Sustainability and the capability approach: from theory to practice?

Abstract

The capability approach and sustainability can be connected in numerous ways. One could think of sustainability as a self-contained domain of human analysis – thus there could be theories of sustainability and there may be difficulties in this domain as elsewhere in moving from theory to policy or practice. Thus, capability approach could be considered as an additional lens that can facilitate the transition from sustainability theory to practice; alternatively one could think of the capability approach as offering an alternative paradigm and thus build on both theories and then find ways to move from theory to practice. In this chapter, both of these approaches are recognised and discussed. The capability approach is mainly about enhancing substantive freedoms- we examine the conjectures whether an approach of increasing freedoms is compatible with sustainability and whether freedoms are sufficient for sustainability. We use the case of Mongolia to explore some of these issues of application.