Ravindra Kumar Sinha: Development

Ravindra Kumar Sinha
DEVELOPMENT
S ustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept can be traced to
the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)-commonly known as
the Brundtland Commission, named for its Chair, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of
Norway, and its report published in the form of a book entitled Our Common Future. The Report
recognised that human resource development in the form of poverty reduction, gender equity, and
wealth redistribution was crucial to formulating strategies for environmental conservation, and it also
recognised that environmental limits to economic growth in industrialised and industrialising societies
existed.
The central idea of the Brundtland Commission’s definition of “sustainable” is that
of intergenerational equity and the Commission presented the environment as
something beyond physicality, to include social and political atmospheres and
circumstances. It also insists that development is not just about how poor countries
can ameliorate their situation, but what the entire world, including developed
countries, can do to ameliorate our common situation.
The concept of sustainable deve-lopment does imply limits-not absolute limits but
limitations imposed by the present state of technology and social organization on
environmental resources and by the ability of the biosphere to absorb the effects of
human activities. But technology and social organization can be both managed and
improved to make way for a new era of economic growth. Sustainable development
requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to fulfil
their aspirations for a better life. A world in which poverty is endemic will always be
prone to ecological and other catastrophes. Humanity has the ability to make
development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainable development requires that those who are more affluent adopt lifestyles within the
planet's ecological means, for example, in their use of energy. Further, rapidly growing
populations can increase the pressure on resources and slow down any rise in living standards;
thus, sustainable development can only be pursued if population size and growth are in harmony
with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem.
Sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of
change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the
orientation of technological develop-ment, and institutional change are made
consistent with present as well as future needs. It is not to pretend that the process is
easy or straightforward. Painful choices have to be made. Thus, in the final analysis,
sustainable development must rest on political will.
The United Nations Con- ference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992, changed the international environmental agenda. For the first time,
the United Nations system examined both environmental protection and economic development
on an equal footing at the same conference. Based on the concept of “sustainable development”
the general recognition that development is a priority for Third World countries, but that the
environmental consequences of development must be taken into account-has shaped the
international environmental agenda.
Environment and development are not separate challenges; they are inexorably linked.
Development cannot subsist upon a deteriorating environmental resource base; the environment
cannot be protected when growth leaves out the costs of environmental destruction. These
problems cannot be treated separately by fragmented institutions and policies but are linked in a
complex system of cause and effect.
First, environmental stresses are linked one to another. For example, deforestation, by increasing
run off, accelerates soil erosion and siltation of rivers and lakes. Air pollution and acidification
play their part in killing forests and lakes. Such links mean that several different problems must
be tackled simultaneously. And success in one area, such as forest protection, can improve
chances of success in another area, such as soil conservation.
Second, environmental stresses and patterns of economic development are also
interlinked. Thus agricultural policies may lie at the root of land, water, and forest
degradation. Energy policies are associated with the global greenhouse effect, with
acidification, and with deforestation for fuel wood in many developing nations. These
stresses
10
dream 2047 / march 2021all threaten economic development. Thus, economics and ecology must be completely integrated
in decision making and law-making processes not just to protect the environment, but also to protect and promote
development. Economy is not just about the production of wealth, and ecology is not just about the protection of nature; they
are both equally relevant for improving the lot of humankind.
Four primary dimensions of sustainable development have been derived from the Brundtland Report:
Safeguarding long-term ecological sustainability, satisfying basic human needs, and promoting inter-and intra-
generational equity. These dimensions are fundamental objective values, not subjective individual preferences.
Thus, they are not negotiable.
Safeguarding long-term ecological sustainability
The Brundtland Report gives two reasons for setting minimum requirements for ecological sustainability. First, if
basic human needs are to be met on a sustainable basis, Earth's natural base must be conserved. Human
development tends to damage ecosystems, which reduces the number of species. The loss of plant and animal
species can greatly limit the options of future generations. Therefore, the Brundtland Report argued that
“sustainable development requires the conservation of plant and animal species”. Second, the report argued that
“the case for the conservation of nature should not rest only with the development goals. It is part of our moral
obligation to other living beings and future generations”.
Satisfying basic human needs
Satisfying basic human needs is defined as a primary dimension and is at the core of the development part of
sustainable development. The Brundtland Report mentions employment, food, energy, housing, water supply,
sanitation, and healthcare as basic human needs. The Report does not, however, refer only to basic needs. People
are, according to the report, entitled to aspire for more than just covering their basic needs: “Sustainable
development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to satisfy their
aspirations for a better life”.
The Report argues that living standards that provide for more than basic needs can be sustainable, but only if
such living standards assure long-term ecological sustainability. Thus, not every aspiration for a better life is
compatible with the goal of sustainable development.
Promoting inter-and intra-generational equity
Even the narrowest definition of physical sustainability-as the minimum requirement for a sustainable develop-ment-must take
into account social equity, which implies that the present generation must meet its needs without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet theirs. The Brundtand Report puts it this way: “We act as we do because we can get away with it;
future generations do not vote; they have no political or financial power; they cannot challenge our decisions”.
Furthermore, the Brundtland Report claims that social equity between generations “must logically be extended to equity
within each generation”. Thus, social equity as an integral part of sustainable development has two dimensions-time and
space. From this perspective, sustainable development has consequences for equity within and between generations both
globally and nationally.

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