可持续发展理论三项进展

过去10年间,可持续发展理论和实践都取得重大进展。在这些进展当中,本文辨识出3个核心的概念:地球系统观、生态文明思想、低碳经济概念,对这3个看起来没有直接关联的概念分析了其中十分密切的理论联系。地球系统观的发展深刻地改变了人类对自身和所处地球环境的认识,被称为"第二次哥白尼革命",从而强化了可持续发展理论的科学基础;生态文明思想从根本上颠覆了工业文明的思想基础,深化了可持续发展理论的哲学和伦理学内涵;低碳经济概念是全球应对气候变化过程中提出的新的理念,以提高能效、减少排放和发展可再生能源为特征的经济发展模式是可持续发展理论在实践的具体化,并具有可操作性。3个概念都突出了地球系统作为一个整体来研究、开发、利用和保护;同时也都强调了对地球表层这个自然与社会剧烈交互作用的生态圈和人类圈的理解必须运用全新的视角和多学科的研究方法。深入理解这3个概念的内涵及相互关系是把握可持续发展理论10年进展的关键。

A Decade of Advances in Sustainability Theory

Considerable advances have been made in sustainability theory in the last decade. Three major concepts related closely to the innovation are earth system, ecological civilization, and low carbon economy. These seemingly separate concepts are closely interconnected for the theory of sustainable development: earth system theory provides a solid foundation of scientific analysis; ecological civilization represents a major advance in philosophy and ethics; low carbon economy promotes practical pathway for achieving sustainable development under the guiding principles of ecological civilization and in the view of earth system. The three concepts all emphasized the earth system as a whole for research, development, utilization and protection, based on a multiple disciplinary approach to the nature-society interactions in the ecosphere and noosphere, and thus are key to understanding the development of the sustainability theory in the last decade.