The Future of Sustainability: Have Your Say!

Week Three - “The New Economy and Biodiversity”
Comment / Comentario / Commentaire

Bryan Furnass, Nature and Society Forum, Australia

Moderating team: Bryan Furnass highlights Francis Vorhies comment on Ken Boulding’s “spaceship earth” concept, the sustainability of which is put at risk by resource use and human population growth. He refers to an article where Jeffrey Sachs calls for investment in strategies to reduce fertility rates in rapidly expanding and poor countries as the best investment for achieving global sustainability.

Bryan Furnass destaca el concepto de “spaceship earth” o “madre tierra” planteado por Boulding y nombrado por Francis Vorhies. Bajo este concepto, la sostenibilidad está en riesgo debido al uso de los recursos naturales y al crecimiento demográfico. Se refiere a un artículo de Jeffrey Sachs en el que se necesitan estrategias para reducir las tasas de fertilidad en países pobres como la mejor inversión para alcanzar la sostenibilidad global.

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Francis Vorhies gives a timely reminder of the "spaceship earth" concept originated by the economist Kenneth Boulding some 40 years ago, which introduced the finite space and waste disposal options for our planet. Today the sustainability of our spaceship is put at risk by the product of resource use and human population growth, which on present demographic trends may reach 9 billion by 2050, according to UN forecasts.

In a recent article in the Scientific American, Jeffrey Sachs calls for a drive towards lower fertility for the world's most rapidly expanding nations in the Middle East and Africa, where there is widespread poverty and food insecurity. For example, the population of Africa is forecast to increase by 116% by 2050, compared with a projected decline by 9% in Europe.

According to Sachs, the case for spurring rapid and voluntary reductions in fertility rates in the poorest countries is overwhelming, and would be the best investment for both the richest and poorest countries to achieve global sustainability, through a four part strategy:

1) Promote child survival. When parents have the expectation that their children will survive, they choose to have fewer children, with a net effect of slower population growth.

2) Promote girls' education and gender equality. Girls in school marry later, and empowered young women enter the labour force and choose to have fewer children.

3) Promote the availability of contraception and family planning, especially for the poor who cannot afford such services on their own.

4) Raise productivity on the farm. Income-earning mothers use their scarce time in productive employment rather than childrearing.

There is no shortage of money for such moves towards sustainability. By comparison, over $1000 billion pa is spent on armaments, with potential destabilising effects on sustainability.