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Sustainable development
1.0 INTRODUCTION
History and the pursuit of wealth has led to vast inequalities in the world. At the UN Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972, the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi emphasized that the removal of poverty is an integral part of the goal of an environmental strategy for the world. The concepts of interrelatedness, of a shared planet, of global citizenship, and of 'spaceship earth' cannot be restricted to environmental issues alone. They apply equally to the shared and inter-linked responsibilities of environmental protection and human development.
Today almost 75% of the world's populations live in what are called less-developed countries (LDCs) and one-fifth below the poverty line (India is not an LDC). The long-term negative impacts of past industrialization, exploitation and environmental damage cannot be wished away. It is only right that development in this new century be even more conscious of its long-term impact. To protect the environment that we are living in and to ensure reduced inequalities in the world, it is imperative that principles of sustainable development are kept in mind in order to ensure a better future for everyone.
2.0 PERSPECTIVES ABOUT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Poverty and sustainable development
Poor people for their livelihoods primarily depend upon the natural resource base of their immediate environment. Exploitation of natural resources in an unplanned manner has a negative effect on the environment. Hence, there is a close link between poverty and environmental sustainability. Restoring natural systems and improving natural resource management practices at the grassroots level are central to a strategy to eliminate poverty. The survival needs of the poor force them to continue to degrade an already degraded environment. Removal of poverty is therefore a prerequisite for the protection of the environment.
Poverty magnifies the problem of hunger and malnutrition. The problem is further compounded by the inequitable access of the poor to the food that is available. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the public distribution system to overcome this inequity. Market forces also lead to the elimination of crops that have traditionally been integral to the diet of the poor, thereby threatening food security and nutritional status. Diversion of common and marginal lands to 'economically useful purposes' deprives the poor of a resource base which has traditionally met many of their sustenance needs.
While conventional economic development leads to the elimination of several traditional occupations, the process of sustainable development, guided by the need to protect and conserve the environment, leads to the creation of new jobs and of opportunities for the reorientation of traditional skills to new occupations.
Women, while continuing to perform their traditional domestic roles' are increasingly involved in earning livelihoods. In many poor households they are often the principal or the sole breadwinners. A major thrust at the policy level is necessary to ensure equity and justice for them.
Literacy and a basic education are essential for enabling the poor to access the benefits offered by development initiatives and market opportunities. Basic education is therefore a precondition for sustainable development.
A sizeable proportion (about 60 per cent according to some estimates) of the population is not integrated into the market economy. Ensuring the security of their livelihoods is an imperative for sustainable development.
2.2 Effect of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production
With greater economic power and increasing purchasing power, the patterns of consumption change. Sustenance consumption gives way to wasteful consumption. Market driven consumerism stresses the resource base of developing countries further. It is important to counter this through education and public awareness.
In several areas, desirable limits and standards for consumption need to be established and applied through appropriate mechanisms including education, incentives and legislation. However, a common allegation is that with the indirect involvement of mega business houses in politics and the huge bargaining power that they enjoy, this becomes very difficult in democracies.
Several traditional practices that are sustainable and environment friendly continue to be a regular part of the lives of people in developing countries. These need to be encouraged rather than replaced by more 'modern' but unsustainable practices and technologies.
Development decisions regarding technology and infrastructure are a major determinant of consumption patterns. It is therefore important to evaluate and make development decisions which structurally lead to a more sustainable society. Technologies exist through which substantial reduction in consumption of resources is possible. Efforts to identify, evaluate, introduce and use these technologies must be made.
Another factor which leads to indiscriminate usage of goods are subsidies. Subsidies often lead to wasteful and unsustainable consumption by distorting the value of a resource. There is a need to revaluate pricing mechanisms from a sustainability point of view.
2.3 Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development
The integration of agriculture with land and water management, and with ecosystem conservation is essential for both environmental sustainability and agricultural production. An environmental perspective must guide the evaluation of all development projects, recognizing the role of natural resources in local livelihoods. This recognition must be informed by a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions and opinions of local people about their stakes in the resource base.
To ensure the sustainability of the natural resource base, the recognition of all stakeholders in it and their roles in its protection and management is essential.
There is need to establish well-defined and enforceable rights (including customary rights) and security of tenure, and to ensure equal access to land, water and other natural and biological resources. It should be ensured that this applies, in particular, to indigenous communities, women and other disadvantaged groups living in poverty.
Water governance arrangements should protect ecosystems and preserve or restore the ecological integrity of all natural water bodies and their catchments. This will maintain the wide range of ecological services that healthy ecosystems provide and the livelihoods that depend upon them.
Biomass is, and will continue for a long time to be, a major source of fuel and energy, especially for the rural poor. Recognizing this fact, appropriate mechanisms must be evolved to make such consumption of biomass sustainable, through both resource management and the promotion of efficient and minimally polluting technologies, and technologies which will progressively reduce the pressures on biomass, which cause environmental degradation.
The traditional approaches to natural resource management such as sacred groves and ponds, water harvesting and management systems, etc., should be revived by creating institutional mechanisms which recapture the ecological wisdom and the spirit of community management inherent in those systems.
3.0 Sustainable Development and Globalisation
Globalization, as it is taking place today, is increasing the divide between the rich and the poor. It has to be steered so that it serves not only commercial interests but also the social needs of development.
Global business thrives on, and therefore encourages and imposes, high levels of homogeneity in consumer preferences. On the other hand, for development to be locally appropriate and sustainable, it must be guided by local considerations which lie in cultural diversity and traditions. Therefore recognition at the policy level, of the significance of diversity, and the need to preserve it, is an important precondition for sustainable development.
In an increasingly globalizing economy, developing countries, for want of the appropriate skills, are often at a disadvantage in negotiating and operating multilateral trade agreements. Regional cooperation for capacity building is therefore necessary to ensure their effective participation in all stages of multilateral trade.
Globalization is driven by a vast, globally spread, human resource engine involving millions of livelihoods. Their security is sometimes threatened by local events causing global distortions (e.g. the impact of the WTC attack on jobs in India or, in a wider context, sanctions against countries not conforming to 'international' prescriptions in human rights or environment related maters). Mechanisms to safeguard trade and livelihoods, especially in developing countries, must be evolved and negotiated to make globalization an effective vehicle of sustainable development.
War and armed conflict are a major threat to sustainable development. It is imperative to evolve effective mechanisms for mediation in such situations and to resolve contentious issues without compromising the larger developmental goals of the conflicting parties.
3.1 Health and sustainable development
Human health is a combination of physical, mental and spiritual well-being. This to a great extent depends on the access of the citizen to a healthy environment. For a healthy, productive and fulfilling life every individual should have the physical and economic access to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, clean air, sanitation, environmental hygiene, primary health care and education. In fact, access to safe drinking water and a healthy environment should be a fundamental right of every citizen.
Citizens of developing countries continue to be vulnerable to a double burden of diseases. Traditional diseases such as malaria and cholera, caused by unsafe drinking water and lack of environmental hygiene, have not yet been controlled. In addition, people are now falling prey to modern diseases such as cancer and AIDS, and stress-related disorders.
Many of the widespread ailments among the poor in developing countries are occupation-related, and are contracted in the course of work done to fulfil the consumption demands of the affluent, both within the country and outside. This necessitates greater integration between the ministries of Health and Environment, and effective coordination and cooperation between them.
The strong relationship between health and the state of the environment in developing countries is becoming increasingly evident. This calls for greater emphasis on preventive and social medicine, and on research in both occupational health and epidemiology. However, the biggest challenge in integrating human health with the goal of sustainable development is the existence of MNCs in the field of pharmaceuticals. Corporate interests often take precedence over the benefit of the people at large.
Basic health and educational facilities in developing countries need to be strengthened. The role of public health services must give preventive health care equal emphasis as curative health care. People should be empowered through education and awareness to participate in managing preventive health care related to environmental sanitation and hygiene.
Most developing countries are repositories of a rich tradition of natural resource-based health care. This is under threat, on the one hand from modern mainstream medicine, and on the other from the degradation of the natural resource base. Traditional medicine in combination with modern medicine must be promoted while ensuring conservation of the resource base and effective protection of IPRs of traditional knowledge. Developing countries should also strive to strengthen the capacity of their health care systems to deliver basic health services and to reduce environment-related health risks by sharing of health awareness and medical expertise globally.
4.0 Means of Implementation
4.1 Finance
Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is declining. The commitments made by industrialized countries at the Earth Summit in Rio a decade ago remain largely unmet. This is a cause for concern which has been voiced by several developing countries. In the COP-24 at Katowice, Poland, in 2018, grave differences emerged.
Development aid fell by 4% in real terms in 2012, following a 2% fall in 2011. The continuing financial crisis and euro zone turmoil has led several governments to tighten their budgets, which has had a direct impact on development aid. There is also a noticeable shift in aid allocations away from the poorest countries and towards middle-income countries.
The ODA mechanism is being sought to be replaced by new mechanisms e.g., the Clean Development Mechanism.
A Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project represent co-operation between a company in a country with reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and a company in a developing country without such commitments. A company in the sponsoring country supports implementation of project activities in a host country where comparable emission reductions can be achieved at a lower cost.
The reductions generated must, however, be additional to any that would have occurred without the project taking place. The idea is to create sustainable benefits and global emission reductions in the most cost-efficient manner.
Through a CDM project, investing companies earn a determined amount of credits for achieved emission reductions. Credits are awarded in the form of certified emission reductions (CERs). You can use them to meet your company's own reduction commitments or you can trade them in the marketplace.
When properly organised and fulfilling the validation and verification/certification requirements, CDM projects can earn credits for either a ten-year period or for a seven-year period with the option of two renewals of seven years each. Participation in the CDM is voluntary.
The Kyoto Protocol requires that all CDM projects are subjected to validation and verification/certification by a designated operational entity (DOE) ie, a third party verifier. In view of the declining trend in ODA, developing countries must explore how they can finance their sustainable development efforts, such as by introducing a system of ecological taxation.
Private investment cannot replace development aid as it will not reach sectors relevant for the poor. Such investments and other mechanisms can at best be additional to, not replacements for, development assistance.
Conditions attached to financial assistance need to be rigorously scrutinized, and the assistance accepted only if the conditionalities are acceptable. Financial support for sustainable development programmes must not be negatively influenced by political considerations external to the objectives of the assistance.
4.2 Trade
Trade regimes, specifically WTO, are sometimes in conflict with sustainable development priorities. Imperatives of trade, and the concerns related to environment, equity and social justice however need to be dealt with independently.
Environmental and social clauses which are implicitly or explicitly part of international agreements must not be used selectively to erect trade barriers against developing countries.
Developing countries will suffer a major trade disadvantage if the efforts to put in place globally acceptable Process and Production Methods (PPMs) are successful. Instead, existing disparities between the trade regimes and multilateral environmental agreements, such as those between Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), should be thoroughly addressed. Mechanisms to resolve such conflicts between multilateral agreements should be set up.
4.3 Science and Education
The paramount importance of education in effecting social change is recognized. Mainstream education must now be realigned to promote awareness, attitudes, concerns and skills that will lead to sustainable development.
Basic education which promotes functional literacy, livelihood skills, understanding of the immediate environment and values of responsible citizenship is a precondition for sustainable development. Such education must be available to every child as a fundamental right, without discrimination on the basis of economic class, geographical location or cultural identity.
Adequate resources and support for education for sustainable development are essential. The empowerment of women and girls must be supported by actions to improve their access to basic and higher education, training and capacity building. The emphasis should be on gender mainstreaming.
Greater capacity needs to be built in science and technology through improved collaboration among research institutions, the private sector, NGOs and government. Collaborations and partnerships between and among scientists, government and all stakeholders, on scientific research and development and its widespread application need to be improved.
5.0 Population
With India's population crossing a billion in the year 2000, the National Population Policy announced in that year has special significance.
The official realization, that population is not merely about numbers but about the health and quality of life of people in general and women in particular, must be reinforced and sustained by an informed debate to bring key population issues into ever sharpening perspective at various levels of policy making from the national and state legislatures to local government institutions.
There is need for a better and more widespread understanding that the number of children desired by any couple depends on a large and complexly interrelated number of socio-economic and cultural factors, and that any policy action seeking to control population must seriously take all these variables into account.
An important part of empowering women in matters pertaining to population, is to explicitly recognize and respect their rights over their bodies and their reproductive behaviour. This recognition must permeate society in general, and religious, judicial and law-enforcement institutions in particular, through continual campaigning and dialogue.
The pursuit of population control must not be allowed to compromise human rights and basic democratic principles. Such compromises are often implicit in the disincentives aimed at controlling family size; in comments on the fertility of particular social groupings; and in the occasional demands to control in-migration to metropolitan areas. It is essential to place these matters in a balanced and rational perspective through informed public discourse supported by the wide dissemination of authentic data.
6.0 STRENTHENING GOVERNANCE
6.1 Local initiatives
Effective management of resources requires participation by all stakeholders. At the local level, strengthening democratic institutions generally leads to better and more sustained management of natural resources.
To enhance effectiveness of people's participation in local governance, committees comprising both elected and executive members of local bodies and representatives of community groups, must be formed. Appropriate capacity building would enable them to undertake local development activities according to community priorities, monitor project implementation and manage community assets. Where the conditions for such community empowerment have already been created, as in India through the 73rd and 74th amendments of its Constitution, effective implementation of the provisions should be ensured. All members of society are the stakeholders of sustainable development. Women make up half of this group. Affirmative action to ensure representation and power to women in local governance, and appropriate capacity building, are necessary to make them effective and equal partners in the development process.
Social groups which have been traditionally discriminated against must be represented in local governance and empowered to ensure that they become effective and mainstream partners in development. Children are a valuable asset of every society. It is the responsibility not only of the parents but of the community that children realize their potential fully, growing up in a healthy, enriching and fulfilling environment. Ensuring the provision of such an environment is a major challenge of governance at the local level.
The occupational, cultural and economic heterogeneity of population is on the whole a major asset in making development sustainable; but there are times of crisis when the same heterogeneity can become the basis of conflict and social insecurity. It is imperative to evolve participatory mechanisms of governance involving citizen groups and local authorities which will provide effective means of conflict resolution.
It must be said that the condition of women - including teenage girls and senior ladies - remains a serious cause of concern in India, as we witness more and more heinous crimes against them like the Badaun gangrape and hanging incident of UP in 2014. All government policies have to be designed keeping in mind the specifically bad condition of women in India.
6.2 National initiatives
Sustainable development is achieved through optimizing gains from several variables, rather than maximizing those from a single one. This requires government departments, by convention sectorally organized, to work together, or in some cases as a single multi-disciplinary authority. For this joint planning, transparency and coordination in implementation are required.
The richness of skills available in society must be harnessed through partnerships involving institutions in civil society, such as NGOs, CBOs, corporate (including private) bodies, academic and research institutions, trade unions, etc., which must be made an integral part of planning and implementation for sustainable development. There is on the one hand a surfeit of laws, many of them outmoded and irrelevant. On the other hand, effective enforcement is lacking in respect of laws relevant to contemporary concerns and conducive to governance. This calls for a thorough review of laws, elimination of those which are outmoded, and simplification of the procedures for implementing those which are relevant.
Internal reviews as well as learnings from international experience should be the basis of identifying and filling gaps in existing laws. It must, however, be recognized that laws in themselves do not provide solutions, unless there are mechanisms to effectively enforce them. There are many traditional systems and practices whose value and validity needs to be recognized and brought into the mainstream of governmental development thinking and policy. Appropriate mechanisms for integrating them need to be created.
Many policies were framed either before sustainable development became a major concern or in a sectoral perspective. These need to be reviewed from the point of view of sustainable development. All future policies must be guided by considerations of sustainable development. Areas lacking policies should be identified and adequate policies compatible with the imperatives of sustainable development framed, taking into account successful examples, of policies and initiatives in similar areas.
6.3 International initiatives
There is both a need and a scope for regional and global cooperation in sustainable development. Some of the areas of common concern are marine and riparian issues, transboundary environmental impacts, management of bioresources, technology sharing and sharing of sustainable development experiences.
Efforts must be made, especially by developing countries, to work towards synergizing experiences and raising shared regional concerns as a strong united front in international forums. Mechanisms must be put in place to facilitate such international exchange of domestic and global experiences in sustainable development.
There must be mechanisms for monitoring the compliance of countries to their obligations under various environmental agreements. Currently there is a multiplicity of institutions with fragmented responsibilities. A better governance regime is required to ensure cooperation and compliance.
The World Conference on education for Sustainable Development held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from 10th - 12th November 2014, called on all nations to further scale up and implement Education for Sustained Development (ESD). It emphasised that people are at the centre of sustainable development.
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