planet: there is a risk of spread of unwanted genes but there are fewer
pesticides needed, profit: multinationals own the rice so the profits go to them instead of
the local farmers.
The standard Triple P circles can be changed by letting them overlap in a different way, each
change has a different purpose. (for examples of these different Triple P graphs look in the
book Chapter 2,3 and 6) The UN announced the 5P’s in which they added Partnership and
Peace into the already existing triple P.
13-9-2019
PPT is important!
Protection of the world as we have it will cost trillions of dollars, the amount of these costs
differ from countries (depending on how much the protection is needed in that area). This is
mainly in developing countries.
Goods and services:
Excludability (can people who not buy it still use it?) and subtractibility (rivalness) make up
the balance.
Private goods (high exclu high subtr), like realestate
Common pool goods (low exclu high subtr) like coal
Toll goods (high exclu low subtr) like cinema/stadium
Public goods (low exclu low subtra) like national security.
Look at the powerpoint for the table
Policy attention is needed to regulate the market etc.
Implementing a system (as flood protection system) which is costly creates a dilemma.
Individuals feel the loss of money but don’t see the benefits directly. This is called the
appropriation dilemma (AD) (overuse) and the Provision dilemma (PD) (underinvestment).
This part needs some more attention
