This book is the sixth major volume in the Munasinghe Institute of Development (MIND) series on growth and sustainable development. Earlier volumes are listed at the front of this publication.

A range of ideas about addressing the complex problems of sustainable development and poverty are set out in this text. Therefore, the reader may find some relevant background information helpful in understanding and interpreting my viewpoint. Physics and engineering were my first loves, and they sustained me all the way through a Ph.D. However, the lure of development was hard to resist, and this led me to pursue concurrently a post-graduate degree in development economics. This focus on the issues of poverty and development has continued ever since, and I have had no cause to regret the choice.

Early work in the development area, during the early 1970s, helped me to concentrate on development planning and natural-resource management (especially energy and water) – amidst the ‘limits to growth’ debate and the first oil crisis. Although the concept of sustainable development was not known at the time, much of this initial work on marginal cost pricing, integrated resource planning and macroeconomic modelling was not only based on sound economic principles, but also included important social and environmental considerations, including poverty, equity and externalities. From the mid 1980s, my efforts shifted more towards environmental and natural-resource issues and their links with macroeconomic policies and poverty.