Sustainable Engineering

Part 2: Sustainability concepts, sustainable development and its

challenges
S3 ECE γ
Three components of sustainability

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

 Social Aspects of sustainability
 Lessening of poverty

 Health and education status of the community

 Adequate job opportunities

 Protection of rights

 Equitable access to resources

 Elimination of gender inequality

 Redistribution of wealth derived from production

Increase of social performance is a fundamental factor in

the formation of human capital
Economic Aspects
 The expenditure and revenue generation

 Steady and sufficient food availability in an economic way

 Economic use of raw materials

 Economic production patterns

 Steady rate of productivity

 Steady and sufficient flow of income for individual

households, communities and countries

 Greater efficiency of investments should be achieved

Economic inequality should be reduced to attain economic

sustainability
Environmental Aspects
 Prudent exploitation of natural resources
so that it can be used for a longer period.

 For non-renewable resources, find

substitutes

 For renewable resources, give time to

replenish

 Minimize the impact on the environment

during
 Production and consumption of goods
 waste disposal.
3 Pillars of Sustainability
What can we do towards sustainability
as a common man?

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Sustainable development
 Sustainable development means improving the quality of
human life while living within the carrying capacity of
supporting ecosystems.
 Practical approach
 Stabilize chemical cycles and moderate the pace of global climate
change
 Eliminate threat to global food security using environment-friendly
methods
 Control threats to biodiversity and do steps for increasing biodiversity
 Complete demographic transition and stabilize world population
 Provide environmental education

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Sustainable development
 Central principle behind sustainable development is
equity
 i.e. equal access to resources and opportunities
 Two types of equities
Inter-generational equity
 We have inherited the planet from our previous
generations and have no obligation to pass it on to
our future generations
Intra-generational equity
 Equity across communities and nations

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Challenges to sustainable development

 Sustainable development is a multidimensional model of

development

 Challenges the traditional concept of development and

needs a change in the basic structures of current model

 Implies a fundamental change at all levels of social,

economic, political and cultural structures

 Fundamental restructuring of the present society

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET
Challenges to sustainable development
 Increase in population
 1000s of years to reach 1billion in 1800
 2 billion in 1930
 3 billion in 1959
 4 billion in 1974
 5 billion in 1987
 6 billion in 1999
 7 billion in 2011
 8 billion in 2023
 Pervasive land degradation
 Land is the major resource for all activities

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Challenges to sustainable development
 Water scarcity problems
 Projection : population living in water short areas will
increase by 90% by 2050
 Overuse of water resources
 Contamination of freshwater resources
 Changes in the terrestrial hydrological cycles
 Flaws in water resource management
 Global warming and climate change
 Projection: global mean temperature increase between 1.4
and 5.80C by 2100
 Impacts on global hydrological system, crop production etc.
Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET
Challenges to sustainable development
 Increased energy demand
 Current global commercial energy use is about 9,700 million
tons of oil equivalents per year
 Major contribution from fossil fuels
 Nuclear power generation has technical issues
 Renewable technology contribution is only 2% of global
commercial energy supply
 Poverty
 With increase in population, poverty also increases
 Malnutrition is a major problem
 Food and nutrition security is a critical challenge
Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET
Challenges to sustainable development
 Unemployment and underemployment
 Global unemployment is 12.9% in 2017
 More than 85 million young people are unemployed!!!
 Civil disturbances
 Civil unrest : repeated cycles of violence and conflict
 Massive displacement of people
 They are not worried about sustainability, but ‘mere
existence’
 Natural disasters
 Large amount of money needs to be channelled to lessen the
effects of natural disasters

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Challenges to sustainable development
 International relations

 Strong bond of cooperation among countries is required for

fair redistribution of global wealth, knowledge and
opportunities

 Resolving conflicting interests

 Conflicting interests during the use of natural and common

property resources, land use plans, waste management etc.

 Providing framework for cooperation of all stakeholders in

times of conflict may delay the sustainable activities

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Challenges to sustainable development
 Integration of developmental activities

 Multidimensional

 Integration of all tasks in planning, resource mobilization

implementation, operation and maintenance, monitoring and
continuous evaluation

 Integration of traditional and scientific knowledge and funds

 Integration of responsibilities of different factors like private,

public sector, local self, state and national governments, regional
and international institutions

Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET

Challenges to sustainable development
 Philosophy of inter-generational equality

 Need for a higher level of conscience to respect not only the

right of the present generation to a healthy environment but
also the right of future generations to inherit a healthy
environment from the present generation

 Capital accumulation is not a feature of the sustainable

development

 Installing this philosophy in the mind of wealthy and

influential people is a challenge
Sustainable Engineering , S3 ECE, RSET