ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the relationship between development and the environmental resources of the globe. Since we live in a closed system in which matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, there is no doubt that human societal development ultimately depends on the physical resource base. However, just as Part I has shown something of the diversity of opinion on normative questions of how wealth and wellbeing should be created and/or redistributed, this chapter reveals the substantial debate that persists as to the precise relationship between prospective development achievements and environmental resources. Questions of resource scarcity, of environmental degradation and global environmental change and the search for new patterns and processes of development that are more sustainable are major challenges currently in development studies and beyond.
