SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, BIODIVERSITY ANO TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Concern over the environment since the 19^th century began with the observation of the ejfects of production processes - in the agricultura! area as well as the industrial - on soil, climate and vegetation. After the industrial revolution andfurther scientífic advances, the jirst studies of the ejfects of the pollution generated by mines and factories (mainly regardingworkers'health) began to appear. At the beginning ofthe 20^th ce11tury, literature was jirst written on the ejfects on the environment of industrial pollution including live organisms anda preoccupation with the conservation of natural resources. ln spite of this alert about the environmental destruction, the received wisdom until the sixties was that natural resources were infinite and that the market maximised social well-being. The conventional economic theory only focused on the allocation of scarce resources; nature was not understood as limitationfactor and the environment was considered irrelevant to the economy.