The Physical Destruction of Nauru: An Example of Weak Sustainability

Abstract

sanctity of individual choice, the fungibility of economic goods and inputs, and faith in the market system to bring forth substitutes as relative prices change. These notions are part of what Joseph Schumpeter called the pre-analytic vision of neoclassical economics (Daly 1995) and they are central to the concept of weak sustainability, a topic of intense debate among ecological economists (Cabeza Gutes 1996; Gowdy 1997; Gowdy and O'Hara 1997; Martinez-Alier 1995; Pearce and Atkinson 1993; Tisdell 1997; Victor 1991). Weak sustainability stipulates that an economy is sustainable if its capacity to generate income for future generations, a capacity embodied in its capital stock, is maintained (Hartwick 1978; Solow 1991). The assumption of substitutability among different kinds of capital is crucial to weak sustainability. When, as in neoclassical theory, natural capital (non-renewable resources and ecological services, Folke et al. 1994) and manufactured capital are considered to be substitutes, it is permissible to focus only on total capital stock. Weak sustainability is achieved if an economy saves more than the combined depreciation of the various kinds of capital, even if it draws down its stock of natural resources (Pearce and Atkinson 1993). An instructive example of weak sustainability in practice is the small Pacific island nation of Nauru. In 1900 phosphate was discovered on Nauru, and today as a result of just over 90 years of phosphate mining, about 80% of the island is totally devastated. At the same time, the people of Nauru have had over the past several decades one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. An examination of the causes of Nauru's current situation and the future prospects for that country illuminates the interdependent relationships among markets, ecosystems, and human well-being, and illustrates the complexity of the arguments for and against weak sustainability. It also shows clearly that applying the weak sustainability criteria is consistent with a situation of near complete environmental devastation.