Originally, men and women lived in small, self-sufficient communities, dependent on things they found in their environment. If food, fuel, or materials ran out, they would simply move on. One of the first significant social and technological developments was the transition from this nomadic way of life to agricultural cultivation in settled communities, from which began societies as we know them today. However, as nations pursue their goals of achieving economic development, promote more intensive and advanced economic activity (through such means as education, improved tools and techniques), more available financing, better transportation facilities, and creation of new businesses, environmental impacts are oftentimes overlooked.
Environmentalists argue broadly in favor of sustainable development. By this they mean a pattern of living that favors the preservation of habitat, the conservation of non-renewable resources, and the increased use of renewable energy sources so that Earth’s ecosystems are not harmed beyond repair.
This guide of resource use that aims to satisfy human demands while preserving the environment in general for future concerns seems to be a challenge for both developing and developed countries. The idea is, while a nation searches to meet the needs of the present time, there should be no compromises for the ability of the future generations to meet the needs per se. The big point here is, while we in the contemporary times find our ways for survival, we should also take into consideration the security of our descendant’s subsistence. We, in search for the development and improvement of the pre-existing technical systems, should come about prolonged beneficial effects of our activities concerning the whole environment to which we and other entities belong. Along with other creations, we dwell and continue our endurance in this world interacting with each other, thus, we should continuously add more life to the Earth while enjoying the fruits it bears.
Sustainable development actually points out an economy in equilibrium with fundamental support systems, that is, by all means, economic activities concerned for national and international progress should comply with environmental concerns. Humanity indeed faces social and economic challenges; yet, it would not suffice to reason our negligence in our environmental-destructive activities. To present an alternative way of addressing a steady state economy should be one that addresses environmental concerns as well.
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability.This contributed to the understanding that sustainable development encompasses a number of areas and highlights sustainability as the idea of environmental, economic and social progress and equity, all within the limits of the world’s natural resources are concerned. In the Philippine context, the great question would be, “How can we materialize this idea of sustainable development and bring it up into the mainstream?”
The problem seems to be that there is still no widely shared vision of what sustainable development might mean in real practice, despite many conferences and seminars held addressing this challenge. In many countries — rich and poor — this is often because of a perception that sustainability is expensive to implement and ultimately a brake on development. Poor countries for their part usually lack the physical infrastructure, ideas and human capacity to integrate sustainability into their development planning. Besides, they are often quite skeptical about rich countries’ real commitment to sustainable development and demand a more equitable sharing of environmental costs and responsibilities. Many people also believe that environmental problems can wait until developing countries are richer. With this kind of self-centered principles, we will always find ourselves caught in the very situation of disastrous fate as we proceed with our selfish motives against the whole world per se.
Whether we see the idea of ecological footprints in the course of our search for development or not, both sides would cause great impacts to ourselves, to our successors and to the whole world systems as a general rule. This is because everyone depends on nature and to everything it offers to provide us conditions for life security; however, our actions made unprecedented vicissitudes to the ecosystem and have weakened in time the nature’s ability to deliver more beneficiary provisions that can sustainably support the existence of all other life and non-life forms.
The above highlights the need to consider multiple angles and perspectives in the Philippine context. In pursuance of sustainable development, questions characterizing the worries of policy makers include who may participate, who may be affected, and who may benefit.
The Political Challenge
This issue revolves very evidently as a political framework in the Philippines. The involvement of local communities in environmental management was a prerequisite for sustainable development. The government actually plays a big role in policy making, giving the people the rights over the natural resources subjecting and drawing the Earth near its end. There could have been no problems with our utilization, however, for an instance, we burn gasoline, coals and other fossil fuels inefficiently for energy; we cut down trees for paper industries without even replacing it; we utilize meats incompetently; we intervened natural processes of our ecosystems; all actions invading, all destructive. We keep on exploiting the environment as if we don’t know what the outcomes will be. With this, better protection of natural assets will require coordinated efforts across all sections of governments, businesses, and international institutions. The productivity of ecosystems depends on policy choices on investment, trade, subsidy, taxation, and regulation, among others.
The Social Challenge
We are all in this together. While we refuse to learn the most basic lesson of attaining development alongside environmental preservation, we are actually obliterating the very idea of our role as rational beings. The changes that this world needs depend on us, in our willingness to manage and conserve the environment’s persistence. In the Philippines, all measures concerned to conserve natural resources are more likely to succeed if we as part of the local communities have our initiatives to start a change. It all starts from each one of us.
The Economic Challenge
Even in the advent of technological applications in industries and economic zones, three main sources of capital still play an evident role: the human-capital, knowledge-capital and resource-capital. The restoration and maintenance of the last factor seems to be the challenge for the economic sectors. Concerning this, policies dealing with the enhancement of the environment's carrying capacity to support the country's sustained economic growth, alleviating poverty in the process, need to be implemented. The great enterprise the economy may get from natural resources is a promising source of wealth; however, invariable conflicts may arise such as incompetent utilization of supplies and exploitation of the environment in general.
Sustainable development explicitly recognizes the interconnections and relationships between economy, society and the environment. In this world that seems to grow smaller, many issues must be considered at a global level. Environmental laws appeared to be undermined in time by self-centered individuals, groups and institutions. The best way to finance development is not something apparent to all of us, the idea of sustainable development. The mere fact that environmental conservation appears to be the main constrain for our development in all aspects should not be neglected. While we aim for economic efficiency, social status stability and future permanence and constancy, the Earth itself needs strengthened and rationalized movements for its continued persistence. The future is not somewhere we are going. While the humankind has the ability to obliterate, we can also act to sustain and preserve our planet in general.
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Living Beyond Our Means: Natural Assets and Human Well-being, An interpretation of the key messages to emerge from the assessment, from the Board of Directors governing the MA process, March 2005
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Roads to the Summit: LEAD International and Panos London. August 2002
Smith, Charles; Rees, Gareth (1998). Economic Development, 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Macmillan. ISBN 0333722280.
United Nations. 1987."Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development." General Assembly Resolution 42/187, 11 December 1987.
Warren Flint, R. 2009. Five E’s Unlimited: A System’s Approach to Sustainable Development. Seattle, WA 98108
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