Dixon, John A. and Louise A. Fallon. 1989. "The Concept of Sustainability: Origins, Extensions and Usefulness for Policy." Society and Natural Resources 2: 73-84.

Thesis:

"This paper examines and critiques the various approaches to the concept of sustainability and explores why it creates such controversy when attempts are made to apply it to resources management and development policy" (p. 74).

Summary:

The authors identify three uses of the sustainability concept, each builds on the previous one in expanding the conceptual parameters: 1) as a purely physical concept for a single resource, for example, fishery resources in Thailand; 2) as a physical concept for a group of resources or an ecosystem, for example, the rubber industries in colonial Malaya (now Malaysia) and Brazil. In this case, trade-offs exist: "...the magnitude of the foregone opportunities in terms of productive resource use needs to be weighed against the benefits of ensuring sustainability of the original ecosystem" (p. 76). The third use of the concept refers to social-physical-economic sustainability. In this case, the authors argue that "...the goal is not a sustained level of a physical stock or physical production from an ecosystem over time, but some sustained increase in the level of societal and individual welfare" (p. 76).

Accordingly, the debate centers around what should be sustained, how to achieve sustainability and how to measure progress toward it: "The crux of the matter appears to be the uses to which resources are put and, hence, human welfare and the sustainability of the social, physical, and economic system" (p. 77).

The authors present six questions relevant to the broader social-physical-economic approach: 1) How should equity, both intragenerational and intergenerational, be handled with respect to resource management decisions? For example, logging in the Philippines; 2) What do we leave to future generations to ensure that they are not worse off? For example, the Philippines; 3) Will there be enough to go around? 4) How far into the future do we worry about? 5) Are there some patterns of resource use that should be accepted irrespective of losing or saving the resource? 6) The conservationist vs. possibilist debate: To what extent can market forces (and technology) intervene in the process of development vis-à-vis resource use?

In conclusion, the authors argue: "Clearly, we favor a socioeconomic definition of sustainability - one that revolves around social and economic well-being for the present generation and retention of future options for our children" (p. 83).

Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, development alternatives, intergenerational equity, intragenerational equity, resource stocks, resource flows