Sustainability management – integrating the multiple dimensions of an interdisciplinary research discipline

Abstract

Starting with the publication of Carl von Carlowitz’s cutting-edge book “Sylvicultura Oeconomica” in 1713, the first comprehensive treatise on sustainability management, sustainability has a long tradition as a paradigm in Germany. As a responsible manager for the mines in Saxony, von Carlowitz realized that consuming the natural environment by burning wood to produce energy to be used in the mines might be of short-term economic benefit. But in the medium- or even long-term, the ecological sources for creating economic wealth are lost. Even in the short-term there was competition regarding use, i.e. either burning the wood or using it to stabilize the mines. Furthermore, people would lose their jobs, even if there was enough ore, and unemployment caused poverty and social tensions. Therefore, he established rules on how to use the natural environment in a responsible manner. He set the target that companies should only cut as much wood as could regrow in the forest in order to allow a continuous use of the wood: