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Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics
Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics
Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics
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Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics

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Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics provides policy guidance on good practice in developing and implementing strategies for sustainable development. The book integrates social, economic and environmental objectives, taking into account of their implications for different socioeconomic groups and for future generations. It examines and analyzes existing and new approaches to formulating a sustainable development strategy and its implementation through both quantitative and qualitative studies. In addition, it looks at the formulation of strategy and overcoming various issues from the standpoint of a diverse set of disciplines, including engineering, economics and social/political views.

  • Clearly explains the most cutting-edge green technologies and methods for use in built communities
  • Analyzes existing and new approaches to formulating a sustainable development strategy and its implementation
  • Helps to facilitate the formulation of effective sustainability strategies through an interdisciplinary approach
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 19, 2020
ISBN9780128189214
Sustainable Development Strategies: Engineering, Culture and Economics
Author

Mousumi Roy

Dr. Mousumi Roy is a Professor of Management Studies at the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur. Dr. Mousumi Roy has published numerous publications in various national and international peer-reviewed journals and presented scientific papers across the world. Because of his active association with different societies and academies as well as his contributions, Dr. Mousumi Roy is recognized by subject experts around the world. Dr. Mousumi Roy’s clinical and scientific research interests include Knowledge Management, Labour Market Management, International Business, Green consumerism, Business Environment Management, Managerial Economics, Management for Sustainable Development, and Sustainable Industrialization.

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    Sustainable Development Strategies - Mousumi Roy

    Preface

    Mousumi Roy

    This book seeks to present sustainable development as a coordinated, participatory, and iterative process of thoughts and actions toward achieving the three pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social in a balanced and integrative manner as per definitions of the United Nations. With presentation of a rich overview, this book takes a closer look at the current state of the theory and practice in the field of sustainability. Attempt is made to examine and analyze the existing and the new approaches in formulating a sustainable development strategy and its implementation through both quantitative and qualitative studies. The formulation of strategy attempts to overcome the difficulties arising from diverse disciplines including engineering, economics, and social/political to yield new insights and ideas that are relevant from both an academic and professional perspectives. The book is likely to be useful to the scholars, researchers, and the policy makers involved in developing strategies for sustainable development.

    I am very thankful to Mr. Kenneth P. McCombs of Elsevier Science for great help in starting this book project and for his wonderful suggestions on chapter design. My sincere thanks go to other Elsevier officials Mrs. Anna Dubnow, Ms. Billie Jean Fernandez and Mr. Bharatwaj Varatharajan for working hard in giving my book the final shape and for their kind support and cooperation throughout the course of writing this book.

    I deeply acknowledge the role of my husband Professor Parimal Pal in writing this book by sharing his thought-provoking ideas and by offering constructive criticism, motivation, and guidance. The most propelling force of enthusiasm in completing this book came from my daughter Shabana. Despite her tough and hectic schedule in medical professional course, painting being her hobby, she prepared many of the illustrations of the book and kept me engaged in writing continuously even late at nights. Without her caring and loving touch, this book would not see the light of the day.

    I thank my doctoral scholars who had actively participated in investigating many of my ideas, some aspects of which have been reflected in this book. I am thankful to all those authors and publishers whose works have been cited and whose illustrations have been reused with permission in this book.

    I am thankful to the National Institute of Technology Durgapur for giving me the opportunity to undertake this book project in an uninterrupted manner.

    Finally, I would say that without the blessings of my late parents Debendranath Roy and Sushama Roy, I could not develop and promote sustainable learning habit in my life and publish this book.

    Chapter 1

    Introduction to sustainable development

    Abstract

    This introductory chapter introduces the concepts of sustainable development. The definitions as evolved over time have been briefly discussed. The evolution of the sustainable development concepts coupled with the underling theorems, philosophy, ethics, and social responsibility has also been described. The dimensions of sustainable development along with the recent trends have also been discussed.

    Keywords

    Sustainable development; evolution of sustainable development; ethics and philosophy in sustainable development; trends in sustainable development

    1.1 Introduction

    Failure of the economic growth model based on only efficiency and unlimited growth has resulted in continuous degradation of social and ecological conditions denying even the basic conditions of living to vast section of population in most societies. Since the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment in 1972, the great awakening and coming together of the international community on the most important environmental issues, such degradation as reflected in several related phenomena has been more prominently observed. Intense global environmental problems as increasingly evident in global warming, climate change, biodiversity loss, depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation of soil, air and water bodies and alteration of the nitrogen cycle coupled with poverty trap, social vulnerability, poor working conditions, unemployment, widening inequalities, and financial volatility, resulting from extensive anthropogenic activities and fueled by rapid economic growth beyond the widest Neolithic dreams, have now challenged our understanding of the existing economic process as purely positive. This has raised questions about whether the present progress can be sustained in the future. Sustainable development has now emerged as a development paradigm to maintain a balanced integration of socioeconomic needs with the regenerative capacity of the planet Earth when the life support system of our planet is threatened.

    1.2 Defining sustainable development

    With diverse human societies, ecosystems, and complex challenges arising from heterogeneous socioeconomic consequences, new definitions of sustainable development are continually formulated, accommodating a variety of understandings and expectations for desirable progress. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. This was published in the Brundtland report Our Common Future [1]. In this most prominent understanding of sustainable development, the concept of sustainable development does imply limits-not absolute limits but limitations imposed by the present state of technology, social organization on environmental resources and by the ability of the biosphere to absorb the effects of human activities [1]. This most renowned definition framed by the Brundtland report was widely accepted by the international community and has been gaining importance on the agenda of policy makers, influencing governments and intergovernmental agencies at the local, regional, national, and international level. In the broad colloquial perspective, the word to sustain means to maintain or prolong the productive use of limited natural resources over time and development refers to heterogeneous interpretations incorporating multiple expectations, values, and disciplinary actions. Despite divergence, all perceptions concerning the concept of sustainable development invoke the feeling of better living, shared responsibilities, and new directions of sociotechnical progress.

    Subsequently, in some new definitions, certain goals on education, income, health, and general quality of life were included. Thus Pearce et al. [2] defined that sustainable development involves devising a social and economic system, which ensures that these goals are sustained, implying that real income rises, educational standards increase, health of the nation improves and that the general quality of life is advanced. Harwood included other species in the definition and stated that sustainable development is a system that can evolve indefinitely toward greater human utility, greater efficiency of resource use and a balance with environment which is favourable to humans and most other species [3]. Some definitions even directly call for changes in the process of economic development to ensure a basic quality of life for all. Thus, in such definition, sustainable development is a program for changing the process of economic development so that it ensures a basic quality of life for all people and at the same time protects the ecosystems and community systems that make life possible and worthwhile [4]. Some definitions focus on efficient resource utilization. Thus, in one such definition, sustainable development is a process of change, where resources are being gathered, an investment direction is chosen, the development technologies directed and various institutions have convergent actions, increasing the potential for human needs and desires [5]. The definitions have evolved over the last few decades, the focus being on reconciliation between economy and environment. Sterling [6] defined that Sustainable development is seen as reconciliation between economy and environment on a new path of development that would sustain the human progress not only in a few places and for a few years, but on the entire planet and for a long future. Despite a long list of such definitions as evolved over time, the WCED definition of 1987 generated the maximum interest in debate and experimentation as was evident in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992. Adoption of Agenda 21, Rio Declaration, and Statement of Principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests by 178 countries in the Rio conference is a reflection of the wide acceptance of the sustainable development principles as embedded in the WCED definition.

    1.3 Evolution of the concepts of sustainable development

    Concept underpinning sustainable development can be traced back to Sylvicultura Oeconomica (Instructions for wild tree cultivation) of Von Carlowitz (1713) in which Carlowitz formulated the principle of sustainable use of forest. The principle is that only so much of wood can be cut as can be regrown through planned reforestation. This principle of sustainable use of forest has now become the guiding principle in modern forestry.

    The principle shares the idea of harvesting wood within the volume that will grow again and maintaining a balance of forestation and deforestation, from where the contemporary understanding of being able to be sustained or maintained at a certain level has evolved. The concept of sustainable management practices has been observed as the necessity of balancing exploitation with regeneration during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe and in policy uptake of maximum sustainable yield in fisheries since the 1930s. Subsequently, sustainability principle has been adopted in ecology to respect the nature because of the long-term ability to regenerate itself.

    International Union for the Nature conservation published a report on global environment in 1951, which lays emphasis on reconciliation between economy and ecology. With the continuous increase in environmental degradation and pollution, negative impact of economic activities on environment receives serious attention and sustainable development was evolved as an urgent need and it was introduced by Barbara Mary Ward, the founder of International Institute for Environment and Development in 1970. However, the theoretical framework of sustainable development evolved after the publication of the first report of the Club of Rome—Limits to Growth in 1972. In the same year, the UN conference on the Human Environment, the first international conference was held in Stockholm to discuss sustainability issues on a global scale. This Stockholm conference identified interdependence of global environmental issues, economic growth and general welfare and created considerable momentum to the new vision of development. A series of recommendations were also focused in this conference, giving emphasis on the necessity of eco-development strategies that led to sustainable and ecologically healthy environment in a given system, the basic requirements of the local population, and led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In the UNEP Symposium, meaning of sustainable development was discussed along with its importance from future generations and long-term perspective. A few years later, Church Council [7] led the foundations of sustainability based on four themes: pollutant emissions, renewable resources, society, and climate. However, the major discussion regarding sustainable development was found in the report by the WCED, a body generated by the UN General Assembly in 1983, chaired by then Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland. In 1985 Vienna conference was held, and it aimed at reducing the substances that damage the protective ozone layer. It was 1986 when European Union, for the first time, introduced elements of environmental policy in a treaty of the European Community. In 1987 WCED launched the document entitled Our Common Future (Brundtland Report, WCED, 1987). The report defined sustainable development. In 1989 UN General Assembly adopted Resolution no. 44/228 convening a meeting on global environmental issues. The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992) was the largest summit of the 20th century where Rio Declaration on Environment and Development called Earth Charter action plan entitled Agenda 21 Framework Convention on Climate Change, Declaration on forests and desertification were adopted. The declaration of Rio 1992 stated fundamental principles on which nations can base their future decisions and policies, considering the environmental implications of socio-economic development. The role of sustainable development was strongly noted in the Kyoto Protocol, negotiated by 160 countries in 1997. Some mechanisms were set to regulate green house gas (GHG) emission and to reduce the negative environmental impact in the countries that have ratified it. For industrialized countries, reduction of GHG emission by 5.2% during the period 2008–12 was declared in this agreement. In 1999 treaty of Amsterdam, sustainable development became a political objective of the European Union, aiming to change the economic development process based on three dimensions—economic, environment, and society. Millennium Declaration (2000) was the global agenda adopted for development at Millennium Summit by 191 countries to make the world a better place to live in. Eight essential goals popularly known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), focusing on hunger, poverty, education, gender equality, health, and environment, were set with specific targets to be achieved by 2015. Setting of these goals on eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality, women empowerment, reducing child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combating AIDS/HIV/Malaria, and most importantly integration of principles of sustainable development into the country policies toward protection of environmental resources have profoundly impacted the national and international policies on human and environment across the globe. Worldwide programs on sustainable development keeping the MDGs in focus have since then been held. EU Sustainable Development Strategy was adopted in Gothenburg Summit in 2001 followed by the World Summit on sustainable development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in August 2002. Major outcome of the Summit was adoption of the political declaration by all the participating governments and making a commitment to the achievement of sustainable development, a document providing a set of recommendations and a plan of action for implementation. The political declaration advocates that poverty is the most pressing challenge in the way to promote sustainable development. Socioeconomic equity within and among the nations of the world is viewed as essential for sustainable development. The declaration further recognizes the issue of good governance as an urgent need to promote sustainable development. Although the declaration seems to sound like political rhetoric, it shows a strong commitment on some generic points as democracy, respect for human rights and freedom, achievement of peace and security, efforts to combat terrorism, crime, and corruption are essential for human survival and sustainable development. The report by UNCED mentioned collective responsibility to advance and strengthen the interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development-economic development, social development and environmental protection-at the local, national, regional and global levels. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), which took place in 2005, highlighted on some directions of nonsustainable development having negative effects on global environment. The 2012 UNCSD was the most remarkable historical event as it emphasizes the importance of international cooperation to overcome sustainability challenges. In this last Earth Summit held known as Rio+20, it was decided to launch a process to facilitate overall development objective and continue the process to achieve MDGs till the end of 2015. It was recognized that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable and promoting sustainable patterns of consumption and production as well as protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are the overarching objectives and essential requirements of sustainable development. With the increase in new and more complex challenges encompassing a wide range of global issues, the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development was adopted by the UN general Assembly in 2015 as a formal declaration accepted by the UN members to address sustainable challenges. The Agenda has 169 targets and indicators, and it is guided by17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) encompassing the economic, environmental, and social dimensions. The SDGs are continuation of the MDGs to be achieved by 2030 (Table 1.1). These 17 SDGs were established on five Ps: planet, people, prosperity, peace, partnership, with the objective to allocate resource efficiently, achieve collective prosperity, ensure decent work environment, and enhance development of sustained growth. Sustainable development is regarded as a multistakeholder approach to achieve the SDGs involving local, regional, national, and global concerns, as well as integrating economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental resilience.

    Table 1.1

    Sustainability risks have led to a clear understanding of the complex and dynamically interconnected nature of the economy, environment, and society and raised discussions on key issues of sustainable development reflexing shared responsibilities on people, profit, and planet. Sustainable development is viewed as a change process where resource exploitation, investment direction, technical orientation, and institutional change are consistent with future and present needs. Over the past four decades, sustainable development has been recognized as a big societal challenge eliciting a multitude of promises, pledges, commitments, the MDGs, and the 17 global sustainability goals.

    1.4 Overview of current theories and practices in the field of sustainability

    Sustainable development doctrine has evolved from economics. The debate about the sustainability of life-supporting system of the Earth started with the work of Malthus, the English political economist. In the book An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), Malthus reveals that subsistence can grow in arithmetic progression, while population tends to grow in geometric progression. Exponential growth of population but linear growth of technology and in resource use leads to emergence of a social catastrophe like resource depletion and human misery, which is bound to check the population growth. However, dilemma of natural resource depletion was undermined in economic theories addressing growth and economic development giving emphasis on increase in production and consumption of resource. It was in 1972 when the global concern looming Malthusian crisis of environment and economic development was echoed in The Limits to Growth, the most significant work addressing the question whether the current paradigm of economic development is sustainable [8]. Based on assumption that population, production, and pollution to grow exponentially, a computerized world model was stimulated by a team under the leadership of Donald and Donella Meadows at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The group drew the conclusion that the exponential growth of the three key components will hit a limit to economic growth as the resource of the world is finite. Their prediction was that as of 1972, the limit was only a generation away, and in the absence of an emergency mobilization, it would likely be reached not through a smooth transition to more frugal lifestyles, but by a crash from good to very bad conditions—a poor, crowded, hungry, and polluted planet. The study echoed concerns of the looming Malthusian crisis that the rate of growth in population and resource use is not sustainable. Urgent needs are, therefore, radical value changes and creation of a stable society with minimum disruption of ecosystem and resource depletion. A steady-state economics challenging prevailing dogmas based on efficiency of resource use was proposed by Daly in the late 1960s [9]. However, the steady-state economics has its root in the Principles of Political Economy of John Stuart Mill in the 19th century (1848). A new concept of steady-state economy is appearing as a viable alternative in the wealthy economies where the economy is viewed as a subsystem of a closed, finite ecosystem. The principles of this steady-state economy advocate maintaining ecosystem and life-support systems through extraction of resources subject to the corresponding regeneration and creation of residue subject to the limit of assimilation. The thrust is on achieving a state of equilibrium through a holistic view of economics upon which modern sustainability thinking is based. As opposed to economic growth measured by increasing gross domestic product (GDP), steady-state economy as a viable and sustainable alternative is founded on a stable or mildly fluctuating product of population and per capita consumption and is characterized by stable or mildly fluctuating GDP. Steady-state economy suggests maintenance of health of ecosystem and the life-support services and provides guidelines on extraction of renewable resources like fish or fossil fuel as well as consumption of nonrenewable resources at a rate not faster than they can be regenerated or replaced by the discovery of renewable substitutes. Principles of steady-state economy also suggest that deposition of wastes should not be faster than they can be assimilated. For large, wealthy economies, this concept of steady-state economy appears quite viable and

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