Sustainable Consumption, Consumer Protection and Sustainable Development: Unbundling Institutional Septet for Developing Economies

This chapter investigates the role of consumption in sustainable development and, drawing on the institutional and stakeholder theoretic models, examines its institutional implications for developing economies. Against the backdrop of concerns about consumerism and responsible business practices, the chapter seeks to identify consumer protection measures that can facilitate a symbiotic relationship between consumption and sustainable development within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015). These consumer protection measures can assist in protecting ‘present’ (proximate) consumers and ‘future’ generations in line with the definition of sustainable development as providing for ‘the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (United Nations, 1987). The measures can be employed in providing a balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection as the pillars of sustainable development emphasised by the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2002).