Holistic Sustainable Development: Implications for Planning Processes, Foreign Aid and Support for Research

Abstract

A holistic concept of sustainable development has emerged in which economic, ecological, social and political factors need to be simultaneously considered. Participation by individuals, particularly at the community level, is seen as an important means for achieving sustainable development and formulating development goals. These goals grow out of an organic interactive participatory process. Methods of project appraisal are reviewed in the light of sustainable development concepts. Then, the role of research and foreign aid in promoting sustainable development is addressed. To make the discussion more concrete, this analysis is carried out by considering the case of the South Pacific in general, along with a specific research project, namely giant clam farming. The paper concludes by pointing out important linkages which exist between planning processes, international cooperation in research and foreign aid.