Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Regional Imbalances and Regional Development Policies: Turkey Experiences Volume I, Sevinç,Haktan, Editör, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., Berlin, ss.53-70, 2020
Introduction
There has been mounting evidence that our ecosystem’s capability of supporting
a decent human life in the future is at risk due to increasing damage by an
increasing human population and harmful human activities. Advances made in
health sciences and medical technologies during the Twentieth and the Twenty
first Centuries have minimized the possibilities of death from certain common
diseases, causing human population to increase rapidly. Increasing economic
activity of a growing population is now putting a significant and restrain on the
earth’s resources. Such an unsustainable load puts the livelihood of future generations at risk. Since all systems, social and economic, are subsystems of the
ecological system (Feldhoff, 2002), sustainability of the global ecosystem is also
important for the continuity of human civilization.
Not only the well-being of the future generations are but also the well-being
of many communities which are disadvantaged in terms of access to natural,
economic, human and technological resources or which are just situated in disadvantaged regions is in jeopardy if human economic activity continues at its
current pace. Such an uneven access to resources often creates migration waves
that put more pressure on the ecosystems of the regions receiving migrants as
well as their economies. Thus, sustaining the balance of an ecosystem is not only
important for the future but also important for the well-being of the present
generation.
At the very heart of the problem lies, thrive of human beings for more
well-being. Human beings consume raw resources or transform raw resources or
mix it with other resources to create new materials (tangible or intangible, goods
or services) in order to be better off. Ever increasing needs of a growing human
population means more consumption and more production. As human needs increase, we require more resources, more space and more economic activity to
be able to deliver more well-being to a growing population. The major constraint
is the limited regenerative capacity of our natural environment. As we become
better off, we wish to be more comfortable than before and the means of earth
to supply everyone what they need is limited. Thus, as our activity to satisfy our
needs becomes intensified, we are left off with fewer resources to continue to
do so. The case of more people getting better off in terms of per capita goods
and services they consume is called economic development. The interesting
thing is that science of economics measures economic growth and development
by means of consumption; consumption of more goods and more services is a
measure of how much welfare human beings have. However, economic development does not, and should not, necessarily mean an improvement in the
quality of life through an increase in consumption and a consequent utilization
of resources to produce for consumption (Costanza, Daly, and Bartholomew,
1992: 7). The important question is, then, how can we develop by balancing our
needs and the available means presented by our ecosystem.
In parallel to the evidence of weakening of our ecosystem, there has also been
an increasing awareness on taking reparative action to reduce earth’s load down
to a more acceptable level in order to bring the ecosystem back to a more advantageous position to support both the present and the future human activity.
The idea of sustainable development reflects the concerns of all mankind for
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on
Environment and Development [WCED] – The Brundtland Report, 1987). Thus,
balancing and adjusting of human economic activity with the given natural environment has become an important policy aim at the global and national levels.
However, in practice, achieving sustainable development becomes a complicated
task since it requires harmonization of the interests of economic, social and
political circles and the requirements of the ecology for supporting the whole
system (Rees, 1989).
Since human economic activity is causing the problem, it is logical to look
for economic solutions at relevant economic levels. The regulation of global economic activity, with such global agreements as the Paris Agreement on climate
change, for the continuity of our planetary system is carried at the metaeconomic
level. At the macroeconomic level, states ratify global agreements and regulate
domestic markets for an ecologically sensitive economy. Mesoeconomic level,
i.e. regional and/or local level, requires different approaches to sustainable economic development since regional development policies must comply with
the objectives of national macroeconomic planning while trying to satisfy the needs of regional communities and firms at the same time. In fact, the regional
level may reflect the complicated nature of sustainable development better. The
complex relationship between the regional and environmental economic phenomena, which includes many interactions between the region, society, environment and economics, can be best observed at the regional level since the
space (the region) acts as the geographical medium through which the effects of
environmental externalities are reflected on the economy and since the scarcity
of space as a good has far-reaching consequences for both the present and the
future generations (Nijkamp, 1997).
This chapter tries to explain the concept of regional sustainable development
and contends that the regional level is significant for achieving sustainable development objectives. Whether the regional level is the most appropriate level for
achieving sustainability is discussed in the following section of the study. The
third section deals with the general problem of specifying a clear definition for
the concept of sustainable development and, thus, regional sustainable development. Some important points in planning for regional sustainable development
are discussed in the fourth section. The fifth section concludes.