1 Introduction: The nature of sustainable development

1.1 Sustainable development: concept, meaning, nature, purpose, principles and

Scope

1.1.1. Concept of sustainable development

The concept of sustainable development, although had appeared in the 1970s, was widely disseminated
in the early 1980s by the ‘World Conservation Strategy’ (IUCN, UNE’P and WWF, 1980), which called for
the maintenance of essential ecological processes; the preservation of biodiversity; and sustainable use
of species and ecosystems.

The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development,
1987), placed it on the world’s political agenda and helped re-kindle public interest in the environment.
It also spread the message that global environmental management was needed; and that without a
reduction of poverty, ecosystem damage would be difficult to counter. Twenty years after the ‘World
Conservation Strategy’ the same three bodies published ‘Caring for the Earth’ (IUCN, UNEP and WWF,
1991), which proposed principles intended to help move from theory to practice.

The concept of sustainable development was introduced in early 1980’s (in particular through the
publication of the World Conservation Strategy by IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1980), in order to reconcile
conservation and development objectives. Since then, it has evoked much discussion.

Sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The concept of needs goes
beyond simply material needs and includes values, relationships, freedom to think, act, and participate,
all amounting to sustainable living, morally, and spiritually.

Specifically, sustainable development is a way of organizing society so that it can exist in the long term.
This means taking into account both the imperatives present and those of the future, such as the
preservation of the environment and natural resources or social and economic equity.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development has been defined in
many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the
Brundtland Report:

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The industrial revolution is connected to the rise of the idea of sustainable development. From the
second half of the 19th century, Western societies started to discover that their economic and industrial
activities had a significant impact on the environment and the social balance. Several ecological and
social crises took place in the world and rose awareness that a more sustainable model was needed.

The idea of environmentally sustainable economic growth is not new. Many cultures over the course of
human history have recognized the need for harmony between the environment, society and economy.
The ‘environmentally sustainable economic growth’ is synonym to the prevalent concept of ‘Sustainable
Development’. The goal of which is to achieve balance/harmony between environment sustainability,
economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability.

Sustainability is the foundation for today’s leading global framework for international cooperation—the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

17 SDGs were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, with 169 targets to reach by 2030.
The goals and targets are universal, meaning they apply to all countries around the world, not just poor
countries.

1.1.2. Meaning of sustainable development

Sustainable development is the idea that human societies must live and meet their needs without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The “official” definition of
sustainable development was developed for the first time in the Brundtland Report in 1987.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development has continued to
evolve as that of protecting the world’s resources while its true agenda is to control the world’s
resources. Environmentally sustainable economic growth refers to economic development that meets
the needs of all without leaving future generations with fewer natural resources than those we enjoy
today.

The essence of this form of development is a stable relationship between human activities and the
natural world, which does not diminish the prospects for future generations to enjoy a quality of life at
least as good as our own.

According to other definitions, Sustainable developments are:

i. Environmental care ‘married’ to development.

ii. Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems.

iii. Development based on the principle of inter-generational {i.e. bequeathing the same or improved
resource endowment to the future that has been inherited), inter-species and inter-group equity.

iv. Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.

v. An environmental ‘handrail’ to guide development.

vi. A change in consumption patterns towards more benign products, and a shift in investment patterns
towards augmenting environmental capital.
vii. A process that seeks to make manifest a higher standard of living (however interpreted) for
human beings that recognizes this cannot be achieved at the expense of environmental integrity.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were approved in September 2015 by the 193 UN Member
States and are also known as Agenda 2030. The framework consists of 17 goals for environmental
sustainability, social inclusion, economic development, peace, justice, good governance and partnership,
the main issues for the world population in the 21st century. Each goal has several targets that better
define its aims. The total number of targets is 169.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United
Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and
ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

The 17 SDGs are integrated—that is, they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in
others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Through the pledge to Leave No One Behind, countries have committed to fast-track progress for those
furthest behind first. That is why the SDGs are designed to bring the world to several life-changing
‘zeros’, including zero poverty, hunger, AIDS and discrimination against women and girls.

Everyone is needed to reach these ambitious targets. The creativity, knowhow, technology and financial
resources from all of society is necessary to achieve the SDGs in every context.

The SDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which expired in 2015 and were
implemented over 15 years. The MDG experience underscored the importance of updated datasets for
achieving the goals. Indicators are the backbone for monitoring progress towards the SDGs at local,
national, regional, and global levels. Sound indicators can make the SDGs and their targets an
instrument that helps countries highlight their strengths and weaknesses and monitor their progress
after implementation of policies. Goals and targets are interdependent and must be pursued together as
far as possible.

1. No Poverty (End poverty in its all forms everywhere): seeks to ensure that the benefits of
industrialization are shared by all, that the living conditions of all are sustainably improved, and that no
one is left behind

2. Zero Hunger (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutritional and promote
sustainable agriculture ): supports value addition to agricultural output, and helps reduce post-harvest
losses and increase resource efficiency, while generating job opportunities for rural communities and
increasing food security, food safety and nutrition, particularly through agri-business development and
upgrading agro-food value chains.

3. Good Health and Well-being (Ensure healthy lives and promote well being for all at all ages):
supports the development and upgrading of the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries for the
local production of essential generic drugs and the provision of necessary appliances to the health
industry, while also working to reduce pollution from industry and protecting consumer health through
the implementation of food safety and sanitary standards

4. Quality Education (Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning Opportunities for all): supports the development of entrepreneurial culture and skills, provides
technical and vocational training, and helps enhancing young people’s skills and knowledge for
employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

5. Gender Equality (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls): supports women
in acquiring skills and gaining access to productive and financial resources that allow them to compete
effectively in the economic life of their communities
6. Clean Water and Sanitation (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and
sanitation for all): assists countries with the transfer of best available technologies and environmental
practices to improve industrial and municipal water management and productivity, and helps prevent
the discharge of industrial effluents into international waters (rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal areas).

7. Affordable and Clean Energy ( :promotes energy efficiency policies, technologies and practices,
as well as access to affordable renewable sources of energy for the facilitation of productive activities,
providing countries an opportunity to follow a low-carbon and low-emissions growth path

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth: facilitates structural transformation and economic growth
by increasing the capacities of local industries for value addition, economic diversification, and export
promotion, as well as supports the creation of decent jobs in industry and industry-related services.

9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure:

• seeks to advance poverty eradication and inclusiveness, build productive capacities in an

inclusive manner, and provide more opportunities for all women and men as well as across social
groups, also through partnerships with all stakeholders involved in industrialization processes

• promotes rapid economic and industrial growth, builds trade capacities in industries, and
ensures that all countries can benefit from international trade and technological progress, also through
the application of modern industrial policies and compliance with global standards and norms

• aims to advance environmentally sustainable growth, builds institutional capacities for greening
industries through cleaner production technologies and resource efficiency methodologies, and creates
green industries, spurred by technology facilitation, innovation and partnership building

10. Reducing Inequality: promotes greater productivity, stable employment, and increased incomes,
and improves economic opportunities between and within populations, countries and regions with the
aim to reach vulnerable groups, including young people, women, migrants and minorities, and a focus
on pro-poor enterprise initiatives, agro-industries, greater value-addition, women and youth
entrepreneurship, as well as human security issues in post-crisis situations.

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities: promotes smart industries and industrial clusters in urban
industrial zones that spur innovation, resource efficiency and industrial competitiveness while linking
local business with global markets and supply chains.

12. Responsible Consumption and Production: promotes green industries, resourceefficient

management, cleaner production, energy efficiency in industry, reduction of waste and pollution, and
environmental sustainability policies in industrial production and consumption, such as the circular
economy approach.

13. Climate Action: promotes the reduction of industrial CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions,
including through sustainable energy solutions and the uptake of resource-efficient technologies and
practices, and cleaner production in industrial processes.

14. Life Below Water: supports efforts to reduce the detrimental industrial impacts on water bodies
through sound water management methodologies and system introduction, and strategic partnerships
to protect coastal and maritime habitats and ecosystems, as well as helps to improve fisheries incomes
by encouraging regional cooperation, capacity building and technology, etc.

15. Life On Land: aims at improving rural livelihoods, food security and agricultural production in a
sustainable manner and promotes technologies that ensure sustainable management of the soils and
the generation of highly productive renewable resources, while supporting the adaptation and adoption
of resource efficient and cleaner production methods, technologies and systems16. Peace, Justice,
and Strong Institutions:

17. Partnerships for the Goals:

• Facilitates international cooperation, multi-stakeholder partnerships and the alignment of public

and private investments and industrial policies

• Conducts capacity-building, including on trade-related national capacities

• Fosters technology exchange mechanisms, technology policy coordination measures and related
investment opportunities

• Provides technical and statistical support to the monitoring and review of the SDG.

1.1.3. Nature of sustainable development

it acknowledged the concept of nature having certain rights, that people have stewardship of the world,
and the importance of putting people at the forefront of solving these global issues.

Thus, sustainable development recognizes that growth must be both inclusive and environmentally
sound to reduce poverty and build shared prosperity for today’s population and to continue to meet the
needs of future generations. It is efficient with resources and carefully planned to deliver both
immediate and long-term benefits for people, the planet, and prosperity. The three pillars of sustainable
development–economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social inclusion (Fig. 1)—carry across
all sectors of development, from cities facing rapid urbanization to agriculture, infrastructure, energy
development and use, water availability, and transportation.
 Figure 1. Pillars of sustainable development.

Many of these objectives may seem to conflict with each other in the short term. For example, industrial
growth might conflict with preserving natural resources. Yet, in the long term, responsible use of natural
resources now will help ensure that there are resources available for sustained industrial growth far into
the future.

Economic development is about providing incentives for businesses and other organizations to adhere
to sustainability guidelines beyond their normal legislative requirements. The supply and demand
market is consumerist in nature, and modern life requires a lot of resources every single day; economic
development is about giving people what they want without compromising quality of life, especially in
the developing world.

Social development is about awareness of and legislation protection of the health of people from
pollution and other harmful activities of business. It deals with encouraging people to participate in
environmental sustainability and teaching them about the effects of environmental protection as well as
warning of the dangers if we cannot achieve our goals.

Environmental protection is the need to protect the environment, whether the concept of 4 Rs (reduce,
recycle, recover, and reuse) are being achieved or not. Businesses that are able to keep their carbon
emissions low is toward environmental development. Environmental protection is the third pillar and, to
many, the primary concern of the future of humanity.

It defines how to protect ecosystems, air quality, integrity, and sustainability of our resources and
focuses on the elements that place stress on the environment. It also concerns how technology will
drive our greener future; and that developing technology is key to this sustainability and protecting the
environment of the future from potential damage that technological advances could potentially bring.

The process of describing indicators helps diverse members of a community reach consensus on what
sustainability means. Indicators help put sustainability in concrete terms that demonstrate a new way to
measure progress. Concepts like a person’s ecological footprint help people understand how their
everyday actions relate to issues that seem beyond the reach of a single individual and explain
sustainability.

1.1.4. Purpose of sustainable development

The aim of sustainable development is to balance our economic, environmental and social needs,
allowing prosperity for now and future generations. Sustainable development consists of a long-term,
integrated approach to developing and achieving a healthy community by jointly addressing economic,
environmental, and social issues, whilst avoiding the over consumption of key natural resources.

Sustainable development encourages us to conserve and enhance our resource base, by gradually
changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies. Countries must be allowed to meet their
basic needs of employment, food, energy, water and sanitation.

If this is to be done in a sustainable manner, then there is a definite need for a sustainable level of
population. Economic growth should be supported and developing nations should be allowed a growth
of equal quality to the developed nations. There are four objectives of sustainable development: These
include social progress and equality, environmental protection, conservation of natural resources and
stable economic growth. Everybody has the right to a healthy, clean and safe environment. Everybody
has the right to a healthy, clean and safe environment.

This can be achieved by reducing pollution, poverty, poor housing and unemployment. No one, in this
age, or in the future should be treated unfairly. Global environmental threats, such as climate change
and poor air quality must be reduced to protect human and environmental health. The use of non-
renewable resources such as fossil fuels should not be stopped overnight, but they must be used
efficiently and the development of alternatives should be encouraged to help phase them out.

Everybody has the right to a good standard of living, with better job opportunities. Economic prosperity
is required if our country is to prosper and our businesses must therefore offer a high standard of
products that consumers throughout the world want, at the prices they are prepared to pay. For this, we
need a workforce equipped with suitable skills and education within a framework to support them.

The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future
for all. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change,
environmental degradation, peace and justice.

1.1.5. Principles of sustainable development

Human rights

1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights;

2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour

3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to
collective bargaining;

4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

5: the effective abolition of child labour; and

6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment

7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; 8: undertake

initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility

9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

Anti- Corruption

10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery

1.1.6 Scope of sustainable development

To Understand the concept of sustainable development in It’s entirely, it is imperative to begin with Its
scope.

 sustainable development broadly focus on following which encompasses Underlying objectives

like the use of Various resources, preservation Identification of sustainable resources,
Sustainable usage etc.
 planning of environmental Growth to least environmental impact.
 Meeting current economic need Without compromising global environment conditions for the
generations to follow.
 However in its entirely the scope of sustainable development Can also be set to encompasses
the need to better this worlds earth’s enviornment for its prolonged sustenance.

1.2 Understand various interpretations of sustainable development

It is generally acknowledged that the report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development (also known as the Brundtland Commission) published in 1987 did much to bring the term
‘sustainable development’ into the popular consciousness and onto public agendas. This commission,
established by the United Nations (UN), comprised people drawn from member states of both the more
developed and less developed worlds and was charged with identifying the long-term environmental
strategies for the international community. Its definition of sustainable development, as “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs” has become the most widely cited expression of the term. The fundamental notion
that development today should not be at the expense of that in the future has found widespread
allegiance.

As the term sustainable development reaches both further into daily lives and becomes bound up with
ever-larger movements of the modern world, academics and practitioners are increasingly aware of the
need to reflect critically on the fundamental principles encapsulated within the term as it evolves. In
addition, close examination is needed of what is trying to be achieved and how, in the name of
sustainable development, to encompass the multiple and often competing agendas being pursued and
to interpret changes within dynamic local and global contexts. To that end, this review accords
substantial detail to the origins and development of the notion of sustainable development and how the
complex interdependencies of economic, social, and environmental development processes and their
outcomes are being revealed in the pursuit of sustainable development.

The concept of sustainable development has gained some degree of notoriety including for its ‘slippery
nature’ (the multiple definitions that it has), its ambiguities (the various interpretations that flow from
those definitions), and its fundamentally oxymoronic character (the suggested opposition between the
two encapsulated terms). This review details a number of frameworks that have been forwarded for
handling the diversity and dynamism associated with the notion and points to the principal ongoing
divisions within the field of enquiry. For some, the way in which the notion of sustainable development
has been redefined so many times and in relation to so many aspects of society–environment
relationships undermines its usefulness. For others, it is the contestations over the direction of social
and economic development into the future (the discord of modern politics) that are the substance of
sustainable development and as such, the utility of the idea lies precisely in the debate and compromise
that it challenges researchers and practitioners to engage in.
Two particular literatures, those of environmentalism and of development, are considered to be
particularly important in understanding the origins of sustainable development. The first use of the term
‘sustainable development’ is acknowledged to have been within the World Conservation Strategy of
1980 that was drawn up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
For the first time, development was forwarded as a means for achieving conservation bringing the two
literatures closer together. However, the 1980s are also understood to have been an era of ‘impasse’
within both the theory and practice of development. Past theories were upturned and seemed to offer
little in terms of explaining the current experiences of development and underdevelopment (let alone
into the future). It was also a period when the failures of ‘development’ on the ground were increasingly
evident including the environmental impacts of the mounting debt crisis and of the solutions
implemented to solve it.

In the globalized era of the early years of the twenty-first century, environmentalism is considered to be
thriving, particularly as it has adapted to changing scientific evidence and has been informed by the
ideas of related social movements such as ecofeminism. Whilst it can be considered that discourses
remain dominated by environmental sustainability concerns, the work of geographers is proving
important in placing human needs and rights more centrally into these agendas. In turn, development
studies (and development geography) is considered to have moved beyond its impasse to be
characterized by lively debate within which environmental, social, and economic sustainability are a
central concern. Whilst this review provides evidence of the substantial work of geographers,
particularly in uncovering the nexus of poverty–environment relationships, there is continued concern
as to how far this work is impacting on the literature and practices of sustainable development.

One way in which sustainable development can now be considered a concept that has come of age is
through its position as a primary policy goal of many of the major institutions of the world, including the
UN and the World Bank (WB). In particular, finding new approaches to poverty alleviation is currently
considered to be on a new and superior roll. This review analyses how this consensus has development
and considers how the policy prescriptions that flow from it intersect with local and global
environmental agendas.

Discussions of the idea and practices of sustainable development are centrally concerned with the
future of the Earth and its inhabitants’ relationships, and policy challenges that are the long-standing
traditional concerns of geographers. This review considers the contribution of human geography in
exposing the inherently political and conflictual endeavor that is sustainable development, in particular
through the work within political ecology.