ENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY AND EMPLOYMENT - TOWARDS A NEW DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

This article analyses the interrelations between environment, employme nt and technology in the process of development. A new concept of sust ainable development is introduced which makes a distinction between en vironmental problems associated with high income levels and technologi cal progress and those related to underdevelopment and technological s tagnation. The latter category accounts for a major proportion of envi ronmental problems facing poor agrarian economies which are undergoing a process of forced environmental degradation. It is argued that in t hese types of economies there is a complementarity between economic de velopment and employment generation and the preservation of the enviro nment. It is further shown that in such economies, where the ultimate causes of environmental degradation may be far removed from the immedi ate environmental issues, conventional environmental policies may be c ounterproductive.