The Brundtland Commission defines sustainable development as: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”This clearly defines it but as expected, there are many initiatives that must be implemented to back up this crucial global objective. Over the past two decades in particular, economic growth has come at the expense of the environment. Earth’s natural resources have been used in ways that are environmentally inefficient and wasteful, with dangerous consequences such as decreased air quality and overall climate change. Sustainable development is a carefully planned strategy to embrace growth while using resources more efficiently, with utmost consideration of immediate long-term benefits for our planet and the humans who live on it.
Primary objectives of sustainable development:
Economic growth: Building a strong, competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth and innovation; and identifying then coordinating development requirements.
Environmental protection: Contributing to protecting and enhancing our natural and developed environment, while helping to improve biodiversity, use natural resources wisely, minimizing waste and pollution, and adapting to and helping to decrease climate change, including a global shift to low-carbon economy.
Social inclusion: Supporting strong, vibrant and healthy communities by providing the supply of housing required to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by creating a high-quality of development, with accessible local services that reflect the community’s needs and support its health, social and cultural well-being.
Key Highlights: It was way back in 1987 that the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also known as the Brundtland Commission formally presented the concept of sustainable development for the very first time in its report ‘Our Common Future’. The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It was the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that put the concept of sustainable development on national and international policy agendas, with Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is a blueprint for sustainability in which member countries commit to sustainable development at local and regional levels within their countries. In order to achieve sustainable development, it is crucial to harmonize three core elements: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.
Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)
• End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
• Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
• Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
• Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
• Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
• Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
• Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
• Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
• Reduce inequality within and among countries.
• Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
• Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
• Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
• Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
• Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss.
• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
• Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
(The author is a Student of Law at Kashmir University Srinagar. Views are his own)
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