Environmental Resources Management and Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development Definition

Sustainable development entails meeting the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It involves fulfilling basic requirements while also striving to achieve a better quality of life and well-being for all.

Principles of Sustainable Development

Several key principles guide sustainable development:

• Polluter Pays Principle: This principle advocates that polluters should bear the costs of pollution, considering public interests and minimizing negative impacts on the environment and investments.
• Principle of Liability to Help and Cooperate: States are encouraged to enhance sustainable development through knowledge sharing, scientific exchange, technology transfer, and collaboration.
• Principle of Sustainable and Equitable Resource Management: This principle promotes responsible use and management of resources to ensure their availability for current and future generations.

17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Under the sustainable development framework, there are 17 interconnected goals:

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
8. Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources.
15. Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss.
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.