Strong or weak sustainability: A case study of emerging Asia

Abstract

Sustainability can be weak or strong, depending on the nature of capital accumulation. Weak sustainability is characterized by a non-declining combined stock of capital and assumes that man-made capital can be replaced with natural capital. Strong sustainability, on the other hand, implies that natural capital cannot be replaced by any other capital. Based on this understanding, the present study analysed the growth patterns of 10 emerging Asian economies using time-series data over a 20-year period. For this purpose, the study used genuine savings as an indicator of weak sustainability and ecological footprint as an indicator of strong sustainability. The study found that the selected Asain economies, particularly the middle-income countries, are following a path of weak sustainability. While the high-income countries are gradually making an attempt, through various policy interventions, to move from a path of weak to strong sustainability, despite genuine savings having stabilized their ecological footprint per capita continues to show an increasing trend.

Workers’ Satisfaction vis-à-vis Environmental and Socio-Morphological Aspects for Sustainability and Decent Work

“…Finally, applying strong or weak sustainability discourses to different policy destinations has been proven to be successful [27,72]. The radical societal transformations needed to realize strong sustainability are more difficult to bring about than improving socioeconomic conditions.…”

Níveis de sustentabilidade: Revisão sistemática da literatura

“…Muito forte Centra-se na visão bioética e ecocêntrica, em que a preservação dos recursos naturais é extrema; defende a redução da utilização dos recursos naturais, um crescimento antieconômico e redução da população humana, e reconhece os direitos da natureza e seu valor intrínseco; respeito aos direitos da natureza (biótico e abiótico) e o declínio do capital natural é inaceitável; e uma forte conscientização e campanhas de ações voltadas ao meio ambiente. (Costanza, 1991;Daly, 1991;Turner, 1993;Turner et al 1994;Turner et al, 1994;Pearce & Atkinson, 1995;Capra, 1996;Gibbs et al 1998;Desjardins, 2006) (Daly & Cobb, 1989;Costanza, 1991;Costanza & Daly, 1992;Jacobs & Stott, 1992;Daly, 1995;Gutés, 1996;Dobson, 1998;Ayres et al, 1998;Victor et al, 1998;Daly, 1999;Hediger, 1999;Čiegis et al, 2005;Hediger, 2006;Dietz & Neumayer, 2007;Holden & Linnerud, 2007;Ang & Van Passel, 2010;Garmendia et al, 2010;Neumayer, 2010;Romero & Linares, 2013;Davies, 2013;Barua & Khataniar, 2016;Nasrollahi et al, 2020). Fonte: Elaborado pelo autor.…”

“…88 devem continuar existindo ao longo do tempo. Apesar destes capitais serem complementares o serviço do capital natural não é substituível (Dobson, 1998, Čiegis et al, 2005, Dietz & Neumayer, 2007, Romero & Linares, 2013Barua & Khataniar, 2016), pelo menos para algumas classes de capital natural (Victor et al, 1998), o capital natural fornece serviços exclusivos, essenciais e insubstituíveis (Ayres et al, 1998). As funções do capital natural devem permanecer intactas, sem a substituição pelo capital humano (Gutés, 1996;Romero & Linares, 2013), além disso, os componentes do capital natural são únicos e a perda de suas funções pode ser irreversível (Garmendia et al, 2010).…”

Sustainability Assessment Model of the Buriganga River Restoration Project in Bangladesh: A System Dynamics and Inclusive Wealth Study

“…Hence, river restoration has become a global phenomenon as well as a highly profitable business [1,2] and restores a river system to its healthy state, thereby benefiting society [3]. Such programs are widely used to ensure river system sustainability, which maintains standard water and provides non-declining inclusive benefits over time [4].…”