Weak Versus Strong Sustainability – Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms

Weak Versus Strong Sustainability – Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms

Article Type: Books and resources From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 14, Issue 4

Eric Neumayer4th ed.Edward ElgarCheltenham2013296 pp.£85.00ISBN 9781781007075

This fourth edition has been fully updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. The author contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable.

The author examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and the environmental consequences of economic growth. He identifies the critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future and opportunity costs of preservation. He goes on to provide a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. Indicators of weak sustainability such as Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare – also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator – are analysed, as are indicators of strong sustainability, including ecological footprints, material flows and sustainability gaps.

Walter Leal FilhoHamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany