Alan S Cajes

If COVID-19 infection is zoonotic, then biodiversity should be the first and the last line of defense. To restore our damaged ecosystems and replenish our rich biological diversity, we need to confront our spirituality by wrestling the question: why are we capable of destroying our common home -- Planet Earth?

The Philippine team has found that electricity governance in the Philippines needs much improvement, in all areas of governance: transparency and access to information, participation of all stakeholders especially the weaker stakeholders, accountability and mechanisms for redress, and in building the capacity of both institutions of government and of civil society. The final “scorecard” of governance in the Philippine electricity sector, based on the ratings by the Philippine team, is “low medium” to “medium”, with an average numeric score of 2.5. (The
scale would be ‘1’ for the lowest rating and ‘5’ for the highest rating.)

This book is based on a doctoral dissertation that I completed at the Asian Social Institute (ASI) in 2016. It started as a work-in-progress thesis topic that I submitted as part of the requirements of the Hermeneutics Course that Dr. Charles Ringma handled at the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas in Manila during the second semester of 1995-1996. That course led me to study the leading hermeneuticists and made me realize that we as human beings have various tools and techniques at our disposal to gain knowledge and understanding. During the succeeding semester, I had the opportunity to link hermeneutics with phenomenology under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Florentino Hornedo when I took his Course on Postmodern Philosophy.

Sustainable development has become a “new” gospel in the contemporary environment and development literature. The global social order is generally fascinated by the concept and is taking steps to translate it into actual practice. Although everybody seems to be in favor of sustainable development, no one seems certain as to what it actually means. The description of the term by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) of the United Nations as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” is generally acceptable but susceptible to different interpretations. The problem is compounded by the habit of appealing to the social and natural sciences for help in explaining the meaning of the term and its implication to environmental protection, trade and governance.

Sustainable development is generally understood as the fulfillment of the basic needs of present and future generations through equity and environmental protection. The author, however, argues that sustainable development only becomes conceptually viable if it seeks to satisfy fundamental human needs, if its norm is social justice, if its vehicle is a steady-state economy that promotes sustainable production and consumption of natural capital, and if its engine is the State and its civil spirited citizens. 

The author also traces the origin of sustainable development in the light of historical human knowledge. He points out that although the term “sustainable development” is relatively new, its meaning and its implications are of ancient origin. The concept is a product of human-nature interaction. Thus, its interpretation only becomes meaningful if it is placed in the context of its own historical development.