UN's Olivier De Schutter on why the world should stop constantly pursuing growth The world should abandon its constant race for economic growth. That's the idea behind a new book written by the UN's Special Rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty. In it, Olivier De Schutter argues that the system is now counterproductive in rich countries and that the Earth cannot continue to provide the resources we demand of it. "Infinite growth is not possible on a finite planet," he told us in Perspective.