The Concept of Sustainable April

Development 2011

Sustainable Development

In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Development, also known as the ‘Earth Summit’, took place in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. It was the largest ever international conference
and its central aim was to identify the principles of action towards
‘sustainable development in the future. The challenge was seen
to require consensus at the highest level, such that for the first
time, heads of state gathered to consider the environment.

Literally, sustainable development refers to maintaining

development over time. It has however been suggested that there
are more than seventy definitions of sustainable development
currently in circulation. In 1987 the World Commission on
Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) defined
it as: Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. This contributed to the understanding that sustainable
development encompasses a number of areas and highlights
sustainability as the idea of environmental, economic and social
progress and equity, all within the limits of the world’s natural
resources. However, the record on moving towards sustainability
so far appears to have been quite poor especially in developing
countries

The core issues in sustainable development include

1. Population and human resources – manage the numbers,

changes in mobility, improved health and education,
empowering vulnerable groups

2. Food security- reducing degradation, pressure on forests,

chemical fertilizers, water managements and productivity
inputs, subsidies

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3. Species and ecosystems – again talk about the value of

biodiversity and the danger of extinctions to the society

a. Energy – sufficient growth of energy supplies to meet

human needs; energy efficiency and conservation
measures such that the waste of primary resources is
reduced; public health, recognizing the problems of
risks to safety inherent in energy sources; protection of
the biosphere and the prevention of more localized
forms of pollution (nuclear energy); renewable forms of
energy.

4. Industry- should establish environmental goals, regulations

and incentives and standards; make more effective use of
economic instruments – pollution is a form of waste.
Industries should invest in improved products and processes
to increase efficiency and reduce waste; broaden
environmental assessments; encourage action by industry –
environmental awareness campaigns at all levels.
International trade associations should set standards and
disseminate information; increase capacity to deal with
industrial standards; strengthen international efforts to help
developing countries – pollution intensive industries fastest
growing in developing countries

5. The urban challenge – crisis in third world cities, unable to

offer services – clean water, sanitation, schools, transport –
slums, overcrowding and rampant disease linked to
unhealthy environment; air and water pollution

Towards Sustainable Development

• The satisfaction of human needs and aspirations is the

major objective of sustainable development. The vast
numbers of people in developing countries i.e. food,

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clothing, shelter and jobs. These are not being met.

Beyond their basic needs, people have legitimate needs
for an improved quality of life. A world in which poverty
and inequality are endemic will always be prone to
ecological and other crises. The living standards that go
beyond the basic minimum can only be sustainable if
consumption standards everywhere have regard for long
term sustainability. An expansion in the number of people
can increase pressure on resources and slow the rise in
the living standards in areas where deprivation is
widespread. Though the issue is not population size but of
the distribution of resources. sustainable development
can only be achieved or pursued if demographic
developments are in harmony with the changing
productive potential of the ecosystem

• A society may in many ways compromise its ability to

meet the needs of its people in the future by
overexploiting resources. The direction of technological
developments may solve some immediate problems but
lead to even greater ones. Large sections of the
population may be marginalized by ill considered
development.

• Settled agriculture, the diversion of water courses, the

extraction of minerals and the emission of heat, noxious
gases into the atmosphere, commercial forests and
genetic manipulation are all examples of human
interventions on natural ecosystems during the courses of
development. Until recently such interventions were small
scale and their impact limited. Today’s interventions are
far more drastic in scale and impact and more threatening
to life support systems both locally and globally.

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Sustainable development should not endanger the natural

systems that support life

• Economic growth and development involve changes in the

physical ecosystem. Every ecosystem cannot be
preserved intact. A forest may be depleted in one part of a
watershed and extended elsewhere. This is not bad if the
effects of soil erosion rates, water regimes and genetic
losses have been taken into account. In general
renewable resources like fish stock need not be depleted
provided the rate of use is within its limits of regeneration
and growth. In the case of non-renewable resources like
fossil fuels and minerals, the state of exploitation should
take into account the criticality of the resource, the
availability for minimizing depletion and the likelihood of
substitutes being available.

• Individuals should be made to act in common interest.

Education, institutional development and law enforcement
could be used to achieve this. Many problems of resource
depletion and environmental stress arise from disparities
in economic and political power. An industry may get
away with unacceptable levels of water and air pollution
because the people who bear the brunt of it are poor and
unable to complain effectively.

• Ecological interactions do not respect boundaries,

ownership and jurisdiction thus:

a. In a watershed, the way in which a farmer up the

slope uses land directly affect runoff on farms
downstream

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b. The irrigation practices, pesticides one uses on

one farm affect the productivity of neighbouring
ones, especially among small farms.

c. The efficiency of a factory boiler determines its

rate of emission of soot and noxious chemicals
and affects all who live and work around it

d. The hot water discharged by a thermal power

plant into a river or local sea affects the catch of
all who fish locally.

• The world must quickly design strategies that will

allow nations to move from their present, often
destructive processes of growth and development on to
sustainable development paths. This will require policy
change in all countries with respect to their own
development and to their impacts on other nations’
development possibilities. Critical objectives that follow
from the concept of sustainable development include:

a. Reviving growth (economic growth and reducing

poverty)

b. Changing the quality of growth (make it less

material and energy intensive

c. Meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy,

water and sanitation

d. Conserving and enhancing the resource base

e. Reorienting technology and managing risk

f. Merging the environment and economics in

decision making

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The pursuit of sustainable development requires:

1. A political system that secures effective citizen participation

in decision making

2. An economic system that provides solutions for the tensions

arising from disharmonious development

3. A production system that respects the obligation to preserve

the ecological base for development

4. A technological system that fosters sustainable patterns of

trade and finance

5. An international system that fosters sustainable patterns of

trade and finance

6. An administrative system that is flexible and has the

capacity for self correction

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