Structural adjustment programmes and the UNCED agenda: Explaining the contradictions

Abstract

One of the striking areas of agreement at the 1992 United Nations Conference in Environment and Development (UNCED) was over the importance of economic efficiency as a means to environmental ends. The language of economic efficiency and structural adjustment permeates UNCED documentation. The contradictions between economic efficiency and environmental sustainability can be illustrated by examining the market‐oriented structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) that have been undertaken in low‐consumption countries during the 1980s. Recent studies on the environmental impacts of SAPs in Thailand, Philippines, Côte d'Ivoire and Malawi show the operational complexity of the market‐environment linkages and challenge the notion that ‘efficient economies are the most environmentally friendly economies’. It can be concluded that sustainable development understood as environmental sustainability, relative equality between high‐consumption and low‐consumption countries, moderated levels of poverty and political stability is not consistent with SAP prescriptions of free trade, unrestrained markets and inactive states. Economic development and sound environmental management are complementary aspects of the same agenda. Without adequate environmental protection, development will be undermined; without development, environmental protection will fail [World Bank, 1992: 25].

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