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The term
Sustainable Prosperity has entered
the lexicon of development professionals
as the struggle to balance economic
development imperatives with management
of environmental assets and risks assumes
increasingly urgent proportions. Global
warming and climate change have shown
that natural systems strike back as they
strive to achieve and maintain steady state.
Weather and climate related disasters are
on the increase across the globe, and investments
for growth have repeatedly given
way to reconstruction in Jamaica and the
rest of the Caribbean. High risk residential
locations have wrought grief and loss to
many residents who purchased homes or
moved into areas totally unaware of natural
hazard risks. Industrial, commercial and
residential entrepreneurs as well as public
sector agencies have had cost overruns or
losses due to undetected natural and social
challenges.
In many places across the globe environment
has entered the mainstream. The traditional
view of tighter regulations as the
solution to stemming or reversing environmental
degradation is being replaced by a
recognition of the “business advantage”.
More and more persons see integration of
environmental management as beneficial to
the bottom line – more positive than negative
reflections. Jim Morrison has put it succinctly
as “it’s time to go beyond the moral
and aesthetic arguments for preserving nature;
it’s time to point to the bottom line
and make nature a regular column on
spreadsheets ”(American Way, Oct 2007).
Energy and water conservation, for example,
save environmental resources and redound
to the bottom line; Pollution prevention
improves environmental health and by
extension the health and productivity of
populations.
Natural capital has assumed a new pride of
place with increasing recognition of the
multi-faceted functions with respect to
goods and services:
Goods - forests, fisheries, minerals,
etc.
Life-support – clean air, sustained yield
of quality water, flood control, climate
stability, fertile soils, etc.
Quality of life - aesthetic pleasures and
serenity
Insurance – protection against the ravages
of nature as well as a bank of
resources yet to be discovered and
used for future generations
In the same way the importance of human
and social capital is increasingly recognized
as part of the ecosystems we have been trying
to “protect”. What we are seeking is a
formula for carrying out our economic activity
in a socially and environmentally sustainable
manner while generating the necessary
public revenues to maintain the strong
health, education, and social systems for
the well-being of our people. We are seeking
ways to understand and apply the concept
of prosperity that is underpinned by
financial, natural, built, human and social
capital. What is really needed is an institutional
and policy framework at the levels of
government as well as corporate enterprise
that will value these capital assets not as
“objects” but as part of an integrated
whole.
the lexicon of development professionals
as the struggle to balance economic
development imperatives with management
of environmental assets and risks assumes
increasingly urgent proportions. Global
warming and climate change have shown
that natural systems strike back as they
strive to achieve and maintain steady state.
Weather and climate related disasters are
on the increase across the globe, and investments
for growth have repeatedly given
way to reconstruction in Jamaica and the
rest of the Caribbean. High risk residential
locations have wrought grief and loss to
many residents who purchased homes or
moved into areas totally unaware of natural
hazard risks. Industrial, commercial and
residential entrepreneurs as well as public
sector agencies have had cost overruns or
losses due to undetected natural and social
challenges.
In many places across the globe environment
has entered the mainstream. The traditional
view of tighter regulations as the
solution to stemming or reversing environmental
degradation is being replaced by a
recognition of the “business advantage”.
More and more persons see integration of
environmental management as beneficial to
the bottom line – more positive than negative
reflections. Jim Morrison has put it succinctly
as “it’s time to go beyond the moral
and aesthetic arguments for preserving nature;
it’s time to point to the bottom line
and make nature a regular column on
spreadsheets ”(American Way, Oct 2007).
Energy and water conservation, for example,
save environmental resources and redound
to the bottom line; Pollution prevention
improves environmental health and by
extension the health and productivity of
populations.
Natural capital has assumed a new pride of
place with increasing recognition of the
multi-faceted functions with respect to
goods and services:
Goods - forests, fisheries, minerals,
etc.
Life-support – clean air, sustained yield
of quality water, flood control, climate
stability, fertile soils, etc.
Quality of life - aesthetic pleasures and
serenity
Insurance – protection against the ravages
of nature as well as a bank of
resources yet to be discovered and
used for future generations
In the same way the importance of human
and social capital is increasingly recognized
as part of the ecosystems we have been trying
to “protect”. What we are seeking is a
formula for carrying out our economic activity
in a socially and environmentally sustainable
manner while generating the necessary
public revenues to maintain the strong
health, education, and social systems for
the well-being of our people. We are seeking
ways to understand and apply the concept
of prosperity that is underpinned by
financial, natural, built, human and social
capital. What is really needed is an institutional
and policy framework at the levels of
government as well as corporate enterprise
that will value these capital assets not as
“objects” but as part of an integrated
whole.
Source:
The iNews Notebook on the Environment (AMCHAM)
By Eleanor Jones/Environmental Solutions
By Eleanor Jones/Environmental Solutions