Course for Sustainability points to alternative development paths for SEE region
By Stefania Romano
Sustainable development and environmental protection are now priority goals for governments worldwide. Improved energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy sources can help in achieving these goals, but public awareness of the importance of sound resource management is also essential.
The concept of sustainable development (i.e. striking a balance between economic and environmental demands) embraces a number of interrelated global issues such as poverty, inequality, hunger and environmental degradation. According to the Brundtland Report (1987), sustainable development must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The need for sustainability
Concerning the relationship between human beings and the environment, the Industrial Revolution marked an abrupt and dramatic change in patterns of development. Rather than local communities making use of local renewable resources and working the land manually according to the seasons, mass production was made possible with coal-fired machinery. Increased production and transportation capacities led to the appearance of disposable goods, heralding what today has become the complex problem of waste management. Since then, overexploitation of the earth has continued unabated.
The concept of sustainability emerged gradually during the 19th and 20th centuries. Much of Europe was being deforested as a result of clear-cutting: natural forest habitats were being damaged, which in turn led to inferior wood products. As wood was an economic necessity at the time, the need for sustainable forestry management became clear. It was only in the late 1950s and '60s, however, that people grew aware, albeit slowly, of the potential catastrophic effects of technology and economic growth.
The first international symposium to address the issue of environmental protection was the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which took place in Stockholm in 1972 with the participation of 114 nations. A direct result of the conference was the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The World Charter for Nature was adopted by the United Nations in 1982, and in 1992 the UN reaffirmed the 1972 Stockholm declaration by issuing the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. That same year, the Club of Rome — an international association of economists and scientists — published 'The Limits to Growth' (1972), highlighting the unsustainability of existing economic patterns and warning of potentially irreparable damage to the environment. Ten years later, the phrase 'sustainable development' was definitively coined at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Environmental issues are more serious today than ever before and global in scale. Sustainable development is an important approach toward shaping and protecting the environment while securing our future economic prosperity, cultural diversity and social wellbeing. It also implies the full involvement of civil society in the search for viable solutions in a turbulent, high-speed world, driven by overproduction, consumerism and overexploitation of natural resources.
