Sustainable Development of SIDS and Governance
- mpgoede
- Apr 10, 2012
- 1 min read
Governance
The SIDS group has maintained a reasonable rate of real GDP growth in recent decades. Aid and private remittances play an important role in the economy, but do not result from economic activity. Direct Foreign Investments (DFI) is another important factor. These three factors are beyond the control of SIDS. But there are also significant differences between SIDS. Compared with other SIDS, the Caribbean SIDS depend less on these factors (McGillivray, Naudéand Santos-Paulino, 2010).
Good governance has been shown time and time again in empirical studies to be a robust determinant of economic growth and aid effectiveness (McGillivray, Naudéand Santos-Paulino, 2010).
Governance for sustainable development is coping with a wicked problem. When dealing with a wicked problems like climate change. Every attempt to solve the problem changes the understanding of the problem. These problems cannot be solved in a linear way, because the problems evolves as new possible solutions are considered and/or implemented. Wicked problems always occur in a social context. The wickedness of the problem reflects the diversity among the stakeholders in the problem. A wicked problem is about an issue that there is no consensus on the values involved and disagreement on the knowledge to apply (Williams, 2006; In ‘t Veld, 2011). Is it about the planet, the people or the profit? What is the optimal balance between these three Ps, coined in 1994 by JohnElkington? (Elkington, 1997).
“One problem with the triple bottom line is that the three separate accounts cannot easily be added up. It is difficult to measure the planet and people accounts in the same terms as profits—that is, in terms of cash.” (Economist, 2009)
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