Sustainable development (SD) refers to human activities conducted within the limits of Earth’s natural resources, while simultaneously optimizing economic growth while conserving biodiversity and decreasing inequality. It’s about making life better while conserving biodiversity and decreasing inequalities.
At its core, this mandate calls for universal access to decent work, high-quality healthcare and education services as well as responsible use of natural resources with regard to environmental considerations.
Economic Growth
Even though sustainable development is widely recognized as an essential goal, there remains considerable debate as to how best to reach it. One approach might be to distinguish among ecological, social, and economic sustainability when approaching this concept.
This goal emphasizes the creation of economies which are fully in harmony with Earth’s ecosystems, while simultaneously encouraging resource efficiency and renewable energy use.
This goal seeks to end global poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth that raises living standards for all people, while protecting natural resources such as forests and oceans that are essential to human existence.
Education
Education is at the core of sustainable development and UNESCO has designed the ESD for 2030 toolbox to support its implementation. It contains learning resources designed to aid schools in creating greener educational systems as well as Green School Quality Standard requirements and curriculum guidance on greening their programs.
Sustainability education and its application across disciplines is vitally important to students. This knowledge can be gained at third level through programs like Tipperary Institute’s masters on Sustainable Development or by many schools and universities who incorporate sustainability into their curricula, such as engineering disciplines where studies have shown significant increases in sustainability awareness and behaviour as a result of using the CPBL approach for first year students.
Gender Equality
Gender equality is an essential component of sustainable development. It empowers women and girls to assume leadership positions within political, economic, and social institutions while simultaneously increasing economic empowerment through access to land resources, financial services and removing any discriminatory laws that stand in their way of realizing these goals.
Addressing gender inequality can also reduce poverty and hunger. It requires dismantling traditional stereotypes and harmful norms such as female genital mutilation, child marriage and discriminatory practices in family matters as well as increasing enrollment for girls and women at schools to improve quality education for them all.
Water
Water is one of the planet’s most vital resources, essential for human life and sustainability. Humans rely on it for drinking, sanitation and agriculture as well as producing energy for travel and industry use – yet many do not have access to clean drinking water and global natural water reserves are increasingly under stress from overuse.
Nutrient pollution that threatens rivers and coastal waters has relevance across most of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) introduced by the UN1. There are particular synergies between SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) (Fig 1).
Energy
Sustainable development seeks to balance economic, social, and environmental considerations. This approach ensures that economic expansion does not strain natural resources or cause pollution or environmental degradation.
Energy efficiency is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development, since using less energy reduces service demand, which in turn lowers environmental impacts and costs.
Sustainability has long been a global concern, given that earth’s resources are limited and non-renewable while population continues to expand. To prevent Malthus’ prediction from coming true, people must use resources responsibly.
Infrastructure
Maintaining affordable, safe, sustainable, and accessible transportation networks; protecting people’s health while fostering lifelong learning opportunities; guaranteeing everyone has access to high quality food and clean water; as well as encouraging economic development that is both sustainable and inclusive.
Hard infrastructure refers to physical systems required for running a modern industrialized country, including roads, railways and highways as well as technical networks like networking equipment. Hard infrastructure serves as the cornerstone of our society by supporting millions of jobs such as locomotive engineers or truck drivers.
Soft infrastructure refers to institutions that support an economy, such as financial services and government offices. Unfortunately, soft infrastructure can often get overlooked when discussing infrastructure.