Sustainable development is the idea that human societies must live and meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The “official” definition of sustainable development was developed for the first time in the Brundtland Report in 1987.
Specifically, sustainable development is a way of organizing society so that it can exist in the long term. This means taking into account both the imperatives present and those of the future, such as the preservation of the environment and natural resources or social and economic equity.
How Did The Idea Of Sustainable Development Get Relevant?
The industrial revolution is connected to the rise of the idea of sustainable development. From the second half of the 19th century, Western societies started to discover that their economic and industrial activities had a significant impact on the environment and the social balance. Several ecological and social crises took place in the world and rose awareness that a more sustainable model was needed.
Here are some examples of the economic and social crises that shook the world in the twentieth century:
- 1907: the American banking crisis
- 1923: the crisis of American hyperinflation
- 1929: the financial crisis of the 1930s begins
- 1968: the worldwide protests against bureaucratic elites
- 1973 and 1979: oil shocks
- 1982: the debt shock of developing countries
And some examples of ecological crises:
- 1954: Rongelap nuclear fallout
- 1956: Mercury crisis of Minamata
- 1957: Torrey Canyon oil spill
- 1976: Seveso disaster
- 1984: Bhopal disaster
- 1986: Chernobyl nuclear disaster
- 1989: Exxon Valdez oil spill
- 1999: Erika disaster
The Tragedy of Commons And Sustainable Development [1968]
In 1968 the ecologist and philosopher Garret Hardin wrote an essay entitled the tragedy of the commons. He argued that if individuals act independently, rationally and focused on pursuing their individual interests, they’d end up going against the common interests of their communities and exhaust the planet’s natural resources.
In this way, human free access and unlimited consumption of finite resource would extinguish these same resources. Hardin believed that since man is compelled to procreated unlimitedly the Earth resources would eventually get overexploited. To his eyes, mankind needed to radically change its way of using common resources to avoid a disaster in the future – this would be the way to keep on a sustainable development track.
1st UN Conference On The Environment And Sustainable Development [1972]
As the world’s knowledge of global politics evolved the first historical conferences were organized. In 1972, it took place in Stockholm the UN Conference on the environment – the first big world leaders meeting organized by the UN to discuss the human impact on the environment and how it was related to economic development. One of the main goals of this gathering was to find a common outlook and common principles to inspire and guide the world’s population to preserve the “human environment”.
The Human Development Index And Sustainable Development [1980]
Once the idea that our planet had limits that needed to be respected grew, together with the idea that progress isn’t only about economic growth, integrated solutions started to develop – as is the case with the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is nowadays a statistical tool that measures countries’ economic and social achievements.
To do so, it uses dimensions such as health, education, financial flows, mobility or human security, among others. Every year the UN Development Programme ranks countries based on the HDI report released together with their annual report. It works as a periodic way of monitoring the development levels of countries.
Climate Change & Sustainable Development [1988]
As the consciousness about the impact that climate change could have on the planet and on human life grew, the International Panel on Climate Change was created by the UN Development Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. It’s purpose was (and still is) to develop and share knowledge about the impact of human activities on climate change. It also aims to explore the causes, consequences, and ways of fighting climate change.
CO2 and methane are gases that exist to help the Earth keep its ideal temperature and guarantee life as we know it. Nonetheless, the excessive production of these gases leads to an increase in the planet’s temperature. This happens because part of the heat the Earth irradiates and that’d go to space keeps trapped in the atmosphere.
Sustainable Development Today
Today’s framework on sustainable development is quite strong although there is still a huge way to go. The latest IPCC report demonstrated that big changes will need to happen quickly regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions to keep the Earth’s temperature below 2ºC and prevent its devastating impacts.
There are many actors working with different audiences in different areas of sustainability. They share the same goal – to raise awareness on this topic and to create conditions for it to grow and develop. One of the main players is the United Nations, where different teams actively work on multiple campaigns such as #beatplasticpollution or #solvedifferent, apart from organizing the meetings between the world leaders.
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