Environmental Science Course

Sustainable Development
Dr. Hasan Hamouda
Eng. Osama M. Othman
 Definitions
 The Concept Of SD
 Earth Summits
 Principles Of SD
 SD Dimensions
 Environmental Threats to Human Health
 Driving Forces Behind Current Health-and
environment Trends
 Discussion

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?What is the Sustainability

The term sustainability is now used by

scientists, technicians, development
Planners, politicians etc. in many different
ways and meanings hence, it means
different things to different people, but
the most frequently quoted definition is
from the report Our Common Future (also
known as the Brundtland Report

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Sustainability Development

Sustainable development is development"

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

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The concept of Sustainability

 The concept of sustainable development

is like motherhood and apple pie
everyone finds it a good thing

 The concept of (SD) was not invented in

the 1970s or 1980s.

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The concept of Sustainability

 In 1950 K. William Kapp published

a comprehensive analysis of all the
important issues and it was for the
first Book about Sustainable
Development

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Stockholm in 1972

The United Nations Conference on the

Human Environment, held at Stockholm
in 1972
It was the first major international
discussion of environmental issues. The
meeting marked a polarization between
the priorities of economic growth and
.environmental protection

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 Nucleus of Environment

This polarization has dominated the

debate between rich and poor
countries and between interest groups
within countries for many years and -
given the results of the Kyoto Climate
Conference in December 1997 - is still
.not fully resolved

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 The Global 2000 Report

The World Conservation Strategy promoted

sustainable development in 1980, as did
»The Global 2000 Report to the President
prepared under President Jimmy Carter.
The major conclusion of the report was “
if the present trend continue, the word
in 2000 will be more crowded, more
polluted, less stable ecologically and
more vulnerable to disruption than the
”world we live in now
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Brundtland Report

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UNCED 1992

IN 1992, the UNCED which was attended

by more than a hundred heads of state
and thousands of political, technological,
scientific and private sector delegates also
discussed themes touching on the
complex, reciprocal relationships between
.the environment and the economy

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UNCED 1992

The major outputs of this Conference are:

1- Agenda 21
Rio Declaration on Environment and -2
Development

Two conventions (on Climate -3

Change and on Biodiversity)
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Anticipating and preventing problems -1
are better than trying to react and fix
.them after they occur
Accounting must reflect all long-term -2
environmental and economic costs, not
. just those of the current market
The best decisions are those based on -3
sound, accurate, and up-to-date
information
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We must live off the interest our -4
environment provides and not destroy
.its capital base

The quality of social and economic -5

development must take precedence
. over quantity
We must respect nature and the rights -6
. of future generations
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 Social Environmental

Dimension Dimension

Economical Political
Dimension Dimension

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Health-and-Environment
Cause-Effect Framework

Human Environment Sustainable

Health Development

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Environmental threats to human health
are numerous. For ease of discussion and
priority-setting, they can be divided into
"traditional hazards" associated with lack
of development, and "modern hazards"
associated with unsustainable
.development

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Traditional hazards related to poverty
and "insufficient" development

Modern hazards are related to

development that lacks health-and-
environment safeguards, and to
unsustainable consumption of natural
resources

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 Intersect oral actions for
a healthy environment

Along the same lines, an intersect oral

approach is the most effective means of
formulating environmental health policy,
since it can help to ensure that priorities
are coherent and do not conflict with those
.of individual sectors

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 Intersect oral actions for
a healthy environment

Ministries of health and environment have

key roles to play in such activity. Joint
programmers involving these and other
ministries would enable much more to be
achieved in environment and health.
International agencies can also contribute
much to environmental health policy
.development

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 Driving Forces Behind Current
Health-and-Environment Trends

Driving forces create the conditions in

which environmental health threats can
develop or be averted, as indicated in the
health-and-environment cause-effect
framework.

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 Driving Forces Behind Current
Health-and-Environment Trends

Driving forces considered in our analysis

are: population dynamics; urbanization;
poverty and inequity; technical and
scientific developments; consumption
and production patterns, and economic
development.

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 Population Dynamics

Population driving forces have three

basic components:
1- The total number and the rate of growth;
2- Geographical distribution of people, age-
distribution;
3- Changes to these distributions caused by
population movement.

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Urbanization

Cities generate a large part of a nation's

economic activity, and create potential
efficiencies not found elsewhere, as well
as advantages in the delivery of
education, health and other social
services.

Cities generate considerable waste and

pollution.
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Urbanization

Urban growth also means greater

dependence on transport systems,
generating yet further pollution.

The resulting public health challenges are

daunting, but with appropriate policies
and action programmers, health in cities
can be improved.

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Poverty and inequity

Poverty and inequity are two of the most

important contributory factors to poor
environmental conditions and poor health.
Poverty as reflected in global income
inequity is actually increasing. The net
worth of the world's 358 richest people is
larger than the combined annual income of
the poorest 45% of the world's population
(2300 thousand million people).
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 Poverty and inequity

Poor local environmental conditions

probably affect women more than any
other group -- primarily by creating
additional pressures and increasing
.women's workload

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Science and Technology

In the past three decades science and

technology have been two of the most
decisive driving forces for economic
development. They have played, and will
continue to play, a significant role in the
search for new knowledge and more
efficient means of agricultural and
industrial production.

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Science and Technology

Technological developments can be

polluting and wasteful, however, and
may create serious risks to environment
and health. The prevention and reduction
of such risks are thus key issues for
sustainable development.

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 Consumption and production
patterns

But increased consumption and production

depletes natural resources and produces
waste, which can have severe effects on the
environment and human health. Three of the
most important consumption issues in terms
of sustainability are: diet (particularly the
consumption of meat), consumption of certain
raw materials and persistent chemicals, and
the consumption of fossil fuels and associated
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
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Economic Development

Overall life expectancy and other health

indicators have improved for those
benefiting from economic development.
Economic growth in itself is not sufficient,
.however, to reduce poverty
Furthermore, if economic development is
misguided, poorly planned or inadequately
regulated, people's vulnerability to
.environmental health hazards is increased
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