(Online Course) Essay Writing Skills Improvement Programme: Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development
The resource supplies of Earth are dwindling, and our numbers are continuing to explode. We are already exceeding the "carrying capacity" of the planet, and further growth will do nothing but continue to destroy our host, the Earth. The main reason why we are exceeding our carrying capacity is the environmental growth in our population- Our global resources of water and food are already stretched to the breaking point. What will our world be like with twice as many of us, a mere 50 years from now? Scarcities of renewable resources are contributing to violent conflicts in many parts of the developing world. - For- instance, the World watch Institute and other perceptive watchers are quick to point out that a grave -concern lies in the increasing need for freshwater. Water tables have been dropping steadily worldwide, with no plan for restoration, while demand continues to climb. Some have dismally predicted certain wars in the Middle East over water within a decade.
Sustainability is a dynamic concept born out of the environmental debate of the last quarter century. There is growing concern nationally and internationally about biodiversity and protection of plants and animals and community based activity. It is important to view sustainable efforts from global perspective that addresses socio-economic and environmental issues. The Rio Summit emphasized on economic growth and poverty alleviation for sustainable development. The basic prerequisite of sustainable development is the evolution of a development process with focus on the enhancement of the living conditions of population as a whole with emphasis on raising the standard of living of the poor. The Agenda21 called all countries to develop national strategies for sustainable development to translate the words and commitments of Earth summit into concrete policies and actions. The important issue in the 21st century is to create greater economic and societal well-being without deterioration of the environment and depletion of the resources. There three fundamental questions about sustainability.
Definition of Sustainability?
Sustainable Development as a norm has been accepted in the literature ever since the publication of the Brundtland Commission report in 1987.The Brundtland Commission defined Sustainable Development as that which "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs". The publication of this report has been followed by several attempts at defining Sustainable Development. It is defined as "a pattern of social and structured economic transformations (i.e. development) that optimizes the economic and societal benefits available in the present, without jeopardizing the likely potential for similar benefits in the future." A primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level of economic well being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations. It also implies using renewable natural resources in a manner that does not eliminate or degrade them, or otherwise diminish their usefulness for future generations. Sustainable development also requires depleting non-renewable energy resources at a slow enough rate so as to ensure the high probability of an orderly society transition to renewable energy sources.
Sustainability for
"There's enough in the world to meet the needs of everyone but there's not enough to meet the greed of everyone". -Mahatma Gandhi
Over the past 20 years total population in the industrialized countries has increased by 28%. These countries are facing many problems such as environmental degradation, over dependence on non-renewal sources of energy, declining standards of living. These problems are more acute in developing countries. These countries have formed their economic systems on western models ignoring their indigenous requirements. A great deal of harm has been done to agriculture sector. The percentage of cultivable land has been decreasing over the years due to increase in population and non-judicial use of resources. This has given rise to man induced degradation. Forests are being destroyed and concrete jungles are taking their place. It is within the cities that most of the world's resources are consumed. As most of these resources originate in rural areas, production decisions taken by urban enterprises bear a powerful influence on their existence. Rapid ecological changes are taking place in the fringes and rural areas surrounding cities. History has led to vast inequalities, leaving almost three-fourths of the world's people living in less-developed countries and one-fifth below the poverty line.
This has been compounded further by the long-term impact of past industrialization; exploitation and environmental damage. Human health in its broadest sense of physical, mental and spiritual well-being is to a great extent dependent on the access of the citizen to a healthy environment Citizens of developing countries continue to be vulnerable to a double burden of diseases. Traditional diseases such as malaria and cholera, caused by unsafe drinking water and lack of environmental hygiene, have not yet been controlled. In addition, people are now falling prey to modern diseases such as cancer and AIDS, and stress-related disorders. Many of the widespread ailments among the poor in developing countries are occupation-related. The concepts of interrelatedness, of a shared planet, of global citizenship cannot be restricted to environmental issues alone. They apply equally to the shared and inter-linked responsibilities of environmental protection and human development. Development in this new century has to be even more conscious of its long-term impact. The problems are complex and the choices difficult. Our common future can only be achieved with a better understanding of our common concerns and shared responsibilities.
Ways to Achieve Sustainability
"We cannot have ecological movement designed to prevent violence against nature, unless the principles of non-violence become central to the ethics of human culture." -Mahatma Gandhi
Moving towards sustainable development presents tremendous challenges. We humans forget that in order to survive, we need to adapt to nature and not vice-versa. In Gandhian thought and action, humanity has all the tools it needs for sustainable development. This model aims for all round development of the villages thus helping in containing the large-scale migration to the cities. He stood for better life based on limited industrialization, decentralization and social reconstruction. He advocated small scale and cottage industries that are environment friendly and also less resource depletive. This is relevant for most developing nations including India. Poverty and a degraded environment are closely inter-related, especially where people depend for their livelihoods primarily on the natural resource base of their immediate environment. Restoring natural systems and improving natural resource management practices at the grassroots level are central to a strategy to eliminate poverty. The survival needs of the poor force them to continue to degrade an already degraded environment. Removal of poverty is therefore a prerequisite for the protection of the environment. While conventional economic development leads to the elimination of several traditional occupations, the process of sustainable development, guided by the need to protect and conserve the environment, leads to the creation of new jobs and of opportunities for the reorientation of traditional skills to new occupations. Women, while continuing to perform their traditional domestic roles' are increasingly involved in earning livelihoods. In many poor households they are often the principal or the sole breadwinners. A major thrust at the policy level is necessary to ensure equity and justice for them. Literacy and a basic education are essential for enabling the poor to access the benefits offered by development initiatives and market opportunities. Basic education is therefore a precondition for sustainable development. A sizeable proportion (about 60 per cent according to some estimates) of the population is not integrated into the market economy.
Ensuring the security of their livelihoods is an imperative for sustainable development. With increasing purchasing power, wasteful consumption linked to market driven consumerism is stressing the resource base of developing countries further. It is important to counter this through education and public awareness. Several traditional practices that are sustainable and environment friendly continue to be a regular part of the lives of people in developing countries. These need to be encouraged rather than replaced by more 'modern' but unsustainable practices and technologies. Development decisions regarding technology and infrastructure are a major determinant of consumption patterns. It is therefore important to evaluate and make development decisions that structurally lead to a more sustainable society. Technologies exist through which substantial reduction in consumption of resources is possible. Efforts to identify, evaluate, introduce and use these technologies must be made. Scientists have a responsibility of communicating the risks and rewards of a new technology to society at large. Several advancements in environment-friendly and cleaner technologies will help in achieving sustainable development. Globalization as it is taking place today is increasing the divide between the rich and the poor. It has to be steered so that it serves not only commercial interests but also the social needs of development.
Global business thrives on, and therefore encourages and imposes, high levels of homogeneity in consumer preferences. On the other hand, for development to be locally appropriate and sustainable, it must be guided by local considerations, which lie in cultural diversity and traditions. Therefore recognition at the policy level, of the significance of diversity, and the need to preserve it, is an important precondition for sustainable development. In an increasingly globalize economy, developing countries, for want of the appropriate skills, are often at a disadvantage in negotiating and operating multilateral trade agreements. Regional cooperation for capacity building is therefore necessary to ensure their effective participation in all stages of multilateral trade. Mechanisms to safeguard trade and livelihoods, especially in developing countries, must be evolved and negotiated to make globalization an effective vehicle of sustainable development. War and armed conflict are a major threat to sustainable development. It is imperative to evolve effective mechanisms for mediation in such situations and to resolve contentious issues without compromising the larger developmental goals of the conflicting parties. The role of public health services must give preventive health care equal emphasis as curative health care. People should be empowered through education and awareness to participate in managing preventive health care related to environmental sanitation and hygiene. Most developing countries are repositories of a rich tradition of natural resource-based health care. This is under threat, on the one hand from modern mainstream medicine, and on the other from the degradation of the natural resource base. Traditional medicine in combination with modern medicine must be promoted while ensuring conservation of the resource base.
Developing and developed countries should also strive together to strengthen the capacity of their health care systems to deliver basic health services and to reduce environment-related health risks by sharing of health awareness and medical expertise globally. More and more people at community level are thinking about what is happening to their environment and their living levels. There is need for greater public participation. The local institutions must be involved in developing, promoting, and implementing policies at all levels. It is good governance that will serve as a driving force for sustainable development. Sustained development is about the future, and we can only think of the future when our present is not in crisis.
We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive -Albert Einstein day, many resource economists and scientists fear that mankind may be consuming and destroying the living and non-living natural foundations upon which our lives depend. If we continue on our current path, a ' catastrophe of fearful dimensions may befall the human family. And as we look deeply into the question of how to make a better world, everything leads to one essential fact: most of our current activities are not sustainable. In spite of the laudable efforts for conservation and recycling, the end result falls far short of sustainability. In our current market dynamics and resource utilization, we are hastening to on, own demise.
While the efforts of individuals and small community groups can point the way, the move to sustainability can only be done with the willing participation of the market, because the market is where the money and power is. The influence of the market on human affairs is undoubtedly much greater than that of any system- The economic power of the world's largest corporations has become larger than that of the countries-where they do business. However, business today is not sustainable. And, sustainability does have-a cost. Renewable sources of energy must be adopted. Products that are designed to be used and then thrown away, without the waste product being recycled or biodegraded, must be replaced by ones that participate in the cycle of sustainability. Automobile manufacturers, such as UMW and Honda are already getting into the act; with cars being made that can be recycled.
Further, taking effective action to halt the massive injury
to the Earth's environment will require a mobilization of great political will
and international cooperation. It is clear that our burgeoning population will
be hard pressed to meet its future needs with the present planetary resources-
We must, therefore, actively restore damaged habitats and deteriorating
ecosystems so that nature can continue its own sustainable cycles.
In spite of the obvious truth that see cannot sustainably continue to bum fossil
fuels at the present rate, yet there's no sign of any control. The potential
effects of global waning are extreme, with only a few degrees of change needed
to produce massive floods, withdrawal of forests, death and finally
extinction-of species or entire ecosystems. Then, our agricultural practices
leave a lot to be desired. The mindless and incessant use of chemicals and
synthetic fertilizers to boost the productivity has wreaked havoc on the
environment, besides depleting natural fecundity of tine land. The growing food
insecurity and inequities in the access to food are proof enough of our
unsustainable techniques of fanning. The options before us are either to do
something better or to perish. Sustainable Agriculture is the answer to the
first option. And it is our last chance to redeem ourselves and undo .tire great
harm that we have done to our living foundations.
Besides, among all our environmental debts, there is one that see cannot pay viz. Extinction. At Ore present rate of extrication ion, we may lose 20 percent of all Ore species on die planet within the next twenty to forty years; most of these being in due tropical rainforests. Many species, even though not yet at risk of completely is appearing, are being', so severely depleted genetically that their ability to reproduce and adapt is increasingly impaired. This loss of evolutionary potential, bearing called the 'death of birth', is tantamount to marching backward through the Cenozoic Age losing millions of years of evolutionary development m a matter of decades. We will face iv hat is ca f led the final h loss'-brat point in tire not-too-distant future when environmental degradation on the planet will no longer require our active participation.
There is no doubt that we need to begin now. We cannot go backward to idyllic notions of infinite resource supplies, nor can we continue with business as usual. The need for sustainability is absolutely undeniable and any efforts to oppose it are as shortsighted, as they are self-destructive. The old thinking has to go' and a new ethic of sustainability needs to be swallowed and digested- It is clear that we are at a historic juncture since we confront a future that could go either way- We have, in short, arrived at our species' ecological moment of truth.
If the central problem is that we are consuming and destroying our natural resources, the solution lies in building sustainable communities. A sustainable community formulates_ goals that are rooted in a respect for both the natural environment and human nature and that calls for the use of technology in an appropriate way -to serve both these resources. Such a community recognizes its relationship with nature and sees nature's systems and components as essential to its well being. Building sustainable communities means striking a pact of coexistence and co-evolution with nature. A case in point is the Integrated Watershed Development Programme carried out in the Jhabua District of Madhya Pradesh. Before the Programme, Jhabua was one of the most ecologically fragile -and backward regions of the country, and even the planners had given up any hope of saving it from the impending disaster. However, local initiative Eras turned a sure shot disaster-in-waiting into a success story that is real and a proud symbol of the genius o f India’s rural populace. Taking succor in the time-tested principles of sustainable development. The Programme has been an unprecedented success and has become a case study worth emulating.
Further, the development of values, which will support the movement towards sustainable development, must be encouraged. Specifically, the following critical values need to be emphasised. First, that people living today have an obligation to pass on the resources, intact to future generations-. Second, that the human species is part of nature and must abstain from destroying the myriad life forms with which it shares this planet. We humans are a part of something bigger than ourselves, and we have an absolute moral obligation to protect it. The majestic unfolding of life on Earth must not be aborted by the folly of man. Our most unforgivable arrogance is to assume that we represent the apogee of the evolution of life, or even of our own species.
What all of this really boils down to is the same thing that got us here in the first place- those great intangibles known as Vision and Wilt And if we arc to find our ecological salvation, it is a New Vision and a Renewed Will that will obtain it The Will to make this scenario real must be rooted in a deep sense of responsibility hence, we need to reconceive our notions of Freedom arid Responsibility. It’s as simple as remembering the underlying dream, the dream of one's descendants, the dream of a beautiful world in which we perceive ourselves as respectful brethren of every other inhabitant- We are at a crucial turning point: the actions of those morn living will determine the future, and possibly the very survival of rte species.
