Book Review
In Part 3 of Seeking Sustainability in an Age of Complexity Graham Harris tells us that: “Slowly but surely communities and governments are insisting on the balancing of multiple capitals in landscapes and waterscapes. Other values in addition to profit are being added to the list of desirable properties.” “Agriculture is being balanced by incentives for ecosystem services and biodiversity, fisheries management is being expanded to include ecosystem management and the preservation of marine diversity, land clearing is being controlled and the many and various impacts of climate change are being actively debated.” “In many Western countries a small number of supermarkets control significant fractions of the food market and they are driving greater efficiencies of scale, price reductions, improvements in quality and a consequent increase in intensification and a reduction in the number of farm enterprises.” “Tragically, the present set of global policies and agricultural subsidies encourage land clearing and the destruction of native vegetation in the third world while driving de-ruralisation and the reversion of farming land in the West.” “The increasingly pressing nature of more and more ‘wicked’ problems in environmental management, particularly water issues, is leading to a changing paradigm for environmental management, involving the recognition of the precariousness of the present state, decentralization, systems thinking, and deliberative processes and ethical considerations of justice, equity and fairness.” “Above all what is required is the development of some vision and strategy at the local level. Democracy is more than universal suffrage and fair elections: democracy is also about freedom, local self-government (in the full meaning of the phrase) and the resolution of problems in an open society.”
SEEKING SUSTAINABILITY IN AN AGE OF COMPLEXITY
GRAHAM HARRIS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 2007
PART III
Chapter 21: A New Environmental Paradigm
- The challenge before us is to attempt to manage and restore multiple capitals and assets of different kinds (ecosystem structure, biodiversity, resources, the quantity and quality of water, human settlements) as well as their interactions across scales, and to do this at regional or watershed scales over time periods long enough to achieve something akin to intergenerational equity. We must do this with limited resources and information.
Balancing multiple capitals
- Slowly but surely communities and governments are insisting on the balancing of multiple capitals in landscapes and waterscapes. Other values in addition to profit are being added to the list of desirable properties.
- Agriculture is being balanced by incentives for ecosystem services and biodiversity, fisheries management is being expanded to include ecosystem management and the preservation of marine diversity, land clearing is being controlled and the many and various impacts of climate change are being actively debated.
- Societies in many countries are demanding more balanced outcomes and are demanding a say in the ways in which public and private assets are managed on (and in) public and private lands and waters.
- In many Western countries a small number of supermarkets control significant fractions of the food market and they are driving greater efficiencies of scale, price reductions, improvements in quality and a consequent increase in intensification and a reduction in the number of farm enterprises.
- The overall terms of trade for agricultural products have been declining for fifty years. Farm subsidies also distort markets so that apart from large, efficient, corporate farm enterprises the terms of trade for smaller enterprises are poor.
- As I have shown, most farm enterprises are financially marginal. So how do we ensure sustainability for rural societies?
- One way is to bring other capitals – especially natural capital – into the equation. To provide incentives for improved environmental management, some espouse stewardship payments, others market-based instruments (MBIs) of various kinds.
- Neither approach comes close to solving the basic financial conundrum for farm enterprises. If we are to manage the ‘whole of nature’ we are going to have to find ways of ensuring equality of opportunity in rural areas and ways of funding sustainable environmental and agricultural management.
- In all probability that will also include a judicious mix of policy instruments to drive innovation in manufacturing and service industries in rural and regional areas, and encourage off-farm activities and income.
- At the same time, set-aside policies and policies that allow for, and manage, the process of reversion of farmland to natural vegetation will be required.
- Tragically, the present set of global policies and agricultural subsidies encourage land clearing and the destruction of native vegetation in the third world while driving de-ruralisation and the reversion of farming land in the West.
- We still have not found a successful policy mix to ensure sustainability across all forms of capital in all regions.
- In the face of population growth, AIDS, climate change and environmental degradation – including the possibility of surprises and hysteresis effects – a more sustainable future requires a robust and resilient set of policies.
- All the ‘C’ words come into play – complexity, connectivity, context, contingency, climate change, community and capacity – as regional groups come to grips with the realization that micro-process leads to macro-scale outcomes.
- System thinking is poor. There is little appreciation on non-linear interactions and the possibilities of emergence.
- There is a complete contrast between the orthodox story of neoclassical economics and what might be called ‘sustainability economics’. The key performance indicators of classical economics are profit, personal wealth and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of nations ‘and its major rituals are consumerism, wage labour, and capitalistic entrepreneurship.
- Neo-classical economics assumes that ‘greed is good’ and that there are no unavoidable limits to production.
- Sustainability economics would have as its central story the adaptability of communities in the face of environmental limitations and change, ‘including the value of learning by doing, the importance of monitoring and assessment, and the need for stewardship and capacity enhancement’.
Decentralization, pluralism, regionalism and subsidiarity
- The drive towards subsidiarity, which is part and parcel of the ‘third way’ and has been widely adopted around the world, has major implications for the development of policy and management practice.
The new environmental paradigm
- The increasingly pressing nature of more and more ‘wicked’ problems in environmental management, particularly water issues, is leading to a changing paradigm for environmental management, involving the recognition of the precariousness of the present state, decentralization, systems thinking, and deliberative processes and ethical considerations of justice, equity and fairness.
- It also implies adaptive institutional arrangements. As more and more of our problems and management issues become more complex and must rely on scientific and technological inputs, there is an urgent need to build trust, understanding and capacity at the community level.
- Institutions must be reinvented to be more responsive, less hierarchical and more facilitatory in their approach to the many voices and many values and beliefs of disparate communities. In the USA this approach has been called ecosystem management (EM).
- ‘Wickedly complex’ problems have brought to light a number of shortcomings of the modernist, globalised approach: not the least the inability to deliver tailored regional solutions.
- Above all what is required is the development of some vision and strategy at the local level. Democracy is more than universal suffrage and fair elections: democracy is also about freedom, local self-government (in the full meaning of the phrase) and the resolution of problems in an open society.
- Given the complexity of the world we are in, there is no alternative to this distributed and decentralized approach.
- David Korten in his book The Post-Corporate World draws a number of lessons from what he calls ‘life’s ancient wisdom’:
v Life favours self-organisation: ‘the freedom of the one depends on the responsible use of that freedom in relation to the needs of the many.’ Individuals can make a difference and small actions can have major consequences.
v Life is frugal and sharing: local economies should be based on frugal use, equitable allocation and efficient reuse of water, energy and materials. This is a restatement of the strong sustainability argument.
v Life depends on inclusive, place-based communities, which are based around regional differences in climate, geography and resources.
v Life rewards cooperation: ‘shared spaces create shared destinies and interests’ and these are best served by collaboration.
v Life depends on boundaries: local communities should look to their borders so that they may maintain integrity and coherence in the face of global pressures. (This is not to say that ‘small-world’ networks should not exploit long-range linkages: Korten merely argues that these should be managed locally.)
v Life banks on diversity, creative individuality and shared learning: this is an argument for capacity, creativity and the development of diversity and social capital.
- Korten goes on to use these lessons from life to argue for a set of similar design criteria in the construction of sustainable communities in the face of global pressures.
- What is emerging is a new, negotiated and fluid set of relationships between the local, the regional and the global with integrated stocks and flows of capitals. A new form of cross-scale ethics is emerging to deal with the difficult trade-offs and possibilities.
Chapter 22: Emergent Problems and Emerging Solutions
Chapter 23: Avoiding Collapse