Karshenas, Massoud. 1994. "Environment, Technology and Employment: Towards a New Definition of Sustainable Development." Development and Change 25(1994): 723-756.

Thesis:

Environmental problems may result from differing developmental processes in different national contexts, depending upon "the pattern of structural change in natural and man-made capital stock,...and technological capabilities." Sustainability must be defined within this framework, ensuring "at least a minimum socially desired rate of growth in the long-run" (p.724). This implies that sustainable development policies will not be identical in industrialized and developing economies.

Summary:

Karshenas provides a review of the literature on environmental economics, and the development of that paradigm in light of sustainable development objectives. He then argues that "in the context of developing countries, particularly the poor agrarian economies where market failures are more generalized, the existing paradigm may not be adequate" (p723).

Karshenas then offers a new definition of sustainable development which focuses on the interactions between employment, technology and environment in the development process, in the context of specific types of economies. He distinguishes between environmental problems associated with high incomes, high consumption, and technological progress, as in the highly industrialized nations, and those environmental problems that are associated with economic and technological underdevelopment, resulting in "forced environmental degradation" (p.724). In the case of highly developed nations, the environment and economic growth are seen as trade-offs in some instances, and complementary in others. In the case of many developing economies, environmental degradation results from economic stagnation, thus placing the environment and economic growth in a complementary relationship.

Given these differences, Karshenas argues that environmental policies cannot be uniformly applied to industrialized and developing nations. Thus, in a nation with "inadequate man-made capital, stagnant technology, lack of employment opportunities, and inability to cater for basic human needs...Rebuilding of the stock of man-made capital and employment generation...may be a more effective means of environmental preservation" (p.754). He suggest that at times, this may require expending natural resource stock in the short run, in order to reach long-term developmental goals which will enable resources for renewing that stock. Karshenas argues for emphasizing the "broader developmental aspects of environmental policy which can be easily neglected if one takes a purely ecological perspective" (ibid.)

Keywords: environmental economics, forced environmental degradation, complementarity, trade-offs