Importance of Sustainable Development

 

Sustainable Development

( click on pink lines for reference links )

Nature is the most important thing in our world. Without nature, we are nothing. Mother nature has created us. and given us wonderful places and innumerable resources to live with joy and happiness for the rest of our lives. We owe her a lot. Hence, it is our duty to take care of our mother, and keep her safe and healthy. 

In this modern era, we human beings are racing towards success. Everyone has a hunger, a desire to 'rat race' and be at the top of the pyramid. We humans are creating and inventing something new every single day, and its affecting our nature in some way or the other. The heady rush of developing the human race is affecting the nature. In the long run it would affect this development too. 

We need to prevent this huge mistake. As it's said: Prevention is better than cure. We must find a way to development by keeping our resources safe, secure and preserved. Our resources make us what we are. Without the resources, we wouldn't be having so many industries and institutions to create this global vision, what we are having today. At this moment, we need to think differently, in a more smart manner. 

 

What is Sustainable Development?

Sustainable Development is a development that meets the needs of the present without affecting or losing the availability of resources for the future generation. The result of a "Sustainable Development" would be a state of the society where the living conditions and resources will continue to meet human needs without affecting the stability and integrity of nature.

How did the concept of Sustainable Development come into being? 

Sustainable development has its roots in ideas about sustainable forest management  which were developed in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. The concept of sustainable development was described by the 1987 Brundtland Commission Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” 

•  In response to a growing awareness of the depletion of timber resources in England, John Evelyn argued, "Sowing and planting of trees had to be regarded as a national duty of every landowner, in order to stop the destructive over-exploitation of natural resources." in his 1662 essay Sylva.

 

• In 1713 Hans Carl von Carlowitz, a senior mining administrator in the service of Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony published Sylvicultura economics, a 400-page work on forestry. Building upon the ideas of Evelyn and French minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, von Carlowitz developed the concept of managing forests for sustained yield. His work influenced others, including Alexander von Humboldt and Georg Ludwig Hartig, eventually leading to the development of the science of forestry.

 

• This, in turn, influenced people like Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the US Forest Service, whose approach to forest management was driven by the idea of wise use of resources, and Aldo Leopold whose land ethic was influential in the development of the environmental movement in the 1960s. 

 

•  Following the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962, the developing environmental movement drew attention to the relationship between economic growth and development and environmental degradation. Kenneth E. Boulding in his influential 1966 essay The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth identified the need for the economic system to fit itself to the ecological system with its limited pools of resources. 

 

 The Brundtland Commission, in its report, "Our Common Future" (1987), stated:- 

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:

• 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.

[ Under the principles of the United Nations Charter the Millennium Declaration identified principles and treaties on sustainable development, including economic development, social development and environmental protection. Broadly defined, sustainable development is a systems approach to growth and development and to manage natural, produced, and social capital for the welfare of their own and future generations. The term sustainable development as used by the United Nations incorporates both issues associated with land development and broader issues of human development such as education, public health, and standard of living.] 

         ~ wikipedia. 

The Four Pillars of Sustainability 

Sustainability in general, refers to four distinct areas: Human, Social, Economic and Environmental. Let's see about them:-

Human Sustainability: 

Human sustainability aims to maintain the health and improve human resources in the society. It focuses on the importance of anyone directly or indirectly involved in the making of products, or provision of services or broader stakeholders (the human capital of the organization). Investments in the health and education systems, access to services, nutrition, knowledge and skills are all programs under the umbrella of human sustainability.

 Communities around the globe may be positively or negatively affected by business activities, or impacted through methods used to source raw materials. It encompasses the development of skills and human capacity to support the functions and sustainability of the organisation and to promote the wellbeing of communities and society.

 

 

     

 

Social Sustainability:

We, as a society are more powerful and influencing. Togetherness makes us stronger.

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 explores the concepts of unity, reciprocity ( giving and taking mutually), and honesty by giving importance to the relationships between people. 

It can be encouraged and supported by laws, information and shared ideas of equality and rights. 

 

Economic sustainability:

Economic sustainability aims to maintain "capital intact". We must preserve and safeguard all kinds of resources, to create a long term use of things (by recovery, recycling, etc.)

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.

 

Environmental Sustainability

Environmental Sustainability refers to improving human welfare through protection and preserving of natural capital - Plants, land, water, air and minerals, etc. When these natural resources are efficiently and effectively used without depleting the quantity of such resources for the coming days, it is said to be environment sustainability. 

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 et al. (2000) an environmentally sustainable business seeks to integrate all four sustainability pillars, and to reach this aim each one needs to be treated equally.

 

 

 Books & Research works on Sustainable development

The Age of Sustainable Development

Jeffrey D. Sachs

• Preface by: Ban Ki-moon

          .

In this book, Jeffrey D. Sachs presents a compelling and practical framework to address the seemingly intractable worldwide problems of persistent extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and political-economic injustice: sustainable development. Sachs explains how modern societies can develop economically, equitably, and sustainably.

 

 

 

An Introduction to Sustainable Development

 

Peter P. Rogers, Kazi F. Jalal, John A. Boyd

          .

This volume is the most comprehensive textbook on sustainable development. It has been developed with students and professionals from around the world specifically for those who need a thorough grounding in the subject. Coverage includes: background to sustainable development and global environmental issues; measurement and sustainability indicators; environmental assessment, management and policy; approaches and linkages to poverty reduction; impacts and infrastructure development; economics, consumption, production and market failures; governance; participation; disaster management; international financial institutions; international environmental agreements; and the role of civil society.