Sustainable development (SD) is an umbrella concept encompassing economic, environmental and social aspects. For sustainable development to thrive, all three pillars must work in harmony and be balanced appropriately.
All countries must implement continuous education programs regarding sustainable development. This will encourage citizens to practice responsible environmental, economic and social behavior.
Definition
After Gro Harlem Brundtland released her 1987 report, sustainable development became widely recognized. Sustainable development can be defined as an approach that improves human life without harming the planet, including conservation efforts, climate change mitigation strategies and pollution control measures. To be truly effective, such development efforts require taking an integrated approach towards economic and environmental concerns such as conservation measures, climate control or pollution controls.
At Rio+20 conference held by United Nations in 2012, commitments were renewed by setting 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 SDGs replaced Millennium Development Goals that expired in 2015. For success of their implementation to take place successfully, both businesses and individuals need to support its implementation.
Cerin asserts that there are multiple definitions of sustainability, with most agreeing it involves striking a dynamic balance between human activities and the environment. Economic models focus on resource efficiency and conserving natural resources; ecological models explore biodiversity issues; social models strive to strengthen political, cultural, religious, health care systems in order to ensure human dignity and wellbeing (Cerin, Citation2006). For SD to occur successfully all three pillars must work in concert – otherwise negative synergies could arise or positive ones be lost (Cerin, Citation2006).
Principles
Though opinions on sustainable development (SD) vary considerably, most theories agree on its central tenants: environmental, economic and social considerations must all be addressed for sustainable growth to occur.
Under Sustainable Development principles, governments would be expected to promote “smart growth” with policies that reduce resource consumption while aligning economies with nature’s capacity for regeneration. Furthermore, government should enforce the “polluter pays” principle to ensure entities responsible for polluting are forced to bear cleanup costs themselves rather than burdening others or Mother Earth with those costs.
Similar to its other components, SD requires that everyone has access to decent work, quality healthcare and education, and affordable housing. Governments must also ensure adequate legal protections against discrimination and poverty as well as ensure everyone has access to essential resources such as food and water for survival.
Challenges
The Sustainable Development Agenda seeks to address global challenges such as climate change, poverty, resource depletion and population growth while meeting economic and social goals such as eliminating hunger, providing decent work conditions and access to education as well as upholding human rights.
Many of the SDGs will have cross-benefits, meaning tackling one goal will also help meet other ones. But there are tradeoffs and hard decisions must be made; for instance, phase out fossil fuels could negatively impact some businesses (Goal 13), yet society as a whole would benefit more in terms of mitigating climate change risks than will individuals alone.
Realizing necessary changes will require cooperation among nations and sectors as well as between public and private sectors, governance issues, coalition building strategies, as well as education and awareness campaigns that foster responsible environmental, economic, social behavior as well as accountable stewardship of our natural environment.
Solutions
Sustainable development solutions focus on integrating economic, social and environmental goals in such a way as to achieve positive change for both economies, societies and environments. This requires governments, corporations and individuals to take measures such as reducing waste production, supporting renewable energies such as wind power or solar panels, protecting biodiversity or informing their community of any issues or regulations related to sustainable development.
Because our planet only contains finite natural resources and limited living organisms can exist on it, the rate of resource exploitation must not surpass Earth’s capacity to regenerate them while pollution must be minimised (Kanie & Biermann Citation2017).
Solutions can also include supporting sustainable agriculture technologies, expanding green infrastructure initiatives and reducing waste – strategies which can help decrease air, soil and water pollution, while providing enough room for life-supporting ecosystems to flourish in their environments. Furthermore, governments can encourage renewable energy sources like wind or solar power and impose the polluter-pays principle to ensure those responsible bear the costs associated with their actions.