Evaluación Prototipo Versión 3

1 . Principles and themes underlying the sustainability concept have been evident throughout history. Human population grows until ecological limits are approached. Adaptation through understanding and teclmology overcomes ecological limitations, characterised as the appropriation, modification and management of ecosystems for human purposes. Overcoming ecological limitations promotes population growth but undennines ecosystem function, both of which create self-imposed and somewhat paradoxical socio­ ecological limitations that necessitate further appropriation and manipulation of ecosystems.

2 . Civilisations that foresaw limits t o growth developed conservation technologies and practices that allowed them to persist for periods longer than civilisations who did not. Such actions represent the seeds of modern sustainability, in that modified ecosystems were managed in a way that did not irreparably despoil, exhaust or extinguish the ability or capacity of the biophysical environment to sustain human needs over-time.

3 . Humankind's ability t o subvert and control nature increased dramatically during the Industrial Age, accelerating human development and population growth within nations capable of taking advantage of new science and teclmology. Capitalism, utilitarianism, and a growing separation between society and nature, contributed to largely unconstrained expansion and development, and an associated widespread degradation of nature and natural resources.

4. Initial backlash against industrialisation introduced ecocentric orientated views regarding conservation or

protection of nature and natural resources. Such views affirmed that nature has intrinsic value beyond it's utility value. Similar views were periodically expressed by naturalists and botanists throughout the 1 9th century, alongside utilitarian views that advocate practical anthropocentric reasons for conservation.

5. Conservation of natural resources gained widespread support in 1 900s America, with the emergence of the Conservation Movement. While initially orientated towards wildlife and forestry, it soon e:-..'panded to include agriculture with the soil conservation movement of the 1 930s. The Movement was notably utilitarian in it's conservation approach, but became more idealistic and ecocentric towards the mid- 1 900s.

6. Strongly ecocentric and idealistic views came to the fore during the environmental movement of the 1 960s

and 1 970s. Pollution was a dominant theme throughout, along with a series of 'doomsday' forecasts that

predicted unchanged patterns of living and de elopment would lead to global disaster. Issues concerning the

human/nature relation were popularised through the parallel growth in conununications, trade and other expressions of globalisation. Deep ecology and 'back to basics' thinking were h>,lo alternative development philosophies that gained widespread support.

7. Sustainability as a stand-alone concept also emerged during the 1 970s, firstly as an incidental tenn in various

human/nature orientated publications, and then secondly as a guiding principle for international

development by the United Nations.

8 . Widespread recognition o f the concept was forthcoming during the early 1 980s, spurred i n part by a series of

international ecological disasters and the ' second wave of environmentalism ' . The World Consenlation

Strategy introduced the concept of 'sustainable development ', which was subsequently picked-up by the

BrundtIand Commission who popularised and structured the concept in their influential publication, Our

Common Future. This report guided future debate regarding tile concept, and helped elevate it onto the

international political agenda. Sustainable development was defined in such a way that both developed and developing nations could agree to adopt it as the principle guiding future human development.

9. Popularity for the sustainability concept peaked in the 1 990s with the first Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, 1 992. It was during the three-year build-up to tJle Summit that tJle concept was disseminated throughout the world, involving the participation of stakeholders down to the grassroots level. Several 'earth summit agreements' em'erged from the Summit, the most important of which was Agenda 21 as it

represented tJle international community's collective action plan' toward achie ing sustainable development.

1 0. Although being consolidated during the early 1 990s, popularity for tJle concept declined after tJle Sunmlit.

This became apparent at the next Earth Summit (New York, 1 997), during wllich many nations reported difficulties in implementing the principle, and some outright reneged on agreements made during the first Summit. This was reaffirmed at the tJUrd Summit (Johannesburg, 2002), where 'development' appeared to have gained ascendance over 'sustainable development' .

1 1 . Despite a decline in popularity, the sustainability concept is unlikely to go away. As a guiding principle, it has been embedded in development policy, legislation and agreements around the world.

12. Part of sustainability's popularity has been attributed to it 's vagueness, allowing divergent views and ideas to come together as one conceptual framework. Vagueness has also allowed the concept to be applied to virtually any application with a dimension of continuity, giving rise to hundreds of conflicting and confusing definitions. Further, lack of an overarching definition has allowed the concept to be skewed toward

institutional and group and nli sappropriated by tJlOse wislling to link sustainabi1ity with an issue or context that could benefit from the environmental morality tJlat the concept tends to convey.

1 3 . Sustainability i s llighly amendable to a diversity of applications because, abstractly, virtually any system can sustain one or more systems. Irrespective of whether or not the system is economic, social, biophysical, or even metaphysical, the flow of energy, material or information from one system to the next is characterised by one system having an ability to sustain (a state), wllile the follow-on system is sustained (a process).

1 4. From a systems perspective, one or many systems can have an ability to sustain one or many systems over­ time. Such relations are sequential, as one system sustaining another system, which sustains another system, and so on. Sequential relations can be linear or cyclic, or in the case of complex adaptive systems, they can be expressed as a dynamically complex interaction of multiple systems and relations constantly adjusting in response to environmental change. The complex and dynanlic nature of many of the world's systems continue to defy understanding by science.

1 5 . Much o f the confusion regarding applications o f sustainability can be reduced by acknowledging the concept 's flexibility, and then explicitly stating the context in which it is being used. Criteria useful for seeking to clarify contextual applications include:

a. The 'what ' of sustainability describes the central system of interest.

b. The 'why ' of sus lain ability. In a systems perspective this describes the follow-on system(s) being

sustained. In conventional tenns, it describes the purpose of the sustaining relation.

c. The 'how ' of sustainability describes the relation or relations sustaining tlle central system of interest (i.e. what sustains the ability to sustain).

d. The 'who ' of sustain ability is a recognition that people increasingly decide tlle what, how, why and for how long of sustainability in managed systems. Hence, tlle worldviews of decision-makers can influence how sustainability is interpreted.

e. The 'for how long ' of sustainability is of critical importance in the sustainability debate. Even if a system is degraded over-time, it is still exhibiting an ability to sustain other systems, albeit for an absolute timeframe. All systems eventually degrade as dictated by fundamental thermodynamic laws, but this is often obscured by the dynamic complexity of real-world systems, and our own relative perception of system longevity. Systems that we cannot qualify witll an absolute temporal dimension are typically considered ' indefinite', such as the open-ended 'for present and future generations' used to describe continued human development in many sustainability interpretations.

f. The contextual hierarchy at which tlle concept is being applied. This is a recognition tllat sustainability can be applied in a similar context, but at different levels of generality. As an example, an interpretation of sustainable land management needs to be generalised for developing regional and national policy, but it needs to be specific for application at the fann level.

Although each criterion can rarely be clarified in it's entirety, together they have value towards reducing some of the confusion surrounding contextual applications of the sustainability concept.

1 6 . Systems are a dimensionless concept, meaning system sustainability can b e interpreted i n both internal and external contexts. In an external sense, a farm is sustained by inflows of information, material inputs and energy, and produces outputs that contribute to sustaining rural economies, markets, society's food and fibre requirements, and so on. Internally, a farm has five principle systems that can be ordered as the biophysical system sustaining the production system, which sustains the economic system so it may sustain the farm's social system. Reverse sustaining relations are also apparent, particularly through the

management system that transverses all farm-internal systems to control and regulate farm function. In this sense, management is a cybernetic system with it's own abilities, tlmsly adding a degree of self-sustainability to the farm system.

1 7 . Although every farm subsystem and sustaining relation i s important, the sustainability o f the biophysical, environmental, and management systems is of critical importance.

a. The biophysical provides an inherent ability to sustain that differs between farms (land capability), and represents the base upon which the rest of tlle farm is designed around.

b. External change drives internal adjustment of the fann system. Environmental fluctuations create opportunities and limitations that a farm may, or must, accommodate if it is to remain sustainable. c. It is the prerogative and responsibility of management to adjust to change, tluough designing, refining

and managing the farm system. Management's worldview influences the way in which this can be achieved, while their ability determines whether or not it is actually achieved.

1 8. Farm sustainability requires compromise. Each principle system must be sustained equitably, which may create a degree of conflict. Put another way, objectives pertaining to different dimensions of fann sustainability must be reconciled.

1 9 . Farm sustainability i s complex and dynamic, and i s likely to become more so i n the future. Farm systems are becoming more open, subjecting them to increased pressure from various interest groups. Restrictions on how farms are designed and operated continue to increase. External market, logistic, economic, and

communication systems are evermore complex and dynamic. Farmers have access to an almost bewildering range of infonnation and technology. Long-term trends push commodity prices down, while costs of living and farm inputs continues to increase. Internally, needs of the farm social unit continue to change as they seek standards of living comparable to the rest of society. Hence, achieving farm sustainability can be difficult, and is likely to become even more challenging in the future.

20. Famlers have exhibited two principle responses to the difficulty of reconciling mUltiple sustainability objectives, and the increasing complexity of fann sustainability. Part or whole diversification of the production system into alternative policies, land uses, or farming philosophies (e.g. organics) has enhanced the sustainability of some farms. However, the dominant response appears to be continual intensification of conventional production systems, through the pursuit of productivity (efficiency) gains.

2 1 . Each farm in New Zealand is biophysically and socio-economicaIIy unique. As production represents the interface between the two, production systems are similarly unique. Accordingly, what is considered sustainable will differ between farms. It follows, that each farm in New Zealand requires it' s own interpretation of sustainability, provided it falls within the generalities of higher tier sustainability definitions. In many ways, this is already undertaken through strategic farm planning, although rarely do fann plans seek to integrate business and production plans with biophysically orientated conservation plans.