Sustainability - A Matter of Choice

The consequences of our actions



Let's look at three types of process - ecological, social, and economic - that have an impact on the environment, using a simple and common example. In a forest in an undeveloped area, a company decides to build a factory to produce, say, clothing at a low cost. It clears a patch of forest to do so and offers jobs in the factory to the local villagers.

This has immediate consequences, both positive and negative. The ecological impact includes the loss of habitat for animal and plant species. If they move into neighbouring forested areas, there may not be room for them, and those that are unable to adapt or compete successfully will disappear. On a global scale, the cumulative effects of deforestation significantly affect the world's climate and the earth's atmosphere.

The impact of the social and economic changes may seem positive, at first glance, to an outsider - for example, to the government official, perhaps, who allowed the development to take place to help the local community. For these people, the hardship of a subsistence livelihood, completely dependent on the forest, has been replaced by steady employment. They now have a cash income which enables them to buy food and amenities for their homes. So economically they are better off, and their children can be educated at schools set up nearby, eventually to be assimilated into the mainstream of the modern world.

But there is a negative side to all this too. There is likely to be increased pollution of the air and the river, adversely affecting the health of the local community.

And as the lifestyle of the people changes, they may no longer want to pursue traditional pastimes. This could mean the eventual loss of a culture and disappearance of a unique way of life.

They have a choice: to continue with the traditional existence or to move towards the modern world. But there need not be a breach between the two: these options may not be completely incompatible. It is a question of finding a balance, and taking into consideration the needs of all the people involved.



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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature