Development is perhaps the most important goal for societies across the world. It entails continued improvement of the welfare of the societies through the provision of more and better products and services which fulfill even more needs.
However, it is clear that these products and services are developed through the exploitation of the available resources as availed by the natural environment.
As the populations of the world become well endowed financially, they put insatiable demand on natural resources. This necessitates the need to develop a more balanced method of utilization or exploitation of natural resources.
Sustainable development is a term referring to the act of establishing a balance between the need to fulfill the ever-increasing human needs and the need to protect and preserve the environment.
The term was introduced during the Brundtland Commission which was formed under the umbrella of the United Nations with the aim of addressing concerns about the overexploitation of the natural as well as the human environment.
Sustainability element is introduced to the development process with the view of instilling the fact that development today does not have to be at the expense of the future.
Consequently, the concept of system, enable development seeks to lessen the greed of the current generation which is manifest in the way the environment is over-utilized to achieve short term goals giving little thought to the ability of the future generations to enjoy the same resources.
This field crosscuts a host of disciplines such as the economy, the natural environment, technology, education, and politics.
The notion of sustainable development is central to the modern day definition as well as the determination of the stable economy. An economy is viewed as being stable if it is clear that it continually enjoy the benefits from its resources now and in the future.
An economy that is continually overexploiting its resources to meet the current needs is faced with a much more uncertain future than that which spreads the usage of its resources over a much wider time frame through control mechanisms established by the society itself.
The economy could be growing at a high rate of growth and improving the welfare of the citizenry, but these prospects could be negated by the fact that the requisite resources are not finite or that their regeneration cannot keep up with the pace of utilization.
The environment is indeed the central concern of the notion of sustainable development.
The fact that all the goods and services utilized by the populations directly or indirectly originate from the exploitation of the environment means that environmental protection is an important element of sustainable development.
The rate at which the environment is exploited Vis a Vis the rate at which it regenerates determines whether there is an overuse of resources or not.
Technology is commonly touted as an important aspect of enhancing sustainable development. This is because it defines the inputs in the production process which can be traced to the environment as well as the output which ends up in the same environment.
Consequently, improvement in technology can lead to better satisfaction of the needs while minimizing resource use. This means that technology is an integral part of establishing sustainable development.
Education, on the other hand, enlightens both the resources users and the end consumers on the need to adopt proper resource use in a bid to ensure that the environment is not depleted.
It guides their actions towards the promotion of sustainable. Politics, on the other hand, is what drives society. Leaders strive to be politically correct in a bid to impress voters who in turn keep them in power.
In most circumstances, establishing sustainable development involves making sacrifices in the short term which may hurt the current generation a factor which is likely to lead to the dismissal of the political elites.
Therefore, the notion of sustainable development entails the integration of adequate education as well as responsible political leadership to be a success (Sustainable development, par3).
Individual actions are an integral part of the collective global project towards sustainable development. The comprehensive project encompasses the aggregate actions taken by the entire global population.
This being the case, the success in achieving global sustainable development is pegged on the culmination of all individual efforts towards this goal.
Critics, however, view the concept of sustainable development as one which is not only vague but also bent towards increasing the controls to the economy a move which is more socialist than capitalist.
They base their arguments on the fact that if there is demand, then supply is required just like the laws of economics demand.
Imposing restrictions in the name of sustainable development only serves to make the economy less efficient (Sustainable Development Sector Strategies and Tourism, Par3).
However, in the face of evident exploitation of the population and finite resources whose exploitation is going on at an alarming rate, the best remedy is to adopt environmentally friendly utilization mechanisms or better still restrict extractions to ensure there is enough left for use in the future.
Works Cited
Sustainable Development Sector Strategies and Tourism. OECD. 2010. Web.
Sustainable development. Sustainable development portal. 2010. Web.