Environment and Development for Economic Growth

Question: Discuss about the Environment and Development for Economic Growth. Answer: The 21st century is marked by the struggle to attain continuous economic development for the developing countries and the final phase of economic growth for the developed nations. This effort to achieve economic growth has led to high mass consumption, which has an enormous effect on the environment (Dixon, Scura, Carpenter Sherman, 2013). This quest for economic growth has thus become a concern to the environmentalists and has led to a critical question, "Is there a possibility of economic development without environmental harm?" The research, therefore, will seek to investigate this issue and establish a position. To achieve this objective, research will use factual evidence and statistics. Besides, the study will give a conclusion and postulate recommendations. Economic development is the sustainable increase of a country's productive prospective. Fundamentally a country's economic growth is measured in terms growth in per capita income and its productive ability. As a consequence, global economic ranking is based on GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the economic development pointers like industrial growth rate (Pearce, Barbier Markandya, 2013). Economic growth is dependent on the growth of the industries which are supplied with raw material from the environment. The main aim of such industries is the economic growth and improvement of living standard of people. In fact, such industries are not concerned with improvement of the environment. It is explicit that the rapid expansion of industries globally has led to massive damage to the environment because these industries rely on the natural resources found in the environment to operate (Tietenberg Lewis, 2016). The world economy is, therefore, facing critical challenges related to environm ental depletion. Economic development and environment preservation are two interconnected realities which are not contradictory. However, economic development has severe effects on the environment (Baek Kim, 2013). Significance of the Research The relationship between environment and the economic development is a relevant topic because governments and entrepreneurs globally are seeking on how to strike a balance between the two to ensure sustainable development. Besides, the research will create a deeper understanding on contentious issues like recycling policy, climate change policy, and nuclear power policy. The research will also inform the public on how some economic activities and policies affect environment. Economic analysis of the developing countries will help in understanding whether environment hinder economic prosperity (Miller, Kim Holmes, 2015). This analysis will further understanding on themes such as inequality and poverty in the developing countries. Similarly, the research will establish a link between renewable and exhaustible resources and production and how they contribute to either environmental degradation or economic development. Investigation to this critical question is thus fundamental for form ulation of developmental strategies and for developing countries. Background of the Problem The link between economic development and the environment has been, is, and will continue as a contentious issue. The issue has remained controversial because of the divergent schools of thought. One school of thought holds that failing to deal with global warming, emerging pollution challenges, and the surging population in developing countries are grave environmental challenges. On the other hand, another school of thought believes that improvement of living standards through technological advancement and industrial expansions are essential marks of economic growth which has no impact on the environment. These opinions though not inconsistent, call for a deeper exploration of the link between economic development and the environment (Pettinger, 2014). Furthermore sustainable economic development has been adopted as a political agenda globally since the link between economic growth and environment was recognized. Evolution of this idea can thus be attributed to three specific international conferences. Which include; The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 (Baek Kim, 2013). The recommendations of these conferences form the core of this idea. Varied schools of thought have thus given different definitions of sustainable economic development. The most agreed definition is sustainable economic development as progress that caters for the needs of the people without interfering with the environment. However, this understanding of sustainable economic development has metamorphosed as result of diverse opinions on this topic. Importantly, all t hese school of thought agree that sustainable economic development should happen in a friendly environment. Bibliography Atkinson, G., Dietz, S., Neumayer, E., Agarwala, M. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of sustainable development. Edward Elgar Publishing. Baek, J., Kim, H. S. (2013). Is economic growth good or bad for the environment? Empirical evidence from Korea. Energy Economics, 36, 744-749. Boj, J., Mler, K. G., Unemo, L. (2013). Environment and development: an economic approach (Vol. 6). Springer Science Business Media. Castiglione, C., Infante, D., Smirnova, J. (2015). Environment and economic growth: is the rule of law the go-between? The case of high-income countries. 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