Sustainable Development Flashcards
Sustainable development
Sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, both the present and future generations without overexploiting of natural resources and environmental degradation. It was given by the Brundtland Commission in its report Our Common Future of 1987.
Its features are: sustained rise in real capital income, rational use of natural resources, preserving natural resources for future generations, reduction of poverty, etc.
Sustainable development goals
Born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, SDGs are not legally binding, they are an intergovernmental agreement. SDGs bold commitment to finish what Millennium Development Goals started. It is a group of 17 goals with 169 targets and 304 indicators to be achieved by 2030. Its objective is to produce a set of universal goals that meet emerging environmental, social inclusion, and economic challenges facing the world.
The 17 SDGs are:
1. No Poverty 2. Zero Hunger 3. Good Health and Well-being 4. Quality Education 5. Gender Equality 6. Clean Water and Sanitation 7. Affordable and Clean Energy 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure 10. Sustainable Cities and Inequalities 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 12. Responsible Production and Consumption 13. Climate Action 14. Conserve Life Below Water 15. Protect Life on Land 16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions 17. Partnerships for Goals
Sustainable development report
The NITI Aayog recently released a baseline report of Sustainable Development Goals, India Index 2.0. It is the progress made by Indian States and Union Territories towards implementing 2030 SDG targets. The SDG India Index was developed in collaboration with MoSPI and the Global Green Growth Institute and United Nations in India.
A range of 0 to 100 for each State and Union Territory based on their aggregate performance across 13 SDGs. If a State or Union Territory achieves a score of 100, it signifies that it has achieved the 2030 national target.
The NITI Aayog report classified the ranks into following following:
Aspirant 0-49,
Performer 52-64,
Front-runner 55-99,
Achiever 100%.
Himachal Pradesh and Kerala were the top performers.
Sustainable Development Report of 2022 is a global assessment of countries’ progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It was published by a group of independent experts at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. It was launched in 2012 to mobilize global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical problem-solving for sustainable development and implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Ranking, the countries are ranked by their overall score. The overall score measures the total progress towards achieving all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The score can be interpreted as a percentage of SDG achievement. The score of 100 indicates that all SDGs have been achieved. Performance of the countries, according to the 2022 SDG index, it was topped by Finland following the three Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. East and South Asia is the region that progressed most in the SDGs since the adoption in 2015. Bangladesh and Cambodia are the two countries that progressed most on the SDGs since 2015. By contrast, Venezuela has declined the most on the SDGs index since their adoption in 2015. India ranked 121 out of the 163 countries. It was ranked 117 in 2020 and 120 in 2021.
Sustainable development challenges
Inequitable growth of national economies, the north-south divide, global hunger rise after prolonged decline, extreme poverty declined from 36% in 1990 to 8.6% in 2018, but peace of production, poverty reduction started to decelerate. Extreme poverty is three times higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Levels of CO2 concentrations continue to increase. Natural environment deteriorating at alarming rates. Sea levels are rising. Ocean acidification is accelerating. Ocean acidity is 26% higher than in the pre-industrial times. One million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction. Land degradation continues unchecked. Intellectual property rights. India has no financial resources to implement SDGs and no adequate data to frame relevant policies.
Millennium development goals
Adopted in 2000 and expired in 2015, it had 8 goals. That is, eradicate extreme hunger and poverty, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV, AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and the development of global partnerships for development.
India could not fulfill the MDGs like universal primary school enrollment, empowerment of women through wage employment and political participation, reducing child and maternal mortality, improving sanitation to end open defecation, halved poverty rates from 1990 level, reversed incidence of HIV, AIDS, reduced malaria, and TB deaths.
The difference between MDG and SDGs: The SDGs build on the successes of MDGs, which embody specific targets and milestones in eliminating extreme poverty and the worst forms of human deprivation. The MDGs expanded its scope to 17 goals from the eight goals in the MDGs. Unlike the MDGs, which only target developing countries, the SDGs apply to all countries, whether rich, middle, or poor countries. The SDGs are also nationally owned and country-led, whereas each country is given the freedom to establish a national framework in achieving the SDGs.
Initiative for sustainable development
Stockholm conference of 1972
First step towards putting environment and concerns on global agenda resulting in the stock home declaration containing principles and action plan
UNEP (1972) what’s the catalyst in development and coordinating environment focus
The Earth summit (1992) was the direct consequence of the brundtland commissions report. Held in Rio de Janeiro, resulting in the framework convention on biological diversity, the statement on forest principles, the Rio declaration, agenda 21, etc
Kyoto protocol of 1997
Rio + 10 (2002) 10 year assessment of Rio outcomes
Ramsar convention of 1971
The world heritage convention of 1972
The convention on international trade of endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES), 1973
Convention on the conservation of migratory birds of wild animals, 1979
Vienna convention for the protection of the ozone layer 1985
Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer of 1987
Basel convention of 1989
Convention on biological diversity 1992
United Nations convention to combat desertification 1994
Rotterdam convention of 1998
Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants of 2001
International whaling commission of 1946
Minamata convention of 2013
Paris agreement of 2015
The clean development mechanism, etc
Regional initiatives like the means for addressing transboundary issues such as atmospheric pollution, pollution of shared rivers and water bodies.
European Union-enforced certain environmental principles like preventive principles, subsidiary principles, and polluter-payer principles, etc.
The ASEAN have numerous environmental legal instruments.
SAARC adopted Environmental Action Plan of 1987, Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management 2006-2015 adopted in 2006.
Community initiatives come directly from community levels such as NGOs creating linkages between global and local needs.
IUCN in 1948 provided Secretariat for various important international conventions.
The WWF played a major role in the evolution of international conservation movements.
Traffic created Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network of 1976.
The Biodiversity Act of 2002 almost completely built on inputs from the network of NGOs working across the country. Also, CHIPKO movement, save the Silent Valley Movement were results of community efforts.
At the cooperatives level, cooperative societies connect people at absolute levels to highest level of government. They have successful cooperative movements like Amul Launching Operation Flood.
SDGs and India’s commitment:
Clean Food Fuel introduces BS-VI Petrol and Diesel from April 2020 all over India.
No plastic pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic by 2022.
International Solar Alliance is a group of 121 solar-rich countries situated either on or between tropics. They aim to deploy over 1,000 GW of solar energy to mobilize more than $1,000 billion into solar power by 2030.
Climate change
To reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 33% to 35% by 2030 from 2005 levels to achieve about 40% of cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030, to create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equipment to additional forest and tree covers by 2030, others such as MNREGA Act, National Food Security Act, Swachh Bharat Adhiyan, Atal Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transportation (AMRUT), Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), etc.
