Sustainability and the Challenges of Development
Discuss about the Sustainable Business Planning & Deforestation.
Sustainability is a term that refers to the capability of biological systems to have the ability to endure and remain diverse and productive in the long run. The agenda for sustainable development is the leading principle for the sustainability process. Sustainable development involves various interrelated components that consist of politics, economy, culture and ecology (Arnold and Wade, 2015). People are always in a quest to attain developmental sustainability but in the process, we encounter several challenges in reality. The problems encountered, commonly referred as wicked problems, cannot be fully defined and they do not have a final solution (Clayton and Radcliffe, 2015). These problems are usually complex and are changing constantly therefore if we attempt to solve an individual aspect of the problem a completely different aspect arises and this makes it extremely difficult to find an optimal solution. We need to improve our mental models and do things different from our conventional way of thinking for us to be able to come up with solutions to sustainability encounters. That is why we need system thinking to help us in developing the solutions. The inter-disciplinary framework used in visualizing the interrelationships to see the various patterns of change instead of the static snapshots is referred as system thinking. This essay discusses deforestation a wicked problem and system thinking to address the issue to achieve sustainability.
Deforestation is one of the wicked problems and it displays all the characteristics of wicked problems. Sustainable deforestation is not fully understood at the moment and maybe it might be understood after a solution has been formulated. Deforestation is a problem that the society has struggled to eradicate for so long and it requires collective initiatives (Arima et al, 2014). There is no stopping rule to the deforestation menace in the society and the solutions we have applied to this existing problem are neither right nor wrong. The other characteristic of deforestation is that the problem is basically unique and novel in its own way and it requires unique solutions. The factors and elements that affect sustainable deforestation uniquely affect deforestation and will require a unique approach to be solved. Deforestation as a wicked problem, it has no given alternative solutions. It requires system thinking to come up with solutions to the deforestation problem to ensure sustainable development. The various system thinking models can help us come up with solutions that will make us achieve sustainable deforestation. Sustainable deforestation is a complex system that consists of interacting components in the economy, ecology and the society (Monasterolo et al, 2016). Sustaining deforestation will require us to think outside the box concerning all the factors that affect the system. Some factors are environmental and to some extent, we do not have control over them but we should at least employ system thinking to control the factors within our capability.
Deforestation problem relates to all the three pillars of our society. Forests play a very critical role in ensuring the balance of nature and therefore deforestation has negative environmental impacts. Trees are a source of medicine as well as the indigenous tree species are an important natural resource that should be maintained and deforestation will lead to the extinction of some tree species. The trees also form forests which a home to animal and bird species and therefore deforestation threatens the existence of all these species. Global warming which is a very serious environmental problem is contributed by the reduction of forest covers hence the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not absorbed leading to global warming. Solving deforestation problem could reduce the global warming which has led to climate change causing other problems such as food shortage and natural calamities (Haines, 2016). The deforestation challenge has social implications in the sense that there are cultural activities that usually take place in the forests and also some tree are an important part of social and cultural activities. The economic dimension of deforestation is cannot be ignored. The forests are a cableway skidding are some of the economic activities that thrive in good forests not to forget timber production. We need timber for construction, furniture and many other purposes however we should be concerned about the deforestation threats.
Deforestation as a Wicked Problem
There are various system thinking models that we learnt in class and they can be used to come up with a solution that will help us achieve sustainable deforestation. I chose to handle this challenge using the Iceberg model. This model considers the fact that only 10 % of an iceberg floats above water while 90 % remain submerged in water and the ocean water acts on the submerged part but the interaction affects the behavior of the floating 10 %. Deforestation challenged can be viewed in the same context in that there are several hidden factors that have to be looked into to come up with solutions to this challenge. This model encourages us to realize that there might be several factors that cause the occurrence of a challenge or problem that are hidden from the main events. We should therefore be open minded and comprehensively consider all the direct and indirect factors that could possible cause the problem for us to come up with the appropriate solution to the problem. This is why system thinking is important since it is a tool that help us see both sides of a coin of the problem at hand.The model constitutes several thinking models that have to be applied in approaching any challenge through system thinking.
The event level of thinking is the first part of this model where we perceive the world. At this level is where we recognize deforestation as a challenge that we need to solve. Here we observe the signs and symptoms of deforestation such as the reduction in forest cover in our country. However, the model tells us that will should not think we can solve every problem at the event level since there are several factors that have caused the event and we must look into the for us to get an appropriate solution.
The pattern level follows the event level and at this stage we always notice patterns. Observing the events we realize that similar events have been occurring for several times. We might realize that continuous logging or drought has always led to a drastic loss of forest cover. The next level that follows the pattern level is known as the structure level. At this level, we try to find out what causes the patterns to occur and we end up the reason is some sought of a structure. Professor John Gerber says that the structures that cause the pattern can be physical things, organizations, policies or rituals. Organizations such as governments and corporations or policies such as laws and regulations can be the reasons why certain patterns are occurring. The continued logging could have been caused by poor policies regulating the harvesting of trees or the government is not enforcing the logging laws put in place (Rist, et al, 2012). In one way or other structures are highly contributing to the occurrence of the pattern.
The last level of this model is the mental model level. At this level, we move deeper into problem analysis by analyzing the expectations, morals, attitudes, values and beliefs that make the structures to function as they are. There are some beliefs or values that we learn from the society without our conscious realizing that we have acquired them. In this case, we have to evaluate what belief or value makes governments not to enforce the logging laws so as to prevent deforestation (Banson et al, 2015). Corruption and poor implementation of logging laws in our country is the major problem that is making the government not to implement the logging laws strictly. This causes the deforestation and this will have an adverse impact on our society in the economic, social and environmental dimensions. Through system thinking we can narrow down to the key moral values that will help the society members to stop engaging in corrupt activities and this will help us solve this challenge on long term basis. The Iceberg model can be summarized into react, anticipate, design and transform. First we react to the challenge and see the symptoms of the problem in the society followed by figuring out routine occurrences that are related to the event. Looking deep into the routine occurrences we can anticipate some events that have been happening consecutively. Design part consists of the relationship between the structures and the patterns and the underlying factors causing the patterns. The transform part is where we recognize the belief, value or moral that highly contributes to the structure to behave the way it does. Here is where we have to find a different way of thinking that will solve the problem at hand.
The Need for System Thinking
Corruption is something that is very hard to fight and eliminate but is not in any way implying that it cannot be eradicated. It requires very strong personal morals and social values to be established to discourage the vice. Logging laws are already in place but the involved companies don’t follow them simply because the moral obligation to the society is ignored. The government and the authorities entitled with the duty to ensure that the laws are followed strictly are taking bribes from the lawbreakers (Molderez and Ceulemans, 2018). There is no punishment for those participating in illegal logging and this is a big challenge. For us to get a solution to the deforestation challenge, we need to put mechanisms in place to instill strong moral values among people and educate them on the importance of upholding the law and especially those that govern deforestation activities (Tegegne et al, 2016). The government as a structure has a critical role to play in establishing and implementing logging laws.
In conclusion, system thinking is critical in developing solutions to sustainability challenges. Sustainability challenges are very complex and undefined and they have various interrelated factors that contribute to their occurrence. For us to come up with solutions to wicked challenges we have to apply the various system thinking models to comprehensively analyze all the factors associated with the challenge. Deforestation is a challenge that is facing us and in our quest to achieve sustainable deforestation we will have to face several problems (Brandt, Nolte and Agrawal, 2016). Using the Iceberg model we can narrow down to the major belief or value that is causing the structure to operate in a manner that does not promote sustainability. Scrutinizing the values or morals we can come up with the key solution to deforestation so as to achieve sustainability. Forest cover has so many social, environmental and economic prominences, therefore, we should put an initiative to achieve deforestation sustainability. System thinking is an important tool that enables us to think differently about how to tackle challenges by carefully and systematically analyzing all the factors that contribute to a sustainability challenge. Applying this tool in our day to day activities will help us come up with solutions to various life challenges.
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