CHAPTER 8: TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

Learning Objectives

At the end of the chapter, the students are expected to:

• Define the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development;

• Differentiate sustainability from sustainable development;

• Discuss how a sustainable conscious world emerges in the present time;

• Define the concept of sustainable world;

• Analyze and discuss how the international community sees the concept of a sustainable world

Understanding the contemporary world through the lenses of globalization provides the aspiring
scholars of the field of globalization-with a favorable opportunity of appreciating the concept of
sustainable world. Since the initial publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, there has never been a
universally recognized definition of sustainable world among the scholars of globalization.

What influenced the discussion of these scholars instead of the sustainable world - were the
implications of the unsustainable human activities and the proverbial catchphrase of sustainable
development. These concerns however encouraged a number of countries to join the call of the
international community in ensuring that current developments will not in any way impede the
capability of the future generations to meet their needs. As countries endorsed these concerns, the
concept of sustainable world became prominent and started to be included as a subject of several
international conferences and agreements. Perhaps, the most elaborate articulation of sustainable
world is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all the member countries of the
United Nations in September 2015.

THE 2030 AGENDA

 The 2030 Agenda is an ambitious blueprint that aspires to achieve a better and sustainable
future for all the members of the international community.
 It intends to achieve a world without poverty, hunger, and disease, and a world that respects
human rights and values human dignity.
 The 2030 Agenda likewise intends to produce a world where countries enjoy a continuous,
inclusive, and sustainable economic growth as well as a decent work for all people. All of these
in the opinion of the author describe what a sustainable world means.
How it will be achieved hinges on the ability of all the member countries of the United Nations to meet
the seventeen specific goals identified during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development in2012. Their willingness and cooperation will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in the
accomplishment of these development goals.

Sustainability and Sustainable Development

Sustainability and sustainable development are two important concepts that are normally quoted in
many development discourses. In spite of their apparent similarities, sustainability in a way is still
different from the concept of sustainable development.

SUSTAINABILITY

 Sustainability in ordinary usage presupposes an ideal or a functional condition that people

intend to continue or maintain over a long period of time.
 In development parlance however the concept assumes a more extensive meaning as it portrays
a stable or a balanced condition in the critical areas of the economy, environment, and society in
general (Mensah, 2019).

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

 On the other hand, the concept of sustainable development pertains to the process of
organizing the society in order to make it productive and sustainable in the course of time.
 Organizing the society in this context means taking into account the protection of the
environment as well as the promotion of the social and economic equity of its people
(Youmatter, 2020).

The Brundtland Commission in 1984( added more depth and substance in the definition of sustainable
development. )

According to the Brundtland Commission, sustainable development refers to "a form of development
that meets the needs of the without compromising the capability of the future generations to meet their
own needs" .

The Brundtland Commission as can be gleaned from the definition emphasizes the importance of
development that complements the requirements of the present time and recognizes the needs of the
succeeding generations.
It is the word, "development", that connects the two concepts of sustainability and sustainable
development, and the word that will ultimately lead to the achievement of the other concept of
sustainable world.

While the historical roots of sustainability can be traced as early as the 17th and 18th centuries, the
concept made its first international debut with the publication of the "Limits to Growth" by Dennis
Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers and William Behrens in 1972.

Sustainability evolved as a popular concept during this period after the Club of Rome commissioned the
group of to explore and analyze the causes and consequences of the on-going global growth trends in
the second half of the 20th century. The group in the process recommended the international
community to change the global growth trends and to proceed with the establishment of a sustainable
economic and ecological condition far into the future. After 20 years, Meadows and his group revived
the same study with a number of modifications - and examined how the international community has
responded with their previous recommendations. Expecting some encouraging results, the group was
astonished to see that the condition of the international community has not changed and even
worsened beyond its tolerable limits. The group suggested the international community to revise its
policies and conserve its material consumption. Sustainable society is still possible but a favorable
balance between the short-term and long-term goals should be reconsidered as well as the equitable
and qualitative production of materials. As the group pushed for the achievement of a sustainable
society, the concept of sustainability became even more popular in the remaining years of the 20th
century. In fact, the concept received additional attention with the publication of the "Limits to Growth:
The 30 Year Update by the group of Meadows that defined the transition of the international
community to a sustainable society. Sustainability since then emerged as a regular topic in different
development discourses.

Sustainable development according to some scholars can be considered as an offshoot of the discipline
of economics that predates all the other disciplines related to development.

Arthur Pigou and Andrew Basiago

 are two eminent scholars who believed that economics has markedly influenced the context of
sustainable development throughout the second half of the 20th century.
  The pursuit for sustainable development in the opinion of the author started with the creation
of the World Commission on Environment and Development that was directed to delineate the
different environmental strategies in the foreseeable future.

The concept gained further momentum with the publication of the report, "Our Common Future", that
put environmental issues on the political agenda of all the members of the international community. In
the years following the publication of the report, sustainable development emerged as a dominant
paradigm in the literature and was even included as part of the themes in many conferences sponsored
by the United Nations (Purvis, Mao, and Robinson, 2019), "Our Common Future" according to Chris
Sneddon, Richard Howarth and Richard Norgaard (2006) serves as a watershed in the quest of the
international community for a sustainable world. It has strategically established the concept as an
important component of international development thinking and practice in the 21st century. It has also
set the international community in motion to concentrate on the achievement of the following aims of
sustainable development: equitable distribution of resource-use benefits across and within the societies,
improvement of human well-being, and pursuit of development that ensures ecological integrity over
intergenerational timescale. Sustainable development so far has been achieving some milestones in
working on with these objectives.

Road to Sustainable World

The reality of an impending "environmental tragedy "forced the members of the international
community to make the unexpected choice of scaling back their development initiatives in the
remaining years of the 20th century.

Such choice came at the heels of a resurging international economy that started after the Second World
War and continued until the early part of the 21st century - albeit the occurrence of a number of global
disruptions or challenges.

The publication of the document, "Our Common Future", marked a significant shift in the behavior of
the members of the international community as they pursue their respective development objectives.
After accepting the impracticality of overdoing their development activities, the members of the
international community began supporting the call for sustainable development. Interestingly, the
concept of sustainable development according to Jacobus Du Pisani (2007) is a compromise between the
notions of development and conservation. These notions apparently were seen in the past to have
opposing ideas as development was viewed directly as the exploitation of resources while conservation
was understood as the protection of the available resources (Paxton, 1993). The inability of
development to fix its negative effects in the international community led eventually to a compromise
with conservation. This compromise however did not mean that there will be no development that will
be introduced in the international community. On the contrary, development will still continue but will
have to be tempered by the notion of conservation with the end objective of promoting sustainability.
Most of the development activities since then proceeded with the idea of sustainability as their primary
consideration.

EVENTS LEADING TO SUSTAINABLE WORLD DESCRIPTION

Brundtland Report The Brundtland Report consolidated the years of

continuous research and discussions about
sustainable development that ended with its
publication and dissemination to all the members
of the international community.

Rio Earth Summit The Rio Earth Summit was not a conventional
gathering in 1992 as it attempted to develop a
global framework to address the declining
condition of the global environment. Its impressive
outputs speak for its remarkable
accomplishments.

Rio +5 Conference After 5 years, sustainable development was again

revisited by the members of the international
community in a special session-known as the "Rio
+5 Conference" by the United Nations General
Assembly in 1997. This special session was called
to evaluate the implementation of the
commitments that were in the previous World
Conference on Environment and Development

Rio +10 Conference Rio +5 Conference was eventually succeeded by

the World Summit on Sustainable Development-
popularly known as the "Rio +10 Conference" - in
2002. The purpose of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development was to make a
comprehensive evaluation of the commitments
that were identified during the United Nations
 Conference on Environment and Development

Rio+20 Conference Following Rio +10 Conference, the international

community witnessed the convening of the fourth
iteration of the conference on sustainable
development the United Nations Conference on
Development or the famed "Rio +20 Conference"
on June 20, 2012. Like its predecessors, Rio +20
Conference started with the assumption that the
previous conferences on sustainable development
were not able to meet their strategic objectives in
spite of the continued support that came from a
number of countries and private institutions.

The Brundtland Report

 otherwise known as "Our Common Future"

 left an indelible footprint in the history of the concept of sustainable development.
 It consolidated the years of continuous research and discussions about sustainable
development that ended with its publication and dissemination to all the members of the
international community. The Brundtland Report is considered by a number of scholars as the
first articulation of sustainable development in the international community backed by the
United Nations through the World Commission on Environment and Development.

It is the result of the unremitting initiative of the former Prime Minister of Norway, Go Harlem
Brundtland, who made an extensive evaluation of the increasing deterioration of the environment and
its implications in the economic and social development of the contemporary world. The Brundtland
Report made a pivotal call to the members of the international community to reconsider their
institutional mechanisms of promoting economic development and ensuring the security of the
succeeding generations (Sneddon, Howarth, and Norgaard, 2006). The call for the adjustment of their
existing institutional mechanisms is arguably a prudent response to the declining condition of the
environment and the dwindling opportunity of the future generations to benefit from it. The Brundtland
Report was warmly welcomed by the members of the international community that signified their
interests to promote the concept of sustainable development. They specifically agreed to pursue the
notion of development through a number of programs and projects that recognize the value
sustainability.

The Brundtland Report opened the floodgates to more discussions and actions on the concept of
sustainable development.
It continued the institutionalization of sustainable development with the conduct of the 1992 Rio Earth
Summit -

 also known as the World Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
that brought together the largest gathering of government leaders and civil society
representatives in one international conference.
 The Rio Earth Summit was not a conventional gathering in 1992 as it attempted to develop a
global to address the declining condition of the global environment. Its impressive outputs
speak for its remarkable accomplishments that marked a significant leap in the global effort to
instill the concept of sustainable development among the members of the international
community.
 The Rio Earth Summit was concluded with the approval of a number of valuable documents and
agreements that include the: Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21,
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity as
well as the Statement of Forest Principles. The Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development according to Drexhage and Murphy (2010) is made up of 27 principles that served
as in the pursuit of sustainable development. Agenda 21 complements the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development with a detailed action plan on how sustainable development can
be achieved in the social, economic, and environmental areas of concept. The other three
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity,
and the Statement of Forest Principles - served as environmental instruments in the
implementation of sustainable development in different parts of the world.

After 5 years, sustainable development was again revisited by the of the international in a special
session - known as the "Rio +5 Conference" conducted by the United Nations General Assembly on June
23, 1997.

 This special session was asked by Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations, to
evaluate the implementation of the commitments that were made in the previous World
Conference on Environment and Development. Over 50 heads of states and representatives
from other countries attended the special session and spoke about their achievements in the
implementation of sustainable development. Sadly, the members of the international
community - as can be gleaned from the proceedings of the special session - were not able to
deliver in their initial objectives as the global environment continued to deteriorate.
 Paolo Galizzi (2005), in this context, commented that the implementation of sustainable
development failed to advance after the Rio Earth Summit and explained that the lackadaisical
of many countries contributed to such unsettling condition. Notwithstanding this, Galizzi
maintained that the global partnership created five years ago was still the most efficient and
expedient way of pursuing the concept of sustainable development. There was simply no other
 workable alternative to replace the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development as well as
the Agenda 21 which dominated the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
 The purpose of the special however, was not to renegotiate or change the terms of the global
partnership that was consummated by the members of the international community five years
ago. Its purpose was to recommit the members of the international community and involve
them more in promoting the concept of sustainable development.

The special session of the United Nations General Assembly was eventually succeeded by the World
Summit on Sustainable Development popularly known as the "Rio +10 Conference" -on August 26, 2002.

 This world summit was held at Johannesburg South Africa and was also attended by prominent
world leaders and other representatives from different international organizations. According to
Luc Hens and Bashutosh Nath (2003), the purpose of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development - like the "Rio +5 Conference"- was to make a comprehensive evaluation of the
commitments that were identified during the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development in 1992.
 Unfortunately, the members of the international community have not done enough to realize
these commitments and remained disorganized as to how they will with the concept of
sustainable development. The World Summit on Sustainable Development has accomplished
two important documents and these include the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable
Development as well as the Plan of Implementation. The former identified the numerous
challenges that were connected to sustainable development and specified the universal
principles necessary to achieve its objectives.
 The latter was more specific and comprehensive as it enumerated the important commitments
of all the members of the community in the pursuit of sustainable development. These
commitments according to Paul Wapner (2003) revolved around the five priority areas of
biological diversity, agriculture, energy, water, and health. Within these critical areas, the
members of the international community were expected to give own contribution like
preserving the biological diversity in their territories, restoring the world fish stock by 2015,
promoting the production of harmless chemicals, and halving the proportion of people without
access to safe drinking water.

From Rio de Janeiro Brazil, the members of the international community went back to the same place
where the first international conference on sustainable development was held in 1992.

Following the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the international community witnessed the
convening of the fourth iteration of the conference on sustainable development -the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development or the famed "Rio +20 Conference" on June 20, 2012 at the
historic capital of Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

 Similar to its predecessors, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development started
with the assumption that the previous conferences on sustainable development were not able
to meet their strategic objectives in spite of the continued support that came from a number of
countries and private institutions.
 At the outset, the purpose of the conference was immediately clarified by the United Nations
and said that it was enthused to secure the political commitment of member countries, review
and assess the gap in meeting the previously agreed commitment, and address the new and
emerging challenges to sustainable development.
 Likewise, the United Nations explained that the conference was guided by two essential themes
the green economy and the institutional framework for sustainable development that enabled
the members of the international community to design their respective approaches in pursuing
the concept of sustainable development. green economy according to Leggett and Carter (2012)
lends credence to the environment as the members of the international community pursue
economic development.
 On the other hand, institutional framework for sustainable development refers to the
introduction of reforms in the institutions related to the environment. The conference in
particular revisited the United Nations Environment Programme and introduced a number of
reforms to further strengthen the program. Other of the United Nations - such as the European
countries - suggested to establish another international institution that will handle all the
concerns related to sustainable development.

The Sustainable World

The series of conferences on sustainable development that emerged from 1992 until 2012 paved the
way to a more sustainable conscious world in the beginning of the 21st century. The unprecedented
commitments given by the members of the international community after each conference on
sustainable development- facilitated the creation of a global partnership that centered on providing the
needs of the present without sacrificing the capability of the future generations to meet their own
needs. While these series of conferences may have taken the idea of sustainable world in the front seat,
the fact remains that the concept until now lacks a universally acceptable definition among the
respected scholars of globalization. Don Clifton (2009), in connection with this, suggested that the
definition of sustainable world should be approached in a manner that reflects the notion of pluralism.
This means that the definition of world should be anchored on a typology-based perspective that
considers multiple items or principles in describing the concept. Aside from this, Clifton also propounded
that the definition of sustainable world should take into consideration the fundamental concepts of
reformism and transformationalism. Both concepts according to Clifton are consistent with the expected
developments that should accompany the notion of sustainable world.

Reformism

 speaks about developments that are not excessive by their very nature.

Transformationalism

 points to the more sweeping and far-reaching developments that characterize the condition of
a sustainable world.

Regardless whether its pluralism, reformism, or transformationalism, the prevailing perspective looks at
the concept of sustainable world in a number of conditions that require the participation of the
members of the international community.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - popularly known as "Sustainable Development Goals" -
in the opinion of the author describes the conditions of a sustainable world. It sets the parameters on
how the notion of sustainable world can be achieved in the foreseeable future.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a comprehensive action plan designed to achieve a
better and more sustainable future for all people by the year 2030. Developed by the United Nations in
consultation with all its member states, the 2030 Agenda was created to end poverty, protect the
planet, and ensure the prosperity of all the people in a span of 15 years. The 2030 Agenda seeks to build
on the recently concluded Millennium Development Goals and achieve what the program has failed to
realize throughout the duration of its implementation. Ambitious as it may seem, the 2030 Agenda and
its targets is unprecedented in both scope and significance. It is accepted by most countries and is
applicable to all as it takes into consideration the different realities, capacities, developments, policies,
and priorities at the national level (United Nations, 2015). The 2030 Agenda likewise does not
discriminate as it recognizes the essential role that the developed and developing countries will play in
the accomplishment of its overall goals and targets. Compared to the previous programs and agendas of
the United Nations, the 2030 Agenda is at the crossroads of pursuing the concept of sustainable
development. Considering the numerous discussions and consultations of the United Nations Working
Group the group that prepared the Sustainable Development Goals - since 2012, the 2030 Agenda
cannot fail or perform below the expectations of the members of the international community. The
support coming from the members of the civil society and other stakeholders is also too much to be
ignored by the 2030 Agenda. At the very least, the 2030 Agenda should be able to accomplish a
considerable part of its goals and targets.

The 2030 Agenda is a universal template comprised of 17 goals and 169 targets that represent the
aspirations of all the members of the international community in pursuing the concept of sustainable
world.

These goals and targets are stretched across the social, economic, and environmental areas of
sustainable development that the members of the international community have committed in the
closing stages of the United Nations Sustainable Summit on September 24, 2015 (International Planned
Parenthood Federation, 2015).

Within the social area, the 2030 Agenda emphasizes the need to end the decades-old problem of
poverty and hunger and calls for ensuring healthy lives and inclusive quality education for all.

Similarly, the 2030 Agenda enjoins all countries to promote gender equality as well as the sustainable
management of water and sanitation.

In the economic area, the 2030 Agenda calls for ensuring access to affordable and sustainable modern
energy and the promotion of an inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

The 2030 Agenda likewise encourages countries to promote sustainable Industrialization, reduce
inequality within and among countries, make cities inclusive, and ensure sustainable patterns of
production and consumption.

Finally, within the environmental area, the 2030 Agenda urges countries to be more aggressive in
combatting climate change and protecting oceans, seas, and marine resources.

The 2030 Agenda also persuades countries to sustainably manage the forests, combat desertification,
reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.

The remaining two goals and their accompanying targets perhaps can be appropriately classified in the
political areas as they touch more on the concept of global governance and partnership for sustainable
development.
These goals and targets, in the opinion of the author, are important components of the 2030 Agenda as
they remind countries and their governments of their role in pursuing a sustainable world.