Premises of Sustainable Development Concept Occurence
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Land Forces Academy Review Vol. XXIV, No 1(93), 2019 PREMISES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT OCCURENCE Elisabeta-Emilia HALMAGHI “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania [email protected] Mihai-Marcel NEAG “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania [email protected] ABSTRACT It has long been considered that the environment can withstand all the pressure exerted by human activities on it: extensive agriculture, pesticide use, strong industrialization, noxious gas emissions into the atmosphere, toxic product discharge into lakes, rivers, seas and oceans, massive deforestation to obtain new areas for housing or agriculture. The result was environmental and soil degradation, increased water and/or air pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, the disappearance of plant and/or animal species, the depletion of some natural resources. These environmental changes have begun to be studied by specialists in the field, who have raised a flag to irreversible environmental changes. The concept of “sustainable development” arose at a time when environmental issues were at the heart of political debate: sustainable development is seen as a complex and difficult issue to solve because there is a diversity of interests of different states. International agreements and cooperation from the point of view of globalization and economic harmonization have also had as their object the issues of sustainable development, by launching the attempt to reconcile the economy with the environment. KEYWORDS: sustainable development, environmental protection, Brundtland Report 1. Introduction Initially, the idea of sustainable Since the 1960s, both scientists in the development has started from the premise field of earth sciences or economics, as well that companies can grow economically by as scientific or fiction authors have begun protecting the environment. Over time, the to warn about the state of the environment concept has undergone changes now reaching and the effects of human activities on it. three pillars: economic development, social In the 1970s of the same century politicians development and environmental protection. have also begun to realize that, at that time, economic growth was achieved without any 2. Methodology concern in terms of social and environmental The paper addresses the issue of objectives. Due to the increase in industrial sustainable development, from the emergence production, intensive agriculture and of the concept to the present days, the way in population growth in some parts of the which the definition of sustainable globe, the environmental factors have development concept has undergone changes deteriorated. over time. The environment and the need for DOI: 10.2478/raft-2019-0005 © 2017. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. 45 its protection, the reports that led to the and refers generally to the environment of emergence of the concept of sustainable an organization, to the components that development, as well as the most important make it up, and to the interdependencies top-level meetings that had on the agenda, established between those components. as main topic of debate, sustainable An exception is the definition in ISO 14000 development on the three dimensions: economic, social and environmental are – Environmental Management Systems, a presented and analyzed based on the definition that refers to biotic and abiotic literature and direct observations. factors and human beings, as well as relationships that are established between 3. The Environment and Awareness the three elements. of the Need for Its Protection The main effects of human activities Initially, since the nineteenth century, on the environment are (Diesendorf, 2001 the term environment has been used in the p. 3): climate change and changes in the biological sense as the natural environment of composition of the atmosphere; reducing living creatures and has also been taken up in the ozone layer, which increases the the field of geography where it has been negative effects of ultraviolet light on living defined as “living and human-influenced organisms; soil degradation and increased space” (Duţu, 1996, p. 36). As environmental desertification; decreasing biodiversity; science has developed, various environmental deterioration of photosynthesis cycles and definitions have emerged. In 1972, at the nutrients; large-scale pollution of rivers, “Enseignement et Environnment” lakes, seas and oceans; exhaustion of international symposium held in Aix en groundwater reserves. The consequences of Provence (France), the concept of the human activities and environmental damage environment was grounded and defined as are also felt at the society level. With the “the entire physical, chemical, biological, and emergence of pollution and the depletion of social aspects existing at one moment, likely natural resources, society has increased to create a direct or indirect effect, social inequality, reduced living conditions immediately or later, on the creatures, the in some areas of the globe, increased human beings and the human activities” numbers of people who do not have access (Oprean & Suciu, 2003, p. 20). to education or do not allow medical Although concrete actions – of an treatment, and so on. The consequences of economic economic, legal or institutional nature – to growth could be seen in the depletion of prevent and combat pollution have called natural resources and the widespread for a more precise definition of the concept degradation of environmental factors, social of environment and its components, the injustice between and within societies, the definitions and meanings of the rapid exhaustion of certain energy sources environmental concept are still very varied, and climate change. As a result, the idea depending on the field which defines it. that, economically, socially and ecologically, If the definition of the environment from the economic development models used the point of view of natural sciences could not be sustained without the emphasizes the natural factors and how they environment having to suffer. influence and/or are influenced by the In March 1972 the Club of Rome activity of the people, from the legal presented the report drawn up by a group of perspective the emphasis is on the quality researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of people’s life, on their welfare and health. of Technology, coordinated by Professor From an economic point of view, the notion Dennis Meadows and entitled Growth of the environment is much more complex Limits. In this report five basic factors have 46 been analyzed that determine, but also limit, accordance with United Nations financial economic growth: population, natural procedures. Contributions are voluntary and resources, agricultural production, industrial all United Nations member states contribute production and pollution. The Limits to to it. The money obtained is used to Growth have highlighted the contradiction implement the programs and the medium- between economic development and the term strategy. environment: due to the accelerated economic Within the United Nations, the United development, environmental factors are Nations Environment Program is the physically degraded and polluted, and natural authority that sets the global environmental and energy resources are consumed at a rapid agenda, militate for the harmonized pace, which leads to their exhaustion implementation of the environmental (Meadows, Meadows, Randers & Behrens dimension of sustainable development, and III, 1972, pp. 11-12). The report has made can serve as an advocator for environmental politicians and civil society aware of the fact issues. Its mission is to ensure the leadership that economic growth issues can not be and encouragement of partnerships in the care separated from environmental pollution, and protection of the environment through population growth or depletion of natural information and assistance to the states of the resources. world and their citizens to improve the One first important step towards quality of their lives without harming the addressing environmental and social issues quality of life of future generations was through the organization in June 1972, in (UN Environment Program, 2019). Stockholm, of the United Nations Conference In the autumn of 1983, the United on Human Environment. During the Nations Environment and Development conference, issues related to pollution, Commission (WCED) was established, exhaustion of natural resources, following Resolution no. 38-161 of the environmental degradation, the danger of the General Assembly of the United Nations. disappearance of some plant and animal The Commission was composed of species, the need to increase the standard of 22 members representing 21 nations; they had living of people in deprived areas of the very different professions, knowledge, planet. The main document adopted at the experiences and cultural traditions, as it was conference was the Declaration of the United intended to obtain as varied input as to the Nations Conference on Human Environment, work of the committee. Concerning the based on the premise that “man is both the composition of the commission, about half of creator and the destroyer of his environment, the members were trying to represent the provides natural support and gives it the developing nations. Although initially possibility of intellectual, moral, social and perceived as a body primarily focused on spiritual