Sustainable economic development refers to the process of utilizing available natural resources for economic development while taking care of resources to ensure that future generations enjoy same resources.
Social economic development manifests through four greens, which include green savings, green opportunities, green talent and green places.
Green savings refers to the process of exhorting various stakeholders in a society to reduce expenses and save finances through efficient use of renewable resources and reduction of waste.
Green opportunities refers to marketing of goods and services produced with minimal resources and pollution with the aim of growing companies that produce goods and products in such a way. Consequently, job opportunities increase as incomes increase too.
Green talent involves investing in education, research and technology based on the reasoning that human resource is crucial and that people trained in environmental issues can better manage companies that embrace environmental conservation.
Green places refer to the use green energy like solar power instead of fossil fuels as well as environmental friendly infrastructure.
Kenya has endeavored to embrace economic sustainability through public private partnerships between environmental agencies and corporations to come up with sustainability programs and literature for use in educational institutions.
Population is a major cause of environmental degradation especially when it goes beyond what the environment cannot sustain. Degradation takes place through utilization of natural resources and generation of wastes leading to destruction of bio diversity as well as air and water pollution.
In addition, increased population exerts pressure on available agricultural land as people seek to utilize it for more food.
Poverty is another cause of environmental degradation. This arises from the fact that poor people rely on environmental resources for lack of other resources. For instance, poor people use rivers for all their needs including agriculture and domestic use. Such tendencies lead to depleted natural resources since the poor people have to rely on available natural resources.
Lack of gainful job opportunities in the rural areas leads to rural urban migration as people believe cities offer opportunities for jobs. When such people fail to secure employment in the cities, they have no choice but to live in slums.
Expansion of slums has led to environmental degradation of the urban environment. Such migration and settlement in the slums leads to increased pressure on available social amenities like energy, housing, water and recreational facilities.
This leads to depletion of environmental resources leads to air and water pollution, increased waste and poor land use.
Agriculture is another source of environmental degradation. This happens where agricultural practices lead to soil erosion, increased land salinity and reduced nutritive components.
In addition, over utilization of water resources and use of chemicals in farming have led to a degraded environment in developing countries. Irrigation too has led to salinity and water logging.
Deforestation and water pollution in developing countries lead to social and economic costs. Disruption of livelihoods is a major cost of deforestation and water pollution. Commercial hunters and rubber extractors suffer economic losses as displaced people suffer social losses.
In Brazil, reports indicate that authorities force poor citizens to leave their areas to work in remote plantations through use of force. Deforestation and water pollution have resulted in decreased soil fertility, which leads to decreased farming activities and less income for farmers.
Governments in developing countries should establish mechanisms and policies to guide the process of reforestation. One of the best ways is to involve communities living around forestland so that they own the process and protect the forests and water resources.
Developing countries should provide grants through non-governmental organizations that focus on environmental conservation in developing countries so that such organizations empower local people in conservation efforts.
Global warming and climate change have impacted negatively on developing countries through phenomenon like earthquakes, floods, increased chances of contracting diseases like malaria among others.
For instance, an earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010 was a result of increased global warming and climate change around the world.
Due to poor policies, many citizens suffered in the wake of the earthquake. Floods lead to destruction of food crops and displacement of populations in developing countries.
Haiti and Dominican Republic experienced different paths in their economic development. Adoption of Creole language led to language barriers for Haiti making it hard to get trading partners. Dominican Republic adopted Spanish and this enhanced acquisition of trading partners.
Haiti’s language resulted in other countries regarding Haiti as inferior to Dominican Republic. The high levels of illiteracy and poor health conditions in Haiti compared to Dominican Republic have hampered economic development over the years.
As such, Dominican Republic has had more human capital than Haiti hence greater economic development. In the 1990s, Dominican embarked on improving education, economic diversification, trade regulations and building of infrastructure while Haiti lagged behind.
References
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2013). Sustainable Development. Web.
Safe Environment. (2013). Population Growth and Environmental Degradation. Web.
SED Network. (2013). The Four Greens. Web.
The Economist. (2009). Developing Countries and Global Warming. Web.
Todaro, M., & Smith, S. (2012). Economic Development. Boston: Pearson.
WWF. (2013). Threats Deforestation. Web.