Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development
V.P.JAIN
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Man's interaction with his natural environment involves him in using the earth to
satisfy his needs and desires. This interaction leads to extraction, processing
and
consumption of natural resources which man requires in order to live (subsistence)
and to
prosper (economic development). Although, man's aim in using the natural
environment
has been to improve his lot, in many cases he has ruined the earth's physical and
biological systems. Even though, man is subject to certain natural controls, he
acts as the
dominant force in his endeavor to appropriate nature for his various pursuits. The
urge to
dominate and to subjugate nature has also created, in the process, a highly
polarized
world of appalling contrasts.
Since, wants vary from time to time and from society to society, economic
development may be perceived differently by different people. But no matter how
one
visualizes economic development, its pace is determined by a society's ability to
command physical resources (land, minerals, water, etc) and its human potential
(population, skill, human wisdom, enterpreneuership, etc). However, countries are
not
totally dependent on their endowment of resources for development. Many nations
without their own resources have prospered while most with resources have not. The
Netherlands and modern Japan, for example, have remarkable successes to their
credit
through conquests and trade, even though they are poorly endowed with resources.
On
the other hand Britain's formidable economic position in the 18th century was
essentially
due to its natural supply of iron and coal. Its access to large markets, its
commercial
strength and enterpreneuership fortified the natural resource advantage and made
it a big
industrial power. In contrast, most of the countries in Asia, Africa and Latin
America,
even though gifted with natural resources in abundance, have failed to utilize
them for the
good of their own people.
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world's population i.e., over one billion people exist in conditions of absolute
poverty
and are unable to feed, clothe and house themselves properly. ( see diagram 1)
These various constituents of the divided world into the haves and have-nots
differ
greatly in their access to the resources of the Earth. The developed countries
with less
than one quarter of the world population consume 80% of the world's resources. For
example, the per capita consumption of food, energy and material resources in the
developed world in 16 times compared to its counterpart in the underdeveloped
world.
The affluent life style that most in rich countries and many in poor countries
enjoy,
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consume an inordinate share of the world's natural resources. The rich form just
23% of
the population, occupy 5o% of the land area, account for 60% of the energy
consumed
and earn 85% of the world's income. An average American consumes over two tons of
steel every five years in the form of cars, and eats 112k.g of meat and consumes
7822 kg
of oil equivalent in the form of energy every year. The corresponding figures for
an
average Indian is 5o kg of steel, 2kg of meat and 231 kg of oil. The per capita
consumption of food, energy and material resources in the developed world is 16
times
compared to its counterpart in underdeveloped countries. What is alarming is that
the gap
between the rich and poor is only widening as part of the modernization process.
The
share of the poorest 20 per-cent of the world population in global income is
estimated to
be a miserable 1.1 per-cent, down from 1.4 per-cent in 1991 and 2.3 per-cent in
1960.The ratio of the top 20 per-cent and that of the poorest 20 per-cent rose
from 30 to 1
in 1960 to 60 to 1 in 1991 and to all high of 78 to 1 in 1994.
But, the contrast does not manifest merely in the form of North\South divide.
These inequalities are even more pronounced within nations. The developed world
also
has its slums known as �ghettos�. In the midst of astounding affluence in America,
for
example, a substantial number of Americans (13.5 % of the U.S. population) remain
poor.
Similarly, hundreds and thousands of people in the underdeveloped world enjoy
affluent
life styles and indulge in the luxury of sophisticated goods. While obesity
clinics
mushroom in metropolitan cities in India, for example, to slice off the extra fat
layer of
the nouveau rich, one third of the people struggle hard, for the better part of
the day, to
procure enough food for bare survival.
Footprint accounts over the last forty years indicate a twenty-five year growth
trend
beyond the amount of renewable bio-capacity. In short, humanity's Ecological
Footprint
appears to have breached ecological limits and is thus unsustainable.
a crisis management exercise should not have been adopted as a long term policy of
development. The disastrous consequences are there for everybody to see. The
central
problem of the globalising economy is its unequal sharing of benefits:
distribution of
income, employment opportunities and excess to social services such as health and
education.
ECOLOGICAL DISASTER
Thanks to science and technology, more and more people are consuming a more
amazing array of goods today, than at any other time in history. It is a dream
world
coming true, where chemists and bio-engineers fiddle with genes, where the life
style of
the rich and the prosperous, as epitome of success in a consumerist society, are
beamed
by satellites to every part of the globe, where multinationals flourish by picking
up
beauty queens from the fashion industry as role models to endorse and market their
(deforestation, soil
(pollution), direct
pathologies(displacedegradation, building cities, mining etc);
biological changes(overkill of bio-diversity)
ment of people, stress, crime, violence etc).
chemical
and
changes
social
PHYSICAL CHANGES
Deforestation. Millions of poor people depend on forests for their need of energy,
fodder
of animals and food. The world�s forests, which also bind soil and prevent
erosion,
regulate water supplies and help govern the climate, are shrinking. At the
beginning of
the century, 50% of the ancient forests were intact. It was a world of oceans and
masses
teeming with a wide variety of lives. Aborigines inhabited vast expanses of wild
lands
who knew how to tap the land for food, medicine and sustenance. The children of
the
21st century will inherit a word to find that previous generations have squandered
and
defiled their natural wealth, foreclosing many options.
Every year land starved peasants press deeper and deeper into rain forests in
tropical
regions like Brazil, for instance, clearing patches of earth by torching the
trees. In
Indonesia, last year a serious environmental crises erupted because of the same
practice
to find land for commercial crops. Between 1980 and 1990, an estimated 8% of the
total
world tropical forest was cut, burnt or otherwise destroyed. As a region loses its
forests, it
loses its ability to trap and absorb water, and so runoff denuded woodland deepens
the
natural process of soil erosion. As is fashionable now, farmers harvest crops year
after
year (intensive farming) exposing the soil to wind and water. This results in
wearing
away 24 billion tons of topsoil every year, roughly equal to the topsoil on the
Australian
wheat lands. When dry areas are worn down by the wind, by intensive farming or by
the
hooves of too many grazing animals, the region may eventually become a sterile
desert, a
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fate that has befallen 30% of the world's drylands. Three quarters of the drylands
in
Africa and North America are in some stage of desertification.
One disastrous consequence of the practice has been the pressure on woodlands,
especially the tropical forests that are the reservoirs of most of the earth's
animal and
plant species. In the past decade tropical forest area has shrunk from 4.7 to 4.2
billion
acres (1.9 to 1.7 billion hectares). According to an estimate as much as 17
million
hectares of tropical rain forest, an area about the size of Japan, are destroyed
every year.
One of the causes for deforestation is commercial logging. Demand for
century. China, the world's largest grain producer in the past, has already
emerged as the
second ranking grain importer, trailing only Japan. The present import figure of
16
million tons is expected to reach a whopping 210 million and 370m tons, annually
by
2030. According to world watch institute the world has lost 200m hectares (500m
acres)
of tree growing area. since 1972, an area about one-third the size of continental
U.S. At
the same time the world farmers have lost about 500m tons of topsoil, an amount
equal to
the tillable soil coverage of India and France combined. Farmers, the world over
have
boosted their yields and fought against desertification by resorting to heavy
doses of
inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation water, but with disastrous
consequences.
Agricultural chemicals gradually poison the soil; and irrigation also deposits a
harmful
residue, when the water evaporates, it leaves behind various salts- the
salinization process
which renders the land useless for cultivation. According to World Bank report
1993,
some degree of salinization affects 28% of the U.S' irrigated land, 23% of China
and 11%
of India.
Marine life depletion. Land, rivers, even whole seas have been converted into
sewers
and industrial dumps. More than half of the world's people live within 100 k.m. of
a
seashore and the oceans are already a mess, littered with plastic and chemicals,
threatening all marine life. Some of the visible reasons are the garbage dumps,
the oil
spills, and the sewage discharge which flow from this humanity into the sea. But
the
actual threats, accounting for 70 to 80 percent of all marine pollution, are the
sediments
and contaminants that flow into the seas like topsoil, fertilizers, pesticides,
and industrial
wastes. As a consequence, many of the worlds fish species are already starting to
die. The
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rich countries have already, depleted their stock of fish. They now import large
quantities
from developing countries that catch more fish than they can do. In 1995 fish
exports
from developing countries were worth $23 billion. If the trend in over-fishing
continues it
could hurt the poor countries, as their people rely more heavily on fish for their
protein
requirement than the rich in the north.
Water stress. Clean water is our most precious resource in terms of both quantity
and
quality. There is a serious threat to the availability of water as depletion all
over the world
is becoming irreversible as a result of groundwater over-pumping and acquifer
depletion.
Since 1950, demand for water and its consequent withdrawal has nearly tripled. It
has
gone up from 1365 cubic kilometers a year to 3760 in 1995.At the same time the
availability of water has declined from about 16800 cubic meters per capita per
year in
1950 to 7300 in 1995. According to human development report, 20
countries with 132 million people suffer from water scarcity with less than 1000
cubic
meters per capita per year, the minimum required for human health. If the present
trend
continues 25 more countries would be added to the list of the deprived category by
the
year 2050.
The drought in India in the year 2002, covering 12 states is a grim reminder of
the
gross misuse of precious water resource for intensive cultivation and abandonment
of
cheap water harvesting techniques. Rural electricity is highly subsidized or free,
which
prompts over-pumping of groundwater. Worse, subsidies have distorted crop
patterns,
encouraging farmers to grow water guzzling crops like rice and sugarcane even in
the
water scarce areas of U.P. Haryana and Maharashtra.
It is not so much the absolute availability of water but its skewed distribution
which
creates the crisis. Industries in Saurashtra region, for instance, draw 30 crore
liters of
water a day even during the current draught. During draught, drinking water wells
are the
first to go dry, hitting the poor the most. As the water tables keep going down,
shallow
tubewells also run dry depriving the small farmers as well. Ultimately, only the
affluent
farmers who own the deepest tubewells, continue to have access to the scarce
groundwater. In Saurashtra, excessive drawing up of groundwater for irrigation
exhausted
the reserves leading to the infiltration of seawater, ruining the aquifers
permanently.
Similarly, the canal system is collapsing all over the country because of
ridiculously low
water rates. Most of the canal water is usurped by the big farmers at the canal
head,
invariably, for water guzzling crops, leaving virtually nothing for millions of
marginal
farmers at the tail end of the canal.
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At the same time, the quality of water has considerably deteriorated which is even
more frightening. Most of the water bodies as ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans have
become
polluted due to industrial growth, urbanization and other uncontrolled human
activities.
Most of the rivers, the world over, are taken to be the easiest source to receive
a heavy
flux of sewage, domestic waste, industrial effluents and agricultural residues.
CHEMICAL CHANGES
Global warming and Ozone layer depletion.. The two great dangers threatening the
balance of gases in the atmosphere that sustain life on earth are global warming
and the
thinning of the ozone layer. Most scientists agree that all the smoke and fumes
and
exhaust that human activities generate will eventually alter the earth's climate.
Those
changes could be modest or they could lead to what is termed as the greenhouse
effect or
global warning. The threat comes from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
produced mainly in the industrial world by the burning of fossil fuels. It is
estimated that
the total world wide manufacturing output increased from about $2500 billion in
1975 to
about $4000 billion in 1990 and the trend continues unabated. This relentless
industrial
growth places a heavy demand on world's non-renewable resources particularly
fossil
fuels and minerals. The developed world generates nearly 10 times as much carbon
dioxide from energy use as their counterpart in the developing countries. (see
diagram 2)
The US, tops the list, with the former Soviet union next. While the average
American is
responsible for between 4 and 5 tons of carbon per year, the average Indian or
Chinese
share is 0.4 and 0.6 respectively. However, under-developed countries who are
trying to
imitate the western model of growth and their life style,(which is environmentally
disastrous) are only compounding the problem. It is estimated that if per capita
emission
of greenhouse gases in China and India, for example, were to increase (as the
trend
indicates) to reach the present level in France, then the emission worldwide would
jump
nearly 70%.
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CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) have been and still are widely used for refrigeration.
Despite the 1987 Montreal Protocol which calls for a phase out of CFC's and other
ozone
depleting chemicals by the year 2006, the assault on the stratosphere continues
unabated.
The developing countries were also promised $6250 million by rich nations for the
phase
out but so far only 60% of the funding has materialized. Delegates to the 1992
Earth
summit called upon the rich nations to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to
1990
level by adopting energy efficiency measures. It is estimated that it will be only
by the
middle of the next century that efforts initiated now can restore the 1970 level.
But the
schedule could be thrown off balance by international smugglers who managed to
bring
in 20,000 tons of contraband CFC's into U.S. alone, in one year, for repairing or
recharging old appliances.
In order to avert the impending danger, an agreement was made under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) known as the Kyoto
Protocol. Named after the Japanese city where it was concluded in 1997, the Kyoto
Protocol is an international agreement to address global warming and delay climate
change. Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of
carbon
dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they
maintain
or increase emissions of these gases. The Kyoto Protocol is an historic milestone:
It is the
first, and only, binding international agreement that sets targets to reduce the
greenhouse
gas emissions that cause climate change..
The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission. Different countries have different targets to achieve. The
industrialised
countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2%
compared to
the year 1990.( this target would be tantamount to a 29% cut in the emissions
levels that
would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol). The Protocol sets targets for the
greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries for the period 2008 to 2012 (the
first
commitment period). National targets range from 8% reductions for the European
Union
and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permit
increases of
8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland.
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As of December 2006, a total of 169 countries and other governmental entities have
ratified the agreement. Notable exceptions include the United States and
Australia, the
two biggest polluters in the World today. The United States, although a signatory
to the
protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The signature
alone is only
symbolic, as the protocol is non-binding over the United States unless ratified.
The
United States is, as of 2005, the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from
the burning
of fossil fuels. Other countries, like India and China, which have ratified the
protocol, are
not required to reduce carbon emissions under the present agreement despite their
relatively large populations.
Acid rain. In many parts of the World, the architectural treasures like Taj Mahal
are
eroding, soils and lakes are becoming abnormally acidic, endangering flora and
fauna,
aquatic life, crops and human heath. Scientists attribute much of the damage to
acid
rain: rain or snow carrying dissolved acids. Acid rain, which until recently, was
an hazard
to central Europe only, is now spreading to underdeveloped countries also. It
appears that
it is an imminent threat in India too. Industrial areas with pH values(water
acidity) close
to critical levels have been recorded in Delhi, Nagpur, Pune, Bombay and Calcutta.
There
is a strong link between acidity of rain and industrial growth. Burning fossil
fuels results
in the production of noxious gases which are emitted, mainly from coal based power
Many environmental scientists believe that dry deposits in the form of tiny
particles, called suspended particulate matter (SPM), are as destructive as
tainted rain or
snow. These deposits stem from the activities of human beings: primarily by
vehicle
exhaust, coal burning, smoke from factories and dust stirred up by speeding
vehicles.
These particles easily find their way into people's lungs, leading to serious
bronchial of
lung diseases, many times becoming fatal. During the 1990�s the level of SPM has
remained consistently high and much above the permissible limits in all cities in
India.
Contrary to the general belief, the air indoors is often as bad as the 'toxic
soup' one
breathes outside. According to a study by CSIR , the SPM in most Delhi homes are
more
than hundred per cent above the safe levels, due to intense concentration of
vehicle
exhaust, dust and cooking in the confines of concrete homes.
BIO-DIVERSITY LOSS
Humans, as the dominant species, have been responsible for major habitat changes
leading to a loss of genetic and species diversity. Tens of thousands of plant and
animal
species that shared the planet with us in 1972 have become extinct It is estimated
that by
the year 2020, 10 percent to 20 percent of the earth's 10 million species of
plants and
animals will be wiped out, thank to mans endeavor to conquer nature. What is not
appreciated is that, once a species becomes extinct, it is lost forever. Recent
experimental
studies regarding ecosystem support have amply highlighted the fact that we have
so
foolishly ignored: the more species living in an ecosystem the higher its
productivity and
the greater its ability to withstand drought and other kinds of environmental
stress. Each
Page 10 of 15
altogether." The protests at the W.T.O. meeting in Seattle amply demonstrates that
policy
makers all over the World are obsessed with commercial interests at the cost of
social,
cultural and environmental issues. The commercial exploitation of biodiversity to
support
the profligate life style of the industrialized world, and the affluent elite in
underdeveloped nations, in total defiance of the natural laws, is a sure recipe
for
ecological desaster. The message is clear: whether it is crocodile reserves in
Colombia or
international whaling or commercial logging, forces of big business, which defeats
all
effort to save animals and plants, have to be contained
SOCIAL PATHOLOGIES
The exploding appetite for consumption and wasteful pattern of resource use in
India,
for instance, have together conspired to create a process of the state sponsored
subsidized flows of resources to a narrow elite comprising organised industry,
services and the big landlords in the villages. The state bears a large fraction
of the costs
of water power, raw material, fertilizers, petroleum, etc. supplied to these
segments of the
society to the detriment of the large majority of the marginalised poor. This
gives rise to
social conflicts as the benefits and burdens of social and economic development
are not
equally shared, and different groups exercise competing claims on a dwindling
resource
base.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
destructive in favor of sustainable development (Agenda 21). Ten years after the
first
�Earth Summit� in Rio. (It was therefore also informally nicknamed "Rio+10".) the
World
Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD or Earth Summit 2002 took place in
Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to
The first discernible change in attitudes towards environment was reflected in the
Earth Summit held in Stockholm in 1972. Serious concern was expressed at the rate
at
which exhaustible resources were being depleted. The impetus to the debate was
provided by the famous study 'Limits to Growth'; undertaken by a team of
scientists from
MIT in America headed by Donnela Meadows. The Club of Rome, a gathering of
wealthy businessmen and politicians, funded the project. Several computer
simulation
models incorporating resource depletion, growing pollution and industrial output
pointed
to an impending environmental catastrophe. There was a serious question mark over
Page 13 of 15
However, the predictions of ecological doom have turned out to be wrong. Actually,
the known reserves of 'finite' resources have grown since the publication of the
report of
the Club of Rome. In 1980s and early 1990s the focus shifted to the quality of the
The earlier models of economic growth were capital oriented and stressed
investment
in machines and infrastructure to achieve desired levels of incomes. In this
process
technological progress played a crucial role. The thrust was on technologies,
which aimed
at source reduction. They must avoid damage and save on the amount of energy and
materials per unit of production (conservation). Conservation and technology
became
the technical means to secure sustainable development. The persistent poverty in
most of the third world, and in sizable pockets of the affluent nations seemed to
refute
these models. Since the economy and environmental problems are so closely linked,
the
causes of such environmental degradations lie in the functioning of an economy,
and
more so in the economic distortions that are part of the state policy.
food output manifold but made it vulnerable to pests, diseases and climate
variations;
technology and capital matter, but so do free inputs of nature. Thus the 1980s
showed that
it was wise to appreciate growth that is environmentally sensitive and
distinguished these
limits from absolute limits to economic growth (meadows). Sustainable development
was
broadened to mean a process in which natural resource base was not allowed to
deteriorate. The emphasis was placed on environmental quality and natural inputs
in the
process of development. Today, natural habitats are recognized as valuable
resources.
Tropical forests protect watersheds, and regulate climate. They also house
valuable
species. Wetlands purify water, protect inland area from storm surges, and provide
a
major source of bio-diversity. As such the causes of environmental degradation lie
in the
working of the economies, and so does the solution. As such natural environment
acts as
the life support system: major biological, geological and chemical cycles regulate
the
conditions in which we all live. The ozone layer depletion and the greenhouse
effect, as
global evils internationalized the environmental issue. The whole world is much at
risk
even though the threat has been created by the industrial nations.
trade, energy, agricultural, industrial and all other policies are designed to
bring about
development that is economically, socially and ecologically sustainable."
The preservation of the global environment raises serious issues about the growth
and distribution of global income and wealth. Developing countries are, obviously,
not
satisfied with their present lot and cannot be expected to sustain their poverty
in the name
of environmental protection. On the other hand the affluent countries cannot be
allowed,
forever, 85% of the world's resources to maintain their present profligate
consumption
pattern. There is no easy and clear link between present and future needs.
Sustaining the
physical environment is not an end in itself. What we need to sustain is human
life and
environmental debate must have a human perspective. Human development and
sustainability are essential components of the same ethic of universalism of life
chances.
The concept of sustainable development should, then, emphasize not only the future
but
also the present.
The world conservation strategy 1980, emphasized the need for conservation of
nature and natural resources, and that development to meet human needs was an
essential
context for conservation. Commitment to sustainability implies a value judgement.
Actions that enhance sustainability are right. Actions that degrade the earth,
impoverish
nature (overuse of resources), create inequity are undesirable, in both a
practical sense
and an ethical sense. Emphasizing this aspect Mahatma Gandhi said: "how can we be
nonviolent to nature, unless the ethics of non-violence becomes central to the
ethos of
human culture." He, the visionary, could see the eternal truth: "Earth has enough
resources to satisfy everybody's needs but not their greed."
This approach calls for major changes in how people live and how communities
operate. It demands cutting back on over consumption of material resources and
energy
use. It also means generating waste within the confines of the ecosystem. This
change
will have a bearing on the whole culture of consumerism and the economic system
that
impels it. It also means that underdeveloped countries need to raise the quality
of life by
creating opportunities for development. It may also demand a reversal of the
development paradigm and the abandonment of the belief that underdeveloped
countries
have to make themselves as much like the West as possible. The earlier models of
economic growth based on the idea of rush for growth appear unsuitable for the
developing world where poverty is the central issue.
merely because people are instrumental in the production of material goods. Nor
does it
value one person�s life more than another�s. The essence of sustainable human
development is that everyone should have equal access to development activities,
now
and in future. Sustainability is, thus, a matter of distributional equity of
sharing
development opportunities between present and future generations. Human
development
report 1998 sums up the situation succinctly: �The world has more than enough
resources
to accelerate progress in human development for all and to eradicate the worst
forms of
poverty from the planet. Advancing human development is not an exorbitant
undertaking.
For example, it has been estimated that the total additional yearly investment
required to
achieve universal access to basic social services would be roughly $40 billion,
0.1% of
world income, barely more than a rounding error. That covers the bill for basic
education,
health, nutrition, reproductive health, family planning and safe drinking water
and
sanitation for all.�