likely to be popular in those societies attempting to rapidly raise the average stan-
dard of living, and where population pressures place a strain on available
resources. They point to the difficulties of convincing residents of marginal
regions like Africa’s Sahel not to engage in practices that exceed thecarrying
capacityof the local environment as one example among many from developing
countries. A few commentators even suggest that the supporters of sustainable
development hold concealed agendas designed to monopolize and control use of
the planet’s resources and perpetuate the dominance of the economically devel-
oped economies of the world over those located in poorer regions. They believe
that the focus on cataloguing and documenting resources, an important process
for establishing and managing an inventory of natural capital, is merely a cover
for advancednation-statesto gain control of resources, and that sustainability
is simply a mechanism for preventing the world’s poorer states from eventually
challenging the existing global economic order.
Sustainable Development 335