‘Economic sustainability versus environmental sustainability’

Sustainability can be defined as the ability of something to be maintained. Its talking about how we live now without jeopardising the potential for people in the future to meet their needs. The question is whether economic sustainability can be compatible with environmental sustainability. China is an example of a country who chose economic benefits over environmental sustainability. Where-as Antarctica was protected for environmental purposes.

Chinas economic growth meant that environmental sustainability was compromised. This is because China had rapid urbanisation which saw the destruction of many natural areas. Like Brazil, China had to use its natural wealth in order to develop however, they did not do this sustainably. For example, it used bamboo as scaffolding which caused the loss of tons of bamboo. This has aided in the placing of the panda on the Appendix 1 conservation list. Pandas eat bamboo as their main source of food, so the rapid loss of bamboo meant they were dying. However, this rapid urbanisation has seen a huge economic growth of 8-10% per year. This growth has massively improved its populations livelihood, as now only 19% live below $1 per day. Although this does leave pockets of poverty in china particularly in the rural areas. This growth has been fuelled by TNC’s which has meant that 80% of its GDP has come from FDI making the economy strong. However, it is not sustainable as eventually the FDI will stop coming unless china produces its own TNCs. China has exploited its natural resource coal which has meant that China has become extremely polluted. WHO said China has 7 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world and China as well as being the second largest consumer of oil in the world.

 

Antarctica has put aside the economic benefits of exploiting the Antarctic oil has to offer. This is because Antarctica is the last pristine part of the earth left over. Antarctica is also used for scientific use. In order to protect the area tourism is limited by the Antarctic treaty. The environment is protected and managed as the whole world and future generations rely on the Antarctic for fresh clean water, minerals, scientific research among many other things. This is important for long term environmental sustainability as once we destroy the Antarctic we can never get it back and sustainability relies on the fact that it will last forever. The Antarctic also maintains ecological processes and life support systems which the whole planet relies on. The treaty ensures the utilisation of species and ecosystems without destroying them by placing strict rules on anyone who visits. The reason this is significant is that Antarctica is estimated to have up to 203 billion barrels of oil beneath the surface which is worth more that Kuwait or Abu Dhabi. Thus exploiting the area would see huge economic gains, however maintaining the pristine state is of the greatest global interest.

 

In conclusion the global economy depends upon the natural environment as a source of resources and as a sink for emissions. However, the development of countries strongly relies on the development of infrastructure. This development often means that countries often disregard the environment in order to develop economically. The issue is whether environmental sustainability can go hand in hand with economic growth. It seems at the moment that it can only be one or the other.