2.2 Resource Management and Sustainable Development 11
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Therefore, natural capital has to be maintained to remain at the current level of
human well-being (Daly 1995). For some scholars this even means to retard or even
completely inhibit global economic growth to stop depletion of natural capital
(Balisacan et al. 2014). However, the point on economic growth and sustainable
development, respectively the circular economy will be elaborated on later in this
thesis in chapters 2.2.2 and 2.3.5.
To sum up, strong sustainability sees certain elements of natural capital as crit-ical for human well-being. These elements have been conceptualized as ecosystem
services (Brand 2009). Ecosystem services have been defined by the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment as “benefits people obtain from ecosystem” (Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment 2005, p. 5). More precisely they can be distinguished between
provisioning services (drinking water, food production, etc.), supporting services
(water cycling, etc.), regulating services (water and air regulating services, etc.)
and cultural services (recreation, tourism, etc.). However, the strong sustainability
approach does not make clear which services play the key role in supporting life
and are therefore critical to maintain (Pelenc and Ballet 2015; Ekins et al. 2003).
Reducing degradation of natural capital and maintaining the natural capital stock
represents the link to the topic of this thesis on the circular economy. Theoretically,
this is exactly the purpose of circular economy, but empirical studies are required
to further deepen the understanding of this concept and its potential in terms of
maintaining natural capital at a constant stock level.
2.2.1 Sustainable Development, Sustainable Innovation and
the Role of Circular Economy
One of the main questions within the sustainability debate is if the world is on
a trajectory in which living standards can be further improved or at least main-
tained into the indefinite future, or if natural resources are being exploited which
might lead to a downturn at some point (Brander 2007). This question also refers
to “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs” an integral part of the widely used defi-
nition of sustainable development, as mentioned previously. (World Commission
on Environment and Development 1987, p. 41).
As a result of the concerns about the evident ecological consequences of humanactivities, the world community committed itself to the principles of sustainable
development as described in the Brundtland Report in 1987. This commitment
made by the participating countries requires a transition towards sustainability
implying changes in technologies, infrastructure, lifecycles and institutions as