UNIT-V Sustainable Development does that this
- 2. Sustainable development can be defined as an approach to the economic development of a country without compromising with the quality of the environment for future generations. In the name of economic development, the price of environmental damage is paid in the form of land degradation, soil erosion, air and water pollution, deforestation, etc. This damage may surpass the advantages of having more quality output of goods and services. Sustainable Development Goals To promote the kind of development that minimizes environmental problems. To meet the needs of the existing generation without compromising with the quality of the environment for future generations. Concept of Sustainable Development
- 3. Sustainable development can be achieved if we follow the following points: It can be achieved by restricting human activities. For renewable resources, the rate of consumption should not exceed the rate of production of renewable substitutes. All types of pollution should be minimized. It can be achieved by sensible use of natural resources. Achieving Sustainable Development
- 4. Threats to Sustainability Population and its exploitation Crazy-Consumerism Over-exploitation of resources
- 5. Human population has been growing exponentially. Increased population growth has put increased pressure on food production, land masses, water body, transportation and biodiversity losses, etc. In the last 50 years, population has doubled, global consumption of water has tripled, and the use of fossil fuel has quadrupled. At the current population growth rate of 1.2%, the population of the world will be doubled in about 58 years. That means the stress on the environment will also be double after 58 years if things going the same. Understandably, all the demands resulted from the increased number of population lead to the stress on the existing resources, depletion of the non-renewable resources and imbalance of the natural integrity. I. Population and its Exploitation
- 6. The depletion of natural resources occurs when resources are consumed at a faster rate than that of replacement. Natural resources are those resources that are in existence without human actions and they can either be renewable or non-renewable. Over-exploitation used in reference to water usage, farming, fossil fuel consumption, fishing, and mining. Due to the increasing global population, the levels of natural resource degradation is also increasing. 2. Over-exploitation of resources
- 8. This leads to environmental degradation. With increasing buying capacity people have started over consumption. It is good to have a good standard of living but the wasteful life style of people leads to degradation. Consumerism is related to the constant purchasing of new goods, with little attention to their true need, durability, product origin, or the environmental consequences of their manufacture and disposal. Therefore, the reuse of goods and waste utilization should become a part of the production-consumption cycle. 3. Crazy Consumerism
- 9. I. Environmental Education II. Conservation of resources III. Urban sprawl, IV. Sustainable cities & Sustainable Communities V. Human health VI. Role of IT in Environment VII. Environmental Ethics Strategies for Sustainable Development
- 10. 1. Environmental Education(EE) EE enhances critical thinking, problem- solving, and effective decision-making skills, and teaches individuals to weigh various sides of an environmental issue to make informed and responsible decisions. EE is a complex process, covering not just events, but a strong underlying approach to society building as a whole. EE provides people with the awareness needed to build partnerships, understand NGO activities, develop participatory approaches to urban planning, and ensure future markets for eco-business.
- 11. The components of environmental education are: Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges. Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges. Attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain environmental quality. Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges. Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges
- 12. II.Conservation of resources, To ensure sustainable, equal distribution of resources and reduction of damage to the environment, management of resources must be an integral part of our society. Everything that we use today – food, clothes, house, vehicles, fuel, notebooks, furniture, cooking gas, utensils, toys, roads, etc. are obtained from resources on the earth. A significant portion of the energy which we use today is obtained from the non-renewable sources. This implies that once they are used up, they cannot be replenished. Managing the resources would not only ensure its rational use but also put a limit to the degradation it is causing to the environment.
- 13. The RRR-s to save the environment can be performed by each individual in our society: Reduce: Reducing our usage and wasteful habits. Eg. not wasting food, turning off the switches to save electricity, repairing leaky taps, reducing the amount of water used for bathing, etc. Reuse: Using things again instead of discarding them. For example, reusing plastic utensils and bottles. Many things cannot be recycled or require a lot of energy, instead, we can utilize them for other purposes. Recycle: Collecting discarded paper, plastic, glass or metal objects to manufacture different products rather than synthesizing them from scratch. Must have a mechanism to segregate and dispose of each type of waste separately.
- 14. III.Urban sprawl Urban sprawl is the extension of low-density residential, commercial, and industrial development into areas beyond a city’s boundaries
- 16. IV. Sustainable Cities & Sustainable Communities A sustainable city is one designed to address social, environmental and economic impact through urban planning and city management. Sustainable communities are resilient to social, economic, and natural shocks. They are well prepared for natural disasters, which are increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change. A controlled population for whom adequate, meaningful employment is available. Adequate governance set-up which can meet the needs of the people and ensures civic responsibilities, a sense of identity, transparency and equity in local institutions. Efficient basic civic amenities for a reasonably comfortable existence. For ex: inadequate supply of power and water. Planned housing colonies with adequate infrastructure like schools, parks, drainage system, local Medicare establishments. An appropriate transport system, as transportation affects the environment. Transportation planning has to take into consideration a wide range of options and choices like adequate roads, parking lots, alternate system of transportation, mass transit facilities. The aim should be to reduce the total vehicle kilometers driven in congested areas, thus reducing the pollution.
- 18. Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. V. Human Health and Sustainable Development Despite undoubted health advances in many areas, poor health continues to be a constraint on development efforts. In some cases, the process of development itself is creating environmental degradation, increasing inequities, human health suffers. Six major diseases currently cause 90% of the deaths from communicable diseases AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Diarrheal diseases, and Measles. More than 20 million women continue to experience ill health each year as a result of pregnancy. The lives of 8 million of these women are threatened by serious health problems, and about 500,000 women, almost 90% of whom are in Africa and Asia, die as a result of causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. HIV/AIDS is the fastest growing health threat to development today.
- 20. V. Role of Information Technology (IT) in Environment
- 21. Information technology (IT) has tremendous potential in the field of environment education and health as in any other field like business, economics, politics or culture. Development of internet facilities, Geographic Information System (GIS) and information through satellites has generated a wealth of up-to- date. GIS or geographic information system consider as one of the most effective tools in the entire environmental management topic. It is the reason why remote sensing and GIS play a significant role in resource mapping, management, planning, environmental conservation, and environmental impact assessment as well IT facilitates health care providers to collect, store, retrieve and transfer information electronically. IT presents numerous opportunities for improving and transforming healthcare which includes; reducing human errors, improving clinical outcomes, facilitating care coordination, improving practice efficiencies, and tracking data over time. Similarly, IT helps in storing huge amounts of data captured while studying weather and climate, it helps researchers in analysing the data and to carry out research in the field of environment.
- 25. Ecosphere and Ecosystems related ethics: 1. We should not deplete or degrade the earth’s physical, chemical or biological capital, which supports all life and all human economic activities. 2. We should try to understand and cooperate with rest of the nature. 3. We should work with rest of the nature to sustain the ecological integrity, biodiversity and adaptability of the earth’s life support systems. 4. When we must alter nature to meet our needs or wants, we should choose methods that do the least possible harm to us and other living things. 5. Before we alter nature, we should carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment to evaluate proposed actions and discover how to inflict the minimum short – and long-term environmental harm. VI.Environmental Ethics
- 26. Species and Cultures related Ethics: 1. Every species has a right to live or at least struggle to live. Simply because it exists. 2. We should work to preserve as much of the earth’s genetic variety as possible because it is the raw material for all future evolution. 3. We have the right to defend ourselves against individuals of species that do us harm and to use individuals of species to meet our vital needs but we should strive not to cause premature extinction of any wild species. 4. The best way to protect species and individuals of species is to protect the ecosystem in which they live and to help restore those we have degraded. 5. No human culture should become extinct because of our actions.
- 27. Individual Responsibility towards Environment: 1. We should not inflict unnecessary suffering or pain on any animal we raise or hunt for food or use for scientific or other purposes. 2. We should use no more of the earth’s resources than we need and not waste such resources. 3. We should leave the earth as good as—or better—than we found it. 4. We should work with the earth to help heal ecological wounds we have inflicted.
- 28. Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied subject due to growing environmental concerns in the twenty-first century. Environmental economics "undertakes theoretical or empirical studies of the economic effects of national or local environmental policies around the world. Particular issues include the costs and benefits of alternative environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, solid waste, and global warming. Environmental economics is distinguished from ecological economics in that ecological economics emphasizes the economy as a subsystem of the ecosystem with its focus upon preserving natural capital. One survey of German economists found that ecological and environmental economics are different schools of economic thought with ecological economists emphasizing "strong" sustainability and rejecting the proposition that human-made ("physical") capital can substitute for natural capital. Environmental Economics
- 30. Green Building is a sustainable building with high efficiency in resource usage (energy, water, and materials) while reducing impacts on health and environment during its lifecycle through good building practices. Buildings are one of the primary pollutants that affect urban air quality and cause climate change. Promoting green buildings is key to addressing the challenge of environmental conservation and climate change. The costs for design and construction of the green building is high, however, the operational costs are low. It efficiently utilizes energy, water, and other resources. It protects occupant health and improving employee productivity by means of healthier air quality and greater natural/daylight. Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation. It will reduce the Heat waves caused by climate change. Green Building
- 32. Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a United Nations run carbon offset scheme allowing countries to fund greenhouse gas emissions reducing projects in other countries and claim the saved emissions as part of their own efforts to meet international emissions targets. It is one of the Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM, defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, was intended to meet two objectives: 1. To assist developing nations achieve sustainable development and reduce their carbon footprints and 2. To assist industrialized nations in achieving compliance with their emissions reduction commitments (greenhouse gas emission caps). The CDM addressed the second objective by allowing the industrialized countries to meet part of their emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol by buying Certified Emission Reduction units from CDM emission reduction projects in developing countries. Both the projects and the issue of CERs units are subject to approval to ensure that these
- 33. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is an arrangement defined by the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty designed to fight greenhouse warming. The CDM allows wealthier nations to earn credits toward their greenhouse- gas reduction goals by funding projects in developing (poorer, less technologically and industrially advanced) countries that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions overall. The reasoning behind the CDM is that projects to reduce greenhouse emissions will be cheaper to implement in developing countries, but the money to fund such projects will be found mostly in developed countries. Since it makes no difference where a tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) or other greenhouse gas is kept out of the atmosphere, the CDM seeks to match funds with reduction opportunities so as to produce a cost-effective greenhouse abatement strategy.