Environmental Sustainability in the CAFTA-DR Region: Impact of the Treaty’s Environmental Provisions on Country and Multinational Firm Level Sustainability

Marine World Heritage and the Quest for Sustainability

“…It contains within it two key concepts: ‚ the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and ‚ the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs." ( [7], p. 47) Sustainable development has become an "ideal political concept" ( [8], p. 111), incorporated in the political and academic debate on development in the 1990s; it was present in the jargon of different actors that represented different interests and ideological perceptions, ranging from international and governmental institutions to activists, triggering several interpretations (see [9,10]) that attempted to shed light in the different components or conceptual pillars of sustainable development: economic growth, social equity and environmental protection ( [11], p. 151).…”

“…The latter expands the conventional sustainability triangle based on the three-pillar scheme of environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability by adding the institutional dimension, as presented in ( [12] Although the appreciation of the scenic quality of a marine area does involve a degree of subjectivity, since it is not founded on measurable data, it can hardly be doubted in the cases of World Heritage nominations. First of all, there is no marine nomination based solely on criterion vii (in line with IUCN's recommendations on the application of criterion vii in conjunction with other criteria) 11 . Secondly, reference to marine aesthetic values is linked to the existence of exceptional natural or biological phenomena, such as coral reefs, island agglomerations or icescapes ( [6], p. 25), and thus indirectly connected to measurable attributes.…”

“…10 Inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2006 under the criteria (vii) and (ix) [3]. 11 Criterion vii was present in almost in all nominations until 1995 (with the Sundarbans National Park, Banc d'Arguin National Park and the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino being the only exceptions), but its use has been significantly limited during the last two decades ( [17], p. 64).…”