2.1.3 Eco-development vis-à-vis Sustainable Development
Being proposed in 1974, the term 'Eco-development' predates the coinage 'Sustainable Development', - a term used for the first time by IUCN in its document "The World Conservation Strategy" (IUCN 1980). Contrary to 'Alternative Development' 'Eco-development' was based on real world premise and forerunner to 'Sustainable Development' in proposing a new growth paradigm in place of the reactionary slogan of the Club of Rome - "Halt to Growth". 'The World Conservation Strategy' was the product of hectic parleys and discussions spread over five years between international development agencies like UNEP, WWF, FAO and UNESCO. The consensus was that environmental protection and economic growth need not be mutually exclusive and that the process of sustainable development can render socio-economic development and environmental conservation two compatible social objectives.

Three ingredients considered to be vital for sustainable development were
* The maintenance of essential ecological processes.
* The preservation of genetic diversity.
* Sustainable use of resources.

Both 'eco-development' and 'sustainable development' (as proposed by IUCN) were strong on rhetoric but weak on implementation. Adverse critics called such premises to be 'pious, liberal and benign, inevitably ideological and disastrously naive' (O'Riordan 1992). Sousson (1992) criticised the IUCN report to be anti-developmental because of its emphasis on conservation of physical environment in its current state. It is also felt that the report failed to appreciate the dynamic economy-environment interrelationship and viewed human impact on the environment to be a static one and thus ended up in attacking the symptoms rather than the causes, of environmental degradation. Although the term sustainable development is less ecologic than eco-development it fundamentally echoes the same option.

In 1983 the United Nations instituted a World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). The Commission, better known as the Brundtland Commission (after its Chairperson Gro Harlem Brundtland), after numerous analyses, learning-exercises, discussions and debates finally submitted its report, 'Our Common Future' in 1987. The report redefined sustainable development as 'Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs'.

According to Turner (1992) WCED definition clearly highlighted an equity dimension (intragenerational and intergenerational) and a social/psychological dimension. An essential component of sustainable development is to ensure both economic and social development in such a way that it minimises the effects of the activities of which the costs are borne by future generations. The WCED definition is less eco-centric and more techno-centric. While the sustainable development concept is yet to be transformed into a set of widely applicable and implementable tools it is generally agreed that sustainable development seeks to find an optimal level of interaction amongst the biological and resource system, the economic system, and the social system.

2.2 Principles of Sustainable Development
IUCN (1980) outlined the following three important strategies for sustainable development.
1. Maintenance of essential ecological processes.
2. Preservation of ecological diversity.
3. Sustainable development of species and ecosystems.

In spite of its extreme ecological bias and its inability to address the human development needs, the IUCN (1980) report - 'The World Conservation Strategy' is considered important in sustainable development studies as it formed the basis of modern thinking on the topic (O'Riordan 1990). Principal inadequacies of the IUCN report are as given below.
1. It failed to reconcile the seemingly incompatible goals of conservation and development.
2. The political questions involved in implementing the strategy were not addressed.
3. The neo-Malthusian approach of resource scarcity requiring economic sacrifice for sustenance of human species is enshrined in the report.

`Our Common Future', the WCED report (1987), achieved the excellent feat of putting the issue of sustainable development more firmly on the international political agenda. The report, also known as the Brudtland Report, suggested, inter-alia, the following seven requirements for sustainable development.
1. A political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision making.
2. An economic system that is able to generate surpluses and technical knowledge on a self reliant and self sustained basis.
3. A social system that provides for solutions for the tensions arising from disharmonious development.
4. A production system that respects the obligation to preserve the ecological basis for development.
5. A technological system that can search continuously for new solutions.
6. An international system that fosters sustainable pattern of trade and finance.
7. An administrative system that is flexible and has the capacity for self-correction.

In a way the Brundtland Report paved the way for United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED'92, popularly known as the Earth Summit) held in Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992. One of the principal aims of the UNCED'92 was to create a workable plan of action (Agenda-21) for the twenty-first century.

Large and diverse literature available on the topic of sustainable development continues to add to the existing confusion on the meaning of and the strategies for sustainable development. The term has been ambiguously interpreted by all manners of people for all manners of reasons (Pearce and Turner 1990, O'Riordan 1990).

According to Soussan (1992) "Sustainable development, as defined by the Brundtland Commission, is a call for policies which recognise the need for economic growth and seek to maximise growth, but which do so in a way which does not jeopardise the position of vulnerable people or deplete the future validity of the resource base. It calls for a different attitude to economic development in fwhich the quality of growth is seen to be as important as the quantity of growth". Turner (1990) pointed out that the WCED definition of sustainable development for the first time highlighted both an equity dimension (intergenerational and intragenerational) and a social/psychological dimension. Adams (1989) presented an excellent criticism and review of sustainable development literature. According to him, Brundtland premise is based on the realisation that 'it is futile to attempt to deal with environmental problems without a broader perspective that encompasses the factors underlying world poverty and international inequality'. This view is less abstract and less simplistic than that of 'World Conservation Strategy'. The Brundtland Report enumerated the objectives of sustainable development to be as below (WCED 1987): -
1. To revive growth.
2. To change the quality of life.
3. To meet essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation.
4. To ensure a sustainable level of population.
5. To conserve and enhance the resource base.
6. To reorient technology and to manage risk.
7. To merge environment and economics in decision-making.

These represent both economic and ecological objectives - thus allowing, - at least theoretically, a 'win-win' situation for both environmentalists and the economists.