Review Article
Sustainable Development in India
Nishtha Yadav*
S G N Khalsa P.G. College, Sriganaganagar, Rajasthan, India
*Corresponding author: Nishtha Yadav, S G N Khalsa P.G. College, Sriganaganagar, Rajasthan, India, Contact No.
09999137472, 09868073909; E-mail: nishthamtech@gmail.com
Article Information: Submission: 03/07/2016; Accepted: 26/07/2016; Published: 02/08/2016
Copyright: © 2016 Yadav N. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Abstract
Environmental problems in developing countries originate from the struggle to overcome extreme conditions of poverty. Environmental degradation
impoverishes those dependent directly on the natural environment for survival, and conversely, that development must be environmentally sound if it is to be
permanent. Sustainable development, frequently being interpreted as simply a process of change that can be continued forever. Environmental quality and
economic development are interdependent and in the long term, mutually reinforcing, and the question is no longer whether they contradict each other but
how to achieve environmentally sustainable development. This paper attempts to tackle and explore the issue of sustainable development in India. It also
tries to give long term solutions to solve the problems plaguing the system so that sustainable development can be promoted and practiced.
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 a
blinding pace of growth and development in recent times. But this
growth has raised concerns from sundry quarters as regards its basic
texture and health. Environmental degradation is very often caused
by poverty, because the poor has no option but to exploit local
resources for short-term survival. The interlinked nature of most
environmental problems is such that environmental degradation
ultimately affects everybody, although poorer individuals/nations
may suffer more and sooner than richer ones. In the last few years, it
had seen a dramatic transformation in the environment-development
debate. The question being asked is no longer, “Do development
and environmental concerns contradict each other?” but “How can
sustainable development be achieved?” It appears to have gained the
broad-based support that earlier development concepts such as “ecodevelopment”
lacked, and is poised to become the developmental
paradigm of the 1990s. Most people use the phrase “sustainable
development” interchangeably with either “ecological sustainable” or
“environmentally sound development” [1].
Interpreting Sustainable Development: This interpretation is
characterized by:
a) “Sustainability” being understood as “ecological sustainability”
and
(b) A conceptualization of sustainable development as a process
of change that has (ecological) sustainability added to its list
of objectives.
Sustainable development would simply mean “development that
can be continued-either indefinitely or for the implicit time period
of concern”. When development is taken to be synonymous with
growth in material consumption—which it often is even today—
Sustainable development would be “sustaining the growth in material
consumption” (presumably indefinitely). But such an idea contradicts
the now general recognition that “ultimate limits {to usable
resources} exists” [2]. Sustainable Development is understood as “a
form of societal change that in addition to traditional developmental
objectives, has the objective or constraint of ecological sustainability.”
Sustainability: The concept of sustainability originated in the
context of renewable resources such as forests or fisheries, and has
subsequently been adopted as a broad slogan by the environmental
movement. Ecological sustainability means “the existence of the ecological conditions necessary to support human life at specified
levels of well-being through future generations”. Since ecological
sustainability emphasizes the constraints and opportunities that
nature presents to human activities, ecologists and physical scientists
frequently dominate its discussion. But what they actually focus
on are the ecological conditions for ecological sustainability---the
biophysical laws or patterns that determine environmental responses
to human activities and humans’ ability to use the environment. The
major contribution of the environment-development debate, is the
realization that in addition to or in conjunction with these ecological
conditions, there are social conditions that influence the ecological
sustainability or unsustainability of the people-nature interaction.
Evolution of the Concept of Sustainable Development:
The term sustainable development came into prominence in
1980, when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources (IUCN) presented the World Conservation
Strategy (WCS) with “the overall aim of achieving sustainable
development through the conservation of living resources” [3]. The
WCS had really addressed only the issue of ecological sustainability,
rather than sustainable development.Buttel and Gillespie contend that such co-optation has already
taken place [4]. Agencies such as the World Bank [5], the Asian
Development Bank [6] and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development have been quick to adopt the
new rhetoric [7]. The absence of a clear theoretical and analytical
framework, however, makes it difficult to determine whether the new
policies will indeed foster an environmentally sound and socially
meaningful form of development.
In contrast to the aforementioned, the currently popular
definition of Sustainable Development—the one adopted by the
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED,
1987) [2] is quite brief:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs”.
The critical objectives which follow from the concept of
sustainable development are:
1. Reviving growth
2. Changing the quality of growth
3. Meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water and
sanitation
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 local
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) so as to ensure grassroots
participation, agriculture that is less harmful, less resource intensive
and yet more productive.
During a United Nations (UN) summit in September 2015, 193
nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new set of
indicators to shape and measure development for next 15 years. The
SDGs – comprising 17 goals and 169 associated targets- aim at taking
the global development initiative forward from the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000 and cover all possible
aspects of development. The leaders are especially determined to
end hunger and poverty by 2030. They are also committed to ensure
sustainable food production and consumption systems; ensure
sustainable management of land and water; scale up renewable
energy; build resilient infrastructures and make human settlements
more 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 groups
with fundamentally different answers to these questions, i.e., those
concerned either about the survival of future human generations, or
about the survival of wildlife, or human health, or the satisfaction of
immediate subsistence needs (food, fuel, fodder) with a low degree
of 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 be
made between renewable resources, non-renewable resources, and
environmental processes that are crucial to human life, as well as to
life at large. In the context of sustainable use of renewable resources,
it is necessary to go beyond the conventional simplistic notion
of “harvesting the annual increment,” and take into consideration
the dynamic behavior of the resource, stochastic properties and
uncertainties about environmental conditions (e.g. climatic
variations), the interactions between resources and activities (e.g.
between forests, soils and agriculture), and between different uses
or 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 and
a degraded environment are closely inter-related, especially where
people depend for their immediate environment. Restoring natural
systems and improving natural resources management practices
at the grass root level are central to a strategy to eliminate poverty.
Poverty magnifies the problem of hunger and malnutrition. The
problem is further compounded by the inequitable access of the poor
to the food that is available. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the
public distribution system to overcome this inequity.While conventional economic development leads to the
elimination of several traditional occupations, the process of
sustainable development, guided by the need to protect and conserve the environment, leads to the creation of new jobs and of opportunities
for the reorientation of traditional skills to new occupations.
Literacy and a basic education are essential for enabling the poor
to access the benefits offered by development initiatives and market
opportunities. Basic education is therefore, a pre-condition for
sustainable development.
Gender Equality, Sustainable Farming and Food Security: The
goal of achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls
under Goal 5, of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted
during United Nations (UN) summit in September 2015. Women
play a key role in rural agriculture. When they have equal access
to credit, land tenure, farm inputs and markets, local agricultural
production increase, improving food availability for all, thus making
a critical contribution to food security and setting a path towards zero
hunger.
Another important goal is making agriculture sustainable, which
is essential for future food security as well as for achieving several of
the other sustainable development goals, such as ending hunger and
improving nutrition, especially in the face of climate change. Climate
change, land erosion and water scarcity are affecting food production,
especially in developing countries. The rural poor, most of whom
depend on agriculture, are disproportionately hit by prolonged
droughts, frequent floods, more intense storms and other factors
associated with climate change. They are less resilient to cope with
the consequences of weather shocks and environmental degradation.
Poverty and hunger cannot be eradicated without addressing these
vulnerabilities. Current agricultural practices are main causes of
environmental risks. It is contributing to almost a third of the global
greenhouse gas emissions, causing loss of biodiversity and putting
high demand on scarce water resources.
Adapting to climate change and building resilient agricultural
and food security systems are the need of the hour. Globally, rainfed
agriculture, which supplies two-thirds of the world’s food, is
practiced on 83% of cultivated land. In water scarce regions, rainfed
agriculture 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 in
a sustainable manner so that they become commercial viable in a
competitive world. For this, governments must ensure better training
via agricultural extension services, improved irrigation and water
harvesting facilities, and easy access to improved irrigation and water
harvesting facilities, and easy access to improved seeds, fertilizers,
credit and other inputs. Social protection also has a pivotal role to
play in safeguarding and sustainable livelihoods in case of prolonged
bad weather or natural disasters.
Sustainable agriculture must also nurture healthy ecosystems and
support sustainable management and use of land, water and natural
resources while ensuring food security for all.
Changing and Unsustainable Patterns of Consumption and Production: With increasing purchasing power, wasteful
consumption linked to market driven consumerism is stressing the
resource base of developing countries further. It is important to
encounter this through education and public awareness.
In several areas, desirable limits and standards for consumption
need to be established and applied through appropriate mechanisms
including education, incentives and legislation.
Several traditional practices that are sustainable and environment
friendly 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 by
distorting the value of a resource. All pricing mechanisms must be
evaluated from a sustainable development point of view.
Protecting and Managing the Natural Resource Base of Economic and Social Development: The integration of agriculture
with land and water management, and with ecosystem conservation
is essential for both environmental sustainability and agricultural
production.
An environmental perspective must guide the evaluation of all
development projects, recognizing the role of natural resources in local
livelihoods. This recognition must be informed by a comprehensive
understanding of the perceptions and opinions of local people about
their stakes in the resource base.
To ensure the sustainability of the natural resource base, the
recognition of all stakeholders in it and their roles in its protection
and management is essential.
Water governance arrangements should protect ecosystems and
preserve the ecological integrity of all natural water bodies and their
catchments. This will maintain the wide range of ecological services
that healthy ecosystems provide and the livelihoods that depend upon
them.
Biomass is, and will continue for a long time to be, a major source
of fuel and energy, especially for the rural poor. Recognizing this fact,
appropriate mechanisms must be evolved to make such consumption
of biomass sustainable, through both resource management and
the promotion of efficient and minimally polluting technologies,
and technologies which will progressively reduce the pressures on
biomass, which cause environmental degradation.
On Forests and Climate Change: Estimates show that even
though the forest cover will begin increasing from 2020, the primary
forest cover will continue to recede. Since biodiversity is concentrated
in primary forests, an increase in the total forest cover can still mean
a continual loss of biodiversity in forest ecosystems. The Goal 15 thus
aims to “sustainably manage forests”, along with protecting, restoring
and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems; combating
desertification; halting and reversing land degradation and halting
biodiversity loss. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD), about 40% of the world’s degraded lands are found in areas
with the highest incidences of poverty.
Goal 13, which recognizes the need to build capacity for
tackling climate change in Least Developed Countries and Small
Island Developing States (SIDS), emphasizes on mobilizing US$100
billion in climate finance annually by 2020 to address the needs of
developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions
and transparency on implementation.
The traditional approaches to natural resource management
such as sacred groves and ponds, water harvesting and management
systems, etc., should be revived by creating institutional mechanisms
which recapture the ecological wisdom and the spirit of community
management inherent in those systems.
There is need to establish well-defined and enforceable rights
(including customary rights) and security of tenure, and to ensure
equal access to land, water and other natural and biological resources.
It should be ensured that this applies, in particular, to indigenous
communities, women and other disadvantaged groups living in
poverty.
section2
We should accept the existence of structural, technological and
cultural causes of both poverty and cultural causes of both poverty and
environmental degradation; develop methodologies for estimating
the relative importance of and interactions between these causes in
specific situations; and explore political, institutional and educational
solutions to them. We should understand the multiple dimensions
of sustainability, and attempt to develop measures, criteria and
principles for them. We should explore what patterns and levels of
resource demand and use would be compatible with different forms or levels of ecological and social sustainability, and with different
notions of equity and social justice.