ABSTRACT
Economic development, the ultimate goal of which is to improve human welfare, is crucially dependent on the environment and natural resources to provide the goods and services which directly and indirectly generate socioeconomic benefits. At the same time, however, economic development is often accompanied by significant adverse impacts on the environment. This has led to the belief that economic growth and environmental conservation are mutually exclusive. Many people still feel that some deterioration in environmental quality is a necessary and justifiable cost of economic growth, and also that the management of natural resources for sustainable use is a luxury which poor developing nations can ill afford. However, a growing body of opinion has gradually emerged which recognizes that degradation of the environment and misuse of natural resources will result in real losses in the long term and, furthermore, will undermine the basic objective of development – the sustainable improvement of human welfare.
