Can Sustainable Development Save Mangroves?

Alexander Cesar Ferreira, Rebecca Borges and Luiz Drude de Lacerda
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Alexander Cesar Ferreira: Instituto de Ciências do Mar, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. Abolição 3207, Fortaleza 60185-081, Ceará, Brazil
Rebecca Borges: Fachbereich 2 Biologie/Chemie (FB2), Universität Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Luiz Drude de Lacerda: Instituto de Ciências do Mar, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. Abolição 3207, Fortaleza 60185-081, Ceará, Brazil

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-27

Abstract: The Earth is warming, ecosystems are being overexploited, oceans are being polluted, and thousands of species are going extinct—all fueled by the need for a permanent increase in production for more consumerism and development. “Business as usual” continues untouched, while increasing attention has been given to the “sustainable development” concept. Despite their importance as life supporting ecosystems, forests, oceans, and wetlands are being destroyed at an accelerating rate. The conservation and restoration of mangroves, for example, are also vital for the planet to face catastrophic global warming. Based on a non-systematic literature review, we address how true mangrove conservation is incompatible with so-called “sustainable development”. We turn to the urgent changes needed to avoid environmental and societal collapse, promoted by the Western economic development paradigm, and address why the sustainable development approach has failed to stop environmental degradation and protect resources for next generations. Proposed solutions involve the rejection of the capital-oriented, nature-predatory systems, degrowth, a deep transformation of our energy matrix, and a shift in our nutrition to lower levels of the food chain. These are based on a profound sense of responsibility over the planet, respecting all life forms, ecosystem dynamics, and life sustaining properties of the biosphere.

Keywords: conservation; sustainable development; economic development; developmentalism; life support ecosystems; environmental inequity; ecosystem collapse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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