ABSTRACT
Problems related to environment and development are formulated and understood in specific ways in policy documents used at the UN, EU, national and local levels. For example, EU documents, such as the previously mentioned staff working paper on the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development, the 6th environmental action programme or reports from the European Environment Agency are all very useful and relevant, and represent steps towards SD. However, it is still meaningful to critically discuss their content. There appear to be important social limits to the roles of those who write these documents. Patterns emerge that include certain lists of problems while forgetting about or perhaps deliberately excluding other ways of formulating problems at a more fundamental level. Are there ‘prohibited zones’ in the development dialogue?
