Sustainability, as defined in the UN 2030 Agenda, is treated as a global concern and aims to drive global change. However, the concepts, notions and norms underlying sustainability are not understood and shared in the same way in societies and communities around the world.
We were pleased to welcome
Prof. Dr. Martin Odei Ajei, Department of Philosophy and Classics, University of Ghana, who gave a lecture on and discussed
“Conceptual barriers in the current global sustainability discourse. Perspectives from African philosophy” with
Prof. Dr. Kristina Großmann, Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Mahn
and the audience
on October 21, 4.00-5.30 pm on Zoom.
Since the publication of Our Common Future, its idea that the ‘triple bottom line’ can cohere harmoniously to yield progressive rates of GDP growth, and a sustainable stock and welfare of the resources of Earth’s ecosystems has been rigorously challenged. These challenges have triggered theoretical refinements of the assumptions and conclusions of Our Common Future and strategies for the achievement of sustainability. My talk wonders whether the dominant traits of such refinements and strategies have succeeded in discarding the burdens of the triple bottom line. I argue that they hardly have, and propose some African normative perspectives as viable basis for further refinement of the conceptual toolkits of sustainability into a notion that has broader global resonance and uptake.
Key themes of the presentation were then taken up by the discussants Prof. Dr. Kristina Großmann (Anthropology of Southeast Asia) and Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Mahn (Development Geography). The audience is was encouraged to ask questions as well as to bring in thoughts and reflections.