Sustainability Economic approaches and ethical implications

Die Autoren analysieren gegenwaertige Diskussionen im Kontext von Nachhaltigkeit, die in unterschiedlicher Weise oekonomisches Denken und ethische Dimensionen beruecksichtigen. (IAB)'The notion of sustainable development propagated mainly by the World Council on Environment and Development (1987) seems to be almost commonly accepted, but it is far less clear what is really meant by this concept. Different ways of dealing with this notion are shortly presented and different economic approaches to sustainability are discussed. The authors show that different basic positions regarding moral obligations towards the future lead to different (weaker or stronger) notions of sustainability. However, most of them share the acknowledgement of present human beings' obligations to future generations. Talking into account our limited knowledge and our basic uncertainty with respect to future events, they are arguing for a critical sustainability or a quasi-sustainability based on the fact that natural and man-made capital can replace each other only to a limited extent. A further clarification of sustainability by means of management rules or of an ecological target bundle ESH (Elements, Self-regulation, Homeostasis) is presented. The authors conclude by elaborating both the ethical implications of different sustainability concepts and the limits to the Pareto criterion in the context of sustainability, giving neoclassical (environmental) economics and important role not in defining but in achieving sustainability goals by means of economic instruments for environmental protection.' (author's abstract)German title: Nachhaltigkeit: oekonomische Ansaetze und ethnische ImplikationenAvailable from IAB-32114 BK 136 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman