... causes of environmental degradation, on the one hand it was the culture of over-consumption in the populous of 'first' world, wealthy and developed nations and on the other hand it was poverty in the 'third' world, poor and underdeveloped or developing nations. The report advocated 'sustainable development' as an over-arching solution to the negative outcomes of economic growth, which was said to be necessary to relieve poverty and control the inevitable rapid industrialisation. The report however placed more emphasis on the importance of tackling poverty describing it as "the greatest source of destructive pressure on the environment."2 From the nineteen sixties onwards representatives of developing countries repeatedly criticised what they saw as efforts by industrialised countries to preserve the dominance of the global North (Rowland, 1973). Instead, they called for the creation of institutions and practices that reflected differences in situations and interests between industrial and developing countries. The progress ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now