PAD350 - Chapter 6

TOPIC 6- OBSTACLES IN
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
PAD350-Fundamentals of Sustainable Development
Topic Outlines
Obstacles in sustainable development;
A. Politics
B. Economy
C. Social
D. Culture
E. Technology
A. Obstacles in Sustainable Development- Politics
1. Long-term outcomes - addressing climate change requires
political leaders to take action now for what are often long-term
outcomes.
2. The uncertainty of many aspects of climate makes assessing the
political risk of actions and strategies to tackle (unpredictable)
problems hard to establish.
3. Action on climate change requires a strong role for governments
in intervening in public life and business operations.Challenge is
for political leaders to convince their voters.
4. Complex negotiations - the political challenges of climate
change also need for political leaders to work internationally in
often complex negotiations.
5. Political barriers: Inadequate economic, social and
environmental methods for policies, plans and projects are
the major barrier combating the implementation of
sustainable development.
6. Sustainable development is often not possible in war-torn
countries (struggle) as there are other priorities on hand.
7. Corruption.
B. Obstacles in Sustainable Development- Economy
1. Lack of financial resources- to plan and carry out the sustainable
development.
2. Focus-Economists observed that the dominating development model
tends to focus on economic growth as precedence (priority) rather
than people's rights or welfare, and environmental processes and
limits.
3. International income inequality-mainly due to lower economic
growth and faster population growth in developing countries.
4. Worldview toward environment- requires a shift in the worldview
from treating the environment as part of the economy to treating the
economy as part of the environment; strategically this means the
economy should be adapted to ensure environmental services are
maintained.
C. Obstacles in Sustainable Development- Social
1. Population growth, paired with unsustainable consumption and
production patterns among the wealthy, are the biggest social
challenges to achieving sustainable development in the world.
2. Absent of a significant change in human behavior,
sustainability will not be potential.
3. Inadequate interaction between civil society and government.
4. Insufficient incentives to the private sector to pursue
sustainable development.
5. Limited awareness about sustainable development - among
both politicians and civil society.
D. Obstacles in Sustainable Development- Culture
• Culture is the antecedent, or the condition, influencing the
adoption of sustainability.
• Hofstede’s (1980) original four culture dimensions
(individualism, masculinity/femininity, power distance, and
uncertainty avoidance).
• Cultural values and cultural practices- able to become
obstacles in SD.
• Future orientation, by emphasizing the long-term perspective,
is relevant to the core notion of the sustainability concept.
• GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness Research) cultural practices dimensions on
corporate sustainability practices:
1. Future Orientation.
2. Gender Egalitarianism.
3. Uncertainty Avoidance.
4. Power Distance.
5. Performance Orientation.
• Future-oriented cultures are more likely to place a higher priority on long-
term success, long-term strategic orientations, and flexible, adaptive
managers.
• Gender egalitarianism “reflects societies’ beliefs about whether members’
biological sex should determine the roles that they play in their homes,
business organizations, and communities.Femininity represents cooperation,
modesty, caring for the weak, and quality of life. Masculinity represents
competitiveness, achievements, heroism, assertiveness and material rewards
for success.
• Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and
ambiguity. Countries having high uncertainty avoidance have very strict rules
of belief and behavior and they are intolerant for ideas or behavior otherwise.
Countries having low uncertainty avoidance have more relaxed attitudes.
Cultures higher in uncertainty avoidance tend to formalize their interactions
with others, show stronger desire to establish rules that facilitate the
prediction of behavior, and take moderate risks.
• Power distance reflects “the extent to which a community accepts and
endorses authority, power differences, and status privileges”. Power
distance indicates how society handles inequalities among people.
Countries that have high power distance accept the hierarchical order in
which people are in different levels / places and there is no further
justification. Therefore, inequalities of power and wealth distribution are
allowed in the society. On the other hand, countries having low power
distance are supported equality and demand justification for inequalities
of power. In these societies, equality and opportunity for everyone is
highly reinforced.
• Performance orientation, defined as “the extent to which a community
encourages and rewards innovation, high standards, and performance
improvement. Cultures higher in performance orientation tend to reward
performance, competitiveness, and materialism, believe that individuals
are in control, and have a sense of urgency. In these cultures, individual
achievement tends to be rewarded, and results are emphasized more
than people.
E. Obstacles in Sustainable Development- Technology
• It is widely acknowledged that many of the technologies necessary for
supporting sustainable development are already available.
• The challenge is:
1. How to improve these technologies?
2. How to accelerate cost reductions and achieve meaningful changes?
3. How to integrate them along coherent (consistent) development
paths that respond to specific local and sectoral needs ?
4. How to provide incentives and mechanisms for rapid innovation,
diffusions and knowledge-sharing ?
 The governmental conflict between immediate profit and investment
towards sustainable technologies.
Conclusion
• Technology per se is not the main limiting factor.
• The most difficult obstacles to the implementation of sustainable
development lie in the economic, social and cultural domains.
• The economic, social and political challenges associated with
changing land-use patterns so that such large extensions of land
can be allocated to the generation of solar energy attest to the
magnitude of the obstacles that need to be overcome when
scaling up renewable energy alternatives (United Nations, 2011b,
pp. 55-56; MacKay, 2009).
• United Nations (2011b). World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation. Sales
No. E.11.II.C.1.
• MacKay, David J.C. (2009). Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air. Cambridge, United Kingdom: UIT Cambridge.

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TOPIC 6- OBSTACLES IN

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