The social impacts of natural resource use and condition : the invisible dimension of coastal resource management

Acknowledging the importance of the 'human dimension' has become, in recent years, one of the accepted truths of natural resource management. Since the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) popularised the idea of 'sustainable development' in the 1980s it has become almost impossible to talk about the protection of ecosystems without considering also questions about social and economic development, equity and justice. Environmental issues have become social, trade and economic issues. Critiques of the underlying assumptions of sustainable capitalist development aside (see for example O'Connor, 1993), one of the enduring barriers to the implementation of the vision of sustainability has been the problem of measuring progress towards it. Just how do we know that we are making concurrent progress towards healthier environments and healthier communities? Can it be taken for granted that progress towards one will lead inevitably to progress towards the other?