Sustainable development
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Sustainable development refers to the development of an area, region, or country that meets present needs without inhibiting the ability of future generations to meet their needs. As a policy, sustainable development attempts to balance competing human and environmental needs, such as economic growth, the use and conservation of natural resources and energy, poverty reduction, and environmental protection.[1]
Background
A 1987 United Nations report called Our Common Future, which was published by the World Commission on Environment and Development (a subset of the United Nations), defined sustainable development as "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The report emphasized the following concepts:[2]
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| —"Our Common Future" (1987), a publication of the United Nations[2] | ||
Sustainable development as a concept was recognized in 1972 at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, Sweden. the term itself was not used until later. The 1972 conference's attendees met to discuss how to combine economic development, specifically in developing countries, with environmental protection in mutually beneficial ways.[4]
Sustainable development was a major theme at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The conference was attended by approximately 100 heads of state and representatives from 178 national governments. The summit's attendees expressed their support for sustainable development and considered the idea to be a potential solution to poverty and the environmental problems named by the UN in its 1987 report.[4]
The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg in 2002 and was attended by 191 national governments, United Nation agencies, multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank, and other groups. The summit was convened to assess how sustainable development had progressed as a policy since 1992. The Johannesburg Summit issued the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and a series of initiatives focused on what the summit described as sustainable food consumption and production, sustainable water use, and sustainable energy conservation.[4]
Main ideas
The World Bank, an international financial institution, identified the following three pillars of sustainable development:[5]
- Economic growth
- Environmental protection
- Social inclusion
Sustainable development advocates at the World Bank argue that economic growth can come at the expense of the environment because of inefficient economies, natural resource depletion, and the use of coal, oil, and natural gas. Some sustainable development advocates have argued that economic growth creates populations that lack electricity, nutrition, and suitable drinking water. These advocates also argue that government policy and market failures (situations in which goods and services are allocated in an inefficient way) are the main cause of environmental problems and poverty in developing countries. As a result, sustainable development is viewed by its supporters as a response to harmful policies and a way to balance competing needs. The World Bank has argued that sustainable development involves long-term plans for allocating natural resources and balancing human health and economic needs with environmental protection. The World Bank cited cities that limit carbon dioxide emissions, farming communities that use alternative agriculture methods to minimize potential impact on climate change, and countries that conserve energy as examples of sustainable development.[6]
The United Nations promoted the following sustainable development goals at the September 2015 UN General Assembly meeting:
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| —United Nations General Assembly, September 2015[7] | ||
Figures
- Jeffrey Sachs was the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a professor of health policy and management at Columbia's School of Public Health as of April 2015. He advised the United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the UN's sustainable development goals published in September 2015. As of April 2015, he was the director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. As of April 2015, Sachs was affiliated with the Earth Institute, a university-wide organization that supports sustainable development and advocated in favor of master's and Ph.D. programs in sustainable development and practice at Columbia.[8]
- Ban Ki-moon succeeded Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) in 2007. As secretary-general, he advocated for sustainable development ideas at the UN. Moon's office published a series of sustainable development goals that he promoted among UN member states. The goals included reducing poverty in developing countries, financing a climate change fund that would go to areas and regions potentially affected by human-caused global warming, and doubling the use of renewable energy by the year 2030.[9]
Groups
- The Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) of the United Nations (UN) is an organization that promotes and coordinates the UN's sustainable development goals. Its activities include providing analysis and policy information on sustainable development as well as promoting sustainable development in individual governments.[10]
- The Sustainable Development Solutions Network was launched in April 2012 by Ban Ki-moon. The organization includes scientific and technical experts from universities and the private sector to support the United Nations' sustainable development goals. The network's purpose is to integrate technical and policy work on the "economic, social and environmental challenges confronting the world."[11]
Examples of sustainable development
Local government
In 2000, the American Planning Association (APA) adopted a series of sustainable development objectives based upon principles officially adopted by some municipalities in Sweden. The principles were adopted to inform city planning and reduce the use of coal, oil, and natural gas.These municipalities are called eco-municipalities by the Institute for Eco-Municipalities.[12]
In 2005, three Wisconsin communities of (Ashland, Washburn, and Madison) adopted policies to become eco-municipalities. Each city council adopted the above principles to use in their city planning decisions. The City Council and Mayor of Duluth, Minnesota, passed a resolution adopting the above objectives as official city policy in June 2006. According to the American Planning Association, there is no requirement for eco-municipalities to adopt specific policies. In addition, the group recommended the following policies at the local level in April 2000:[13]
- Promotion of public transit as well as bicycle and pedestrian routes
- Development of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar
- Limits on mercury and phosphorus extraction
- Reduction or elimination of the use of pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers
About 30 eco-municipalities were listed in the United States by the Institute For Eco-Municipality Education and Assistance as of October 2015:[12]
| Cities and counties with sustainable development principles (as of October 2015) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland, Wisconsin | ||||
| Bayfield, Wisconsin | ||||
| Cable, Wisconsin | ||||
| Beloit, Wisconsin | ||||
| Portsmouth, New Hampshire | ||||
| Dunn County, Wisconsin | ||||
| Douglas County, Wisconsin | ||||
| Marshfield, Wisconsin | ||||
| Neenah, Wisconsin | ||||
| Reedsburg, Wisconsin | ||||
| Stevens Point, Wisconsin | ||||
| Concord, Massachusetts | ||||
| Duluth, Minnesota | ||||
| Eau Claire, Wisconsin | ||||
| Sheboygan, Wisconsin | ||||
| Greenville, Wisconsin | ||||
| Johnson Creek, Wisconsin | ||||
| Shorewood, Wisconsin | ||||
| Wausau, Wisconsin | ||||
Colleges and universities
Some American colleges and universities have adopted sustainable development programs. For example, students and administrators at these institutions have adopted campus-wide practices or programs for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and energy use, managing waste through recycling, and limiting food and water use. One sustainable development initiative as of August 2008 was the state of Massachusetts's Campus Sustainability program, which was part of a broader Massachusetts state government policy requiring all public colleges and universities in the state to adopt practices related to renewable energy and conservation. In 2008, the Massachusetts Governor's Office published a collection of sustainable development policy recommendations for colleges and universities nationwide:[14]
- Energy efficiency initiatives: Students at Harvard University instituted programs to reduce energy consumption, such as turning off dormitory computers, lights, and appliances before students left for summer and winter breaks. According to the Massachusetts report, the Ohio University adopted computer management software to turn off computers if they are not in use in an effort to conserve energy. Other energy initiatives included programs at the University of Virginia and Oberlin College (Ohio) to install technology for measuring the flow of electricity, water, and steam at all campus buildings.
- Green buildings: A green building contains what is called a green roof by sustainable development advocates. A green roof on a building is partially or completely covered with soil and vegetation. Sustainable development advocates argued that the roofs can provide insulation for cooling and heating and reduce water runoff. As of August 2008, Carleton College in Minnesota had a 666 square-foot roof containing plants and vegetation. The University of Texas at Arlington contained a 1,000 square-foot green roof with roughly 30,000 pounds of soil as of August 2008.
- Renewable energy: Some colleges and universities have used energy generated from renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, and biomass. The Massachusetts Maritime Academy installed a 660 kilowatt wind turbine in 2006 with a capacity to produce 1 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. As of 2008, Mt. Wachusett Community College in Massachusetts contained a biomass heating plant that burned wood chips to generate electricity. As of 2008, California State University at Fresno contained 3,872 solar panels to generate 1.1 megawatts of electricity; around $2.8 million for the project came from California's state utility agency.
- Water use: As of August 2008, Duke University had low-flow shower heads that produce 1.5 gallons per minute in an effort to limit water use.
- Transportation: As of August 2008, the University of Washington encouraged to use of public transportation or carpools to reduce vehicle use.
- Food: Some campuses have purchased locally-grown or organic food in an effort to avoid food production that uses coal, oil, or natural gas. For example, Santa Clara University in California purchased produce from local farms and Stanford University purchased milk and meat from local growers as of August 2008.
Issues
Impact of coal, oil, and natural gas
Some sustainable development advocates have argued that human-caused climate change, air and water pollution, unsustainable water use and agricultural practices, and ocean degradation are driven by coal, oil, and natural gas use. These advocates have argued that national and international policies should focus more on natural resource conservation and renewable energy production than on coal, oil, and natural gas use.[15]
In addition, sustainable development advocates have argued that carbon-based energy use contributes to human-caused climate change. The theory of human-caused climate change states that higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are caused by carbon-based energy use and contribute to changes in the climate. According to some sustainable development advocates, an energy and industrial system that emits less carbon dioxide or sequesters carbon dioxide would slow potential changes to the climate. As a result, some advocates support placing a price on carbon dioxide as well as coal, oil, and natural gas. These advocates have argued that a price on carbon dioxide emissions would take into account their social and environmental costs, such as human-caused climate change.[15]
Resource scarcity
Sustainable development advocates have argued that natural resources would become scarcer over the 21st century. The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations argued in a 2013 report that economic and population growth as well as human-caused climate change could place downward pressure on the availability of some natural resources, such as water, coal, oil, and natural gas. The report stated that these resources would decrease as demand for them grew over the 21st century.[16]
In addition, the report argued that developed countries such as the United States and countries in Europe should encourage greater use of public transportation and biodegradable materials and should place a price on carbon dioxide. Further, the report advocated for gasoline taxes and government subsidies for renewable energy to decrease coal, oil, and natural gas use.[16]
Criticism
Some critics of sustainable development have argued that the concept is vague and meaningless. Further, these critics have argued that sustainable development advocates cannot point to successes by private institutions or national governments that have adopted sustainable development principles.
Others, such as Kathia Castro Laszlo, the co-director of the master's program in Leadership of Sustainable Systems at Saybrook University, have argued that private companies have fallen short of sustainable development's own goals. One example cited by Laszlo is the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Laszlo argued that private companies such as BP have not taken steps to implement sustainable development policies. "The recent ecological disaster caused by the BP oil spill shortly after Earth Day is a reminder of the gap between the sustainability talk and the sustainability walk," Laszlo wrote.[17]
Some critics have argued that sustainable development does not have criteria to measure success. Laura Huggins and Terry Anderson, researchers at the free market-oriented nonprofit Property and Environment Research Center, argued that sustainable development does not provide standards that would measure whether sustainable development is successful. "There is no way to know what resource use is acceptable today and no way to know what future generations may desire," Huggins and Anderson wrote.[18]
New York Times economics journalist Eduardo Porter criticized sustainability development for what he argued was its negative economic effects on countries such as Cambodia, Nepal, and Bangladesh. According to Porter, countries have joined the infrastructure investment bank of China, which Porter called a rival to the World Bank, because the environmental goals of the United States and some European countries are out of step with the goals of developing countries. Porter argued that developing countries view sustainable development principles as detrimental to economic growth and rising standards of living. According to Porter, American refrigerators consume 300 to 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and the average U.S. citizen consumes 13,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. By contrast, Porter argued that the average citizen of Nepal consumes roughly 100 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, Cambodians consume 160 kilowatt hours per year, and Bangladeshis consumed 260 kilowatt hours per year. According to Porter, developing nations are not as well off because they do not receive enough aid from countries that support sustainable development. Porter argued that citizens in developing countries rely on less efficient energy and as a result remain poor. Porter argued that governments should focus on [[ecomodernism], which states that economic growth and prosperity are higher priorities than the sustainable use of natural resources. For ecomodernism advocates such as Porter, policies meant to increase economic prosperity are more beneficial than sustainable development policies. "Changing the conversation will not be easy. Our world of seven billion people — expected to reach 11 billion by the end of the century — will require an entirely different environmental paradigm," Porter wrote.[19]
See also
- Glossary of environmental terms
- State environmental policy
- Climate change
- Common pool resources and collective action
- Conservation
Footnotes
- ↑ World Bank, "What is Sustainable Development," accessed April 14, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 International Institute for Sustainable Development, "What is Sustainable Development?" accessed September 28, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sustainable Development Commission, "History of Sustainable Development," accessed April 12, 2015
- ↑ World Bank, "Sustainable Development Overview," accessed April 22, 2015
- ↑ World Bank, "Sustainable Development Projects," accessed April 24, 2015
- ↑ United Nations, "Sustainable Development Goals," accessed October 7, 2015
- ↑ Columbia University, "Full Biography: Jeffrey D. Sachs," accessed April 23, 2015
- ↑ United Nations, "Sustainable Development Priorities," accessed April 30, 2015
- ↑ United Nations, "Division of Sustainable Development," accessed April 13, 2015
- ↑ Sustainable Development Solutions Network, "Vision and Organization," accessed April 23, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Institute for Eco-Municipalities, "Eco-municipalities," accessed October 7, 2015
- ↑ American Planning Association, "Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability," April 17, 2000
- ↑ Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, "Campus Sustainability Best Practices: A Resource for Colleges and Universities," August 1, 2008
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Sustainable Development Solutions Network, "A Framework for Sustainable Development," December 19, 2012
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, "World Economic and Social Survey 2013: Sustainable Development Challenges," accessed April 23, 2015
- ↑ Triple Pundit, "“Sustainability as Usual” Isn’t Good Enough," May 17, 2010
- ↑ Property and Environment Research Center, "The Property Rights Path to Sustainable Development," October 23, 2003
- ↑ New York Times, "A Call to Look Past Sustainable Development," April 14, 2015
