Nuwe wyn in ou sakke? Hoe die morele grondslag van volhoubare ontwikkeling geskuif het : research article

Abstract

This article traces the shift in the moral arguments in the sustainable development discourse, which occurred between 1972 and 2002. In the early 1970s ecological considerations were dominant and the zero-growth option had strong support. By the end of the 1980s the influential report of the Brundtland Commission recommended that the balance between the ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainable development ought to be maintained. From the 1990s there was a shift to poverty alleviation as the main focus of the sustainable development discourse. Representatives of the developing countries started making valuable contributions to the evolution of the concept of sustainable development and succeeded in merging the sustainable development discourse into the wider North-South debates. A decrease in wealth rather than a decrease in poverty would be the correct approach to the achievement of sustainable development. However, such a radical change of course would only be possible once considerable progress has been made towards redressing the imbalances in the current global dispensation.

In hierdie artikel word aangetoon dat 'n duidelike verskuiwing tussen 1972 en 2002 in die morele argumente rondom die diskoers van volhoubare ontwikkeling plaasgevind het. In die vroeë sewentigerjare is ekologiese oorwegings benadruk en het die opsie van geen verdere ekonomiese groei sterk steun geniet. Aan die einde van die tagtigerjare het die invloedryke verslag van die Brundtlandkommissie aanbeveel dat 'n balans tussen ekologiese, ekonomiese en sosiale oorwegings gehand-haaf moet word. Sedert die negentigerjare was die fokus in die volhoubare ontwikkelingsdiskoers op armoedeverligting. Verteenwoordigers van die ontwikkelende lande het mettertyd belangrike bydraes tot die evolusie van die konsep van volhoubare ontwikkeling gelewer en daarin geslaag om die volhoubare ontwikkelingsdiskoers deel te maak van die breër Noord-Suiddebat. In werklikheid behoort die fokus op die vermindering van rykdom eerder as die vermindering van armoede te wees in die nastrewing van volhoubare ontwikkeling. So 'n radikale verandering in benadering sal egter nie moontlik wees voordat daar nie baie ver gevorder is in die uitskakeling van die ongelykhede in die huidige globale bedeling nie.