Sustainability, system dimensions and livestock (week 1)
Urgency and needs (something that matter to people)
Origin of sustainability: no exceeding the regenerative capacity of
the system or the rate at which you use a natural resource must be
equal to the rate at which you can replenish it
The objective of sustainable development: the development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs
Absorptive capacity: not exceeding the absorptive capacity of the
system or emissions to air, water and soil should not exceed the rate
with which water, soil and air can neutralize these emissions
Sustainability is dynamic, it is about change. So keyword is
sustainable development which is: “… the development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’’.
A trade-off occurs when a positive change in one need is associated
with a negative change in another need
Synergies between needs: improving (or meeting) one need may
also lead to an improvement in the meeting of another need
Because of the many needs and the associations between needs, often an
analytical framework based on spatial, temporal and thematic dimensions
is being used in studies of sustainable development
The spatial dimension is commonly divided as:
o Small (an individual or group of individuals based at one farm)
o Medium (a community, a region, a nation)
o Large (a continent, the whole world)
The temporal dimension is commonly divides as:
o Short term (<5 or 10 years)
o Medium term (20 to 50 years)
o Long term (about 50 years or more)
The thematic dimension is commonly divided as:
o Economic (profit),
o Socio-cultural (people),
o And ecological (planet) aspects
With all these possible combinations (27), sustainability becomes complex
and holistic and it becomes difficult to operationalize the concept. So we
select specific relevant combinations (combinations that are addressing
the major issues at stake in the present)
Economic aspects of sustainability
Urgency and needs (something that matter to people)
Origin of sustainability: no exceeding the regenerative capacity of
the system or the rate at which you use a natural resource must be
equal to the rate at which you can replenish it
The objective of sustainable development: the development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs
Absorptive capacity: not exceeding the absorptive capacity of the
system or emissions to air, water and soil should not exceed the rate
with which water, soil and air can neutralize these emissions
Sustainability is dynamic, it is about change. So keyword is
sustainable development which is: “… the development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’’.
A trade-off occurs when a positive change in one need is associated
with a negative change in another need
Synergies between needs: improving (or meeting) one need may
also lead to an improvement in the meeting of another need
Because of the many needs and the associations between needs, often an
analytical framework based on spatial, temporal and thematic dimensions
is being used in studies of sustainable development
The spatial dimension is commonly divided as:
o Small (an individual or group of individuals based at one farm)
o Medium (a community, a region, a nation)
o Large (a continent, the whole world)
The temporal dimension is commonly divides as:
o Short term (<5 or 10 years)
o Medium term (20 to 50 years)
o Long term (about 50 years or more)
The thematic dimension is commonly divided as:
o Economic (profit),
o Socio-cultural (people),
o And ecological (planet) aspects
With all these possible combinations (27), sustainability becomes complex
and holistic and it becomes difficult to operationalize the concept. So we
select specific relevant combinations (combinations that are addressing
the major issues at stake in the present)
Economic aspects of sustainability
