This article tries to demonstrate how the concept of sustainable development is fraught with tensions that are political and ethical in nature. In trying to implement any notion of sustainability the agenda for policy action would be quite different in different contexts. The complex set of problems to be addressed would differ considerably in countries with different levels of economic development. Similarly, on certain issues global governance is called for. In other contexts, local conditions and culture must be understood before any policy intervention can be thought of. This is the first level of complexity with which any governance mechanism for sustainability must come to terms with. Governance itself is also inherently complex. It is an unfolding of a complicated interaction between different participants such as policy-makers, the wide variety of agencies which come together in the process of implementation and the beneficiaries themselves. Policy, and its outcomes, should not be viewed as a linear process. It is argued that governance is the result of the interaction between the processes of implementation and the outcomes that are possible. Governance, in this sense, is both complex and unpredictable. Unintended consequences are more the rule than the exception. The complexity of governance is a result of the interplay of knowledge and culture in a variety of power relations. The dominant narrative of sustainability and its associated pathway may not be the only alternative available. It is important to hear out suppressed and appropriated narratives and what they imply for sustainability.
Sustainable development is essentially about taking a view of future generations of people inhabiting the world. It is also about defining actions in the present time of achieving the desired goal of bequeathing a livable world for the future. The view has to revolve around how much importance we assign to the well being of future inhabitants. It is an ethical position that we collectively, as the generation living now, have to take. Making moral judgments about the distant future is difficult for two reasons-there is a plurality of ethical positions and building a collective ethic may be impossible. Yet without a shared view we cannot have concerted action now.This article looks at some of the alternative positions and their practical implications for policy actions. The possibility of having a wider, shared ethic is also discussed. The real challenge lies in knowing nature better and making that knowledge part of culture. Then only there could be a convergence in concerns for the future, for Nature and for the yet unborn generations of human beings.
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