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 An Introduction to
Sustainable Development

This fourth edition has been comprehensively rewritten and updated to

provide a concise, well illustrated and accessible introduction to the
characteristics, challenges and opportunities of sustainable development
with particular reference to developing countries. The contested nature of
sustainable development is explored through a detailed consideration of
changing ideas and practices within environmentalism and development
thinking. The text identifies the different actors involved (from institutions
of global governance through to community based organisations), the
policies and mechanisms through which sustainable development is being
sought, and considers the outcomes for particular groups and environments
in both rural and urban contexts.
This edition places stronger emphasis on the global challenges of
sustainable development with an understanding of interlinked crises in
climate, energy, economy, poverty and social injustice. It explores how
these issues are leading to deep questioning of what sustainable
development is, what it should be, and how sustainable development
policies and mechanisms are being reconsidered. The book gives new
consideration to the challenge of achieving lower carbon growth, climate
adaptation, and the implications on sustainable development of rapidly
expanding economies, including China and India. It contains greater
discussion of how civil society movements influence outcomes of
international climate policy, as well as technological developments in
energy and agriculture. The text also contains a substantially expanded
discussion of how poverty remains central to sustainable development
challenges, as revealed through the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
and Millennium Development Goals.
This invaluable text retains the core message that sustainable development
has become central to debates about environment and development.
Containing a substantial number of new boxed case studies, learning
outcomes, chapter summaries, discussion questions, further reading and
websites, this text provides an essential introduction for students.

Jennifer A. Elliott is Principal Lecturer in Geography at the University of

Brighton.
Routledge Perspectives on Development
Edited by: Professor Tony Binns, University of Otago

The Perspectives on Development series will provide an invaluable, up to date

and refreshing approach to key development issues for academics and students
working in the field of development, in disciplines such as anthropology,
economics, geography, international relations, politics and sociology. The series
will also be of particular interest to those working in interdisciplinary fields,
such as area studies (African, Asian and Latin American Studies), development
studies, rural and urban studies, travel and tourism.
If you would like to submit a book proposal for the series, please contact Tony
Binns on [email protected]

Published: Water Resources and Development

Clive Agnew and Philip Woodhouse
Third World Cities, 2nd edition
David W. Drakakis-Smith Theories and Practices of Development, 2nd Edition
Katie Willis
Rural–Urban Interactions in the Developing World
Kenneth Lynch Food and Development
E. M. Young
Environmental Management and Development
Chris Barrow An Introduction to Sustainable Development,
4th edition
Tourism and Development
Jennifer Elliott
Richard Sharpley and David J. Telfer
Southeast Asian Development Forthcoming:
Andrew McGregor
Global Finance and Development
Population and Development David Hudson
W.T.S. Gould
Natural Resource Extraction and Development
Postcolonialism and Development Roy Maconachie and Gavin M. Hilson
Cheryl McEwan
Politics and Development
Conflict and Development Heather Marquette and Tom Hewitt
Andrew Williams and Roger MacGinty
Children, Youth and Development, 2nd Edition
Disaster and Development Nicola Ansell
Andrew Collins
Climate Change and Development
Non-Governmental Organisations and Development Thomas Tanner and Leo Horn-Phathanothai
David Lewis and Nazneen Kanji
Religion and Development
Cities and Development Emma Tomalin
Jo Beall
Development Organizations
Gender and Development, 2nd edition Rebecca Shaaf
Janet Henshall Momsen
Latin American Development
Economics and Development Studies Julie Cupples
Michael Tribe, Frederick Nixson and Andrew Sumner
 An Introduction to
Sustainable Development
Fourth edition

Jennifer A. Elliott
 First edition published
by Routledge 1994
Second edition published
by Routledge 1999
Third edition published
by Routledge 2006
This edition published 2013
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1994, 1999, 2006, 2013 Jennifer A. Elliott
The right of Jennifer A. Elliott to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-0-415-59072-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-59073-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-84417-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman and Franklin Gothic by

Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon
In memory of my dad
 Contents

List of plates ix
List of figures xi
List of tables xvi
List of boxes xvii
Acknowledgements xix

Introduction 1
1 What is sustainable development? 8
2 The global challenges of sustainable development 57
3 Actors and actions in sustainable development 120
4 Sustainable rural livelihoods 189
5 Sustainable urban livelihoods 249
6 Sustainable development in the developing world:
an assessment 302

References 332
Index 351
 Plates

1.1a Promoting the messages of sustainable development:

Sign on entry to Kang, Botswana 17
1.1b Promoting the messages of sustainable development:
Fresher’s Fair, University of Brighton, England 17
1.2 The inevitable consequences of development?
Industrial air pollution 42
1.3a The pollution of poverty: Hazardous housing
on a Kolkata roadside 44
1.3b The pollution of poverty: Washing in the Jakarta
floods 44
2.1a The challenges of aridity to human settlements:
Northern Nigeria 95
2.1b The challenges of aridity to human settlements:
Southern Tunisia 95
2.2a Challenging processes of development: London,
England 115
2.2b Challenging processes of development: Stuttgart,
Germany 115
3.1a Generating awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa:
Zambia 171
3.1b Generating awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa:
South Africa 171
3.2a Pressures for good governance: Botswana 179
3.2b Pressures for good governance: Cape Town,
South Africa 179
x • Plates

3.3 NGO–state collaboration in slum upgrading, Delhi,

India 183
4.1a Income opportunities in rural areas outside agriculture:
Wage employment in brick-making, India 204
4.1b Income opportunities in rural areas outside agriculture:
Desert tourism, Morocco 204
4.1c Income opportunities in rural areas outside agriculture:
Fishing, Malawi 205
4.2a Cash crops for export: Large-scale tea production,
Indonesia 210
4.2b Cash crops for export: Tobacco production,
Zimbabwe 210
4.3a Harnessing scarce water resources for agricultural
production in Tunisia: Tabia and jessour irrigation 222
4.3b Harnessing scarce water resources for agricultural
production in Tunisia: Water control in the
El Guettar oasis 222
4.4a Women in environmental management: Fuelwood
collection, Zimbabwe 236
4.4b Women in environmental management: Organising
the community – a Lampungese wedding 236
4.4c Women in environmental management: Water
management, Malawi 237
5.1a Urban informal income opportunites: Door-to-door
welding, Harare, Zimbabwe 262
5.1b Urban informal income opportunites: Garment
production, Kairouan, Tunisia 262
5.1c Urban informal income opportunites: Food trading/
transport, Kolkata, India 263
5.2a Low-income housing: Informal housing, Hanoi 272
5.2b Low-income housing: Public housing, Harare 272
5.2c Low-income housing: Tenement blocks, Kolkata 273
5.3a Delivering basic urban needs: Water in Jakarta,
Indonesia 278
5.3b Delivering basic urban needs: Fuel in Kairouan,
Tunisia 278
 Figures

1.1 The structure of Agenda 21 10

1.2 The Millennium Development Goals and the
environment 12
1.3 The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable
Development: the challenges we face 15
1.4 The UK Government’s Principles of Sustainable
Development 16
1.5 Defining and interpreting the contested concept of
sustainable development 18
1.6 Depictions of sustainable development 20
1.7 Categories of natural capital 23
1.8 The shared essentials of the concept of sustainability 25
1.9 The stages of economic development as modelled
by Rostow 27
1.10 The Frank model of underdevelopment 30
1.11 The principal instruments of structural adjustment 35
1.12 Uneven regional patterns of ICT 37
1.13 The opportunities of ecological modernisation 50
1.14 The principles of Environmental Justice, First National
People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit,
1991 52
1.15 The key findings of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment 54
2.1 Human impact on climate warming confirmed by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 58
xii • Figures

2.2a World energy supply by source, 1980–2009 60

2.2b Global water withdrawal by sector, 1900–2025 60
2.3 The notion of ‘Peak Oil’ 61
2.4 E-waste recycling sources and destinations 63
2.5 Total primary energy supply per capita 2007,
selected regions and countries 66
2.6 The ‘perverse principle’ in accessing clean water 74
2.7 Distribution of world population (percentage) by
world region 79
2.8 Projected average annual rate of population change
by major regions, 2010–2100 (medium variant) 80
2.9a Inequality in access to education 2008: Out of school
children by wealth and gender 83
2.9b Inequality in access to education 2008: Out of school
children by area of residence and gender 83
2.10 The Millennium Declaration commitments to the
challenge of global poverty and inequality for
sustainable development 86
2.11 The number of people living on less than $1.25 a day 86
2.12 Major causes of death in neonates and children under
5 globally 88
2.13 Well-being as revealed through participatory poverty
assessments 90
2.14 The components of the Human Development Index 91
2.15 Loss in HDI due to multidimensional inequality
(largest and smallest losses across HDI groupings) 92
2.16 Components of the Gender Inequality Index (GII) 93
2.17 Linkages between ecosystem services and human
well-being 98
2.18 The gendered experience of environmental change 100
2.19 The merging of climate and development agendas 103
2.20 Ongoing questions for climate science 105
2.21 Summary of projected impacts of increases in global
mean surface temperature 106
2.22 Key terms in responding to climate change 107
2.23 Share of global CO2 emissions, 2009 112
2.24 Rich countries dominate the cumulative emissions
account 113
2.25 Different approaches to linking adaptation and
development 114
3.1 Forms of environmental governance and policy
instrument 123
 Figures • xiii

3.2 Percentage share of Africa’s ODA budget 134

3.3 ODA as proportion of Gross National Income, 2009 136
3.4 The challenges of aid 137
3.5 The potential risks to livelihood of avoided deforestation
policies 140
3.6 The World Bank Institutions 141
3.7 Countries receiving financial support from the World
Bank 143
3.8 The four-fold environmental agenda of the World Bank 144
3.9 Distribution of GEF funding by focal area, 1991–2010 147
3.10 Pressures of adjustment on the environment 148
3.11 The core principles of the PRSP approach 149
3.12 Strategic objectives for sustainable development at
the World Bank 150
3.13 The rising contribution of developing economies in
world exports 151
3.14 The uneven and concentrated geographies of production,
trade and foreign investment 152
3.15 The Oxfam ‘Making Trade Fair’ campaign 154
3.16 Different views of the effect of trade liberalisation
on the environment 154
3.17 Elements of Marks and Spencer’s ‘Plan A’
commitments 161
3.18 Fairtrade on the rise 163
3.19 Criteria for eligibility for the Multilateral Debt Relief
Initiative 169
3.20 The Debt2Health mechanism 170
3.21 National plans on energy and climate change 174
3.22 Green stimulus spending, selected countries, 2009 175
3.23 The World Bank dimensions of good governance 178
3.24 Types of World Bank (WB) and civil society
engagement 182
4.1 The multifunctionality of agriculture 191
4.2 Declining investment in agricultural development 192
4.3 Agriculture-based, transforming and urbanised
countries 194
4.4 Disparities in urban and rural sanitation coverage 199
4.5 The potential of mobile phones for rural development 201
4.6 Key concepts in understanding rural change 202
4.7 Sources of rural livelihood 203
4.8 The hierarchy of agro-ecosystems 207
4.9 The modern food system as an hourglass 209
xiv • Figures

4.10 The negative impacts of the integration of rural

producers in the global South into the global
agri-food system 211
4.11 The concerns over GMOs 215
4.12 The global area of biotech crops 216
4.13 Five ‘Rural Worlds’ 219
4.14 Agricultural technologies with high potential
sustainability 221
4.15 Lessons for the achievement of sustainable rural
livelihoods 223
4.16 Changing approaches to agricultural research and
development 225
4.17 Where farmers’ priorities might diverge from those
of scientists 227
4.18 The major components of participatory learning and
action 230
4.19 The essence of social capital 243
4.20 Social capital formation in natural resource
management 244
5.1 Proportion of urban population by region,
1950–2030 250
5.2 The Green and Brown urban environmental agendas 252
5.3 A stylised environmental transition 253
5.4 The environmental advantages of urbanisation 254
5.5 Novel urban configurations 258
5.6 Informal sector activities 260
5.7 Opportunities and challenges of informal sector
employment 261
5.8 The deprivations associated with urban poverty 265
5.9 UN-HABITAT slum indicators 267
5.10 The different kinds of rental and ‘owner-occupation’
housing for low-income groups in cities of the
developing world 271
5.11 The key lessons of the recent privatisation of basic
services 281
5.12 Proportion of population by sanitation practices 1980
and 2008 282
5.13 Common characteristics of sustainable urban
development 293
6.1 Key challenges in assessing sustainable development 305
6.2 The intentions of the national core set of indicators 308
6.3 UK government strategy indicators 308
 Figures • xv

6.4 The Bellagio STAMP: SusTainability Assessment

and Measurement Principles 311
6.5 The failings of Gross Domestic Product as a measure
of progress 316
6.6 The shared ethical framework of the Earth Charter
Initiative 320
 Tables

1.1 Economic growth rates in the world economy, 1971–2000

(annual growth rates in constant 1990 $US) 32
1.2 Inward foreign direct investment, by major world region,
2000 36
2.1 Carbon intensity of GDP 69
2.2 Child mortality rates by wealth, selected countries
(under-five mortality rates per 1,000 live births) 87
3.1 Selected Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) 128
3.2 World Bank lending by theme, 2010 142
3.3 ENRM lending by region, 1990–2007 146
3.4 The state and corporate power 153
3.5 Debt service as a percentage of exports 166
3.6 Government spending: health and debt servicing
compared, selected low human development countries 167
4.1 Rural employment by sector of activity 206
4.2 Leading biotech growing countries and crops 216
5.1 Industrialisation and employment in selected Latin
American countries, 1963–9 259
5.2 Urban population living in slums, 1990–2010 268
5.3 Disaster risk in populous cities 274
5.4 Proportion of urban population with improved water
sources and sanitation facilities, selected countries,
2008 277
5.5 Questioning environmental improvement 279
6.1 The Happy Planet Index (selected countries) 315
 Boxes

1.1 Forms of capital for sustainable development 23

1.2 Modes of thought concerning humanity and nature 41
2.1 E-waste: global recycling or waste trafficking? 62
2.2 Tar sands in Canada 67
2.3 The risks and opportunities of biofuels 68
2.4 Complex concerns around water in Pakistan 73
2.5 Measuring inequality and exclusion in human
development 92
2.6 The development of an international framework on
climate change 102
2.7 The principles of climate justice 112
3.1 Controlling the trade in hazardous waste 130
3.2 The contribution of the Clean Development Mechanism
to sustainable development 132
3.3 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD+) 139
3.4 Questioning the role of fiscal incentives for sustainable
change 177
4.1 The World Bank’s three ‘rural worlds’ 193
4.2 Rural–urban migration in Lampung, Indonesia 197
4.3 Improving access to sustainable energy for small
businesses and low-income households in India 200
4.4 Farmer suicides in India 212
4.5 The sustainability of genetically modified cotton in
South Africa 217
xviii • Boxes

4.6 The value of indigenous technologies 228

4.7 Supporting adaptations to climate change in the Andes 230
4.8 Pressures for land reform in Brazil 233
4.9 Building women’s rights in sustainable water
management 238
4.10 Public–private collaborations for enhancing information
and communication for rural development in India 242
5.1 Green and Brown environmental agendas 252
5.2 Addressing the challenges of slum development in
Morocco 268
5.3 The Cochabamba water wars, Bolivia 280
5.4 The environmental impacts of Maquila developments
on the Mexico–United States border 284
5.5 The Orangi Pilot Project of low-cost sanitation in
Pakistan 295
5.6 The work of the Society for the Promotion of Area
Resources Centre (SPARC) in Mumbai 296
6.1 Questioning the routes to sustainable development:
what indicators can reveal 317
 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleagues and friends for continuing to be

so supportive and patient with me in relation to writing this new
edition. My biggest thanks are to my family and to Hils who will be
the most pleased that it is at last completed.
 Introduction

This book is concerned with the continued challenges and

opportunities of finding more sustainable patterns and processes of
development within the international community for the future. Since
the publication of the first edition of this text in 1994, much has been
learnt regarding the principles of sustainable development, the
characteristics of policies, mechanisms and projects that appear to be
more sustainable, and the assessment and monitoring of environment
and development outcomes that are central to sustainable
development. Whilst the idea of sustainable development was
relatively new in 1994, it is now suggested to have ‘come of age’
and forms a staple part of most debates about environment and
development (Redclift, 2005; Adams, 2009). The pursuit of
sustainable development is now stated as a principal policy goal of
many of the major institutions of the world including the United
Nations, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation. In 2000,
the international community committed to achieving eight
‘Millennium Development Goals’ by 2015. One of these goals refers
explicitly to sustainable development, but all are central in that they
commit to better and more equitable outcomes in arenas such as
health, gender, housing and sanitation that directly affect poorer
groups. Poverty is a major cause and effect of global environmental
problems and addressing poverty and inequality are long-standing
and central concerns of sustainable development. The global
challenge of sustainable development has been confirmed in recent
years by the interlinked ‘crises’ of climate, economic recession and
2 • Introduction

rising food, fuel and commodity prices that impact hardest and first
on the poorest people in societies. Finding ways to address and
prevent these crises requires interconnected and interdisciplinary
thinking that is also at the core of sustainable development.
Evidently, the context in which sustainable development is currently
being pursued is significantly different to that in the 1990s. An
increasingly globalised world has brought new challenges and
opportunities for the environment and for development. New actors
(such as transnational corporations and civil society organisations)
and new technologies (particularly in computing, information and
communication) now shape outcomes in resource development and
management to a much greater extent than previously. However, the
closer and deeper integration of people and places around the globe
brings new risks as well as opportunities. Farmers, for example, may
be able to access new and wider markets for their produce but have
less direct control over decisions regarding what to grow and when
to sell, to whom. They become increasingly vulnerable to changes in
price and consumers’ tastes set at great distances away.
Climate scientists have also now established the human causes of
climate change. Yet existing patterns of economic development
remain closely associated with increased energy demands and rising
fossil fuel use. Moving towards lower carbon patterns and processes
of development is a challenge for individuals, business and industry,
governments and international organisations globally. However,
contributions to processes of climate change, the experiences of its
impacts and capacity to cope with change already occurring are not
evenly distributed; within current societies, across different countries
or between generations. This is one illustration of the complex
interconnections between environmental resources and the functions
and services they provide for human wellbeing and development. It
also highlights that the challenges and opportunities of sustainable
development are context specific, that is, they lie in the
interconnections of factors of the natural and human environment in
particular places and points in time ensuring that there is no simple
or single ‘route’ to sustainable development.
Economic growth in the past two decades has delivered vast
improvements in human well-being including moving over 400
million people out of poverty. Many of the fastest rates of economic
growth currently are now in countries of the Global South. Brazil,
Russia, India and China (the ‘BRIC’ economies) for example, are
 Introduction • 3

now responsible for a significant proportion of world exports and

constitute a powerful group within international trade negotiations.
However, recent economic success has been very unequal across and
within countries; low-income countries (and particularly within the
African continent) remain largely peripheral in terms of world trade
and foreign investment, for example. Income inequality is also
increasing worldwide. Differences in wealth and income are seen
through the text to be important factors in explaining a range of
spatial patterns of ‘unsustainable development’. However, poverty
has many dimensions beyond material wealth including the
opportunity to participate in decisions that affect one’s immediate
environment and to feel valued within local communities. ‘Making
globalisation work better for the poor’ is understood as integral to
many of the challenges of sustainable development; as a human
rights issue, as a moral concern, for peace and security and economic
development in the future.
The primary foci of the book are the challenges and opportunities for
sustainable development in the less economically developed regions
of the world. Fundamentally, this is because it is here that the majority
of the world’s poor reside. This is not to suggest that sustainable
development is mostly a problem for the poor. Indeed, most pollution
(including carbon emissions) and resource consumption are a result of
affluence, not poverty. There are deep challenges for sustainable
development associated with changing consumption patterns in
particular in the Global North. These are identified in the text, but a
full consideration is beyond the scope of this particular book. The
prospects of sustainable development in any one location are also very
evidently shaped in part by forces and decision-making which are
often situated at great distances away. It is impossible therefore to
consider the developing world in isolation from the wider global
community. Furthermore, some of the most innovative responses to
the challenges of sustainable development are now being seen in
countries within these developing regions. However, there are also
particular and distinct issues of sustainable development in the devel-
oping world. For example, these regions encompass many of the
world’s ‘fragile lands’, such as the major arid and semi-arid zones and
forest ecosystems. In these places, bio-physical factors in combination
with some of the lowest levels of human development worldwide can
make them particularly susceptible to degradation (including through
climate change) and make recovery from natural and economic shocks
and disturbance difficult.
4 • Introduction

Urbanisation is also occurring most rapidly in developing regions,

particularly within Asia and Africa. Cities can present a number of
advantages for sustainable development. For example the density of
population can enable infrastructure such as public transport and
waste disposal to be provided more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Such services have major environmental and health benefits.
However, the numbers of people in cities of the developing world
living in slum conditions where basic services in water supply and
sanitation (and in housing) are entirely lacking or severely
compromised is rising not falling.
A key aim of the book is to highlight the progress that has been
made towards establishing new patterns and processes of
development which are considered more sustainable; in terms of the
demands they make on the physical, ecological and cultural resources
of the globe, and the characteristics of technology, societal
organisation and economic production which underpin them.
Understanding the characteristics of successful sustainable
development projects will be essential for meeting the worldwide
ongoing and evolving challenges of balancing present needs against
those of the future. However, not only has the world changed since
the publication of the first edition of this text, so too has how the
challenges of sustainable development are understood. There are now
new debates concerning what sustainable development is and should
be and comprehensive critiques of the policies and mechanisms that
have been used towards meeting the challenges. For example, past
policies based on the privatisation of environmental resources such as
in water supply and in forest conservation are being challenged
(often through the action and resistance of people at the local level).
There is also much rethinking particularly in the context of global
economic recession of ‘conventional’ ideas about the links between
economic growth and human well-being.
As the term ‘sustainable development’ reaches further into popular
consciences worldwide, as more institutions recognise sustainability
as a major policy goal, and at a time of a heightened sense of
urgency in many arenas of environment and development, there is a
continued need to reflect critically on what is trying to be achieved,
whose interests and values may be dominant and what the costs and
benefits of particular interventions, that is, policy responses and
management decisions, are for particular people and local
environments. The origins of the notion of sustainable development,
its varied ‘meanings’ and the contribution of different disciplines are
 Introduction • 5

traced in Chapter 1 within an analysis of thinking and practice in

development theory and in environmentalism. Whilst the
interdependence of future environment and development ends has
been embraced in both literatures, it is seen that substantial debate
and contestation characterise both the theory and practice of
sustainable development. The historical overview presented confirms
that the context within which environment and development
objectives are being pursued is changing rapidly, requiring
continuous re-evaluation of the meaning of sustainable development
as presented within particular schools of thinking and major
international summits, for example. The chapter also identifies a
number of ways in which ‘mainstream’ ideas and approaches to the
global agenda of sustainable development are being challenged,
including through better understanding of the environment and
development concerns of the poor, in response to failures of
development on the ground and through change led by citizens,
practitioners and academics from within the developing world.
In Chapter 2, the contemporary global challenges of sustainable
development are considered in some detail. It is seen that
development continues to depend heavily on natural resources for an
increasing number of functions but that inequality in access to
resources has also been a persistent and entrenched feature of past
development patterns and processes. Such inequality is seen to
underpin substantial human insecurity, conflict, ill-health and
premature death as well as resource degradation, confirming that
development is not meeting the needs of current generations. In
addition, the increasing global-scale impacts of human activities such
as through climate change raise very starkly the question of current
development compromising the opportunities of future generations.
In Chapter 3, a range of actions which are being taken at a variety of
levels by some of the core institutions in development towards
ensuring more sustainable processes and patterns are identified.
Importantly, development (and environmental management) is no
longer something undertaken principally by governments: rather
many different kinds of formal organisation (including transnational
corporations, non-governmental organisations and international
financial institutions such as the World Bank) and less formal
arrangements such as within communities and even households,
influence environmental actions and outcomes. A key aim of the
chapter is to consider how these actors in development are changing
what they do, but also how they are working in new ways, together,
6 • Introduction

to address the integrated challenges of sustainable development. The

chapter also considers a number of ‘cross-cutting’ issues of trade, aid
and debt, that illustrate the ways in which people and places across
the globe are interconnected but also how these issues operate to
shape the capacities of particular actors in development.
In Chapters 4 and 5, the particular challenges and opportunities of
sustainable development in the developing world are considered in
rural and urban contexts. It is quickly seen that the two sectors are
not distinct and that the environment and development concerns
therein are often interrelated. Indeed, one of the limitations of past
development policies has been their tendency to consider rural and
urban areas separately, and there is now better understanding of the
complex and multidirectional linkages between the two contexts that
shape landscapes and livelihoods. However, important differences are
also seen, including in terms of the immediate environmental
problems, the options for securing income and livelihood, the hazards
and sources of instability of living and the specific opportunities for
action. The principles which are seen to be now guiding more
sustainable development interventions in practice, however, are
regularly common to both rural and urban settings. Addressing the
welfare needs of the poorest groups, building participatory systems
of research and development and aspects of local governance are
identified as being essential to achieving the goals of development
and conservation in both contexts.
In Chapter 6, progress made towards sustainable development is
considered through the expanding field of sustainable development
indicators and appraisal. The development of indicators of
sustainable development is an important part of reflecting on what is
trying to be achieved (the vision of ‘sustainable development’) as
well as for measuring the outcomes of specific policies and
interventions and monitoring progress towards those goals (i.e.
communicating ‘how far’ from sustainable development we are).
The processes through which indictors are developed and
assessments are made are also proving significant in developing the
conversations and debate amongst different interest groups and
empowering individuals and groups of people to take action on
sustainable development. The evidence that a number of these
‘alternative’ measures of ‘human progress’ are revealing is now
contributing to wider reflections on how development has been
pursued. The final section of the text considers whether a
‘common future’ for sustainable development can currently
 Introduction • 7

be identified on the basis of reflections on the substantive chapters

of the book.
Since the publication of the first edition of this text, there have been
many reminders of the very direct relationship between human
society and the resources and environmental processes of the globe.
These have included tsunamis in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Japan
(originating in earthquake activity) and war in Iraq and Afghanistan
(that cannot be divorced entirely from the geography of oil
resources). All have led to the loss of thousands of lives and
removed basic development opportunities for many more. Through
this book, the challenges of sustainable development will certainly be
seen to encompass better scientific understanding of environmental
processes and more cooperative and democratic international
collaborations. But they will also be seen to include for example the
accountability of industry to stakeholders and the power of all
individuals to participate in the decisions that shape the opportunities
for their own development.
 1 What is sustainable
development?

Learning outcomes

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

G Understand why sustainable development is a contested concept

G Understand that sustainable development requires thinking holistically
on linked processes of environmental, economic and social change and
with regard to the future
G Be aware of the historical origins of the idea of sustainable development
G Appreciate that sustainable development is considered an important
challenge by international institutions and governments worldwide
G Identify the principal strengths and weaknesses of past approaches to
development and environmental management

Key concepts

Sustainable development; development theory; globalisation; neo-liberalism;

environmentalism; ecological modernisation; environmental justice.

Introduction

In 1984, the United Nations (UN) established an independent group

of 22 people drawn from member states of both the developing and
developed worlds, and charged them with identifying long-term
environmental strategies for the international community. The report
of the World Commission on Environment and Development entitled
Our Common Future (WCED, 1987) is widely considered to have
been key in putting sustainable development firmly into the political
arena of international development thinking. It used the term
‘sustainable development’ extensively and defined it as
‘Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs’ (p. 43). The report has been translated into more than
 What is sustainable development? • 9

24 languages (Finger, 1994) and its definition of the term continues

to be that which is most widely used and cited. For the first time, the
Commission had considered environmental concerns arising through
development processes from an economic, social and political
perspective rather than solely from a science base as in previous
studies. Their recommendations focused on integrating development
strategies and environmental policies and global partnerships to meet
the interdependent environmental concerns and development
opportunities North and South.
The work of the commission was undertaken as the basis for a UN
conference on Environment and Development to be held five years
later. The ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 was, at
the time, the largest ever international conference held. It was also
the first time heads of state had gathered to consider the
environment. One hundred and sixteen heads of state or governments
and over 8,000 delegates attended. A further 3,000 non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) took part in parallel fora (Adams, 2009). The
central aim was to identify the principles of an agenda for action
towards sustainable development in the future and the challenge was
seen to require consensus at the highest level. A key outcome was
the ‘Agenda 21’ document (extending to 40 chapters and 600 pages)
detailing the issues, the actors and the means for achieving
sustainable development by the start of the twenty-first century.
Putting sustainable development into practice was seen to involve the
participation of a full range of sectors, groups and organisations; in
business and science, youth and church groups within communities
and by local authorities as well as international agencies as seen in
Figure 1.1. A number of important international conventions were
also agreed at Rio, including the Convention on Biodiversity and the
Framework Convention on Climate Change in recognition of the
growing problems of sustainable use of ecosystems and of human-
induced climate change. There was an optimism concerning a
common interest on behalf of countries globally and between current
and future generations that would drive sustainable development into
practice.
Ten years later, 104 heads of state gathered again for the UN World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg,
South Africa. The aim was to reinvigorate at the highest political
level, the global commitment to a North–South partnership to
achieve sustainable development. It has been referred to as ‘by far
the most inclusive summit to date’ (Seyfang, 2003: 227) for the way
10 • What is sustainable development?

Figure 1.1 The structure of Agenda 21

Section 1: Social and Economic Dimensions

Eight chapters, covering international cooperation, combating poverty, consumption patterns,
population, health, settlements and integrated environment and development decision-making.

Section 2: Conservation and Management of Resources for Development

Fourteen chapters on the environment. These cover the atmosphere, oceans, freshwaters and
water resources, land-resource management, deforestation, desertification, mountain
environments, sustainable agriculture and rural development. They also cover the conservation
of biological diversity and biotechnology, toxic, hazardous, solid and radioactive wastes.

Section 3: Strengthening the Role of Major Groups

Ten chapters discussing the role of women, young people and indigenous people in
sustainable development; the role of non-governmental organisations, local authorities, trade
unions, business and scientists and farmers.

Section 4: Means of Implementation

Eight chapters, exploring how to pay for sustainable development, the need to transfer
environmentally sound technology and science; the role of education, international capacity-
building, international legal instruments and information flows.

Source: N. Robinson (1993).

in which more stakeholder groups were brought into formal

meetings, including a bigger presence for business and many more
NGOs from the developing world, representing issues of human
rights, social justice and business accountability, for example. These
activities suggested new ways of addressing sustainable development
at a global level and a ‘more decentralized understanding of where
change comes from’ (Bigg, 2004: 5). There was a new understanding
of the complex interdependencies of environmental, social and
economic development (Potter et al., 2008) and of the difficult
political challenges of sustainable development. Key concerns at the
start of the twenty-first century were for the continued degradation of
environmental systems since Rio, but also for the persistence of
poverty and evidence of widening global disparities.
In 2000, the UN community had committed to the achievement of
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) embracing many of
these concerns. One of these goals refers explicitly to sustainable
development and the actions of governments in preparing national
sustainable development strategies, for example. Many others are
central to sustainable development in that they demand better
outcomes in the arenas that affect poorer groups. Figure 1.2 identifies
the MDG goals, the specific targets set and the principal ways in
 What is sustainable development? • 11

which they link explicitly to the environment. However, at the

WSSD, a central concern was the impacts of ‘globalisation’ on the
poor. In short, whilst people and places were becoming more closely
linked together within global markets and through flows of finance,
for example, the benefits and costs of economic globalisation were
not being shared equally across or within countries. Poverty,
inequality and exclusion were identified as threats not just to the
environment and economic prosperity but also to future security and
democracy. Whereas globalisation had not been discussed at the Rio
conference, a decade later it was central to understanding sustainable
development as seen in the Johannesburg Declaration (Figure 1.3).
A further UN summit, ‘Rio+20’ is currently planned for 2012 to be
held again in Brazil. All stakeholders have been invited not just to
the conference, but to contribute in advance to a working document
that will inform what is discussed and the official outcome
documents. The aim of the conference is to secure renewed political
commitment for sustainable development, to assess progress on the
outcomes of previous summits and to address new and emerging
challenges for the global community. Two themes are considered
priorities: the challenges of moving to a ‘green economy’ and what
the future institutional framework for sustainable development should
be. What these challenges entail and how they have emerged is the
focus of the next two chapters. In short, a number of crises are facing
the world – of climate, economy, food and energy, and poverty for
example – that are now understood as interlinked. The notion of the
green economy seeks an economic system that can address and
prevent these crises whilst also protecting the earth’s ecosystems,
provide economic growth and contribute to poverty alleviation.
Questions of the future institutional framework for sustainable
development include whether the formal organisations (including
those within the UN) are ‘fit for purpose’ to guide, monitor and
coordinate progress towards sustainable development in future. They
also embrace many wider issues of ‘governance’ that confirm the
important role across all scales, not only of governments, but also
private business and civil society organisations in shaping the
prospects for sustainable development. They also question the
principles on which decisions are made, whether these are equitable
and participatory, for example.
Evidently, sustainable development is considered a central and
important challenge for international organisations such as the United
Nations and for governments worldwide. It is seen to embrace linked
Figure 1.2 The Millennium Development Goals and the environment

Millennium Development Goal Target Selected environmental links*

1 To eradicate extreme poverty 1 To halve, between 1990 and 2015, the Livelihood strategies and food security of the poor
and hunger proportion of people whose income is less often depend directly on healthy ecosystems, and
than US$1 a day the diversity of goods and ecological services they
2 To halve, between 1990 and 2015, the provide. Natural capital accounts for 26 per cent of
proportion of people who suffer from hunger the wealth of low-income countries.
Climate change affects agricultural productivity.
Ground-level ozone damages crops.
2 To achieve universal primary 3 To ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, Cleaner air will decrease illnesses of children due to
education boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a exposure to harmful air pollutants. As a result, they
full course of primary schooling will miss fewer days of school.
Water-related diseases such as diarrhoeal infections
cost about 443 million school days each year and
diminish learning potential.
3 To promote gender equality 4 To eliminate gender disparity in primary and Indoor and outdoor air pollution is responsible for
and empower women secondary education, preferably by 2005 and in more than 2 million premature deaths annually.
all levels of education no later than 2015 Poor women are particularly vulnerable to
respiratory infections as they have high levels of
exposure to indoor air pollution.
Women and girls bear the brunt of collecting water
and fuelwood, tasks made harder by environmental
degradation such as water contamination and
deforestation.
4 To reduce child mortality 5 To reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and Acute respiratory infections are the leading cause of
2015, the under-five mortality rate death in children. Pneumonia kills more children
under the age of five than any other illness.
Environmental factors such as indoor air pollution
may increase children’s susceptibility to
pneumonia.
 Water-related diseases, such as diarrhoea and
cholera, kill an estimated 3 million people/year in
developing countries, the majority of whom are
children under the age of five. Diarrhoea has
become the second biggest killer of children, with
1.8 million children dying every year (almost
5,000/day).
5 To improve maternal health 6 To reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and Indoor air pollution and carrying heavy loads of water
2015, the maternal mortality ratio and fuelwood adversely affect women’s health, and
can make women less fit for childbirth and at
greater risk of complications during pregnancy.
Provision of clean water reduces the incidence of
diseases that undermine maternal health and
contribute to maternal mortality.
6 To combat HIV/Aids, malaria 7 To have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse Up to 20 per cent of the total burden of disease in
and other diseases the spread of HIV/Aids developing countries may be associated with
8 To have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse environmental risk factors. Preventative
the incidence of malaria and other major environmental health measures are as important
diseases as and at times more cost-effective than health
treatment.
New biodiversity-derived medicines hold promises for
fighting major diseases.
7 To ensure environmental 9 To integrate the principles of sustainable Current trends in environmental degradation must be
sustainability development into country policies and reversed in order to sustain the health and
programmes and reverse the loss of productivity of the world’s ecosystems.
environmental resources
10 To halve, by 2015, the proportion of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation
11 To have achieved, by 2020, a significant
improvement in the lives of at least 100 million
slum dwellers
continued . . .
Figure 1.2 . . . continued

Millennium Development Goal Target Selected environmental links*

8 To develop a global 12 To develop further an open, rule-based, Poor countries and regions are forced to exploit their
partnership for development predictable, non-discriminatory trading and natural resources to generate revenue and make
financial system huge debt repayments.
13 To address the special needs of the least Unfair globalisation practices export their harmful
developed countries side-effects to countries that often do not have
14 To address the special needs of landlocked effective governance regimes.
countries and small island developing states
15 To deal comprehensively with the debt
problems of developing countries through
national and international measures in order
to make debt sustainable in the long run
16 In cooperation with developing countries,
to develop and implement strategies for
decent and productive work for youth
17 In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies,
to provide access to affordable, essential
drugs in developing countries
18 In cooperation with the private sector, to make
available the benefits of new technologies,
especially information and communication

Source: compiled from www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ and *UNEP (2007).

 What is sustainable development? • 15

Figure 1.3 The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development: the challenges

we face

G We recognise that poverty eradication, changing consumption and production patterns, and
protecting and managing the natural resource base for economic and social development
are overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for, sustainable development.
G The deep fault line that divides human society between the rich and the poor and the ever-
increasing gap between the developed and developing worlds poses a major threat to
global prosperity, security and stability.
G The global environment continues to suffer. Loss of biodiversity continues, fish stocks
continue to be depleted, desertification claims more and more fertile land, the adverse
effects of climate change are already evident, natural disasters are more frequent and
more devastating and developing countries more vulnerable, and air, water and marine
pollution continue to rob millions of a decent life.
G Globalisation has added a new dimension to these challenges. The rapid integration of
markets, mobility of capital and significant increases in investment flows around the world
have opened new challenges and opportunities for the pursuit of sustainable development.
But the benefits and costs of globalisation are unevenly distributed, with developing
countries facing special difficulties in meeting this challenge.
G We risk the entrenchment of these global disparities and unless we act in a manner that
fundamentally changes their lives, the poor of the world may lose confidence in their
representatives and the democratic systems to which we remain committed, seeing their
representatives as nothing more than sounding brass or tinkling cymbals.

concerns for environmental degradation, poverty and exclusion

currently and regarding the long-term viability of existing approaches
in both environment and development. Figure 1.4 identifies the
principles of sustainable development identified by the UK
government. However, sustainable development is a term that has
currency well beyond international organisations and heads of state,
even becoming ‘hard to avoid’ (Gibson, 2005). It has been taken up
extensively by a range of organisations and interests and is a term
widely used in the media and across academic disciplines, for
example. It is used to sell products, justify policy decisions and
inspire action. For some, the term ‘sustainable development’ has
been redefined so many times and used to cover so many aspects of
society–environment relationships that there are ‘doubts on whether
anything good can ever be agreed’ (Mawhinney, 2002: 1). For others,
sustainable development is an idea that ‘makes a difference’
precisely because it requires debate and resolution of different
interests and because it challenges both researchers and policy-
makers alike (McNeill, 2000).
This chapter considers how and why sustainable development has
become such a widespread but also contested notion. It identifies a
number of different ‘meanings’ within different disciplinary
16 • What is sustainable development?

Figure 1.4 The UK Government’s Principles of Sustainable Development

I. Living within Environmental Limits

II. Ensuring a Strong, Healthy and Just Society
III. Achieving a Sustainable Economy
IV. Promoting Good Governance
V. Using Sound Science Responsibly

Living within Environmental Limits Ensuring a Strong,

Respecting the limits of the Healthy and Just Society
planet’s resources – to Meeting the diverse needs of all
improve our environment people in existing and future
ensuring that the natural communities, promoting well
resources needed for life are being, social cohesion and
unimpaired and remain so for inclusion and creating equal
future generations opportunities for all

Achieving a Sustainable Economy Promoting Good Governance Using Sound Science Responsibly
Building a strong, stable and Actively promoting effective, Ensuring policy is developed
sustainable economy which participative systems of and implemented on the
provides prosperity and governance in all levels of basis of strong scientific
opportunities for all, and in society – engaging people’s evidence, whilst taking into
which environmental and creativity, energy and account scientific uncertainty
social costs fall on those who diversity as well as public attitudes
impose them (polluter pays) and values

Source: Compiled from DEFRA (2005)

perspectives and considers changing ideas about how development

can best be achieved and the actions required to manage
environmental change. Identifying these changes in thinking and
practice from which the notion of sustainable development has
emerged is central to understanding the nature of current challenges
and actions for sustainable development (the focus of Chapters 2
and 3 respectively).

The concept of sustainable development

Literally, sustainable development refers to maintaining development

over time. However, there are possibly hundreds of definitions of
the term currently in circulation, many divergent interpretations
and thousands of variations applied in practice (Gibson, 2005).
Figure 1.5 lists just a small number of such definitions and the varied
interpretations of the concept. Definitions are important, as they are
the basis on which the means (strategies, policies and mechanisms)
for achieving sustainable development are built: how the human and
environmental ‘condition’ is thought about, viewed or understood
underpins subsequent interventions. As will be seen in this section,
 What is sustainable development? • 17

Plate 1.1 Promoting the messages of sustainable development

a. Sign on entry to Kang, Botswana

Source: David Nash, University of Brighton.

b. Fresher’s Fair, University of Brighton, England

Source: Elona Hoover, University of Brighton.
18 • What is sustainable development?

different disciplines have influenced and contributed to the

sustainability debate, ‘each making different assumptions about the
relation between environment and the human subject’ (Lee et al.,
2000: 9) and assigning to it quite divergent orders of priority and
recommendations in terms of policies, programmes and projects.
Throughout this text, it will be apparent that although there are many
shared concerns for, emerging principles of and evidence of progress
towards sustainable development, there is also much uncertainty and
contestation regarding how to best promote sustainable change and
concerning the impacts of policies and mechanisms taken towards
sustainable development.

Figure 1.5 Defining and interpreting the contested concept of sustainable development

Definitions of sustainable development

‘In principle, such an optimal (sustainable growth) policy would seek to maintain an
“acceptable” rate of growth in per-capita real incomes without depleting the national capital
asset stock or the natural environmental asset stock.’
(Turner, 1988: 12)

‘The net productivity of biomass (positive mass balance per unit area per unit time)
maintained over decades to centuries.’
(Conway, 1987: 96)

‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.’
(WCED, 1987: 43)

‘A sustainable society is one in which peoples’ ability to do what they have good reason to
value is continually enhanced.’
(Sen, 1999)

Interpretations of sustainable development

‘Like motherhood, and God, it is difficult not to approve of it. At the same time, the idea of
sustainable development is fraught with contradictions.’
(Redclift, 1997: 438)

‘It is indistinguishable from the total development of society.’

(Barbier, 1987: 103)

‘Its very ambiguity enables it to transcend the tensions inherent in its meaning.’
(O’Riordan, 1995: 21)

‘Sustainable development appears to be an over-used, misunderstood phrase.’

(Mawhinney, 2002: 5)
 What is sustainable development? • 19

As suggested in the quotations in Figure 1.5, the attractiveness of the

concept of sustainable development may lie precisely in the varied
ways in which it can be interpreted, enabling diverse and possibly
incompatible interests to ‘sign up to’ sustainable development and to
support a wide range of practical initiatives and causes. This is what
is termed ‘constructive ambiguity’ in understanding the concept that
enables a ‘strategic flexibility’ in terms of responses. However, it
also confirms the need for ongoing critical consideration of whose
values and interests are encompassed in particular kinds of policy
and practical intervention and who may suffer costs and losses, that
is, it is more than an academic debate. As Jacobs (1991) identified,
sustainable development is a ‘contestable concept’, that like
‘democracy’ or ‘equality’ has a basic meaning that almost everyone
is in favour of, but there are deep conflicts around how they should
be understood and fostered.

Sustainable development as ‘common sense’?

The challenges of understanding what the idea of sustainable
development may mean, and what it entails in practice is evident in
an analysis of the apparently simple definition provided by the
WCED in 1987 (identified above in Figure 1.5). Common sense
could suggest that development today should not be at the expense of
future generations, but what is it that one generation is passing to
another? Is it solely natural capital or does it include assets
associated with human ingenuity and the application of technology,
and what of language or other aspects of culture? The WCED
definition also embraces difficult notions of limits and needs. What
and how are limits set – by biophysical processes, technology or
society, for example? What do we know of the ‘needs’ of future
generations (or even the size and location of populations to come)?
Quite evidently, ‘needs’ can mean different things to different people
and change over time, linked to ‘development’ itself and society’s
ability to satisfy them. In one place, needs may be for open space
and clean air, and in another, for material wealth even at the cost of
greater pollution. How do we reconcile that needs in one place or
amongst particular groups are often fulfilled at the expense of others?
Or that development to date has enabled new needs to be defined
within certain groups (that could be interpreted as ‘wants’) without
satisfying the basic needs (increasingly understood as human rights)
of others? These questions highlight some of the many sources of
contestation in the debates over the meaning of sustainable
20 • What is sustainable development?

development: conflict between the interests of present generations

and those of the future; between human well-being and the protection
of nature; between poor and rich; and between local and global.
These questions frame the global challenges of sustainable
development of Chapter 2.

Framing the concept of sustainable development

A number of frameworks or typologies have been proposed as
a way of simplifying the evidently complex notion of sustainable
development. Commonly, sustainable development is presented as
three pillars, as seen in Figure 1.6. Such ‘architectural metaphors’
confirm the need to consider the social, ecological and economic
arenas together and equally (‘holistically’) if the building is to

Figure 1.6 Depictions of sustainable development

Economic
Sustainable
Development
Environment
Economy

Sustainability
Society

Social Natural

Natural

Social

Economic
 What is sustainable development? • 21

remain upright and development is sustainable. However, such

depictions are less effective for communicating the interconnections
between the ‘uprights’ and the need to integrate thinking and action
in sustainable development across traditional disciplinary boundaries
and established policy-making departments, for example. These
principles of sustainable development are perhaps better portrayed by
interlocking circles with sustainable development as where the circles
intersect. Such depictions give attention to the objective of
sustainable development as seeking to maximise the goals across all
three spheres at the same time and the possibility of mutually
supportive (‘win-win-win’) gains that can be made through
sustainable development actions. The small area of overlap relative
to the whole sphere portrays the unsustainable nature of much
activity, but also opens the idea of the potential to expand this area
of positive overlap. Importantly, this model supports understanding
that achieving sustainable development in practice regularly involves
trade-offs across the different spheres; that difficult choices have to
be made at particular points in time and at particular scales as to
what is being pursued and how; that certain goals can be
compromised in the achievement of others; and that any action will
carry unequal impacts for particular interests and for groups of
people. This is the requirement for ‘systems thinking’ in sustainable
development.
A further depiction of sustainable development is of concentric or
‘nested’ circles where the spheres of economy and society are shown
as embedded in a wider circle of ecology. This portrays an
understanding of environmental limits setting the boundaries within
which a sustainable society and economy must be sought. This model
presents a better illustration of how all human activities depend
fundamentally on nature and portrays more clearly how activities that
damage the functioning of natural systems ultimately weaken the
basis of human existence itself.
Most recently, there have been suggestions that a further pillar sphere
of sustainable development is required, that of cultural diversity as
the root of a more moral, spiritual, ethical and sustainable way of
life. This is argued by indigenous peoples in particular and within
initiatives such as the Earth Charter that brings together a wide range
of civil society organisations with shared concerns for the values
underpinning more sustainable development: respect and care for
cultural diversity as well as ecological integrity and for universal
human rights and a culture of peace.
22 • What is sustainable development?

Disciplinary development of the concept

Whilst potentially all disciplines engage in some way with the
concept of sustainable development, early contributions came largely
from the ‘environmental’ spheres. As will be seen through this
chapter, particular environmental disciplines (notably ecology and
conservation biology) were especially prominent in important early
work towards understanding emerging environmental problems and
in designing measures to protect valued environments. These
disciplines provided the evidence to support environmental
movements and were instrumental in international legislation such as
the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed at the Rio Earth
Summit. Research from across the environmental sciences continues
to inform major global studies such as the UN Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and in understanding climate change
(discussed in Chapter 2). Developments in information
communication technology have been very important in enabling the
creation of vast databases and sophisticated modelling that are key to
Earth Systems Science. This relatively new field of study is centred
on integrating the physical, chemical and biological science
disciplines to address the complexity and uncertainties of global
environmental change and for understanding human activities as an
integrated component and planetary-scale force in the Earth system
(Steffen et al., 2004).
The disciplines of economics have also been very important in
shaping the concept and practices of sustainable development. Their
role in developing the notion of ‘critical natural capital’ is explored
in Box 1.1. Ecological economists have also developed a range of
means for applying economic calculations to environmental resources
towards costing resources and resource functions both as inputs to
economic activity and in terms of degradation and pollution. This
work has underpinned a host of what are termed ‘market-based
mechanisms’ towards achieving sustainable development in practice.
These are considered more fully in a number of subsequent sections
and chapters (as they are now widely used but are also heavily
debated). Essentially, market-based mechanisms encompass measures
to alter the economic costs of particular behaviours and production
practices towards more sustainable outcomes. Simple examples are
environmental taxes on petrol use and solid waste disposal that make
these practices more costly to individuals and businesses.
Most recently, it is the third sphere of the models in Figure 1.6 that
has accommodated much work in sustainable development.
 What is sustainable development? • 23

Box 1.1

Forms of capital for sustainable development

For economists, various forms of ‘capital’ provide the capability to generate
human well-being. These are human capital (skills, knowledge and
technology, for example), physical capital (encompassed in housing, roads
and machinery etc.) and natural capital (stocks of natural resources such as
oil and minerals, but also biological diversity, atmospheric and hydrological
cycles and such like). Economists query what forms of capital the concept of
sustainable development requires us to consider for future generations; is it
the ‘overall stock’ of human, physical and natural capital (suggesting that all
forms of capital are equal and that a loss of wetlands could be compensated
for by an increase in roads, for example)? Or are particular forms of capital
more ‘valuable’, more important for well-being or more fundamental to
future human survival?
Economists recognise that environmental resources are varied in terms of
their location, volume and the functions that they provide for economic
activity. Furthermore, environmental resources differ in terms of whether
they can be ‘substituted’ or replaced by other resources and/or forms of
capital. Hence, ecological economists differentiate between three categories
of ‘natural capital’ in Figure 1.7. ‘Critical natural capital’ comprises those
assets that cannot be recreated and are lost forever if degraded.

Figure 1.7 Categories of natural capital

Critical natural capital: capital that is required for survival. It can be viewed
as functional (such as the presence of the ozone layer or the atmosphere in
general) or valued (for example rare species valued in terms of their potential
for health care).
Constant natural capital: capital that must be maintained in some form but
can be adapted or replaced.
Tradable natural capital: natural capital which is not scarce or highly valued
and which can be replaced.

The notion of critical natural capital (whilst still debated) has informed ideas
of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ sustainability in practice. A weak interpretation of
sustainable development is where the total capital stock passed onto the next
generation is constant or growing and all forms of natural capital can
therefore be traded off and substituted with human capital. Strong
sustainability demands the protection of critical natural capital because once
lost, these assets are lost forever, and they cannot be recreated.
Source: compiled from Pearce et al. (1989); Barr (2008).
24 • What is sustainable development?

Discussions of sustainability as a political process have been taken

up by a number of the social sciences centred on questions of power
and outcomes for particular groups of people, across space and time.
In short, this work raises sustainable development as a moral concept
that seeks to define a ‘fair and just’ development (Starkey and
Walford, 2001). The notion of ‘environmental justice’ is now a
prominent part of contemporary discussions of the meaning and
practice of sustainable development (see Walker, 2012). It points in
particular to the distributional conflicts around the environment as
outcomes of development that are occurring now and being
disproportionately felt by some social groups within the current
generation. The concern is for how environmental ‘bads’ (such as
pollution and the degradation of ecosystem functioning) and ‘goods’
(including access to environmental resources that may be the material
basis for livelihood or green space valued for health and recreational
opportunities) are distributed across society. Environmental justice
also encompasses a concern for the equity of environmental
management interventions (who benefits and who loses through
these) and for the nature of public involvement in decision-making.
Evidently, understanding the concept of sustainable development is
itself a challenge. Gibson (2005: 39) suggests that ‘out of the great
diversity of theoretical formulations and applications, an essential
commonality of shared concerns and principles can now be
identified’. These are shown in Figure 1.8. It is clear that sustainable
development embraces a rejection of things as they are in terms of
the current patterns of environment and development globally.
However, sustainable development is not an identifiable ‘end point’
or ‘state’ but requires ongoing critical consideration of the processes
(the ‘means’) of development and decision making across all spheres
of life. Hence, there is no blueprint for how to achieve sustainable
development; rather the nature of sustainable development will be
specific to particular places and points in time. However, the
challenges of finding more positive alternatives to existing patterns
and processes of development are universal and globally linked. In
order to identify the challenges and opportunities of implementing
sustainable development in practice, the following sections consider
more fully the changes in thinking and practice from which the
concept has developed. As Adams (2009: 26) suggests, sustainable
development cannot be understood in ‘an historical vacuum’.
Of particular importance are the changes in thinking about what
constitutes ‘development’ and how best to achieve it, and changing
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 pohjatuulta, antain aavistusta myrskysäistä mennehistä. Kysyi
meri jälleen: "Onko taiteen tarkoitus siis tämä?"

Nyökkäs' päätään vanhempi ja vastas'

"Jo nyt riittää. Olet taideniekka."

Taideniekan yö.

Yössä istuu taideniekka.

Miksi helkkää rannan hiekka?

Yön on neitoset tulevat,

yön on mustat morsiamet,
valkeilla varsoillansa,
ruskeilla ruunillansa.

"Kunnet neitoset kulette?

Minun luokse miks' tulette?"

"Tuomme sulle tuomisia

meren suurilta seliltä,
ilman pitkiltä pihoilta;
joko on ovesi auki?"

"On se auki auringolle,

paistoa Jumalan päivän,
ei yön yrityksille,
Manan neitten maanehille."
 Ilkkuivat Manalan immet,
tytöt Tuonen tyrskyttivät:
"Voip' on miestä mieletöntä!
Vieläkö valohon luotat?

Jo pimeni Suomen päivä, sammui jo salojen huomen, meni

usko miesten nuorten — ei ole valoa enää koko maassa,
maailmassa."

Huusi hurja taideniekka, välkkyi nuoren hengen miekka:

"Jos menikin muilta usko, minun viel' ei mennyt ole, Jos
pimeni maani päivä, on mulla omakin päivä, tyttö kultainen
kylässä, kaunokutri kartanossa, jonk' on sielu silkin hieno,
katse kaunoinen sametin; unista utuisen lemmen luon ma
maalle uuden aamun."

Ilkkuivat Manalan immet, tytöt tuonen tyrskyttivät: "Voip' on

miestä mieletöntä! Vieläkö valohon luotat? Jo pimeni
silkkisielu, sameni sametin välke kylän irstahan iloissa,
naisten kahvinauruloissa; ei ole valoa enää koko maassa,
maailmassa."

Painoi päänsä taideseppä, juoksi julman haavan leppä,

juoksi päivän, juoksi toisen, kuni hän kolmanna kohosi, kastoi
kalvan hurmehesen, nosti kohti korkeutta, vannoi näin valan
ikuisen: "En minä levänne ennen kuin minun miekkani terästä
revontulet roihuavat yössä pohjolan pimeän!"

Vyötti varren rautavyöhön, ulos astui talvi-yöhön, talven

tähtöset näkivät, kun hän korpehen katosi. — Ei ole sitten
kuulununna.
Virta venhettä vie.

Virta venhettä vie.

Mihin päättyvi tie?
Lyö kuuhut purren puuta ja taikaa.
Mikä ihminen on?
Virvaliekki levoton.
Jo miekka heljä riiteleepi jalkaa.
Yks' syntyy meistä riemuun ja toinen murheeseen,
ja kullakin on kellonsa pohjass' sydämen;
kun se seisahtaa, niin kuolon aika alkaa.
Virta venhettä vie.

Mihin päättyvi tie?

Niin synkehinä synnit ne uhkaa.
Hetken hehkuvi mies,
sitten tummuvi lies,
jääpi jäljelle pivo pieni tuhkaa.
Ja synnit ne kasvaa ja liittyy syntihin
ja poika perii kehdossa synnit isänkin,
ja rinta täys' on ruumenta ja ruhkaa.
Mihin päättyvi tie?

Virta venhettä vie.

Koko maailma mun purressani häilyy,
Meri ääretön, o!
Etkö joudukin jo,
suur' suvantoni, jossa pilvet päilyy.
Ois' aika maata Sunkin jo, suuri Jumala,
ja vanhan valkopääsi jo lepoon laskea.
Katso, kuinka kuolon varjot häilyy.
Virta venhettä vie.

Mihin päättyvi tie?

Ei tiedä sitä ihmisistä kenkään.
Meri, taivas ja maa,
kaikki, kaikk' katoaa —
kuinka säilyisi sielu ihmisenkään?
Mut unessa niin armas on ajatella noin,
viel' kerran kevät saapuu ja koittaa uusi koi
ja huomentuulet tuntureilta henkää.
Vaiko valhetta lie?

Virta venhettä vie. Ma luulen, kerran maailma herää; Susi

lammast' ei syö, veli veljeä lyö, eikä miesi tahko tapparan
terää. Mut kaikki kauniit aatteet, mit' täällä aatellaan, ne silloin
täyttyy töiksi ja peittävät maan. Siis ihanteita ihminen kerää!
Vaiko valhetta lie?

Surut.

Minä seisoin ja huusin tappara kädessä: "Tulkaa, nyt

tulkaa, tulkaa kaikki, te miel'alat apeat, te vastasäät vaikeet,
te huolten huuhkalinnut ja sydänsurut haikeet,

niin koetamme kerran, ken meistä voittaa, ja voitettu olkoon

ääneti niinkuin hauta, mi kuusten keskellä hiljainen on!"
 Näin minä huusin tappara kädessä, katsoin uhmaten
kalliosolaan uotellen kuoleman karjaa. "Pelkäätkö, Tuonelan
untelo ukko, pelkäätkö vuossadan nuorinta lasta, pelkäätkö
päivyen poikaa?"

Eivät ne tulleet silloin surut, tulivat silloin, kun makasin

maassa kamppaillen Luojani kanssa. Tulivat takaa kuin
konnat, löivät kahleisiin minut, mierolle möivät, tekivät
minusta heikon miehen, polttivat otsaani orjan merkin, jota ei
huuhdo nyt vesi, ei veri, eikä huulet kauneimman neidon.

Jumalan vanki.

Ystävyys murtuu, rakkaus katoo, ei katoa minun kuoleman-

ikäväni. En tiedä alkuasi, en aavista loppuasi, mutta kumpikin
lie minun sydämessäni.

Voi, pahoin tekee se mies, se mieletön mies, joka juurensa

elämään katkoo! Hän on niinkuin lintu vedenpaisumisen
päällä, ei ole hänellä sijaa siellä eikä täällä, hän
äärettömyydessä lentää ja lentää ja aaltoihin vaipuu.

Eikä ole totuus, jumalainen totuus, tehty ihmishartioita

varten. Jos kuolevainen jumaliin nousee, niin Jumala ottaa
vangiksi hänet ja viepi häitä ymmärryksen valon.

Hymni tulelle.
 Ken tulta on, se tulta palvelkoon.
Ken maata on, se maahan maatukoon.
Mut kuka tahtoo nousta taivahille,
näin kaikuu kannelniekan virsi sille:

"Mit' oomme me? Vain tuhkaa, tomua?

Ei aivan! Aatos nousee mullasta.
On kohtalosi kerran tuhkaks' tulla,
mut siihen saakk' on aika palaa sulla.

Mi palaa? Aine. Mikä polttaa sen?

Jumala, henki, tuli ikuinen.
On ihmis-onni olla kivihiiltä,
maan uumenissa unta pitkää piiltä,

herätä hehkuun, työhön, taisteloon,

kun Luoja kutsuu, luottaa aurinkoon,
toteuttaa vuosisatain unelmat,
joit' uinuneet on isät harmajat.

On elon aika lyhyt kullakin.

Siis palakaamme lieskoin leimuvin,
tulessa kohotkaamme korkealle!
Maa maahan jää, mut henki taivahalle."

Hiukan tähtitiedettä.

1.
Tähtelän tanhuat.

Tähtöset tuikki niin korkealla.

Minä olin maassa niin matalalla.

Miksi niin vilkutte tähtöset mulle?

"Siksi me tähtöset vilkumme sulle,

että sun sielusi nousisi meihin,

että sa astuisit auringon teihin."

Enkö siis astu ma auringon rataa?

"Et sinä astune auringon rataa,

kuuta sa palvelet, kuun tietä kuljet,

kuutamon välkkeitä rintaasi suljet."

Kuinkapa pääsen ma Päivölän tupiin?

"Noin sinä pääset Päivölän tupiin,

nouse, ja Tähtelän tanhuita juokse!

Siitä käy polku Luojankin luokse."

2.

Pohjantähti.

Oi, Pohjantähti, mi meille vilkut ja piennä pilkut, mi ilkut

tähdille kiertäville ja ihmismielille myrskyisille, jotk' ei saa
rauhaa, vaan aina pauhaa!
 Oi, kuin sua säälin, sa tähti kumma, mi luulet, että on
elämän summa ain' aaltoin keskellä tyyni olla ja seista
kaukana kalliolla, kun meri pauhaa ja ei saa rauhaa.

Sua kaikki kiertävät taivaan kaaret ja tähtisarjat ja valo

saaret, sua kumartaa kuun, päivän kulta, ja otava oppinsa
ottaa sulta, niin myöskin henki inehmosenki.

Sua sentään säälin ma, tähti parka, mi tiedä et, miten veri
karkaa, miten tulet riemun ja tuskan palaa, kun synti hehkuu
ja sydän halaa, kun aatos pauhaa ja ei saa rauhaa.

Aina langeta, aina nousta, käyttää kuokkaa ja sotajousta,

tehdä oikein ja tehdä väärin, rikkoa, kärsiä? mielin määrin —
oi, ihanainen on elo mainen!

3.

Auringon opetus.

Opeta minulle, aurinko,

mik' on laulajan oikea onni!

"Tee kuin minä, paista vaan

laulajan onni on antaa."

Pilvet päiväni peittivät.

Kuinka siis kummalla annan?

"Tee kuin minä, paista vaan

häipyvi tumminkin häivä."
 Hanki kattavi kaiken maan,
turhaan uurran ja puurran.

"Tee kuin minä, paista vaan,

sulaa hankikin suurin."

Entä jos kansa mun kiroaa?

Enkö ma kiroa vastaan?

"Tee kuin minä, paista vaan,

syttyvi sydänkin kylmin."

4.

Uusi tähti Perseuksen sikermässä.

Uus tähtönen, uusi maailma,

uus ajatus ihmisen sielussa!

"Sun aatoksistasi tiedä en.

Minä synnyin vuoksi miljoonien."

Siis olet sa sentään kuin aatoksen':

sekin syntyvi vuoksi miljoonien!

Kuvia ja kangastuksia

(1902)
Jumalan tammi.

Mikä on tammipuun tohina minun koidon korvissani?

Tammi on Jumalan tammi elämän aukean aholla, päivässä

pimenevässä, laulun yössä lankeevassa.

Pois viha, pois kateus, karkotkaa katalat kiistat, haihtukaa

elämän huolet sekä järjen jäiset tuumat! Yön elämä ympärillä
tyynny! Tyyntykää inehmot! Raukene ratasten räiske sekä
seppojen jyrinä!

Minun on mieli kuullakseni

Luojan suuren puun puhetta.

Tarinoi Jumalan tammi: "Olen toiminnan tohina kaaoksessa

kaikkeuden, kohtalon kohina olen puhki ihmisten povien; olen
pauke maan pajassa, humu ilman huonehessa; kuurot
kuulevat minua, kuulevaiset eivät kuule."

Kysyn sykkivin sydämin:

"Ja mitäpä minulle huo'ut?"

Julistaa Jumalan tammi: "Humisen huolia sinulle, surun

annan aateluutta, vaivan kalvavan vakautta, ylevyyttä ylhän
tuskan; kynnän otsasi vakoihin, sielusi enemmän kynnän,
panen paadet hartioille, käsken nuorna kärsimähän."

Kysyn kylmävin sydämin:

"Miks' minua kärsimähän?"
 Luojan suuren puu puhuvi: "Siks' sinua kärsimähän, kun
olet lapsi laadultasi, itkijä elämän itkun. Otan sun lapseksi
omaksi, annan sulle laulun armon, juuret juutan maa-emohon,
työnnän latvan taivahalle."

Seisoi mies aholla yksin, yössä aukean elämän; tunsi

polttavan povensa, sydämensä seisahtavan vaivasta
sanattomasta, ailuesta ankarasta.

Pyhä on hetki hengen tuskan.

Seisoi mies aholla yksin, juurella Jumalan tammen;

kaukokaupungin hälinä yhtyi yön vavistuksehen; lepäsivät
maa ja taivas, tammenlehvätkin lepäsi.

Hiljaa, hiljaa, yksitellen helmet kirkkahat kihoovat, sulaten

polttavaa povea, lauhdutellen, lohdutellen; saa vaiva sanoiksi,
virret vierivät huulilta urohon, mies itse haoksi muuttui, puuttui
puuksi paikallensa.

Satu oli sanasta, taru tammesta taitehen Jumalan.

Äidin surut.

Kolme yötä peräkkäin suurta surun unta näin, siitä asti

murhe mulla mielessä on tuiretulla.

Unta näin ma miekasta

verisestä hiekasta.
Kaitse, Kiesus, köyhän lasta
sotateille sortumasta!

Näin ma maljan kuohuvan

kuivaks saakka sakkahan.
Totta, Herra, hekkumasta
estät emon lempilasta.

Nyrkin vielä viimeks' näin

kohotetun taivoon päin.
huudahdin ja heräsin ma,
liereilläkin vapisin ma.

Ethän, Luoja, milloinkaan

hänen salli horjahtaa
itse-uhmaan ylpeähän,
Jumalaansa kieltämähän?

Mieli nöyrä hälle suo!

Tai jos tahtosi on tuo,
tapa ennen taisteloihin,
syökse synnin nautintoihin!

Herra! Mitä huusinkaan?

Ethän kuullut kauheaa?
Tee kuin tahdot, Herra, aina.
Lapseni on Sulta laina.

Aika.
 Asuu aamuruskon mailla kansa, jonka jumala on Aika.
Templi tehty hälle puistohon on pyhään, virran vieriväisen
kaltahalle. Loitos loistaa templin kaarikatot, kauas kuuluu
pappein kuorolaulu, kauemmaksi vielä maine kulkee Ajan
ankarasta uskonnosta.

Aika näät ei ole kivikuva käsin tehty taikka luonnon muoto,

aate ei, ei tyhjä mielihoure. Aika hirviö on julma, joka uhrit
parhaat, vaikeimmat vaatii, sata miestä miehevää ja nuorta
joka vuoden kuussa kääntyvässä. Siit' on idän maassa itku,
parku, paino raskas rintaluita painaa.

Mutta näin ne laulaa templin papit käyden kuutamossa

hiljaisessa: "Suuri, suuri, ankara on Aika! Maailmoiden
mahtaja sa olet, kun sa mylväiset, niin vuoret murtuu, kun sa
henkäiset, niin hirret hajoo, vaan kun sinä jalan maahan
poljet, jää ei ykskään eloon elävistä."

Tarun kertoi mulle templin pappi kerran aurinkoisen alas

mennen, yössä yksinänsä koskein kuohun pyhän virran
pyörtehiltä soiden. Tuuli lepäsi ja lehto. Kaukaa kimalteli
Himalayan huiput. Väkevästi loisti vanhan silmä, kun hän
tarinansa kumman kertoi:

"Kääntyi kuu ja tuli uhrin tunti. Yksi erällänsä nuoret

tuodaan silmin sidotuin ja käsin. Uksi avataan ja jälleen
suljetahan. Hälle ei se enää koskaan aukee.

Uhrein parvessa on poika uljas, pitkä varreltaan kuin palmu,

kaunis kasvoiltaan kuin Buddha, jalo nähdä. Ainoo turva on
hän äidin vanhan, toivo tietäjien, naisten lempi, leirin
kaunistus ja kansan kaiken. Vuoroansa vaiti odottaa hän, äiti
vierellänsä itkee, huokaa.

Hetki lyö. Hän sisään sysätähän, pedon kiljunnan hän

kuulee, tuntee kasvoillansa kalman henkäyksen — silloin,
katso: silmäin side laukee, ja hän näkee, mit' ei kenkään
nähnyt eikä nähdä sopis kuolevaisen.

Ajattaren ankaran hän näkee: puoleks' lisko, suomuinen ja

suuri, puoleks nainen punalieska-huuli, päässä silmät niinkuin
pätsi palaa, pätsin pohjass' ajan pyyteet kiehuu, käden
kohottaa hän vetääksensä sulhon syleilyynsä kauheahan.

Seisoivat he hetken vastatusten, Ajatar ja urho miekan,

mielen: katso, vaappuu pedon polvet, sammuu silmä, vaipuu
käsi kynnellinen; keveästi niinkuin kesäöiltä sulhon huulille
hän suukon painaa.

Mutta kammiosta urho astuu kalpeana niinkuin kuolo,

kulkee metsiin, jättää äidin, siskot, miettii, tekee hengen töitä,
jotk' ei katoo, vaikka katoaisi kansa kaikki. Hänehen ei Ajan
hammas pysty, voittanut hän onpi kuolon vallan, sillä hän on
unelmainsa urho ja hän täyttää, mitä monet tuumii."

Noin se kertoi kerran templin pappi mulle aurinkoisen alas

mennen. Vaiti istuin, vaiti kertojakin. Himmenivät Himalayan
huiput. Yössä yksinänsä koskein kuohu pyhän virran
pyörtehiltä kuului. Silloin sanat sattui mielelleni: "Eikö sitten
enää milloinkana miestä ollut ajan voittajata?"

Väkevästi vanhan silmä loisti, kädet rinnoillaan hän risti,

lausui: "Aika voitetahan joka kerta, jolloin aatos miehen
 mieless' syttyy, aatos miehen mieltä ankarampi, kasvavainen
yli kuolevaisen. Siitä asti on hän outo täällä, herra muille, orja
itsellensä, sillä hän on unelmainsa urho, oman aattehensa
astinlauta.

"Entä jos hän aattehensa tahraa?"

"Silloin aate hänet alas lyöpi, ottaa asuntonsa toiseen,

jatkaa tietään niinkuin myrsky merta käyden."

Hetket kului. Pedot öiset heräs, lähti leopardi piilostansa,

tiikeri, tuo karavaanein kauhu, leijonakin, metsästäjän lempi,
oksat risahteli, risut taittui, kaukaa karjunta yön ilman halkas'.
Ja ma muistin Ajattaren haamun ja ma kysyin äänin
vavahtavin: "Eikö koskaan Ajatar tuo kuole? Eikö koskaan
koita kansain onni?"

Liene kuullut ei hän kysymystä. Vaiti istui hän ja vaiti minä.

Tähdet syttyi taivahalle, syttyi ijäis-aatteet ihmissydämissä, ja
ma kuulin koskein kuorolaulun pyhän virran pyörtehiltä
soivan: "Suuri, suuri, ankara on aika, maailmoiden mahtaja sa
olet, kun sa mylväiset, niin vuoret murtuu, kun sa henkäiset,
niin hirret hajoo, pysyväinen vain on pyhä virta, ijäinen vain
ihmishengen kaipuu."

Imatran taru.

Tuo Imatra, immyt sorja,

oli kaunehin neitoja Karjalan maan
Tuo Ontrei, pajarin orja,
tais' laulaa ja kannelta kaiuttaa

Hän rakasti Karjalan kukkaa.

Salot laajat soi, koska lauloi hän.
Mut Karjalan kansa rukka
suri sorrossa isännän ilkeän.

Kuka kansan kohlitun kostaa?

Oli Ontrei mies sotakelpo tuo.
Hän Karjalan laululla nostaa!
Iloks impensä vain hän lauluja luo.

Tuo virkkavi Imatra impi:

"Maan eestä laula, mut mulle ei!"
"Sa mulle oot kallihimpi,"
näin saneli Ontrei ja suukon vei.

"Teit kyllin jo lauluja mulle,

maan ympäri olen ma maineikas." —
"Vasta kyllin on lauluja sulle,
runo tehty kun on joka kutristasi"

Ohi pajari ratsasti, yöksi

hän virran viereltä neien nai.
Tää kosken kuohuihin syöksi.
Ne hänestä kaikuvan nimensä sai.

Mut Ontrei, Imatran orja,

hän istui rannalle valtavan vuon:
"Tule, kuolema, lapsesi korjaa!
Toki ensin ma lauluni parhaan luon."
 Hän koski kantelon kieliin.
Soi sävelet kuin sodan myrsky nyt.
Ne Karjalan miesten mieliin
kävi kuin vihan vasamat välkytetyt.

Ja Karjalan kansa nousi.

Taru tuo on tunnettu teille kai?
Teräs välkähti, vinhahti jousi.
Jo pajari haljakan verisen sai.

Mut suur' oli pajarin suku.

Kautta korpien kostoa huudetaan.
Ja sotalaumojen luku
yli samosi kaunihin Karjalan maan.

Jo vapaushaavehet vaipui,
verivirrat peltoja purppuroi
Moni vaipui, myös moni taipui.
Mut mikä on soitto, mi yhäti soi?

Kävi sortajat soittoa kohti.

Soi sävelet kuin sodan myrsky. "Ken
vapautta viel' laulaa tohti,
kun taittui jo tappara viimeinen?"

Oli Ontrei Imatran orja,

hän istui rannalla valtavan veen.
Hän lauloi: "On sota sorja,
kun kuollahan mieheen viimeiseen.

Mut sorjempi on sota sille,

ken kaipaa maan päällä kalleimpaa.
Hän Tuonelan tanhuville
käy niinkuin sankari kotiin saa."

Jo sortajat soittajan näki.

Tuon kohtalo kauan ei viipynyt.
Ne lyhyen tuomion teki.
Nuoli vihainen jousesta vinkahti nyt.

Se oli laulajan surma.

Hän suistui koskehen kuohuvaan.
Mut katso! Kantelon hurma
yhä saloja Karjalan kaiuttaa.

Affleck.

Simo Affleck, ankara mies,

hän hevosensa tallista nouti.
Hepo hirnui: "Voi sua, voi,
Simo Hurtta, Karjalan vouti!"

Simo Hurtta, huikea mies,

suki hevosensa harjan ja tukan:
"Vasta voivota, kun satulassa
tuon kotihin ma Karjalan kukan."

Hepo hirnui: "Voi sua, voi,

Ilomantsi on Karjalan kukka,
ja mantsit on sukua suurta,
Ilomantsi on Affleckin hukka!"
 Simo Affleck, ankara mies,
vei hevosensa kaivolle juomaan:
"Ilomantsi on Affleckin armas,
mun jääköhön Herramme huomaan."

Hepo hirnui: "Voi sua, voi,

koko Karjala allasi huokaa,
joka pirtissä piilut jo välkkää,
joka korpilla kohta on ruokaa!"

Simo Hurtta, huikea mies,

pani orhille ohjakset vakaat:
"Vasta voivota kun verisellä
sotakentällä kanssani makaat."

Simo Affleck, ankara mies,

löi virkkua vitsalla kerran,
hepo hirnui, soi kavioista
hääkanteleet Karjalan herran.

Kankuri.

Eukko harmaata kangasta kutoo.

Ulkona syyssade synkkänä putoo.

Hän kutonut on sitä lapsesta saakka. Sitä kutoi äiti ja

äidinkin äiti, ja kutoneet on sitä kaikki naiset niin kauas kuin
seudun tään väki muistaa. Hän kutonut on sitä lapsesta
saakka.
 Nai, sai lapsia, lapset kasvoi, naivat ja jällehen lapsia
saivat. Halla vei viljan, karhu kaasi karjan tai tuli poltti pirtin.
Mut muuten ei muutu, ei tapahdu mitään viikosta viikkoon,
vuodesta vuoteen.

Ja sama on tarina kaikkien muiden niin kauas kuin seudun

tään väki muistaa.

Eukko harmaata kangasta kutoo.

Vartiolta.

Kaadu, metsä, niinkuin kaski, seiso, jalka, niinkuin seinä!

Muuten mielesi lahovi.

Näin minä tuulispään tulevan yli korven, latvat taipui,

puuntyvet tanahan jäivät, kaikki kaatui paikallensa.

Noin on mieleni minunkin.

"Ken on pantu paimeneksi, kaitkoon karjan kaunihisti, kuka

viljan viskimeksi, olkoon hätiä oma risti, mutta kelle kyntö
suotiin, tehköön työtä vanhaan muotiin!"

Noin se lauleli salossa yön on vahti yksinäinen, lauloi

tahtonsa teräksi, oman mielen miehuudeksi, korpi kolkosti
humisi, huoahteli metsä märkä.

Ja hän tunsi tuskan, kammon, ja hän lauloi uudellensa:

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