Sustainable development may sound like a global concept, but it can happen on a day-to-day basis too! Simple practices like using less water and electricity, recycling, and walking/cycling instead of driving are examples of sustainable development on an individual level. Just by doing these things we are contributing to a sustainable planet for future generations. Today we are going to look at some more examples of sustainable development on a global scale, the environmental benefits of sustainable development, and some of the challenges surrounding it.
Sustainable Development Definition
Sustainable development is defined as development (social growth) that provides quality of life for the current population without limiting the quality of life for future populations. This translates into development that aims to preserve the environment and the capacity to extract resources from natural sources.
See our 'Sustainability' article for the three pillars of sustainable development!
Examples of Sustainable Development
Examples of sustainable development include regenerative agriculture, decontamination of dirty water, shifting to renewable energy resources, and limiting emissions and waste. There are many more ways we can prevent harming our planet too, let's have a look at these in more detail:
Renewable Energy Resources
In the last 50 years, there has been a global realisation that fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) not only cause global warming but are also a finite resource. Therefore, we must use sustainable methods of producing energy. Examples of renewable energy sources are solar power (energy harnessed from the suns rays by panels), wind power (energy produced from wind currents flowing through turbines), biofuel (the use of organic matter to produce energy), geothermal energy (energy harnessed from the Earth's core), and hydropower (energy from water currents and tides).
The combustion of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which contribute to the greenhouse effect and warm the Earth's surface. Global warming causes rising sea levels, melting ice sheets, increased precipitation, droughts, and extreme weather.
Limiting Waste and Emissions
The key to sustainable development is maintaining the biologically productive land that we depend on. This includes forests, agricultural areas, oceans, and freshwater ecosystems. The release of waste and emissions into the environment degrades this land and reduces its productivity. In order to provide a sustainable future, the release of waste must be reduced on an individual and global scale. This includes recycling and reducing vehicle use for individuals, and implementing laws and legislations to regulate emissions and waste from industry.
Examples of emissions include greenhouse gases (causing global warming), sulphur dioxide (causing acid rain and damage to ecosystems), and metal particulates (causing respiratory problems and cancer in animals.
Waste such as industrial discharge, urban runoff, and sewage effluent can result in water and soil pollution, which breaks down the foundations of terrestrial ecosystems and harms aquatic wildlife.
Chlorofluorocarbon emissions cause the depletion of the ozone layer by splitting into dangerous chlorine free radicals and stripping ozone molecules of oxygen atoms. The ozone layer protects our planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation, which causes cancer in humans and breaks down producer populations in ecosystems.
Water conservation
Water conservation is also important on an individual and regional scale. Individually, we must strive to limit our water usage (running taps, showering over taking a bath), especially in less developed countries that are susceptible to droughts. On a global scale, the decontamination of dirty or polluted water is essential. This could mean improving the treatment of wastewater, improving irrigation methods in agriculture, and reducing pollution of groundwater and aquifer.
Aquifers are permeable rocks beneath the Earth's surface that can hold and transfer groundwater. This water returns to the surface at freshwater springs, which provide clean water for human populations.
Sustainable Agriculture
The intensification of agricultural practices is a major threat to sustainability. Intensive agriculture results in less productive surrounding ecosystems and pollutes waterways through the overuse of pesticides and fertilisers. Sustainable agriculture aims to improve soil health so there is less of a need for agrochemicals. Regenerative methods such as cover cropping, crop rotation, and intercropping improve soil fertility. Integrating crops and livestock also allows manure to be used as fertiliser and reduces vehicle use for the transportation of manure.
Cover cropping is the planting of temporary crops during the off-season to protect the soil from physical damage and maintain nutrient availability.
Crop rotation is the planting of different crops in the same location in consecutive seasons, to reduce the need for pesticides.
Intercropping involves planting wildlife species in between agricultural crops to increase the biodiversity of the agroecosystem and reduce the spread of disease.
Sustainable Construction
Sustainable construction involves minimising the impact of construction operations on the environment. This means using renewable materials that do not have a detrimental impact on ecosystems. Waste and emissions from construction must be limited too, as well as the waste produced from the finished structure. Locations for construction must be carefully selected with consideration for surrounding habitats and ecosystems.
Protection of Forests
Forests are essential to life on Earth for many reasons: they sequester carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, they provide materials (such as timber), and provide homes for a plethora of organisms that maintain the biologically productive land we depend on. However, deforestation occurs all over the world with changes in land use and the need for materials (timber). For a sustainable future, deforestation needs to be eradicated (alternative materials need to be used) and afforestation needs to be carried out more regularly.
Afforestation involves planting trees to grow forests on cultivated or bare land.
Other sustainable practices you should be aware of are:
- Sustainable transport: the reduction in the use of petrol and diesel engine vehicles (planes, cars, trucks) is vital in limiting the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere. Public transport, walking, cycling, and electric vehicles are ways to reduce vehicle use.
- Green spaces: the cultivation and maintenance of green spaces are essential in providing connectivity between biologically productive lands and reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Fishing: sustainable fishing methods include energy-efficient ships which use less diesel and improved planning of fishing trips to reduce time spent disturbing aquatic ecosystems.
The 'circular economy' refers to the idea that goods obtained should not be discarded after use. This waste will often pollute the environment and degrade the biologically productive land that we depend on. This is difficult in practice, but methods such as recycling and reusing of materials help to add to a circular economy. These initiatives alleviate the pressures of pollution on the environment and reduce the need to consume more.
Environmental Benefits of Sustainable Development
Now we know how we are attempting to achieve sustainable development, we can look at the environmental benefits of sustainable development:
- Reduces global warming: sustainable development involves limiting practices that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (such as the combustion of fossil fuels and intensive agriculture). This reduces the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and climatic changes (rising sea levels, melting ice, extreme weather) will not be as intense.
- Less pollution: sustainable practices like integrative agriculture and regulations of industrial waste will limit water and soil pollution. This will lessen water and soil pollution and maintain biological productivity.
- Damage to ecosystems: sustainable construction, afforestation, and emission reductions will limit the physical damage to habitats and alleviate pressure on ecosystems to adapt and migrate.
- Agroecosystems: the transition from intensive to regenerative agricultural methods will not only increase agricultural productivity and lessen the need for fertilisers and pesticides, but also improve biodiversity and disease resistance in agroecosystems.
Environmental Challenges for Sustainable Development
Everything we've covered so far sounds very positive, but in reality, there are many environmental challenges which make sustainability difficult to achieve:
- Greenhouse gas emissions: there has already been an extraordinary amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from human activity. The resulting climate change has broken down ecosystems and biologically productive land and put us on the back foot in achieving sustainability.
- Resource depletion: human development has led to the worldwide depletion of natural resources such as fossil fuels, metal ores, and timber. Technological advancements (GPS, extraction machinery) allow humans to access more and more reserves around the world, so soon there will be none left.
- Ozone depletion: although emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) has been reduced, the ozone layer has already been depleted and so biologically productive land has been affected.
- Tipping points: a variety of ecological tipping points have been passed all over the world. This includes ecosystems where many species have had to migrate to cooler locations or simply cannot cope with changing climatic conditions. Dysfunctional ecosystems limit the output of biologically productive land.
Environmental Indicators of Sustainable Development
Let's have a look at some of the environmental indicators which can be monitored to see if we really are developing sustainably:
- Greenhouse gas emissions: measurement of annual greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, ozone, methane) from organisations and populations is important in ensuring sustainable development.
- Natural resource use: the depletion of natural resources (fossil fuels, metal ores, timber) needs to be monitored so we know how many natural resources are left and the rate at which we are depleting them.
- Wildlife species: the existence, abundance, and biodiversity of wildlife species can signify the productivity of the land.
- Water use: there are external factors that affect water availability like extreme weather and droughts, but water availability and use by populations must be monitored so we can see if conservation efforts are making a difference.
Butterfly species are excellent bioindicators of flowering plant biodiversity as they are specific pollinators. Birds are extremely helpful in indicating biodiversity too as they occupy many habitats and key parts of the food chain.
Role of environmental ethics in sustainable development
Environmental ethics concern the relationship between humans and the natural world, they involve putting into practice the responsibility we have to protect our planet from harm and work towards a sustainable future.
Anthropocentrism is the idea that mankind is more important than the environment that surrounds us. However, without the Earth, we would not exist in the first place, and our current trajectory of biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and global warming is plummeting our planet toward extinction. This reality proves the fact that we depend on our planet to survive, so we should take the initiative to protect it.
Therefore, environmental ethics are at the centre of sustainability. Our concern for the health of our planet is wrapped in environmental ethics, and we must continue to address how we are engaging with the Earth if we want to preserve a habitable planet.
Sustainable Development - Key takeaways
- Sustainable development involves improving the quality of life of the current population without jeopardising the lives of future generations.
- Examples of sustainable development include water conservation, regenerative agriculture, using renewable energy resources, afforestation, and reducing waste and emissions.
- The environmental challenges facing sustainable development include the greenhouse gas emissions already released into the atmosphere, natural resource depletion from increasing human activity, ozone layer depletion, and ecosystem breakdown.
- Environmental indicators of sustainable development are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, maintaining biodiversity and wildlife abundance, water availability, and limiting natural resource depletion.
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