Sustainable Development

Introduction

Sustainable development is the practice of managing growth and change in ways that meet the needs of the present without damaging future generations’ ability to develop further. Although sustainable development is usually thought of as an environmental effort, it also includes the social and economic aspects of development. The concept was established in a series of international policy meetings starting in the 1970s, with the term first being used in the early 1980s.

The United Nations has assumed an important role in promoting and facilitating sustainable development all over the world, including in developing nations. Through its Division for Sustainable Development, the United Nations provides technical expertise, facilitates communication, and evaluates development efforts. For sustainable development to be effective, it must be implemented in both large- and small-scale projects. In pursuit of this goal, governments, charities, international organizations, and private companies are working to provide development benefits to humanity in a sustainable manner.

Historical Background and Scientific Foundations

The idea of sustainable development has its roots in environmentalism, which arose in the second half of the nineteenth century in Great Britain and the United States as a response to the pollution of the Industrial Revolution. To power factories and blast furnaces, early industrialists relied almost exclusively on the burning of coal. This cheap, abundant fuel provided the energy needed to power the era’s economic expansion, but it soon became clear that widespread coal use had serious consequences. Without the modern technologies that trap pollutants, huge amounts of soot, toxic gases, and heavy metals were released into the air. Other industries were simply dumping their poisonous refuse into the rivers and oceans, with many trusting that the water would simply wash the waste away.

Furthermore, the methods used to acquire resources to fuel industrial development were becoming more destructive as the technology to exploit them improved in the first half of the twentieth century. Large areas were deforested by clear-cutting without thought to what would become of the land. Huge strip-mines removed whole mountains, creating cavernous pits that leached toxic water. More potent chemical pesticides injured birds and other wildlife, not just the crop pests they were meant to deter. Even chemical fertilizers had unintended consequences, with the excess nutrients causing harmful algae blooms. The damage caused to wildlife by habitat loss, chemical toxins, and unrestrained hunting led to the worrying collapse of the American bison population, and the 1914 extinction of the passenger pigeon, once the most abundant bird in North America.

By the mid-twentieth century, U.S. public policy had long favored unrestrained economic development without heed to the environmental costs. In 1962, Rachel Carson brought environmental issues to the public consciousness with her groundbreaking book Silent Spring, which exposed the damage that the pesticide DDT was doing to bird species. In response to public concern, President John F. Kennedy ordered an investigation of the book’s claims, leading to a ban on DDT. Carson’s book is widely credited with spurring the creation of the environmental movement as it exists today.

The 1970s saw the first steps toward worldwide, coordinated efforts on environmental issues, as well as the first international summits on environment and human development. In 1972, representatives from 113 countries met in Sweden at the United Nations

WORDS TO KNOW

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: An energy source that is used as an alternative to fossil fuels. Solar, wind, and geothermal power are examples of alternative energies.

CLEAR-CUTTING: A forestry practice involving the harvesting of all trees of economic value at one time.

ECO-TOURISM: Environmentally responsible travel to natural areas that promotes conservation, has a low visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples.

MICROFINANCING: An economic development strategy in which small loans (microcredit) and other financial services are provided to very low-income individuals.

REFORESTATION: The replanting of a forest that had been cleared by fire or harvesting.

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Resources that can be renewed or replaced fairly rapidly by natural or managed processes.

SUSTAINABILITY: Practices that preserve the balance between human needs and the environment, as well as between current and future human requirements.

Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. The conference declared that humans have the ability to improve or destroy the environment, and that the health of the environment is a major factor in humans’ quality of life. It also recognized that environmental problems have different causes in developed and undeveloped countries. Although more developed countries usually create pollution because of industrial activities, underdeveloped countries’ pollution is most often caused by their very lack of development.

Although the phrase was not yet in use, the Stockholm conference laid down some of the fundamental principles of sustainable development. Its acknowledgement that continued human development is inevitable laid the foundation of practicality that characterizes the current movement. By calling on both developed and undeveloped nations to use better environmental practices, the conference stated that preserving the environment is the responsibility of all humanity. It appealed to individuals, local and national governments, and the international community to adopt policy and behaviors that protect the environment while allowing for sufficient human development.

The rise of the sustainable development and environmental movements coincided with a series of disasters and scandals that highlighted these issues in the public consciousness. In February 1972, a massive coal-waste dam failed in the area of Buffalo Creek, West Virginia. More that a hundred million gallons of black water rushed down the creek and into the towns below, killing 125 people, injuring over 1,000, and leaving almost 4,000 homeless. Around the same time, it was publicly revealed that widely used polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) were carcinogens and caused developmental defects in children. The discovery of a hole in the ozone layer of the atmosphere over Antarctica, and it subsequent link to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigerants and aerosol propellants, led to concern about exposure to radiation and the possibility of further damage to the atmosphere. In 1978, outrage erupted in the media over the toxic contamination of the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara, New York, which had been built over a dumping site for poisonous waste. These incidents and others made it clear to many that human development had, to this point, progressed without heed to human and environmental costs. While some progress was made with the 1970 founding of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), international concern continued to grow surrounding environmental and sustainability issues.

In 1980, the World Conservation Strategy coined the term sustainable development, expanding the ideas laid out in Stockholm and in subsequent conferences on environmental issues. It stated that the problems of environmental protection and meaningful development for underprivileged people are inseparable and must be addressed together. This new perspective, namely that development and conservation are not in opposition to one another, is the heart of sustainable development.

Issues and Impacts

From its roots in environmentalism, the concept of sustainable development has been applied to many other issues. The idea of sustainability is now common and of concern to individuals, development planners, political leaders, and humanitarian organizations. Today, sustainable development is generally viewed to have three main areas of focus, environmental sustainability, social sustainability (including political issues), and economic sustainability. The United Nations also applies sustainable practices more specifically to agriculture, renewable resources, water management, ecotourism, technology, disaster management, trade, waste management, international law, and infrastructure organization.

It is important to note that the three major areas of sustainable development are interdependent; environmentally destructive practices can harm individuals in society, misused social policy can destroy the environment or harm the economy, and poor economic planning can lead to loss of resources and social distress. Conversely, by preserving and improving the environment, humanity can hope to gain tangible economic and social benefits. In many ways, the dangerous mismanagement of sustainability factors facilitated many of the bloody African conflicts of the 1990s, some of which continue today. Decades of poverty and exploitation led to violence as mistrustful ethnic groups competed for natural resources, overpopulation created scarcity of food and jobs, and ineffective governments abused their populations, failed to control crime, and unleashed waves of refugees across unregulated borders.

Although many of these conflicts happened in the developing world, more developed nations were also contributing to instability with their unsustainable practices. A particularly tragic example of this occurred during Sierra Leone’s civil war of the 1990s. Multiple parties were seeking control of the country’s diamond resources, leading to social conflict and widespread violence. The willingness of western countries to purchase the diamonds, despite their dubious origins, stimulated the conflict. The current state of environmental degradation in Sierra Leone still leaves the population vulnerable to food and resource shortages along with the social conflicts that can follow.

Today’s sustainable development tries to address sustainability problems before they erupt into violence or disaster. In the western world, sustainability efforts are often viewed with skepticism for several reasons. One of the most persistent obstacles is the idea that sustainable development will reduce quality of life or decrease the profitability of industry or commerce. While this may sometimes be true in the short term, the argument loses some credibility when viewed against the massive costs associated with environmental contamination or the current mortgage credit crisis caused by unsustainable financial practices.

The development and use of new technology, however, is often the most widely accepted way of improving the environment while benefiting humanity. Currently, green and other alternative energy sources are a popular target for sustainable development at many levels. Individuals, corporations, charities, and governments in both the developed and undeveloped world are all thinking about how humanity’s energy needs can be met with more environmentally friendly technologies. Concern about global climate change is the greatest influence driving interest in non-fossil fuels. Although the threats seem abstract or distant to many people, the effects of increased global temperatures can already be observed and are affecting humans, animals, and the planet. By employing energy sources that emit less carbon, there is hope that climate change can be slowed or reversed. At the same time, better alternative energy technologies may someday make electricity available in areas with little infrastructure or to people who are unable to afford the current high prices of fossil fuels. This is a good example of the positive link between development and environmental protection.

Although new technologies are important to sustainable development, new ways of thinking are perhaps

even more critical to achieving sustainability. In the past, inflexible thinking has been a barrier to progress toward environmental benefits. A good example of this is the former use of CFCs in propellants and refrigerants. Although many industry groups protested that it would be impossible to reduce or eliminate their use, within a decade they were able to find new chemicals to take their place in most applications. There are many cases in which the development of better industrial processes was motivated by short-term economic benefits. What can be more difficult to see is the long-term, less conspicuous links between environmentally friendly practices and future success. The sustainability movement is currently struggling to convince both industry and its regulatory bodies of the need to broaden their thinking and embrace more sustainable methods.

Working toward this same goal, the field of industrial ecology seeks to improve industrial operations by the use of more efficient processes, less dangerous chemicals, and the production of longer-lasting materials. When developing new processes, industrial ecologists recognize that sustainable development is not simply being able to continue a process forever, but working in ways that avoid dangerous future consequences. Similarly, the field of green engineering seeks to design better ways to make chemicals, treat wastewater, and decrease the need for raw materials. Where industrial ecology seeks to optimize current processes, green engineering looks to the future with new, more ecologically sound techniques. A new area of interest is in engineering to restore damaged ecosystems. Where previously most efforts in environmental restoration were directed toward removing harmful toxins, environmental engineering seeks to rehabilitate streams, rivers, wetlands, or other fragile habitat to their original function. Environmental engineering can help to increase the effectiveness of traditional restoration projects such as reforestation and eradication of invasive species.

Economic volatility can also be viewed through the lens of sustainability. Although agreement has not been reached on this subject, there is widespread concern that the current deficit spending and large national debt accrued by the United States is not compatible with continuing prosperity. Other problems, not just limited to the United States, include reliance on decreasing supplies of fossil fuels, high consumption of disposable items, and increasing disparity between the rich and the poor. All of these problems, while primarily economic in nature, are also linked to environmental and social issues that could amplify any crises that occur. Proponents of sustainable economies seek a system in which the natural environment is viewed as more than a source of raw materials and a place to dispose of waste. So far, there has been a great deal of experimentation with new economic models, but not a lot of large-scale sustainable economic changes. These methods include carbon trading, micro-financing, product take-back programs, renewable energy credits, and car sharing schemes. While many of these programs can be encouraged by governments, many of them rely on changes in the behavior of individuals, which can be hard to create.

For environmental sustainability to flourish, it must integrate with the needs of a society that successfully provides for its members. Humans have a complex hierarchy of needs ranging from basics like food and shelter to security requirements like safety from crime and protection from exploitation, to psychological necessities like freedom of religion, expression, and the right to choose to have a voice in their own governance. A lack of any one of these necessities can result in hostility in the form of social protest, a resort to crime, or even armed conflict. If environmental sustainability effort weaken societies by destroying jobs or threatening traditional ways of life, this can also paradoxically threaten sustainable development.

Some social sustainability efforts have therefore focused on the preservation of traditional lifestyles, languages, foods, crafts, occupations, and other cultural capital that is in danger of being subsumed by larger populations. Indeed, the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment stated that a richness of culture was vital to human vitality. Other projects have sought to decrease the stress and harm associated with modern city life. The “slow food” and “slow city” movements want to improve health and the environment by decreasing the use of harmful technologies like private car use in cities and long-distance transportation of food. They also encourage social cohesiveness by encouraging people to eat with their families and friends, develop relationships with their neighbors, and contribute to their local economies.

National governments must embrace sustainability as core policy if it is to succeed in providing real human benefits. Though many non-governmental organizations, state and local governments, private companies, and enthusiastic individuals are applying sustainability principles at many levels in many parts of the world, national governments still possess the capital and decision-making power to affect the most change. Another important consideration is that even the best sustainability efforts can fail if weakened by larger unsustainable practices. However, that does not mean that all efforts are doomed. With the continuing support of the international community, increasing interest from business and industry, and expanding scholarship on sustainability issues at the university level, incremental gains can form the foundation of a more sustainable future.

Primary Source Connection

Wangari Muta Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, in recognition of her work with the Green Belt Movement, a group that organizes disadvantaged women in Africa to plant trees in order to preserve the environment and improve women’ quality of life.

In 2002, Maathai was elected to Kenya’s parliament, and was later appointed Kenya’s Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources.

In awarding the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize to Maathai, the foundation specifically commended Maathai “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” In a press release announcing the prize, the foundation asserted that Maathai had “taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts locally.”

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maathai also helped to focus international attention on the concept of sustainable development and how a range of actions from local to international can foster such development.

WANGARI MAATHAI NOBEL LECTURE

Your Majesties

Your Royal Highnesses

Honourable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

I stand before you and the world humbled by this recognition and uplifted by the honor of being the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate.

As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa, and indeed the world. I am especially mindful of women and the girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership. I know the honor also gives a deep sense of pride to our men, both old and young. As a mother, I appreciate the inspiration this brings to the youth and urge them to use it to pursue their dreams.

Although this prize comes to me, it acknowledges the work of countless individuals and groups across the globe.… To all who feel represented by this prize I say use it to advance your mission and meet the high expectations the world will place on us.

This honor is also for my family, friends, partners and supporters throughout the world.… Because of this support, I am here today to accept this great honour

I am immensely privileged to join my fellow African Peace laureates, Presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the late Chief Albert Luthuli, the late Anwar el-Sadat and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

…I have always believed that solutions to most of our problems must come from us.

In this year’s prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has placed the critical issue of environment and its linkage to democracy and peace before the world. For their visionary action, I am profoundly grateful.…

… As I was growing up, I witnessed forests being cleared and replaced by commercial plantations, which destroyed local biodiversity and the capacity of the forests to conserve water.

In 1977, when we started the Green Belt Movement, I was partly responding to needs identified by rural women, namely lack of firewood, clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter and income.

Throughout Africa, women are the primary caretakers, holding significant responsibility for tilling the land and feeding their families. As a result, they are often the first to become aware of environmental damage as resources become scarce and incapable of sustaining their families.

The women we worked with recounted that unlike in the past, they were unable to meet their basic needs.…

Tree planting became a natural choice to address some of the initial basic needs identified by women. Also, tree planting is simple, attainable and guarantees quick, successful results within a reasonable amount time.…

So, together, we have planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel, food, shelter, and income to support their children’s education and household needs. The activity also creates employment and improves soils and watersheds.… This work continues

Initially, the work was difficult because historically our people have been persuaded to believe that because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Instead they are conditioned to believe that solutions to their problems must come from “outside.”…

In order to assist communities to understand these linkages, we developed a citizen education program, during which people identify their problems, the causes and possible solutions. They then make connections between their own personal actions and the problems they witness in the environment and in society.

On the environment front, they are exposed to many human activities that are devastating to the environment and societies. These include widespread destruction of ecosystems, especially through deforestation, climatic instability, and contamination in the soils and waters that all contribute to excruciating poverty.

In the process, the participants discover that they must be part of the solutions. They come to recognize that they are the primary custodians and beneficiaries of the environment that sustains them.

Entire communities also come to understand that while it is necessary to hold their governments accountable, it is equally important that in their own relationships with each other, they exemplify the leadership values they wish to see in their own leaders, namely justice, integrity and trust.

Although initially the Green Belt Movement’s tree planting activities did not address issues of democracy and peace, it soon became clear that responsible governance of the environment was impossible without democratic space. Therefore, the tree became a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya.…

In time, the tree also became a symbol for peace and conflict resolution, especially during ethnic conflicts in Kenya when the Green Belt Movement used peace trees to reconcile disputing communities.… Using trees as a symbol of peace is in keeping with a widespread African tradition. For example, the elders of the Kikuyu carried a staff from the thigi tree that, when placed between two disputing sides, caused them to stop fighting and seek reconciliation.…

Such practices are part of an extensive cultural heritage, which contributes both to the conservation of habitats and to cultures of peace. With the destruction of these cultures and the introduction of new values, local biodiversity is no longer valued or protected and as a result, it is quickly degraded and disappears. For this reason, The Green Belt Movement explores the concept of cultural biodiversity, especially with respect to indigenous seeds and medicinal plants.

It is 30 years since we started this work.… Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own—indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life, with which we have shared our evolutionary process.

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other.

That time is now.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has challenged the world to broaden the understanding of peace: there can be no peace without equitable development; and there can be no development without sustainable management of the environment in a democratic and peaceful space. This shift is an idea whose time has come.

… Those of us who have been privileged to receive education, skills, and experiences and even power must be role models for the next generation of leadership.…

Culture plays a central role in the political, economic and social life of communities. Indeed, culture may be the missing link in the development of Africa.…

Africans, especially, should re-discover positive aspects of their culture. In accepting them, they would give themselves a sense of belonging, identity and self-confidence.

There is also need to galvanize civil society and grassroots movements to catalyze change. I call upon governments to recognize the role of these social movements in building a critical mass of responsible citizens, who help maintain checks and balances in society. On their part, civil society should embrace not only their rights but also their responsibilities.

Further, industry and global institutions must appreciate that ensuring economic justice, equity and ecological integrity are of greater value than profits at any cost. The extreme global inequities and prevailing consumption patterns continue at the expense of the environment and peaceful co-existence. The choice is ours.

I would like to call on young people to commit themselves to activities that contribute toward achieving their long-term dreams. They have the energy and creativity to shape a sustainable future. To the young people I say, you are a gift to your communities and indeed the world. You are our hope and our future.

The holistic approach to development, as exemplified by the Green Belt Movement, could be embraced and replicated in more parts of Africa and beyond. It is for this reason that I have established the Wangari Maathai Foundation to ensure the continuation and expansion of these activities. Although a lot has been achieved, much remains to be done.

As I conclude I reflect on my childhood experience when I would visit a stream next to our home to fetch water for my mother. I would drink water straight from the stream. Playing among the arrowroot leaves I tried in vain to pick up the strands of frogs’ eggs, believing they were beads. But every time I put my little fingers under them they would break. Later, I saw thousands of tadpoles: black, energetic and wriggling through the clear water against the background of the brown earth. This is the world I inherited from my parents.

Today, over 50 years later, the stream has dried up, women walk long distances for water, which is not always clean, and children will never know what they have lost. The challenge is to restore the home of the tadpoles and give back to our children a world of beauty and wonder.

Thank you very much.

Wangari Muta Maathai

MAATHAI, WANGARI MUTA. NOBEL LECTURE. DELIVERED BEFORE MEMBERS OF THE NOBEL FOUNDATION, DECEMBER 10, 2004, OSLO, NORWAY. AVAILABLE ONLINE AT <HTTP://NOBELPRIZE.ORG/PEACE/LAUREATES/2004/MAATHAI-LECTURE-TEXT.HTML> (ACCESSED MARCH 10, 2006).

See Also Corporate Green Movement; Forest Resources; Green Movement; Human Impacts; Natural Resource Management

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Brown, Oli. The Environment and Our Security: How Our Understanding of the Links Has Changed. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2005.

Gardner, Gary, and Thomas Prugh. State of the World 2008: Seeding the Sustainable Economy. Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 2008.

Web Sites

Encyclopedia of Earth. “United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.” November 9, 2007. http://www.eoearth.org/article/United_Nations_Conference_on_the_Human_Environment_(UNCHE)_Stockholm_Sweden (accessed March 4, 2008)

National Science Foundation. “Environmental Sustainability.” February 14, 2008. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027 (accessed March 4, 2008).

Sustainability Reporting Program. “A Brief History of Sustainable Development.” 2000. http://www.sustreport.org/background/history.html (accessed March 2, 2008).

United Nations. “Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.” http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=978cArticleID=1503 (accessed March 4, 2008).

United Nations Department for Social and Economic Affairs. “United Nations Division for Sustainable Development.” February 2008. http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/index.html (accessed March 4, 2008).

West Virginia State Archives. “The Buffalo Creek Disaster.” http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/buffcreek/bctitle.html (accessed March 4, 2008).