Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Guide to Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability
Sustainable Development
Meeting the needs of today’s population without compromising the needs of future generations. Today, sustainable development is usually considered to include environmental, social, and economic sustainability (see definitions below). If development includes social, economic, and environmental aspects, then it is considered to be sustainable development.
Stewardship
The act of overseeing the protection of something, e.g., rainforests.
Conservation
The act of preserving and protecting something.
Environment
The things that surround you. In Geography, when we talk about the environment, we normally mean the natural things that surround you, e.g., trees, rivers, mountains, and lakes.
Environmental Sustainability
Improvements in the standard of living that do not cause long-term damage to the environment that impact future generations.
What does it include?
- Protecting biodiversity
- Stopping human-caused climate change
- Elimination of acid rain
- Elimination of damage to the ozone layer
- Reduction of pollution (air, water, noise, etc.)
- Management of resources, e.g., fish, water
Economic Sustainability
Development that includes everyone, where everyone has the right to economic improvement. The development should be long-term and devoid of corruption and burdening debt.
What does it include?
- Access to finance
- No corruption
- No absolute poverty
- No extortion
- No nepotism
- Debt removal
Social Sustainability
Development that is inclusive and ensures an improvement in the standard of living for all. It should incorporate everyone and ensure equal access to healthcare, education, resources, etc., while respecting individual cultures.
What does it include?
- Freedom of speech
- Health and safety at work
- Access to clean water and sanitation
- Access to needs, i.e., water, food, shelter, clothing
- Access to education
- Access to healthcare
- Equality between sexes, religions, etc.
- Right to vote
- Access to justice
- Safety – no threat from crime
- Respect for cultures
Millennium Development Goal 7: Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability is actually Millennium Development Goal number seven. The goal has four targets:
- Target 7a: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse the loss of environmental resources.
- Target 7b: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss.
- Target 7c: Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
- Target 7d: Achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.
Barriers to Sustainable Development
Heavy Reliance on Fossil Fuels
Leads to acid rain, global warming, deforestation, and health problems. Reliance on fossil fuels protects the powerful positions of transnational oil, motor, and food companies that cross national boundaries.
Population Growth
Protecting the environment is a luxury developing countries’ governments cannot afford.
Case Study: Sipadan Marine Park (Sustainable Tourism)
Sipadan is a small oceanic island located in the Celebes Sea off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia. It was formed by coral growth on the top of an extinct volcano. The island rises 600 meters from the seabed. Sipadan is at the center of one of the richest marine habitats in the world. The surrounding ecosystems contain over 3,000 species of fish and hundreds of types of coral.
Because of its unique and diverse ecosystem, Sipadan became a popular mecca (an extremely popular destination) for divers. Because of its popularity, several hotels were built on the island. However, the island did suffer some environmental damage. Noise and light pollution disturbed nesting turtles, and water pollution and litter harmed bird and sea life.
Because of the environmental damage, the Malaysian government decided that it needed to develop the tourism industry around Sipadan more sustainably. In 1993, the island became a bird sanctuary, and in 2004, the government forced the closure of all hotels on the island. A quota was also set on the number of divers allowed to visit Sipadan each day. The total permissible number of divers is 120 a day, with no night diving allowed. Permits to dive have to be applied for in advance. In 2005, the island was proposed as a National Marine Park, and the government is now aiming for UNESCO World Heritage status. Research has suggested that the number of turtles has increased since protection measures were put in place.
The development of sustainable tourism on Sipadan is important because:
- It will preserve the biodiversity of the island and the surrounding ecosystem.
- It will create long-term income from tourism. If Sipadan was over-dived or over-fished, then its biodiversity and therefore attractiveness would reduce, and tourists would decline.
- Tourism is a growing industry, and without proper management, the island will come under increasing pressure.
- It is following international guidelines set out on sustainable tourism at the Rio Earth Summit in 1999.
UNEP
United Nations Environment Programme. UNEP coordinates the UN’s environmental programs and aims to assist developing countries with environmental issues. It was founded in June 1972 and has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP’s six main priorities are listed below. One of the most pressing is climate change, and to help in the battle, it established the IPCC in 1988.
UNEP’s six priorities are:
- Climate Change
- Disasters and Conflict
- Ecosystem Management
- Environmental Governance
- Harmful Substances
- Resource Efficiency
CITES
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. CITES entered force on the 1st July 1975. Its aim was to ensure that the international trade in wild plants and animals did not endanger their existence. Participation in CITES is voluntary, but once participation is agreed upon, it is legally binding, and countries need to adapt their national laws accordingly. About 5,000 animals and 28,000 plants are protected under CITES. Protected flora and fauna are listed under one of three appendices depending on their level of threat. CITES holds meetings roughly every three years to discuss the protection of new plants and animals. The last meeting was in Qatar in 2010, and the next one is in Thailand in 2013. At its last meeting, CITES failed in an attempt to ban the trade of Bluefin tuna.
Environmental Performance Index (EPI)
This index benchmarks the ability of nations to protect the environment over the next several decades. The higher the ESI score, the better the situation with regard to environmental sustainability. The most sustainable countries are affluent, sparsely populated, and with significant natural resources, such as Finland and Sweden.
Sustainable Cities
Some progress has been made in London:
- The Clean Air Act in 1956 was passed to combat industrial smog by using smokeless fuels.
- Water quality has been improved, and there has been an improvement in aquatic life along the River Thames.
- Congestion charge and Low Emission Zone to reduce cars entering the city center.
- Bus lanes.
The London Plan, first published in 2004, stresses the importance of environmental sustainability. There are plans for low-carbon buses, electric cars, bike hire schemes, public transport improvements, better-insulated homes, brownfield development, and the planting of more trees. Environmental Impact Assessment.