January 2001
The Transition to Sustainable Development: Its Implications and Challenges on Swaziland
Wisdom M. Dlamini

Introduction
In developing countries (including Swaziland), there is the suspicion of environmental protection as hindering development and reducing international competitiveness. This has led to various problems associated with environmental degradation and unsustainability.

These problems include:

rising human numbers,
poverty,
resource depletion,
pollution,
global climate change, and
debt.
Over the years, growing numbers of people have come to recognize that efforts to improve their standard of living must be in harmony with the natural world. It has been recognized that a lack of development can be as great a threat to nature as reckless or misguided development.

The central concept is that the human being is an integral part of the ecosystem. A society is sustainable only if both the human condition and the condition of the ecosystem are satisfactory or improving. If either is unsatisfactory or worsening, the society is unsustainable.

What is this sustainable development?
The term sustainable development means ‘the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Hence sustainable development entails improving and maintaining the well-being of people and ecosystems. Development is likely to be sustainable if:

It improves the quality of human life. The purpose of development is to improve the quality of human life. It should enable people to realise their potential and lead lives of dignity and fulfilment. Economic growth is part of development, but it can not be a goal itself; nor can it go on indefinitely. Although people differ in their goals for development, some are virtually universal; along and healthy life, education, access to resources needed for a decent standard of living, political freedom, guaranteed human rights, and freedom from violence. Development is achieved only if it makes lives better in all respects.
It conserves the earth’s vitality and diversity. Development must be conservation-based; it must protect the structure, functions and diversity of the worlds natural systems on which our species and humanity depends. To this we need to:
Conserve life-support systems i.e. the ecological systems and processes that shape climate, cleanse air and water, regulate water flow, recycle essential elements, create and regenerate soil etc.
Conserve biological diversity
Ensure that all uses of renewable resources are sustainable
Minimise the depletion of non-resources, such as minerals, oil, gas and coal.
Keep within the Earth’s carrying capacity. These are finite limits to the capacity of ecosystems and to the impacts that they and the earth as a whole can withstand without dangerous deterioration.
Specifically, society needs to change or strengthen:

the values that guide them in human and human-ecosystem relationships; these are values based on respect and care for each other and the earth,
the knowledge that enables them to understand and make sense of the relationships,
the technologies with which they apply their knowledge and equip themselves with tools and infrastructure, and
the institutions- the customs, laws social and economic incentives, and organisations by which they manage the relationships.
Environment and Development
The international commitment to sustainable development and the rise of ozone depletion and climate change to the top of the political agenda, signal a new era in environmental policy. For the first time, it is becoming apparent to a whole range of decision makers that the earth’s environment and its natural base are so totally interlocked that the natural environment has become one of the principal constraints on development.

The adoption of sustainable development as a major policy goal for aid agencies does not negate the progress made so far. Indeed, it requires that the new measures for environmental assessment, lending for natural resources projects and the like be continued and strengthened. It requires more effective measures to preserve and protect prized ecological assets such as coastal resources, national parks and protected areas, watershed management areas and the like. More importantly, however, it requires the environment to become a mainstream economic issue, central to the national planning and decision making process and not something to be handed to a politically weak, under-funded and under-staffed department of the environment and natural resources. It requires pride of place in the planning documents and country development strategies.

‘North’ and ‘South’
Sustainable development is a very tall order both for the governments of the developing world ‘the South’ and the development assistance agencies in ‘the North’. It involves:

fundamental changes in the economic systems of the developed world to make them far less resource and energy intensive,
reorienting many of the strategies for foreign assistance and for development with which we have become comfortable over the past two or three decades,
greatly increased financial transfers against the backdrop of budget austerity, which is now sweeping the developed world,
getting the grips with the debt crisis now paralyzing much of Latin America and Africa.
The clue to achieving sustainable development also lies in the following:

Modifying the presentation of environmental and economic statistics so that environmental impacts of economic and social change can be discerned, and the "services" of the environment highlighted. The environment is usually neglected in economic planning and development processes. Hence in all economic matters the environment should be highlighted and prioritized in order to achieve development which will benefit both the present and future generations.
Revising systems of appraisal for investments and policies so that they adequately reflect and integrate environmental impacts. Swaziland is presently requesting for investment and the formation of the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA) was a step further. Environmental concerns and the concept of sustainable development should be reflected.
As stated in the World Commission on Environment and Development report, there should be a (re)definition of the goals of economic and social development in terms of sustainability. The required reorientation must consider the following:

Reviving growth,
Changing the quality of growth,
Meeting the needs for jobs, food, energy , water and sanitation,
Ensuring a sustainable level of population,
Conserving and enhancing the resource base,
Reorienting technology and managing risk and
Merging environment and economics in decision-making.
This requires action and commitment at all levels of society. The action may include:

Changes to development policies, national development plans and sectoral master plans to ensure appropriate vertical integration as well as integration with environmental and social policies.
Integration of environmental and social considerations into program and project cycles.
Reforms to economic and policies, resource allocation and property rights policies, and sectoral policies and practices for environmental protection, natural resource management and development.
Adoption of economic instruments and other policy tools to integrate economic, social and environmental objectives.
Changes to legislation. These may include new laws, amendments to existing and laws to incorporate standards and practices to ensure sustainability, and changes to rules and regulations. The proposed Swaziland Environment Management Policy by the Swaziland Environment Authority (SEA) is another good step towards achieving sustainable development.
Institutional strengthening and organizational development. Institutional strengthening entails creating new or better-equipped political, economic and social institutions, and links between them, to address issues of sustainability directly; and establishing links between existing public service institutions. Organizational development entails amending the mandates, policy documents, objectives, corporate strategies, functions and programs, organizational structures, staffing, funding sources, and protocols concerning external relations to promote sustainability.
Education and training to develop the necessary knowledge, values, skills, attitudes and experiences and also the determination which will enable all the citizens to act – individually and collectively – to solve present and future environmental problems. Information is a major input to sustainable development. At the most micro level individual households need to be informed of the consequences of particular input and output decisions. Looked at from he outsiders standpoint there is also a need to utilize local knowledge and to observe and counteract the constraints that prevent sustainable practices from being employed. Extension systems are clearly important in both these respects. Governments also need to be informed.
Chris Rose of the Greenfreeze Project once said, "if sustainable development is to mean anything at all, it will have to involve a partnership with the future, not just a partnership for profit. "

Hence, the government, the private sector, NGO’s and individuals need to take action if we want to ensure that the planet is a habitable place. It is every citizen’s responsibility to make this happen.

References:
Carew-Reid J, Prescott-Allen R, Bass S, Dalal-Clayton B. Strategies for National Sustainable Development: A Handbook for their Planning and Implementation (1994). IIED and IUCN.

Denizha E. Environmental Management in Developing Countries (1991). Paris, OECD.

North K. Environmental Business Management – An Introduction (1992). Geneva, International Labour Organisation.

World Conference on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

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