ABSTRACT
In relation to the 1992 Earth Summit—the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Brazil—it is perhaps worth reflecting on what is perhaps the major change in approach over the twenty years since the 1972 UN Conference on the Environment in Stockholm. Today the key phrase is sustainable development. Then, it was limits to growth. The purpose of this chapter is to examine and relate these two concepts, to see whether they are compatible and on what terms, and to judge which provides a more realistic approach to the environmental economic problems of the present time.
