choosing our future

189 Pages·2006·9.98 MB·English

CHOOSING
OUR
FUTURE
Visions of a
Sustainable
World
Edited by
Tanvi Nagpal
Camilla Foltz
THE
PROJECT
CHOOSING
OUR
FUTURE
Visions of a
Sustainable
World
Edited by
Tanvi Nagpal and
Camilla Foltz
SEPTEMBER 1995
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Choosing our future : visions of a sustainable world / edited by
Tanvi Nagpal and Camilla Foltz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. )
ISBN 1-56973-028-8 (alk. paper)
1. Sustainable development. I. Nagpal, Tanvi, 1967- .
II. Foltz, Camilla, 1966- .
HC79.E5C487 1995
333.7—dc20 95-16459
CIP
Kathleen Courrier
Publications Director
Brooks Belford
Marketing Manager
Hyacinth Billings
Production Manager
Donya Melanson Associates
Cover Design
Dan Hanfling
Cover Photo
Each World Resources Institute Report represents a timely, scholarly treatment
of a subject of public concern. WRI takes responsibility for choosing the study
topics and guaranteeing its authors and researchers freedom of inquiry. It also
solicits and responds to the guidance of advisory panels and expert reviewers.
Unless otherwise stated, however, all the interpretation and findings set forth in
WRI publications are those of the authors.
Copyright © 1995 World Resources Institute. All rights reserved.
Printed on recycled paper
For 2,500 years we have hoped and believed
that if mankind could reveal itself to itself,
could widely come to know its own
cherished motives, then somehow it would
tilt the balance of things in its own favor.
Ernest Becker
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
I. Introduction 1
II. Essays 7
Abdiel Adames on Panama 7
Peggy Antrobus on the Caribbean 10
Christopher Ivo Atang on Cameroon 12
Ruth Bamela Engo-Tjega on Africa 15
Maristela Bernardo (with Fabio Feldmann) on Brazil 20
B. Bowonder on India 26
Pierre Dansereau on Canada 29
Graciela Diaz de Hasson on Latin America 33
Souleymane Diop on Senegal 37
Marta Echavarria Uribe on Colombia 39
Fabio Feldmann (with Maristela Bernardo) on Brazil (20)
Giap Van Dang on East Asia 43
Narpat S. Jodha on the Himalayan Region 49
Uri Marinov (with Deborah Sandier) on Israel 59
Liberty Mhlanga on Southern Africa 65
Joseph O. Palacio on Central America 69
Florence T. Robinson on the United States of America 75
Deborah Sandier (with Uri Marinov) on Israel (59)
S. Sathananthan on South Asia 79
Alex Steffen on Seattle, U.S.A 82
CHOOSING OUR FUTURE: VISIONS OF A SUSTAINABLE WORLD
SriK. Supomo on Indonesia 86
Pauline Tangiora on the Pacific Basin 92
Eduardo Viola on Brazil 97
Wen Dazhong on China 102
III. Supplementary Essays 107
Introduction 107
Jacques Bugnicourt (with Youba Sokona) on Africa 109
Urna Chahartogche on Inner Mongolia 115
Margaret Maringa on Kenya 120
Youba Sokona (with Jacques Bugnicourt) on Africa (109)
IV. Interviews 129
Introduction 129
Alfred Ayeah-Tefuh on Cameroon 131
Virginia S. Bacay on the Philippines 133
Joseph Bedouma on Togo 135
Alexander Buyentuev on Siberia 138
Maylene Dankers on South Africa 140
Chief Lamin Darboe on the Gambia 142
AlexDawia on Australia 143
Andre Effa on Cameroon 145
Priscilla Karumazondo on Zimbabwe 146
Filimone Kau on Fiji 147
Li Wa Li on China 149
Albert Makina on Zimbabwe 150
Toum Mohammed on Tanzania 151
Maria Munoz on Cuba 152
Stella Mutasa on Zimbabwe 153
Dennis Pantin on the Caribbean 154
Tobias Pavandiva on Zimbabwe 155
Sister Grace Yap on Jamaica 156
Erdeni N. Yelaev on Russia 157
V. Conclusion 159
Appendix: List of Essayists and Interviewees 173
VI
PREFACE
In 1993, the World Resources Institute, the Brookings Institution,
and the Santa Fe Institute started the 2050 Project to examine ways
to achieve a more sustainable global system. Earlier, the World
Commission on Environment and Development (the Bruntland
Commission) had defined the concept of sustainable development
in its 1987 report, Our Common Future, as meeting the present gen-
eration's needs without compromising the ability of future genera-
tions to meet theirs. The idea measures the success of economic
growth in human resource, environmental, and economic terms.
Achieving sustainability thus requires us to reconsider the
meaning of progress and, probably, to redirect our efforts. What
are the implications of our current activities and trends? What is
it we hope to achieve? And what do we consider to be worth
sustaining?
Most of the materials that the 2050 Project staff began assem-
bling to answer these questions addressed sustainability issues
from the perspective of western industrialized nations. Conspicu-
ously absent were voices from developing countries. Yet we knew
that the needs and desires of people in all parts of the world have
to be taken into account in any sustainable global system. And we
knew that—even if a more sustainable global system can be de-
scribed—people will not help bring it about unless it is presented
in terms of their own needs and desires. In short, we figured that in
laying out essential changes in human organizations and behavior,
it is just as important to gather information about people's visions
of a desirable future as about the consequences of their behavior on
the natural world. Choosing Our Future grows out of an attempt to
VII
CHOOSING OUR FUTURE.- VISIONS OF A SUSTAINABLE WORLD
find out what people in developing countries hope the world will
be like in the next century.
Systematically surveying the views of people in all regions was
far beyond the 2050 Project's time and financial resources. In the
belief that later in the Project we could easily incorporate industri-
alized countries' perspectives, we chose at this point to emphasize
the visions of people from those parts of the world poorly repre-
sented in, or absent from, the literature on sustainability.
These eclectic essays and interviews on how the world might
or should develop collectively have the power to give anyone fresh
ideas and new ways of thinking about sustainability. They inform
the regional scenarios and other tasks within the 2050 Project's pro-
gram of work, and we hope that the reader will find them equally
stimulating and useful.
Rob Coppock
Director
The 2050 Project
Vlll
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The editors would like to thank all those who helped pull this book
together, beginning with the contributors of essays and interviews.
We also extend our gratitude to everyone who suggested essayists:
Tariq Banuri, Janet Brown, Duane Chapman, Rodrigo Contreras,
Tom Fox, Safei Hamed, Goran Hyden, Yolanda Kakabadse, Robert
Kates, Keith Kozloff, Owen Lynch, George Martine, Carmen Miro,
Ann Thrupp, Peter Uvin, and Emir a Woods. Jennifer Green and
Jeanny Wang traveled far and wide, seeking out interview candi-
dates from places we otherwise would not have been able to reach.
This book would not have been possible without the financial
support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
We also thank The Howard Gilman Foundation for their support of
The 2050 Project.
Thanks for time and useful comments in the review process go
to Hyacinth Billings, Kathleen Courrier, Kathleen Daniel, Allen
Hammond, Jeanne Kasperson, Jonathan Lash, Robbie Nichols,
Walt Reid, Dale Rothman, Nigel Sizer, John Steinbruner, and
William Visser.
Finally, a word of appreciation to the entire WRI publications
production crew and the staff of the 2050 Project, whose help and
patience have been invaluable. A special thank you goes to Stacy
Milburn for administrative help and endless hours spent by the fax
machine and to Kim Anderson for an additional interview.
T.N.
C.F.
IX
I.
INTRODUCTION
It is a challenging time. A time in which many social, political,
and economic assumptions are under assault...in which a grow-
ing recognition of collective responsibility and individual dignity
is driving tumultuous, sometimes violent, struggles for change
and reconciliation...in which the defenders of old social orders
are everywhere under fire. The time is right for envisioning a new
future.
The 2050 Project was established to fill a perceived need for vi-
sionary and creative analyses about the future. Together, the lead
institutions involved with the Project have examined alternative
concepts of sustainability and explored desirable future condi-
tions, the actions needed to reach them, and the potential for life-
changing surprises. By filling crucial gaps in our understanding of
the present, the Project will help policy-makers make better deci-
sions about the future. Instead of merely extrapolating from cur-
rent trends, the Project team is defining the characteristics of a sus-
tainable world in the year 2050 and then determining what needs
to be done to achieve them. With this work completed, it will de-
velop regional policy recommendations and action plans for the
next decade and share them with policy-makers and the public.
The 2050 Project asks the question: how can we achieve a sus-
tainable existence on this planet by the middle of the next century?
In fifty or so years, critical population, energy, and climate-change
trends could become manifest and large-scale socio-economic tran-
sitions occur; yet, the year 2050 is within the lifespan of today's
children, close enough to give the Project's findings direct and per-
sonal meaning.