Development models, sustainability and occupational and environmental health in the Americas: neoliberalism versus sustainable theories of development

Abstract

This article describes the inherent contradiction between competitive capitalism and the pursuing of the "three bottom lines": 1) economic prosperity, 2) environmental quality (including the workplace) and 3) social justice. An alternative, genuine, sustainable approach to development; the Integrated Human Ecosystem Approach will be described and contrasted with neoliberal development. The IHE approach was developed by The International Development Research Center of Canada in 2001. In this approach, the triple bottom line is not a simple tool for neoliberal development, but the focus of allocation and management of resources for sustainable development. The acquisition of only state power by governments opposed to neoliberalism is necessary but not sufficient condition to successfully find a human alternative to the market ideology. A road map needs to be developed in which a clear definition of technologies that permit the acquisition and implementation of an alternative ideology to achieve "social power." The IHE model provides developing countries with the basis for that ideology.