SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT | ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY Optional for UPSC

Introduction

• Sustainable development defined as the balanced and equitable integration of environmental, social, and economic factors to meet present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs.
• Sustainable environment may be defined as such an environment whose physical and biotic components remain in healthy condition inspite of exploitation and utilization of natural/ ecological resources. 
• A sustainable environment can only be maintained when human society follows the rules of ecological principles and Gaia hypothesis.

Definition

• Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." 1987 Brundtland Report
• It contains two key concepts within it:
  
  • The concept of 'needs', in particular, the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and
  • The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

Thinker’s perspective

• Gro Harlem Brundtland: Brundtland Report (1987) defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Elinor Ostrom (1990): Emphasized the importance of community-based resource management and the role of local institutions in achieving sustainability.
• Herman Daly (1991): Daly advocated for a “steady-state economy” that operates within ecological limits and focuses on well-being rather than unlimited growth.
• W.P. Cunnigham and M.A. Cunnigham (2000): ‘Sustainable development, then, means progress in human well-being that we can extend or prolong over many generations, rather than just a few years. To be truly enduring, the benefits of sustainable development must be available to all humans and not just to a privileged group'.

Evolution of the concept

• Sustainable development originated from ideas about sustainable forest management in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.
• It emerged as a response to concerns about overexploitation of natural resources, highlighted in John Evelyn's essay Sylva.
• The concept of managing forests for sustained yield was developed by von Carlowitz, building upon Evelyn's ideas and those of French minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
• The Club of Rome used the term "sustainable" in its contemporary sense in 1972.
• IUCN introduced the term "sustainable development" in a 1980 world conservation strategy.
• The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) provided a widely used definition of sustainable development in their 1987 report.
• The Rio Process, initiated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, established the institutionalization of sustainable development.
• Agenda 21, an action plan for sustainable development, emphasized the importance of information, integration, and participation.
• In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period 2015 to 2030, highlighting their integrated and indivisible nature for global sustainable development.

Dimension

• Agenda 21 from 1992 explicitly talks about economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

Social sustainability

• Social sustainability aims to preserve social capital by investing and creating services that constitute the framework of our society. 
• The concept accommodates a larger view of the world in relation to communities, cultures and globalisation.
• Social sustainability focuses on maintaining and improving social quality with concepts such as cohesion, reciprocity and honesty and the importance of relationships amongst people. 
• It can be encouraged and supported by laws, information and shared ideas of equality and rights. 
• Social sustainability incorporates the idea of sustainable development as defined by the United Nations sustainable development goals. 
• The principle of sustainable development addresses social and economic improvement that protects the environment and supports equality, and therefore the economy and society and the ecological system are mutually dependent (Diesendorf, 2000).

Economic sustainability

• Economic sustainability aims to maintain the capital intact. 
• If social sustainability focuses on improving social equality, economic sustainability aims to improve the standard of living.
• In the context of business, it refers to the efficient use of assets to maintain company profitability over time. 
• As stated by the UK Government (Annual Report 2000, January 2001):
• “Maintaining high and stable levels of economic growth is one of the key objectives of sustainable development. Abandoning economic growth is not an option. But sustainable development is more than just economic growth. The quality of growth matters as well as the quantity.”

Environmental sustainability

• Environmental sustainability aims to improve human welfare through the protection of natural capital (e.g. land, air, water, minerals etc.). 
• Initiatives and programs are defined environmentally sustainable when they ensure that the needs of the population are met without the risk of compromising the needs of future generations. 
• Environmental sustainability, as described by Dunphy, Benveniste, Griffiths and Sutton (2000), places emphasis on how business can achieve positive economic outcomes without doing any harm, in the short- or long-term, to the environment. 
• According to Dunphy (2000) an environmentally sustainable business seeks to integrate all four sustainability pillars, and to reach this aim each one needs to be treated equally.

Requirement

Six interdependent capacities are deemed to be necessary for the successful pursuit of sustainable development. These are:

• the capacities to measure progress towards sustainable development; 
• promote equity within and between generations; 
• adapt to shocks and surprises;
• transform the system onto more sustainable development pathways; 
• link knowledge with action for sustainability; and
• to devise governance arrangements that allow people to work together

Barriers

• Lack of expertise, 
• Lack of resources, 
• High initial capital cost of implementing sustainability measures.
• Lack of political will
• Negative externalities that may potentially arise from implementing sustainable development technology.
  
  • Ex: Production of lithium battery is required to reduce the dependence on fossil fuel for energy however lithium battery manufacturing is chemical intensive process which negatively impact environment.

Critique

• The concept of sustainable development has been criticised on the question of what is to be sustained in sustainable development
• Critics argued that there is no such thing as sustainable use of a non-renewable resource, since any positive rate of exploitation will eventually lead to the exhaustion of earth's finite stock
• Some critics see the term as paradoxical (or an oxymoron) and regard development as inherently unsustainable
• Others are disappointed in the lack of progress that has been achieved so far.
• "Development" itself is not consistently defined which creates another issue.
• The vagueness of the Brundtland definition of sustainable development has been criticized that it has ‘opened up the possibility of downplaying sustainability, and make government spread the message that they can have it all at the same time’.

Sustainable Development Goals

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
• They are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".
• The goals are: 
  
  • No poverty, 
  • Zero hunger, 
  • good health and well-being, 
  • quality education, 
  • gender equality, 
  • clean water and sanitation,
  • affordable and clean energy, 
  • decent work and economic growth, 
  • industry, innovation and infrastructure, 
  • Reduced Inequality, 
  • Sustainable Cities and Communities, 
  • Responsible Consumption and Production, 
  • Climate Action, 
  • Life Below Water, 
  • Life On Land, 
  • Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, 
  • Partnerships for the Goals. 

Gaia Hypothesis

• Gaia hypothesis, postulated by British biologist James Lovelock in early 1970s, emphasizes the need to strike a balance between human needs and development on one hand, and the maintenance of environmental quality on the other hand.
• The hypothesis says that 'human needs must be weighed against maintaining critical natural processes'.
• Originally, Lovestock and his associate Lynn Margulis postulated that 'life on earth actively keeps the surface conditions always favorable for whatever is the contemporary ensemble organisms. 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT VS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH