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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

What is sustainable development?


Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human
development goals while simultaneously sustaining the ability of natural systems
to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which
the economy and society depend. The desired result is a state of society where
living conditions and resources are used to continue to meet human needs
without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural system. Sustainable
development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Why sustainable development?


The concept of ESD was born from the need for education to address the growing
and changing environmental challenges facing the planet. In order to do
this, education must change to provide the knowledge, skills, values and
attitudes that empower learners to contribute to sustainable development. At the
same time, education must be strengthened in all agendas, programmes, and
activities that promote sustainable development. Sustainable development must
be integrated into education and education must be integrated into sustainable
development. ESD promotes the integration of these critical sustainability issues
in local and global contexts into the curriculum to prepare learners to understand
and respond to the changing world. ESD aims to produce learning outcomes that
include core competencies such as critical and systematic thinking,
collaborative decision-making, and taking responsibility for the present
and future generations. Since traditional single-directional delivery
of knowledge is not sufficient to inspire learners to take action as responsible
citizens, ESD entails rethinking the learning environment, physical and
virtual.The learning environment itself must adapt and apply a whole-institution
approach to embed the philosophy of sustainable development. Building the
capacity of educators and policy support at international, regional, national and
local levels helps drive changes in learning institutions. Empowered youth and
local communities interacting with education institutions become key actors in
advancing sustainable development.[20]
TYPES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-
Sustainable development, or sustainability, has been described in terms of three
spheres, dimensions, domains or pillars, i.e. the environment, the economy and
society. The three-sphere framework was initially proposed by the economist
Rene Passet in 1979.

Environmental (or ecological)-


The ecological stability of human settlements is part of the relationship between
humans and their natural, social and built environments.[26] Also termed human
ecology, this broadens the focus of sustainable development to include the
domain of human health. Fundamental human needs such as the availability and
quality of air, water, food and shelter are also the ecological foundations for
sustainable development;[27] addressing public health risk through investments
in ecosystem services can be a powerful and transformative force for sustainable
development which, in this sense, extends to all species.[28]
Environmental sustainability concerns the natural environment and how it
endures and remains diverse and productive. Since natural resources are derived
from the environment, the state of air, water, and the climate are of particular
concern. The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report outlines current knowledge about
scientific, technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change,
and lists options for adaptation and mitigation.[29] Environmental sustainability
requires society to design activities to meet human needs while preserving the
life support systems of the planet. This, for example, entails using water
sustainably, utilizing renewable energy, and sustainable material supplies (e.g.
harvesting wood from forests at a rate that maintains the biomass and
biodiversity).
An unsustainable situation occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature's
resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires
that human activity only uses nature's resources at a rate at which they can be
replenished naturally. Inherently the concept of sustainable development is
intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity. Theoretically, the long-term
result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such
degradation on a global scale should imply an increase in human death rate until
population falls to what the degraded environment can support. If the degradation
continues beyond a certain tipping point or critical threshold it would lead to
eventual extinction for humanity.
ECONOMY-
It has been suggested that because of rural poverty and overexploitation,
environmental resources should be treated as important economic assets,
called natural capital. Economic development has traditionally required a growth
in the gross domestic product. This model of unlimited personal and GDP growth
may be over. Sustainable development may involve improvements in the quality
of life for many but may necessitate a decrease in resource
consumption. According to ecological economist Malte Faber, ecological
economics is defined by its focus on nature, justice, and time. Issues
of intergenerational equity, irreversibility of environmental change, uncertainty of
long-term outcomes, and sustainable development guide ecological economic
analysis and valuation.
As early as the 1970s, the concept of sustainability was used to describe
an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems". Scientists in
many fields have highlighted The Limits to Growth, and economists have
presented alternatives, for example a 'steady-state economy', to address
concerns over the impacts of expanding human development on the planet. In
1987 the economist Edward Barbier published the study The Concept of
Sustainable Economic Development, where he recognised that goals of
environmental conservation and economic development are not conflicting and
can be reinforcing each other.
A World Bank study from 1999 concluded that based on the theory of genuine
savings, policymakers have many possible interventions to increase
sustainability, in macroeconomics or purely environmental. Several studies have
noted that efficient policies for renewable energy and pollution are compatible
with increasing human welfare, eventually reaching a golden-rule steady state.

SOCIETY-
Technology-
One of the core concepts in sustainable development is that technology can be
used to assist people to meet their developmental needs. Technology to meet
these sustainable development needs is often referred to as appropriate
technology, which is an ideological movement (and its manifestations) originally
articulated as intermediate technology by the economist E. F. Schumacher in his
influential work, Small is Beautiful. And now covers a wide range of
technologies. Both Schumacher and many modern-day proponents of
appropriate technology also emphasise the technology as people-centered Today
appropriate technology is often developed using open source principles, which
have led to Open-Source Appropriate Technology (OSAT) and thus many of the
plans of the technology can be freely found on the Internet. OSAT has been
proposed as a new model of enabling innovation for sustainable development

Transport-
Transportation is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It is said that
one-third of all gases produced are due to transportation.Motorized transport also
releases exhaust fumes that contain particulate matter which is hazardous to
human health and a contributor to climate change.
Sustainable transport has many social and economic benefits that can accelerate
local sustainable development. According to a series of reports by the Low
Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP), sustainable
transport can help create jobs, improve commuter safety through investment in
bicycle lanes and pedestrian pathways, make access to employment and social
opportunities more affordable and efficient. It also offers a practical opportunity
to save people's time and household income as well as government
budgets,[78] making investment in sustainable transport a 'win-win' opportunity.
Some Western countries are making transportation more sustainable in both
long-term and short-term implementations. An example is the modification in
available transportation in Freiburg, Germany. The city has implemented
extensive methods of public transportation, cycling, and walking, along with large
areas where cars are not allowed.
Since many Western countries are highly automobile-oriented, the main transit
that people use is personal vehicles. About 80% of their travel involves
cars.[74] Therefore, California, is one of the highest greenhouse gases emitters in
the United States. The federal government has to come up with some plans to
reduce the total number of vehicle trips in order to lower greenhouse gases
emission. Such as:

 Improve public transit through the provision of larger coverage area in order
to provide more mobility and accessibility, new technology to provide a more
reliable and responsive public transportation network.
 Encourage walking and biking through the provision of wider pedestrian
pathway, bike share stations in downtowns, locate parking lots far from the
shopping center, limit on street parking, slower traffic lane in downtown area.
 Increase the cost of car ownership and gas taxes through increased parking
fees and tolls, encouraging people to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. This
can produce a social equity problem, since lower income people usually drive
older vehicles with lower fuel efficiency. Government can use the extra
revenue collected from taxes and tolls to improve public transportation and
benefit poor communities

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