Hi Andra, firstly what a ...

Hi Andra, firstly what a great group and what a thread to start off with. Now for my two penneth worth: Putting my economics hat on, I'm going to fix on the word investment. Depending on who you ask, investment can mean many things: For the private sector, it tends to mean the deployment of capital expecting a return. For governments, this tends to require the input of time and spending on regulatory regimes with returns in terms of employment, skills gained and taxation and also possibly spending on infrastructure and / or education to facilitate investment from the private sector. When sustainability is introduced, this brings about complications when it comes to the consumption of natural resources as, some investments, tend to lend themselves to rapid expoitation at high rates which might in the case of natural systems be below replenishment rates. Sustainability probably revolve around the concept of the use of the environment without long term degradation. Right, that's my tuppence, how you do this is open for debate!