Sustainability concepts & indicators

Question 1

Brundtland definition made clear that {…} and {…} are both cases of {…}

Answer 1

overconsumption
underconsumption
unsustainability

Question 2

The two faces of sustainable development after the Brundtland report

Answer 2

• (Environmental) degradation from overconsumption (affluence)
• (human and environmental) degradation from underconsumption (poverty)

Question 3

Sustainable development as a guiding principle

Answer 3

Seen as a triangle of people, planet profit with institutional added to the middle.

Question 4

All these 3 SD groups

Answer 4

have own definitions that vary in angle but are all true as a factor for sustainable development.

For instance, people focuses on equality, planet focuses on nature conservation and profit focuses on competitiveness of economy. All needed for sustainable development when looking from their viewpoint.

Question 5

Working definition of sustainable development proposed for this course:

Answer 5

“sustainable development refers to a collection of strategies for achieving quality of life targets (including economic development) without having adverse effects on the Earth’s capacity to sustain such quality of life in the long run”

with: “strategy is the art of taking a broad view: recognizing the wider picture, plotting your own course and translating it into practical working plans.”
(Winsemius 1986 pp. 33).

Question 6

The earth’s capacity to sustain quality of life:

Answer 6

Planetary boundaries.

Limits for consumption and pollution. Either in stock or flow values.

Question 7

Two important sustainability concepts:

Answer 7

1) Excludability and rivalry in goods and services

2) Indicators of (un)sustainability

Question 8

When placing excludability and rivalry on axis,

Answer 8

you get 4 sides.

1) Public goods that are non-rivalrous and non-excludable
2) common pool resource which are rivalrous and non-excludable
3) ‘exclusive goods’ which are non rivalrous and excludable
4) private goods which are rivalrous and excludable

Question 9

CPR

Answer 9

common pool resource

Question 10

common pool resources:

Answer 10

local groundwater

open-acces hunting

Question 11

public good

Answer 11

tv-program
scenery
love
fresh air

Question 12

‘exclusive’ good

Answer 12

pay-tv-program

subscription

Question 13

private good

Answer 13

land ownership
clothes
own body

Question 14

All ecosystem services

Answer 14

are public goods

Question 15

Some categories of goods and services

Answer 15

don’t fall in a specific category. For instance, inter-country rivers and seas are public good, but can be rivalrous.

(Upstream building a dam, limiting the water downstream. etc.)
-Nothing in this framework is rigid.

Question 16

This rivalrous/non-rivalrous excludable/non-excludable framework

Answer 16

is also very helpful when looking at country level.

Question 17

Indicators

Answer 17

Signals for action

Question 18

people use indicators to determine

Answer 18

what is desired and what you percieve as reality

Question 19

What is the goal of indicators

Answer 19

When your perceived situation is different from the desired situation there is a discrepancy. Indicators are things that describe the tension of the discrepancy in order to translate your good intentions into action

Question 20

In the definition of SD used in this course there is a tension between

Answer 20

Quality of life which is subjective

and resources