Introduction

Environmental degradation is already affecting millions in Third World, and likely to severely reduce human well-being all across the globe within the next few generations. India has been witnessing ablinding pace of growth and development in recent times. But thisgrowth has raised concerns from sundry quarters as regards its basictexture and health. Environmental degradation is very often causedby poverty, because the poor has no option but to exploit localresources for short-term survival. The interlinked nature of mostenvironmental problems is such that environmental degradationultimately affects everybody, although poorer individuals/nationsmay suffer more and sooner than richer ones. In the last few years, ithad seen a dramatic transformation in the environment-developmentdebate. The question being asked is no longer, “Do developmentand environmental concerns contradict each other?” but “How cansustainable development be achieved?” It appears to have gained thebroad-based support that earlier development concepts such as “ecodevelopment” lacked, and is poised to become the developmentalparadigm of the 1990s. Most people use the phrase “sustainabledevelopment” interchangeably with either “ecological sustainable” or“environmentally sound development” [1].

Interpreting Sustainable Development: This interpretation ischaracterized by:

(a) “Sustainability” being understood as “ecological sustainability”and(b) A conceptualization of sustainable development as a processof change that has (ecological) sustainability added to its listof objectives.

Sustainable development would simply mean “development thatcan be continued-either indefinitely or for the implicit time periodof concern”. When development is taken to be synonymous withgrowth in material consumption—which it often is even today—Sustainable development would be “sustaining the growth in materialconsumption” (presumably indefinitely). But such an idea contradictsthe now general recognition that “ultimate limits {to usableresources} exists” [2]. Sustainable Development is understood as “aform of societal change that in addition to traditional developmentalobjectives, has the objective or constraint of ecological sustainability.”

Sustainability: The concept of sustainability originated in thecontext of renewable resources such as forests or fisheries, and hassubsequently been adopted as a broad slogan by the environmentalmovement. Ecological sustainability means “the existence of the ecological conditions necessary to support human life at specifiedlevels of well-being through future generations”. Since ecologicalsustainability emphasizes the constraints and opportunities thatnature presents to human activities, ecologists and physical scientistsfrequently dominate its discussion. But what they actually focuson are the ecological conditions for ecological sustainability---thebiophysical laws or patterns that determine environmental responsesto human activities and humans’ ability to use the environment. Themajor contribution of the environment-development debate, is therealization that in addition to or in conjunction with these ecologicalconditions, there are social conditions that influence the ecologicalsustainability or unsustainability of the people-nature interaction.

Evolution of the Concept of Sustainable Development

The term sustainable development came into prominence in1980, when the International Union for the Conservation of Natureand Natural Resources (IUCN) presented the World ConservationStrategy (WCS) with “the overall aim of achieving sustainabledevelopment through the conservation of living resources” [3]. TheWCS had really addressed only the issue of ecological sustainability,rather than sustainable development.

Buttel and Gillespie contend that such co-optation has alreadytaken place [4]. Agencies such as the World Bank [5], the AsianDevelopment Bank [6] and the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development have been quick to adopt thenew rhetoric [7]. The absence of a clear theoretical and analyticalframework, however, makes it difficult to determine whether the newpolicies will indeed foster an environmentally sound and sociallymeaningful form of development.

In contrast to the aforementioned, the currently populardefinition of Sustainable Development—the one adopted by theWorld Commission on Environment and Development (WCED,1987) [2] is quite brief:

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs ofthe present without compromising the ability of future generations tomeet their own needs”.

The critical objectives which follow from the concept ofsustainable development are:.

Outline of survey

1. Reviving growth

2. Changing the quality of growth

3. Meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water andsanitation

4. Ensuring a sustainable level of population

5. Conserving and enhancing the resource base

6. Reorienting technology and managing risk

7. Merging environment and economics in decision making

8. Reorienting international economic relations

Sustainable development has become a bundle of neat fixes:technological changes that makes industrial production processes less polluting and less resource intensive and changes that use localnon-governmental organizations (NGOs) so as to ensure grassrootsparticipation, agriculture that is less harmful, less resource intensiveand yet more productive.

During a United Nations (UN) summit in September 2015, 193nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new set ofindicators to shape and measure development for next 15 years. TheSDGs – comprising 17 goals and 169 associated targets- aim at takingthe global development initiative forward from the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000 and cover all possibleaspects of development. The leaders are especially determined toend hunger and poverty by 2030. They are also committed to ensuresustainable food production and consumption systems; ensuresustainable management of land and water; scale up renewableenergy; build resilient infrastructures and make human settlementsmore safe and sustainable; and ensure healthy lives, education for all,gender equality and women’s empowerment.

What is to be Sustained?

The value of the concept of sustainable development, however,lies in its ability to generate an operational consensus between groupswith fundamentally different answers to these questions, i.e., thoseconcerned either about the survival of future human generations, orabout the survival of wildlife, or human health, or the satisfaction ofimmediate subsistence needs (food, fuel, fodder) with a low degreeof risk. It is therefore vital to identify those aspects of sustainability that do actually cater to such diverse interests, and those that involve tradeoffs.

In the case of ecological sustainability, a distinction needs to bemade between renewable resources, non-renewable resources, andenvironmental processes that are crucial to human life, as well as tolife at large. In the context of sustainable use of renewable resources,it is necessary to go beyond the conventional simplistic notionof “harvesting the annual increment,” and take into considerationthe dynamic behavior of the resource, stochastic properties anduncertainties about environmental conditions (e.g. climaticvariations), the interactions between resources and activities (e.g.between forests, soils and agriculture), and between different usesor features of the “same” resources (e.g., tree foliage and stem wood).

Perspectives and Approaches towards Achieving a Sustainable Future

Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Livelihoods: Poverty anda degraded environment are closely inter-related, especially wherepeople depend for their immediate environment. Restoring naturalsystems and improving natural resources management practicesat the grass root level are central to a strategy to eliminate poverty.Poverty magnifies the problem of hunger and malnutrition. Theproblem is further compounded by the inequitable access of the poorto the food that is available. It is therefore necessary to strengthen thepublic distribution system to overcome this inequity.

While conventional economic development leads to theelimination of several traditional occupations, the process ofsustainable development, guided by the need to protect and conserve the environment, leads to the creation of new jobs and of opportunitiesfor the reorientation of traditional skills to new occupations.

Literacy and a basic education are essential for enabling the poorto access the benefits offered by development initiatives and marketopportunities. Basic education is therefore, a pre-condition forsustainable development.

Gender Equality, Sustainable Farming and Food Security: Thegoal of achieving gender equality and empowering women and girlsunder Goal 5, of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adoptedduring United Nations (UN) summit in September 2015. Womenplay a key role in rural agriculture. When they have equal accessto credit, land tenure, farm inputs and markets, local agriculturalproduction increase, improving food availability for all, thus makinga critical contribution to food security and setting a path towards zerohunger.

Another important goal is making agriculture sustainable, whichis essential for future food security as well as for achieving several ofthe other sustainable development goals, such as ending hunger andimproving nutrition, especially in the face of climate change. Climatechange, land erosion and water scarcity are affecting food production,especially in developing countries. The rural poor, most of whomdepend on agriculture, are disproportionately hit by prolongeddroughts, frequent floods, more intense storms and other factorsassociated with climate change. They are less resilient to cope withthe consequences of weather shocks and environmental degradation.Poverty and hunger cannot be eradicated without addressing thesevulnerabilities. Current agricultural practices are main causes ofenvironmental risks. It is contributing to almost a third of the globalgreenhouse gas emissions, causing loss of biodiversity and puttinghigh demand on scarce water resources.

Adapting to climate change and building resilient agriculturaland food security systems are the need of the hour. Globally, rainfedagriculture, which supplies two-thirds of the world’s food, ispracticed on 83% of cultivated land. In water scarce regions, rainfedagriculture is practiced on more than 95% of the crop land.Since rain-fed agriculture is particularly susceptible to weather,governments need to help small landholders boost productivity ina sustainable manner so that they become commercial viable in acompetitive world. For this, governments must ensure better trainingvia agricultural extension services, improved irrigation and waterharvesting facilities, and easy access to improved irrigation and waterharvesting facilities, and easy access to improved seeds, fertilizers,credit and other inputs. Social protection also has a pivotal role toplay in safeguarding and sustainable livelihoods in case of prolongedbad weather or natural disasters.

Analytical procedure

Sustainable agriculture must also nurture healthy ecosystems andsupport sustainable management and use of land, water and naturalresources while ensuring food security for all.

Changing and Unsustainable Patterns of Consumptionand Production: With increasing purchasing power, wastefulconsumption linked to market driven consumerism is stressing theresource base of developing countries further. It is important toencounter this through education and public awareness.

In several areas, desirable limits and standards for consumptionneed to be established and applied through appropriate mechanismsincluding education, incentives and legislation.

Several traditional practices that are sustainable and environmentfriendly continue to be a regular part of the lives of people in developing countries. Those need to be encouraged rather than replaced by more ‘modern’ but unsustainable practices and technologies.

Subsidies often lead to wasteful and sustainable consumption bydistorting the value of a resource. All pricing mechanisms must beevaluated from a sustainable development point of view.

Protecting and Managing the Natural Resource Base ofEconomic and Social Development: The integration of agriculturewith land and water management, and with ecosystem conservationis essential for both environmental sustainability and agriculturalproduction.

An environmental perspective must guide the evaluation of alldevelopment projects, recognizing the role of natural resources in locallivelihoods. This recognition must be informed by a comprehensiveunderstanding of the perceptions and opinions of local people abouttheir stakes in the resource base.

To ensure the sustainability of the natural resource base, therecognition of all stakeholders in it and their roles in its protectionand management is essential.

Water governance arrangements should protect ecosystems andpreserve the ecological integrity of all natural water bodies and theircatchments. This will maintain the wide range of ecological servicesthat healthy ecosystems provide and the livelihoods that depend uponthem.

Biomass is, and will continue for a long time to be, a major sourceof fuel and energy, especially for the rural poor. Recognizing this fact,appropriate mechanisms must be evolved to make such consumptionof biomass sustainable, through both resource management andthe promotion of efficient and minimally polluting technologies,and technologies which will progressively reduce the pressures onbiomass, which cause environmental degradation.

On Forests and Climate Change: Estimates show that eventhough the forest cover will begin increasing from 2020, the primaryforest cover will continue to recede. Since biodiversity is concentratedin primary forests, an increase in the total forest cover can still meana continual loss of biodiversity in forest ecosystems. The Goal 15 thusaims to “sustainably manage forests”, along with protecting, restoringand promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems; combatingdesertification; halting and reversing land degradation and haltingbiodiversity loss. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD), about 40% of the world’s degraded lands are found in areaswith the highest incidences of poverty.

Goal 13, which recognizes the need to build capacity fortackling climate change in Least Developed Countries and SmallIsland Developing States (SIDS), emphasizes on mobilizing US$100billion in climate finance annually by 2020 to address the needs ofdeveloping countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actionsand transparency on implementation.

There is need to establish well-defined and enforceable rights(including customary rights) and security of tenure, and to ensureequal access to land, water and other natural and biological resources.It should be ensured that this applies, in particular, to indigenouscommunities, women and other disadvantaged groups living inpoverty.