Development and Environment: struggles to strike a balance

Resumen

In the past few decades, there has been an increase in international documents and initiatives aimed at environmental preservation. While these efforts advocate for sustainability worldwide, they face criticism for attempting to reconcile two opposing ideas: development and sustainability. Post-development critics question assumptions underlying development as a Western construct, advocating for dematerialisation and degrowth. Therefore, the aim of this study is to address the tensions within the concept of sustainable development, particularly the conflict between environmental protection and capitalist imperatives. In other words, I intend to demystify the apparent harmony that the aforementioned concept establishes and examine the tension between capitalist production and the environmental protection. Moreover, I explore to what extent the notion of sustainability risks losing credibility in addressing genuine environmental and social concerns and perpetuating Western ideals rather than challenging them. I argue that the adoption of the sustainable patterns or goals by private entities serves to suppress popular demands for profound systemic changes while maintaining levels of resource exploitation necessary for development within the capitalist system. Finally, I realise that the way of treating sustainability in order to reconcile it with development leads to the instrumentalisation of the environment.

Keywords: Development. Sustainability. Environment. Sustainable development.