ABSTRACT
We have seen that sustainable development can be approached from a number of directions. The advocacy of sustainable development in documents such as the World Conservation Strategy, however, fails to come to grips with the central issue of economic growth, as the motor behind development. The discussion of sustainable development was principally addressed to the negative consequences of development; this might meet economic criteria but seriously underestimates ecological (and social) factors. In the previous chapter we asked whether economic growth within ecological limits fully answers the call for a more resource-sustainable development. In this chapter we turn our attention to the problem of economic growth and the environment in existing societies of the South. The analysis is directed towards identifying those features of the international economy-trade, aid policy, the debt crisis and the behaviour of multinational corporations-which carry negative implications for the long-term sustainability of the development process.
