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Evolution of the concept and goals of sustainable development
2022-04-03
Director of the Upper Euphrates Basin Development Center - University of Anbar
The concept of sustainable development and its dimensions:
The subject of sustainable development has captured the world’s attention in the economic, social fields, and global development, as development sustainability has become a global school of thought spread in most of the world developed and developing countries alike. It is adopted by popular and official parties and organizations and civil society organizations and demands its application, as it was held for it. Summits, conferences and seminars, and despite the rapid spread of the concept of sustainable development since its inception, this concept is still ambiguous, as a concept and a scientific philosophy, and this concept is still interpreted in different ways by many.
Definition of sustainable development:
The phrase "sustainable development" initially appeared in a report by the (Putland) Committee, which defined it as development that fulfills present demands without jeopardizing future generations' ability to satisfy their own needs. Since that time, around the turn of the twentieth century, this notion has undergone significant development. The United Nations (1960-1970) established the first decade of sustainable development, which was related with economic growth as measured by production, national income, or per capita income. Following that, throughout the second decade of development, this notion evolved and took on new political, social, and cultural elements (1970-1980). Then it developed further to acquire human rights and democratic dimensions through public participation in decision-making related to good governance in the third development decade (1980-1990). The notion of development took a qualitative leap in the fourth decade of development, 1990, with the 1992 (Rio) Declaration, which clearly stressed the concept and incorporated principles calling for attaining equity across generations in terms of natural resource allocation. Where the United Nations General Assembly decided in 1989 to hold the Conference on Sustainable Development in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in 1992, resulting in a set of legal documents, represented in the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, the principles of forest protection, as well as the Convention on Climate Change and CBD.
Rio Declaration:
This declaration includes 28 principles centered on sustainable development, such as the first principle, "that people are at the center of concerns related to sustainable development," and the third principle, "that the right to development must be realized in order to equitably meet development and environmental needs" for present and future generations. According to the fourth principle, "in order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection is an important aspect of the development process and cannot be seen in isolation." while the ninth principle stipulates that “countries should cooperate in promoting self-capacity building for sustainable development.”, through increasing scientific understanding through the sharing of scientific and technical knowledge, in the twentieth principle, "women have a critical role in environmental development management.” As a result, their engagement is critical to attaining long-term growth." The Rio Conference's political leaders recognized the importance of sustainable development, given that a large proportion of the world's population lives in poverty, with significant disparities in resource use patterns between rich and poor countries, as well as significant pressures on the global ecosystem. It was necessary to reorient economic activity to meet the urgent development needs of the poor and prevent negative damage from its role that would be reflected in the global environment. Indeed, the developing and developed countries responded, as the developing countries suggested formulating a “new era” of growth to address poverty issues and the problems that countries suffer from. While the least developed countries saw the need to make strenuous efforts to increase energy and efficient and sufficient materials, as well as a shift in economic activity to reduce the burden on the environment, the least developed countries saw the need to make strenuous efforts to increase energy and efficient and sufficient materials, as well as a shift in economic activity to reduce the burden on the environment. The adoption of the sustainable development plan and its seventeen goals (Fig. 1) by United Nations Member States at the 2015 summit reaffirmed their determination to complete the efforts made over fifteen years within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, which resulted in significant progress toward achieving them at various levels. These objectives are depicted below:
Figure (1), Sustainable Development Goals
Dimensions of sustainable development:
Sustainable development can only be realized by integrating and interconnecting three main parts (Fig. 2), namely the economic, social, and environmental aspects of development, and excluding the social or environmental factor has a detrimental impact on the economic dimension.
Figure (2), elements of sustainable development
First: the economic dimension:
It strives to eliminate gaps in per capita income and wealth, as well as to reduce waste and waste of internal and external economic resources, as well as rational use of economic potential. Where sustainable development is concerned with equality between peoples and countries in the level of economic development, global indicators have shown that the peoples of developed countries enjoy wealth and social welfare, and the high level of economic growth, which led to the development of production and consumption patterns in them, in return for a significant deterioration in natural resources and a decline in the performance of the economy in countries. The emerging countries, which had a detrimental impact on the social side of the population due to an increase in unemployment rates and a low quality of life among its members. The reason for this is its reliance on the rentier economy, as well as an increase in military spending rather than combating poverty and the economic crises it is experiencing, and this necessitates rationalizing the use of these resources in a way that works to protect the environment and improve the economic and social conditions for current and future generations.
Second, the social dimension:
It adheres to the idea of justice and the distributive effects of policies in order to meet human needs, achieve social justice, enough income, and enhance people' standard of living. Aside from health, education, housing, and labor, they must also ensure the safety of their traditional production systems and social milieu. Essentially, it seeks to strengthen the relationship between nature and man, develop people's well-being, increase access to basic health and education services, satisfy minimal security requirements, and protect human rights. The social dimension is also concerned with stabilizing population growth for a long time (at rates similar to the current rates), because the continuous growth of the population has become an expensive matter, as it creates severe pressures on the use of natural resources, and the result is an increase in the production of liquid, gaseous and solid waste, which means the depletion of resources and the deterioration of the natural environment. In addition, great progress must be made in order to stabilize population growth, because the limits of the land's ability to support human life are unknown, and population pressure is a growing factor in the destruction of green spaces, soil degradation and overexploitation of wildlife and other natural resources, as well as it can be said That sustainable development and rationalization is the development of people for people by people. The development of people means investing in human capabilities and expanding the range of goods available to them, whether in education, health or skills, so that they can work in a productive and creative manner, and development for people means ensuring that the fruits of economic growth they achieve are widely distributed. Everyone has the opportunity to participate in it, and the most efficient form of market participation is to obtain productive and paid labour. And all in order to achieve social sustainability, which is:
Third: the environmental dimension:
It is founded on the notion of flexibility, or the ecosystem's capacity to preserve its integrity and adaptability, which mandates observance of environmental limitations and not surpassing them from consumption and depletion, since exceeding these limits leads to the destruction of the ecosystem. As a result, limitations must be set on consumption, population expansion, pollution, environmental production patterns, water depletion, deforestation, and soil erosion. Achieving environmental sustainability entails safeguarding the necessary natural resources for human protection, such as water, air, land, and biological diversity, so that their deterioration does not have an appreciable impact through pollution and the accumulation of carbon dioxide, as well as the elimination of the ozone layer, and on natural habitats that ensure biodiversity. This aims to combat pollution, reduce energy consumption and protect non-renewable resources. Those concerned with the environment focus on the concept of environmental limits in their approach to sustainable development, which means that every natural ecosystem has certain limits that cannot be crossed due to consumption and depletion, and any breach of this natural capacity results in irreversible deterioration of the ecosystem. The United Nations Report on the Progress of Peoples 1998 stated that (The day will come when the progress of peoples will be measured, not by military and economic strength, nor by the majesty of capitals and their lofty buildings, but by the safety, health and education of their citizens, and by the opportunities available to them for work and just earning, and by their ability to participate in decisions that affect their lives, by respecting their rights and political freedoms, and by their willingness to care for the helpless, the weak and children. minors. The Earth is a limited-resource world, and we must learn how to live within the ecological ceiling, which ensures the sustainability of resources and determines their availability.
From the above objectives, it is obvious that sustainable development cannot be restricted to the inherent boundaries of the environmental dimension, but rather is a wide notion requiring political and social aspects in addition to the economic dimension. Economic development, and sustainable development, is sustainable and stable development in terms of its use of natural resources, attempts to enhance the quality of life in all aspects, while managing environmental resources and working on their development.
