Sustainable consumption is: “the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic material and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life-cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations”, (OECD-2002, 1994 Norwegian Ministry of Environment paper).
In Brundtland Commission 1987, sustainable development known as: “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Get more understand of sustainable development, look at a simple description of the sustainable development spectrum in Hunter’s view and that is adapted from Turner et al.
Table 2-4: Description of sustainable development spectrum in Hunter’s view Sustainability position Defining characteristics
Very weak Anthropocentric and utilitarian; growth orientated and resource exploitative; natural resources utilized at economically optimal rates through unfettered free markets operating to satisfy individual consumer choice; infinite substitution possible between natural and human-made capital; continued well-being assured through economic growth and technical innovation.
Weak Anthropocentric and utilitarian; resource conservationist;
growth is managed and modified; concern for distribution of development costs and benefits through intra- and intergenerational equity; rejection of infinite substitution between natural and human-made capital with recognition of some aspects or the natural world as critical capital (e.g., ozone, layer, some natural ecosystems); human-made plus natural capital constant or rising through time; decoupling of negative environmental impacts from economic growth.
Strong (Eco) systems perspective; resource preservationist;
recognizes primary value of maintaining the functional integrity of ecosystems over and above secondary value through resource utilization; interests of the collective given more weight than those of the individual consumer;
adherence to intra- and intergenerational equity; decoupling important but alongside a belief in a steady state economy as a consequence of following the constant natural assets
rule; zero economic and human population growth.
Very strong Bioethical and eco-centric; resource preservationist to the point where utilization of natural resources is minimized;
nature’s rights or intrinsic value in nature encompassing non-human living organisms and even a biotic elements under a literal interpretation for Gaianism; anti-economic growth and for reduced human population.
Source: (Hunter, 1997)
The term “sustainable development” came into the public arena in 1980 when the International Union for the Conservation of nature and Natural Resources presented the World Conservation Strategy (IUCN 1980). It aimed at achieving sustainable development through the conservation of living resources. However, its focus was rather than limited, primarily addressing ecological sustainability, as opposed to liking sustainability to winder social and economic issues.
Sustainable development is a model of societal change that, in addition to traditional developmental objectives, has the objective of maintaining ecological sustainability (Lélé, 1991). This differs from the previous IUCN approach, mentioned above, which linked the environment made it explicit that social and economic conditions, especially those operating at the international level, influence whether or not the interaction between human beings and nature is sustainable.
Environmental problems include poor air and water quality, inadequate treatment and disposal of industrial waste (including hazardous and nuclear waste), soil deterioration and contamination of land. Most countries also lacked a comprehensive waste management strategy and effective legislation.
Particularly in large firms, were often put in charge of their won environmental monitoring. Environmental fines were set at very low levels, often making it more
“rational” to pay fines than to install costly pollution prevention measures. In other words, under the old communist system there was a very close relationship between the economic and political elites and the system of public administration. This embeddedness resulted in only weak responses to the growing environmental problems that industrialization was causing in the region.
The visions of sustainable development are merely couched in the language of
“balance”, for example finding the right balance between the need for development and the need for environmental protection. Apart from the likelihood that one person’s balance is another’s imbalance; the language of balance can be misleading, being used to mask the reality that economic growth is generally the primary concern.
If people want the world to be a playground, then this is nothing more than natural selection, with the selection process driven by the need to meet the desires of tourists in terms of destination area characteristics. Growth is good and the key issue is how to maintain it in existing enclaves and foster it where tourism is as yet absent, or”
underdeveloped”. Hence, satisfying demand through correctly tailored products is the fundamental task. So far as sustainable tourism is primarily about finding new strategies for tourism to maintain and increase measures of its economic activity like visitor numbers and expenditure.
Making tourism more sustainable requires action on a number of fronts. Regulation by government can, for example, establish minimum standards of performance with regards to the generation of certain environmental impacts.
The tourism industry has the potential to improve the world, not just sustain itself.
Properly planned tourism can enhance human communities on a scale compatible with their resources and infrastructure. By emphasizing the principles of discovery, mutuality, locality, historicity, potential, and enhancement, may have a model for tourism that can help millions of individuals reach their potential in a global society.
There are so many issues and challenges associated with sustainable tourism development. Example the difficulties associated with coordination and cooperation between the many stakeholders involved in bringing about sustainable tourism; the limitations inherent in the various tourism industry efforts to drive the adoption of sustainable practices; and the resource and knowledge difficulties small-scale enterprises face in their efforts to make their operations “greener”. While the tourism industry, policy makers and other stakeholders continue to grapple with these and other matters and other stakeholders continue to grapple with these and other matters, it is nonetheless apparent that the shift towards a “green paradigm” based on sustainable tourism development is occurring apace both within the tourism industry itself and in tourist destination regions.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan has noted that sustainable development is “the new conventional wisdom”. That encourages business to move away from a sole focus on profit to a concern for what has become known as the “triple bottom line”; that is, financial, social and environmental performance. (UNNewsCentre, 2002).
Logically, if there is accepted that alternative interpretations of sustainable development are inevitable and that sustainable tourism should be about trying to contribute to the wider goads of sustainable development, then it must surely be recognized that sustainable tourism cannot be seen as a rigid code. Rather, sustainable tourism should be seen as a flexible or adaptive paradigm, whereby different tourism development pathways may be appropriate according to local conditions (Hunter, 1997).