Sustainable Development: An Introduction To Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development (SD) is an emerging concept that has evolved over several years and has become the cornerstone of today’s development. This seemingly simple term, “sustainable development” was popularized by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in a report entitled “Our Common Future” in 1987. Back then, Sustainable Development was defined as ‘satisfying the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. However, there is no universal definition of the concept and perhaps there is no need for one. Sustainable Development concerns a process of dynamism and change, it is relatively new and continues to evolve as we gradually learn to grasp its wide repercussions

Numbers speak louder than words – according to some estimates, energy consumption in developed countries is about 12 times higher than that of developing countries. The three major economic sectors in terms of energy consumption are manufacturing (33%), households (29%) and transport (26%). This should leave us with the terrifying thought that we as household consumers greatly contribute to the high levels of energy consumption and resource depletion. Electricity and heat generation account for over 40% of all CO2 emissions which has recorded a 66% increase (2008) since 1992, but the world population demonstrated some 25% increase over the same period. The causes may vary from today’s heavier industrial production to better standards of living in developed countries. Interestingly enough, though, this generous consumption level left some 1.44 billion people in “energy poverty” in 2010. This accounts for 20% of the world’s population – isn’t this staggering? These people do not have access to steady and reliable electricity or the power grid, and they are entirely dependent on biomass for cooking and lighting. We live in a world of thousands ties over thousands of miles yet if we take a look at the patterns of lights visible from space (a link to map is provided in bibliography), the “electric or digital gap” between the North and the South will be apparent. Almost the whole African continent, with some few exceptions, remains in dark when viewed from a distance. The brightest areas are usually the highly urbanized locations but not necessarily highly populated. In contrast, India and China still remain in complete