Big power push for Sustainable Development inadequate

Attendance at the Rio Summit on Sustainable Development has apparently reached phenomenal proportions but the uncomfortable irony is that some of the world’s foremost leaders are reportedly giving it a miss. Among the latter are US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

By an interesting coincidence the eagerly awaited environmental summit in Rio De Janeiro is occurring almost in tandem with a G 20 meet in Mexico and the leaders of the West just spoken of are said to be giving the Rio Summit a miss on account of pressing work reportedly arising from the G 20 forum. For the supporters of Sustainable Development the world over this should be a very sad miss indeed.

For, it should be clear to the world’s publics that Sustainable Development is, undoubtedly, the number one requirement in considering the collective interests of the earth’s inhabitants. By being present, the prime leaders of the West would have helped to underscore their much needed support for Sustainable Development and the connected programmes of work that go along with it.

Barack Obama

Angela Merkel

David Cameron

At the time of writing, those sections of the world community gathered in Rio are reportedly haggling to put into shape a joint declaration that could be put to the 115 or so world political leaders who would be gathering on Wednesday at the Summit, for their endorsement. A sticking point is believed to be the ‘green economy’ concept which is, apparently, not having very many takers, but this does not seem to be the case with ‘green economy policies’ which are winning increasing favour among those gathered at the Summit as an alternative concept.

World community

Why should the sections of the world community concerned see ‘red’ on hearing of the ‘green economy’? Although the Summit has done right by combining Sustainable Development with poverty elimination, confusion seems to abounding among policy and decision-makers on the link between, environmental protection, poverty alleviation and the wholesomeness of human existence.

Irrespective of where in the global power structure a state is placed, it is not perceived that development, correctly conceived and steadfastly implemented, as environmentally-sustainable equal growth, could accrue to the collective good of mankind. Instead, outdated and fatally-flawed ideas on development and progress are being clung on to.

This is a tragic impasse in development thinking which the world needs to overcome. The industrialized West, it is true, monopolized the bulk of development opportunities over the decades by using its superior technological capability in the exploitation of the earth’s natural resources, but continuing environmental disasters the world over should have driven home the lesson that the West was in the process of digging a collective grave for the whole of humankind. This, the world perceives, but some Western leaders, in particular, are not quite concerned, because what is finally at stake is global hegemonic control through the continued accumulation of material prosperity. If this was not the case, the US President and some of his counterpart from G 20 would not give the 20th anniversary summit of the Rio global environmental forum a miss.

Industrial powers

In fact, there is a connection between the usual concerns of the industrial powers of the West and Rio issues. Rio is essentially all about Sustainable Development, poverty alleviation and related questions that should be seen as going to the heart of human wellbeing. Today, sections of the world see development as not merely material advancement and wealth-creation but as equitable growth linked to environmental conservation and sustainability. Unfortunately, this development model is yet to be endorsed by even the totality of the developing world; so engrossed are they with immediate material gain.

Hopefully, the conceptual impasse at the heart of the debate on development would be overcome, because on it depend poverty alleviation and income equality, which are at the heart of even the Euro crisis and the dramatic decline of Europe.

The West needs to see Sustainable Development as serving its interests too because by evading the issues at the heart of the development debate it could be aggravating its own socio-economic and political crises. The developing world would need to pressurize the West into thinking in an enlightened manner on these issues if mankind’s battle for survival is to be won.