Analysis of Sustainable Development free essay sample

The development goals of UN are expressed in terms of human and environmental well-being, couched in terms of major issue areas: example; health, food, water, energy and the environment. The World Bank, for example, uses the discourse of ‘financial, physical, human, social and natural capital’ in its conceptualization of sustainable development. The Brundtland Commission report on ‘Our Common Future’ (WCED, 1987) focuses on institutional imperatives in addressing sustainable development issues, including political, economic, social and administrative systems. The Brundtland Report explicitly addresses the matter of production and technological systems, but without anchoring the discussion in the realities of the patchy, embryonic state of global environment and technology cooperation. It is significant that embedding sustainability development into mainstream policies for international cooperation in environment and technology has been underdeveloped, particularly at the global level. However, it is just as significant that where major partnerships in environment and technology exist between developed and developing countries, sustainability development issues are often in the forefront, often in the context of technical aid to the developing countries (Stein, 2002a). What this approach fails to achieve, however, is systematic knowledge transfer between and amongst countries that are not directly involved in such cooperative ventures. It also presupposes a model of innovation as emerging from the developed world to be subsequently adapted by the developing world, whereas the reality of innovation is far more complex and evenly distributed than typically acknowledged by the ‘donor’ countries. Defining Sustainability Defining sustainability is very difficult as the common use of the word sustainable suggests an ability to maintain some activity in the face of tress and this seems to be also the most technically applicable meaning. In simple terms, sustainable development refers to maintaining development over time. However, at the international level, there are several factors and conditions that need to be considered including peace, debt reduction, terms of trade, non-declining foreign aid, economic policy, techniques for measuring sustainable development, the trade-offs between conflicting environmental goals. Tolba (1987) argues that sustainable development has become an article of faith, often used but little explained. Sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present, by ensuring environmental stewardship, economic growth and social justice function in a milieu of good governance, without comprising 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 worlds poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and †¢ the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environments ability to meet present and future needs. Sustainable Development Pillars |[pic] | |Governance | Fig 1. 0 Sustainable development consists of four pillars. These pillars are economic, social, environment and governance. 1. Environmental Sustainability Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible. Below is an environment state of sustainability table. Table 1. 0 |Consumption of renewable resources |State of environment |Sustainability | More than natures ability to replenish |Environmental degradation |Not sustainable | |Equal to natures ability to replenish |Environmental equilibrium |Steady state economic | |Less than natures ability to replenish |Environmental renewal |Environmentally sustainable | According to Hasna Vancock, sustainability is a process which tells us of a development of all aspects of human life affecting sustenance. It means resolving the conflict between the various competing goals, and involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity with the resultant vector being technology, hence it is a continually evolving process; the journey (the process of achieving sustainability) is of course vitally important, but only as a means of getting to the destination (the desired future state). However, the destination of sustainability is not a fixed place in the normal sense that we understand destination. Instead, it is a set of wishful characteristics of a future system Social sustainability Social sustainability encompasses human rights, labor rights, and corporate governance. In common with environmental sustainability, social sustainability is the idea that future generations should have the same or greater access to social resources as the current generation (inter-generational equity), while there should also be equal access to social resources within the current generation (intra-generational equity). Social resources include ideas as broad as other cultures and basic human rights Economic Sustainability Economists focused on viewing the economy and the environment as a single interlinked system with a unified valuation methodology. Intergenerational equity can be incorporated into this approach, as has become common in economic valuations of climate change economics. Ruling out discrimination against future generations and allowing for the possibility of renewable alternatives to petro-chemicals and other non-renewable resources, efficient policies are compatible with increasing human welfare, eventually reaching a golden-rule steady state. Arrow et al and other economists have advocated a form of the weak criterion for sustainable development – the requirement than the wealth of a society, including human-capital, knowledge-capital and natural-capital (as well as produced capital) not decline over time. Others, including Barbier, continue to contend that strong sustainability – non-depletion of essential forms of natural capital – may be appropriate. The core of the idea of sustainability is the concept that current decisions should not impair the prospects for maintaining or improving future living standards. This implies that our economic systems should be managed so that we can live off the dividend of our resources, maintaining and improving the asset base. In general terms, the primary objectives of sustainable development are: †¢ achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations (Murcott, 1997) †¢ reduce the absolute poverty of the world’s poor through providing lasting and secure livelihoods that minimize resource depletion, environmental degradation, cultural disruption and social instability find the optimal level of interaction between the biological and natural resource system, the economic system and the social system (Barbier, 1989). Industrialization and manufacturing A new technological regime is required to meet the millennium development goals (MDGs) of sustainable development. Research has proven with facts and these facts have widely contributed to development. Devel opment is economically and socially acceptable but its environmental impact needs much attention. We do not want to deplete our resources as faster as we are doing with sustainable environment implications caused by manufacturing entities. There is a need of an environmental sustainable policy looking at responsible manufacturing processes without causing negative impacts on the environment. Impact of industrialization The current growths in industrialization have got a negative impact on the environment. Managers are been asked to raise profit, but should be done in a more socially and environmentally responsible ways. Multinationals firms have created a new global economic space, sourcing products from far-flung global production and supply chains, and they ought therefore to be accountable not only to their share holders but also to the communities and environments that are affected by their operations. Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future to meet its needs, consumers want certification that their suppliers comply with environment code of conduct and this has been a competitive tool in manufacturing firms. [pic] The responsibility for achieving sustainable development is a global one, resting both with the more developed and the less developed nations, if not in equal measure. Achieving the goals of sustainable development requires planning and action at local, regional and global scales and specifying short- and long-term objectives that allow for the transition to sustainability. The Millennium Development Goals is a framework of 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators to measure world progress towards the implementation of these goals. The eight goals include: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger †¢ achieve universal primary education †¢ promote gender equality and empower women †¢ reduce child mortality