The Sustainable Development Summit 2015 Essay

In 1972, United Nations had its first Conference in Stockholm , where it discussed about the need for all member nations to have a common outlook based on common principles so as to inspire and guide the people of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the our environment (United Nations, 1972). Subsequent United Nation Conferences further discussed the development of sustainability and action plans in achieving the objectives. All these actions were in response to the industrial wastages, consumer and commercial waste and toxicity, depletion of non-renewable and renewable resources (Senge, Smith,

While driving through the Atlantic Forest in Bahia, everywhere one looked it was green. I could not get over how much green there was. Unfortunately, only 7% of the original forest here remains today (Hance). The rapid growth of the cocoa economy combined with unsustainable practices led to this rapid decline. Agriculture still plays a major role in this region and will continue to impact the Atlantic Forest ecosystem unless more sustainable measures are put into place. There are numerous groups responsible for the direction of development in this region; however, a special emphasis needs to be placed on the role of social divisions and inequality. Presently and into the future, social classes will have an important role in the success or failure of sustainable development in the Atlantic Forest region. To comprehend why, sustainable development must be defined and then evaluated in the context of agriculture and land distribution.

There are several obstacles for manufacturers attempting to employ changes in their processes for more sustainable practices. One problem that manufacturers will run into is the lack of direction. Knowing that change is needed is the easy part of reaching sustainability. Knowing what changes to make is a much more complicated challenge. The idea of sustainability is discussed often, yet broad scope ideas are traded without specific details and applications. Team B Consultants Inc. (TBCI), is the

Sustainable development means that the present generations should be able to make use of resources to live better lives in such a manner that it does not compromise the ability of future generations. For sustainable development to occur, there needs to be sustainable economic, ecological and community development. Society needs to be educated about ways in which they can use resources, especially natural, in such a manner that it does not cause harm to the environment and put future generations lives at risk.

The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From early times, philosophers, such as Thomas Malthus, believed humanity could not be sustained. Malthus believed mankind would reach their carrying capacity, specifically with regards to food. Yet, this notion changed in subsequent years, thanks in part to the green revolution. This revolution helped increase crop yields due to new fertilizers, pesticides, etc. While there became more food available, sustainability, with regards to producing food in an environmentally friendly way, ran into some difficulties. While the Brundtland commission defined sustainability, there are three components that must be integrated for the well-being of all—social, environmental, and economic. Each component of sustainability must be looked at critically when considering the sustainable use of any resource. While many simply worried about having enough food available in the world, one must think of food sustainability with regards to environmental, economic, and social implications. As follows, the importance of food sustainability will be discussed, along with the attempts to measure food sustainability.

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Goal 14 addresses the issue of conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (United Nations, 2015). There are seven targets that are used to achieve success for this goal. The targets that are truly measurable are targets 14.1, 14.3, 14.5, 14.6 and 14.7. Target 14.1 is truly measurable because firstly, marine pollution in the form of debris visibly fills the oceans and seas and can therefore be tracked to see how the amount changes with every year. Nutrient pollution causes algal growth in waterways and the algal growth can be measured to provide information on the amount of nutrient pollution in a water body. Target 14.3 is measurable because oceans’ pH levels can be measured and monitored to collect data over time. Assuming that target 14.5 is referring to 10% of the entire world’s coastal and marine regions, it is measurable. Target 14.6 is measurable because fisheries subsidies are forms of government intervention that have economic value. Since financial transfers from the government are involved, they should be recorded. Since target 14.7 focuses on the economic benefit of Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, it can be measured by looking at the specific economic activity and comparing it to previous years.

Fundamental for Coca Cola’s corporate culture and imperative for a sustainable business is respecting human rights and the protection of the workplace for employees. Therefore the company does everything to make sure that all people are treated with dignity and respect. „We expect our Company, our bottling partners and our suppliers to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts as a result of business actions, and to address such impacts when they occur.”

In UNEP’s Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment in 2016 report, they discovered that the developing world’s investment in renewable energy now accounts for more than 50% of all investments in renewable energies . As defined by the United Nations, sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Three central elements are crucial to achieve sustainable development both on local and global scales, economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. Social Inclusion, including poverty reduction, can be catalyzed by both economic growth and environmental protection. Together, environmental protection and economic growth identify both outcomes and further processes to improve the conditions in which people are both involved and effected by society. However, despite the fact that each of these elements benefit the other, governments, public and private business as well as individuals around the world continue to remain oblivious to available methods and channels to attain social inclusion and sustainable development. This guide will explore each of these elements of sustainable development and identify failed, successful and current strategies.

The concept of sustainable development has become a major topic among intellectuals from various fields. Sustainable development has gone through various changes in its definitions and at present does not have a commonly accepted definition. The origination of the concept of sustainable development is debatable. In 1974 at a conference on Science and Technology for Human Development by the World Council of Churches the concept of a “sustainable society” is believed to have been first noted. This early concept focused on equitable distribution of scarce resources and the need for democratic decision making. In 1980 the currently used term of sustainable development emerged in the

The United Nations General Assembly has officially adopted the Sustainable Development Goals at a UN summit in New York City as of September 27, 2015 that are to be globally implemented by 2030. This essay will discuss goal 13 “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”, along with its five targets.

This essay is going to discuss the UN recent drafting of a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and more specifically the idea behind goal number 7 : “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”1.

On September 25th, the UN officially announced a new list of Sustainable Development Goals(SDG’s) that would replace the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) that would expire in 2015. Among the list of SDG’s released by the UN, was one in particular, goal number 14, which stated, in relation to Oceans, the aim to “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.” In addition to setting the goal previously mentioned, the UN also set out a list of targets in order to evaluate the set goals.

The concept of sustainable development has been at the centre of many big debates of late including world conferences on development and developmental planners. It is gaining impetus as people get more informed on the current effects of climate change and the looming devastating effects of the same on future generations increasing the unpredictability of the future. At the core of sustainable development is the fragile condition of balancing between protection as well as maintenance of the productivity of the environment and the quest for economic growth. This is a fundamental function of ‘environmental politics.’ The concept of sustainable development makes us believe that it is possible to realize economic prosperity and protect the environment at the same time (Carter, 2007).

The world we know is changing. Human civilization has had an unappalled effect on the entire world. From the amount of resources we use, to the amount of harmful chemicals we release into the atmosphere, we are greatly affecting our planet. For humanity to survive and thrive, many changes need to be put into place in order to secure our spot in the future. We need to figure out a way to sustain and fix the planet we have, before we do even more irreparable damage to it. The constant utilization of fossil fuels has released an unprecedented amount of CO2 in the air, as well as other harmful particulates. As of 2011, the concentrations from CO2 in the air reached 391.3 ppm, which rose from 399.56 from the previous year (worldwatch.org, 2013). We, as a people have begun to realize the effects we’ve been having, and are starting to come up with plans to fix the problems we made. This paper is going to talk about policy changes that can be put into effect that will drastically improve our air quality, and make sure our Earth is sustainable for generations to come.