On the edge of sustainable development: A forestry understanding of the ideas of ‘sustainability’ and ‘posterity’

A la lisière du développement durable: Une lecture forestière des idées de « soutenabilité » et de « postérité »

Clara Gaurichon
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Clara Gaurichon: CLERSÉ - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This paper presented preliminary investigations into the origins of the idea of ‘sustainability', and its connotations before the famous meaning we have come to know it by since the publication of the Brundltland Report in 1987, as ‘the satisfaction of the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 26). Many authors agree that the conceptual origins of sustainability can be traced back to the field of forest management in Europe (see Bartenstein, 2005; Du Pisani, 2006; Grober, 2007; Radkau, 2008, Schmithüsen, 2013; Brüeggemeier, 2019). While the idea of conserving wood resources in order to maintain the benefits for ‘posterity' or ‘future generations' may seem forward-looking, the teleological temptation to read into it the premises of sustainable development is to be questioned. The main conclusion of this re-reading is that the theorisation of sustainability as a balance between deforestation and reforestation in the history of European forestry is above all linked to the economisation of forests rather than to the ecologisation of these areas.

Keywords: Sustainable developement; Forest &; amp; wood sector; Développement durable; Foresterie (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-07-02
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Published in Doctoriales du XIIIe Congrès de l’Association Française d’Économie Politique (AFEP), Moisa; ART DEV; UMR Innovations; CDES YS; Université de Montpellier, Jul 2024, Montpellier, France

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04726309

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