Développement durable ?

Doctrines, pratiques, évaluations

Jean-Yves MARTIN (Dir.), 2002, Paris, IRD
ISBN: 2-7099-1502-2

[Book in French]

The environemental crisis currently experienced by the world marks the limits of science and of technological progress and calls into question our knowledge and certainties. The crisis is accompanied at the global level by an aggravation of the inequalities between northern and southern countries, a clear sign of a certain failure of development.

Whereas the physical and biological environment was at the heart of discussions at the World Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Johannesburg Summit in August 2002 is aimed at reconciling social, economic and environmental imperatives in a new approach: sustainable development.

The contribution in this book addres the different aspects od sustainable development: the underlying doctrines, the evolution of local practices in the face of the discourse that it bears, and finally its insertion in major globalisatin issues.

Can sustainable development stem from anything but a moral discourse? For this, the origins of the concepts – sustainable development, social development, biodiversity, local knowledge – must be sought and deconstruct so that they can be rebuilt better. Examination of local contexts – the urban environment, forests, populations in arid regions, the way in which refugees are hosted – shows the gap between actual practices and the pretended determination of sustainable development. Finally, globalised trade reveals the major global issues and risks: food insecurity, the emerging viral diseases, the unequal dissemination of knowledge and the ideological trompe-l’oeil that sustainable development can be.

Thus, as is shown explicitly in this work, questioning sustainable development also means calling it into question.