The loss of possible uses of the non-human made physical surroundings, named environmental functions, on which humanity is dependent in all its doings remains outside the estimate.
The original concept of ´sustainability´ refers to an equilibrium relation between human activities and their physical surroundings and has a long tradition going back to the nineteenth century.
[4] By taking together environmental conservation and herewith conflicting goals in one and the same sustainability indicator the development of the state of the environment is being obscured.
The theoretical and practical framework of the Sustainable national income is developed by the economist Roefie Hueting.
A multidisciplinary team of biologists, chemists, physicists, electrical engineers and economists worked for nearly forty years on the SNI and the environmental statistics on what it is based.
Environmental functions are defined as the possible uses of our non-human made physical surroundings, on which humanity is entirely dependent in all its doings, whether they be producing, consuming, breathing or recreating.
With the present technology, population size as well as production and consumption patterns, the sustainable situation governments say they strive for cannot be reached.
The length of the period of the transition path to a sustainable situation is only limited by the condition that vital environmental functions must not be irreparably damaged.
In accordance with the principles of the SNI it is assumed that all countries in the world simultaneously switch over to environmental sustainability and that the costs thereof are comparable with those of The Netherlands.