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2.2 Environment and Sustainable Development Population and Sustainable Development: Programmes and Policies UNIT 2 ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAMMES Structure 2.0 Objectives 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Environment and Sustainable Development 2.2.1 Sustainable Development 2.2.2 Sustainable Development: Historical Markers 2.2.3 Few Definitions 2.3 International Commitment Towards Sustainable Development- Environmental Conferences 2.4 Stockholm Conference- The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 2.5 The Brundtland Commission 2.5.1 Mandate of the Commission 2.5.2 1987 - The Release of Our Common Future 2.6 Earth Summit, 1992 2.6.1 Five Agreements Signed during the Conference 2.6.2 Agenda 21 2.7 The World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002 2.7.1 The Johannesburg Declaration 2.7.2 The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation 2.7.3 Type II Partnerships 2.8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2.9 Rio+20 2.9.1 Rio+20- Objectives 2.9.2 The Final Outcome Document - The Future We Want 2.10 Habitat Conferences 2.10.1 Habitat Conference Vancouver, 1976 2.10.2 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements - Istanbul, Turkey, 1996 2.11 Important Perspectives from the Global Discourse: North South Debates 2.12 Let Us Sum Up 2.13 Key Words 2.14 References and Suggested Readings 2.15 Answers to Check Your Progress 138 Environment and 2.0 OBJECTIVES Sustainability Programmes After reading this unit, you will be able to: define sustainable development and Identify historical markers; elucidate Brundtland Commission Report; explain objectives of Stockholm conference on Human Environment; describe the earth summits and their outcomes; explain the final outcome document of Rio+20-The future we want; learn history of Habitat conferences; and explain the important perspectives from the global discourse: North South Debates. 2.1 INTRODUCTION At any level of development, human impact on the environment is a function of population size, per capita consumption and the environmental damage caused by the technology used to produce what is consumed. There is little doubt that the Earth’s environment is changing on all scales from local (e.g. air, soil, and water pollution), to regional (e.g. acid deposition and land degradation) to global (e.g. climate change and loss of biodiversity). These changes are to a large measure due to human activities, and undermine efforts to alleviate poverty and adversely affect water resources, human health, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and ecosystems. We know that in 2011 the world population surpassed the 7 billion mark and, according to most commonly quoted population projections, published by the United Nations Population Division, 2011, the world population will grow to over 9 billion by mid century. To improve the well being of a large and growing world population, while ensuring the sustainable use of essential but limited natural resources, is one of the greatest challenges we face today. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) recognized 20 years ago that the environment, economic and social issues are interlinked. It recommended that the three be integrated into development decision making. In defining sustainable development, the Commission for both intra and equity development that meets not only today’s human needs but also those of more people in the future. In the following sections we will learn about the various environment and sustainability programmes and their outcomes, to have a better understanding of environment and sustainable development. 2.2 ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT In 1962 Silent Spring was published, a book many consider a turning point in our understanding of the interconnections between the environment, economy and social well-being. In the decades that have followed, many milestones have marked the journey toward sustainable development. Sustainable 139 Population and Sustainable development is intended to encompass environment, economy, and social Development: Programmes and Policies issues; but is often compartmentalized as an environmental issue. In its early manifestations, sustainable development was largely a green agenda, or bringing environmental considerations in economic development. Sustainable development focuses on improving the quality of life for all of the Earth’s citizens without increasing the use of natural resources beyond the capacity of the environment to supply them indefinitely. It requires an understanding that inaction has consequences and that we must find innovative ways to change institutional structures and influence individual behavior. It is about taking action, changing policy and practice at all levels, from the individual to the international the primary focus of sustainable development has been on critical challenges posed by various environmental problems. The major environmental problems or concerns related to sustainability including the depletion of non- renewable resources, increase in non biodegradable wastes, decline in biodiversity, and and so on imply how the current mode of development may threaten the future generations and why development policies and practices have to be sustainable. 2.2.1 Sustainable Development The concept of sustainable development is based on the premise that efforts to improve the economic and social conditions of present generations through development activities should not compromise the ability of future generations to do so. Sustainable development is a fluid concept and various definitions have emerged over the past two decades. Despite an on-going debate on the actual meaning, a few common principles tend to be emphasized. 1) The first is a commitment to equity and fairness, in that priority should be given to improving the conditions of the World’s poorest and decisions should account for the rights of future generations. 2) The second is a long-term view that emphasizes the precautionary principle, i.e., “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost- effective measures to prevent environmental degradation” (Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Principle 15). 3) Third, sustainable development embodies integration, and understanding and acting on the complex interconnections that exist between the environment, economy, and society. This is not a balancing act or a playing one issue off against the other, but recognizing the interdependent nature of these three pillars. It is generally accepted that sustainable development calls for a convergence between the three pillars of economic development, social equity, and environmental protection. 2.2.2 Sustainable Development: Historical Markers One of the first key publications looking at the ability of the earth to sustain its population was ‘An Essay on The Principle of Population’ written in 1798 by Thomas Malthus about which we have already discussed in Unit 2 Block 1. In 1968 Garret Hardins publicised ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, which considered the problem again of overuse of natural resources. This article highlighted the need for a moral stance to maintain public resources and 140 reported that technological advances were no longer enough. The tragedy of Environment and Sustainability Programmes the commons evolves when individuals use a public good, but do not pay for the full cost of it. Before the 1960s there was not public widespread knowledge of the environmental and conservation issues being faced in the world. It is reported that the public concerns raised in the 1960s were one of the main reasons for the 1972 United Nations conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. A brief year wise list of important events of the historical markers of Sustainable Development is given below: 1968 - The Club of Rome 1972 - The release of The Limits to Growth 1972 - The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1984 - The World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) 1987 - The release of Our Common Future 1992 - The Earth Summit Rio Declaration on Environment and Development Agenda 21 2002 - The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2012- Rio +20 2.2.3 Few Definitions Over the last 25 years, sustainable development has been defined in many ways; however the most common definition is from ‘Our Common Future’, also known as the Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. The report, published in 1987, defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”(WCED). Sustainable Development (SD) implies economic growth together with the protection of environmental quality, each reinforcing the other. Sustainable Development, thus, is maintaining a balance between the human need to improve lifestyles and feeling of well-being on one hand, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and future generations depend. “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland Report (1987) ‘Our Common Future’) SD may also be defined as . “To improve the quality of life while living within the carrying capacity of ecosystems” IUCN (The World Conservation Union), 1991 141 Population and Sustainable Development: Programmes The Swiss ‘Monitoring of Sustainable Development Project’ MONET (BFS, and Policies BUWAL & ARE) in 2001, proposed the following definition: ‘Sustainable
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