UNIT VI

TOWARDS A
SUSTAINABLE
WORLD
SIR LEANDRO ROMANO O. DALISAY
Sustainable Development and Climate Change

By its meaning, sustainable development has been

variously defined, but one of the most quoted
definitions of this term is from the Brundtland Report
also known as Our Common Future, which is a
publication released by the World Commission on
Environment and Development in 1987, “sustainable
development is development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.”
Sustainable Development and Climate Change

As this term primarily relates to how the needs of the

people basically through the consumption and
utilization of resources, sustainable development is
often linked with climate change which due to its
hazardous effects in the environment is known to be a
major restriction in achieving sustainability.
This link between sustainable development and climate
change is considered strong. Poor developing countries
particularly those developed countries tend to be the
most severely affected by climate change.
Undoubtedly, climate change is often seen as a part of
the broader challenge in sustainable development thru a
two-fold link:
1) Impacts of climate change can severely hamper
development efforts in key sector (e.g. increased threat of
natural disasters and growing water stress will have to be
factored into plans for public health infrastructure).

2) Development choice will influence the capacity to mitigate

and adapt to climate change (e.g. policies for forest
conservation and sustainable energy will improve
communities’ resilience reducing thereby the vulnerability
of their sources of income to climate change)
In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Member States
express their commitment to protect the planet from degradation
and take urgent action on climate change. The Agenda also
identifies, in its paragraph 14, climate change as “one of the
greatest challenges of our time” and worries about “its adverse
impacts undermine the ability of all countries to achieve
sustainable development. Increases in global temperature, sea level
rise, ocean acidification and other climate change impacts are
seriously affecting coastal areas and low-lying coastal countries,
including many least developed countries and Small Island
Developing States. The survival of many societies, and of the
biological support systems of the planet, is at risk.”
Various efforts are underway to deal with climate. However,
strong resistance on the part of governments and corporations
counters these. There are significant challenges involved in
implementing various measures such as “carbon tax” and “carbon
neutrality” to deal with environmental problems. It is also difficult
to find alternatives to fossil fuels. For instance, the use of ethanol
as an alternative to gasoline has an attendant set of problems - it is
less efficient and it has led to escalation in the price of corn, which
currently serves as major source of ethanol. Although biofuels
themselves produce lower emissions, their extraction and transport
contribute significantly to total emissions.
 The World’s Leading Environmental Problems
The Conserve Energy Future website lists the following environmental
challenges that the world faces today:
1. Depredation caused by industrial and transportation toxins and plastic in the ground; the
defiling of the sea, rivers, and water beds by oil spills and acid rain; the dumping of urban
waste.
2. Changes in global weather patterns (flash floods, extreme snowstorms, and the spread of
deserts) and the surge in ocean and land temperatures leading to a rise in sea levels (as the polar
ice caps melt because of the weather), plus the flooding of many lowland areas across the
world.
3. Overpopulation

4. Exhaustion of the world’s natural non-renewable resources from oil reserves to minerals to
potable water.

5. Waste disposal catastrophe due to excessive amount of waste (from plastic to food packages to
electronic waste) unloaded by communities in landfills as well as on the ocean; and dumping of
nuclear waste.
 The World’s Leading Environmental Problems
The Conserve Energy Future website lists the following environmental
challenges that the world faces today:
6. Destruction of million-year-old ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity (destruction of the coral
reefs and massive deforestation) that have led to the extinction of particular species and decline
in the number of others.

7. Reduction of oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to deforestation,
resulting in the rise in ocean acidity by as much as 150 percent in the last 250 years.

8. Depletion of ozone layer protecting the planet from the sun’s deadly ultraviolet rays due to
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere.

9. Deadly acid rain as a result of fossil fuel combustion, toxic chemicals from erupting volcanoes,
and the massive rotting vegetables filling up garbage dumps or left on the streets.
 The World’s Leading Environmental Problems
The Conserve Energy Future website lists the following environmental
challenges that the world faces today:
10. Water pollution arising from industrial and community waste residues seeping into
underground water tables, rivers and seas.

11. Urban sprawls that continue to expand as a city turns into a megalopolis, destroying farmlands,
increasing traffic gridlock, and making smog cloud a permanent urban fixture.

12. Pandemics and other threats to public health arising from wastes with drinking water, polluted
environment that become the breeding grounds for mosquitoes and disease carrying rodents,
and pollution.

13. A radical alteration of food systems because of genetic modifications in food Production.
 Global Food Security
What is Food Security?
As said, food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to adequate, safe, and
nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
213 This widely accepted definition of food security emphasizes the four dimensions of food
security which are as follows:

1) food access: access to adequate resources to acquire a healthy and nutritious diet
2) food use: use of food through adequate diet, clean water and health care to reach the state of a
healthy well-being
3) availability: availability of adequate supply of food, produced either through domestic or
foreign import, including as well the food aid received from outside the country
4) stability: access to sufficient food at all times, without losing access to food supply brought by
either economic or climatic crisis.
Global Food Security: Issues, Interventions and Public Policy Implications

The global food security situation and outlook remains delicately imbalanced
amid surplus food production and the prevalence of hunger, due to the complex
interplay of social, economic, and ecological factors that mediate food security
outcomes at various human and institutional scales. Food production outpaced
food demand over the past 50 years due to expansion in crop area and irrigation,
as well as supportive policy and institutional interventions that led to the fast and
sustained growth in agricultural productivity and improved food security in many
parts of the world. However, future predictions point to a slow-down in
agricultural productivity and a food- gap mainly in areas across Africa and Asia
which are having ongoing food security issues.
Global Food Security: Issues, Interventions and Public Policy Implications

The problem of food insecurity is expected to worsen due to, among others, rapid
population growth and other emerging challenges such as climate change and
rising demand for biofuels. Climate change poses complex challenges in terms of
increased variability and risk for food producers and the energy and water
sectors. There is a need to look beyond agriculture and invest in affordable and
suitable farm technologies if the problem of food insecurity is to be addressed in
a sustainable manner. This requires both revisiting the current approach of
agricultural intervention and reorienting the existing agricultural research
institutions and policy framework.
Global Food Security: Issues, Interventions and Public Policy Implications

Proactive interventions and policies for tackling food security are to

be discussed which include issues such as agriculture for
development, ecosystem services from agriculture, and gender
mainstreaming, to extend the focus on food security within and
beyond the agriculture sector, by incorporating cross-cutting issues
such as energy security, resource reuse and recovery, social
protection programs, and involving civil society in food policy
making processes by promoting food sovereignty.
 Challenges in Food Security
Demand for food will be 60% greater than it is today and the
challenge of food security requires the world to feed 9 billion
people by 2050. Global food security means delivering sufficient
food to the entire world population. It is, therefore, a priority of all
countries, whether developed or less developed. The security of
food also means the sustainability of society such as population
growth, climate change, water scarcity, and agriculture. The case of
India show how complex the issue of food security is in relation to
other factors:
 Challenges in Food Security
But perhaps the closest aspect of human life associated
with food security is the environment. A major
environmental problem is the destruction of natural
habitats, particularly through deforestation. Industrial
fishing has contributed to a significant destruction of
marine life and ecosystems. Biodiversity and usable
farmland have also declined at a rapid pace.
 Challenges in Food Security
Another significant environmental challenge is that of the decline in the
availability of fresh water. Because of the degradation of soil or
desertification, decline in water supply has transformed what was once
considered a public good into a privatized commodity. The poorest areas of
the globe experience a disproportionate share of water-related problems. The
problem is further intensified by the consumption of “virtual water”, wherein
people use up water from elsewhere to produce consumer products. The
destruction of the water ecosystem may lead to the creation of “climate
refugees, people who are forcibly displaced due to effects of climate change
and disasters.
 Challenges in Food Security
Pollution through toxic chemicals has had a long-term impact on the environment. The
use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) has led to significant industrial pollution.
Greenhouse gases, gases that trap sunlight and heat in the earth’s atmosphere, contribute
greatly to global warming. In turn, this process causes the melting of land- based and
glacial ice with potentially catastrophic effects, the possibility of substantial flooding, a
reduction in the alkalinity of the oceans, and the destruction of existing ecosystems.
Ultimately, global warming poses a threat to the global supply of food as well as to
human health. Furthermore, population growth and its attendant increase in consumption
intensify ecological problems. The global flow of dangerous debris is another major
concern, with electronic waste often dumped in developing countries.
 Challenges in Food Security
There are different models and agenda pushed by different organizations
to address the issue of global food security. One of this is through
sustainability. The United Nations has set ending hunger, achieving food
security and improved security, and promoting sustainable agriculture as
the second of its 17 Sustainable Goals (SDGs) for the year 2030. The
World Economic Forum (2010) also addressed this issue through the
New Vision of Agriculture (NVA) in 2009 wherein public-private
partnerships were established. It has mobilized over $10 billion that
reached smallholder farmers.
 Thank you
for listening
Sir Leandro Romano O. Dalisay