Views on Sustainable Development with Specific Reference to Sub-Saharan Africa

Views on Sustainable Development with Specific Reference to Sub-Saharan Africa

Allen (1980) puts forward his definition of sustainable development as

"development that is likely to achieve lasting satisfaction of human

needs and improvement of the quality of human life." The important

phrase to consider in this definition is "likely to achieve". This

concept in theory can be effective and implemented successfully,

however we can critically discuss the concept in terms of what and who

is to be involved, with relevance to the world that we live in today.

Certain requirements have to be reached by all, such as commitment

from both developed and developing countries. Is it possible to

effectively apply a conceptual sustainable development programme in

the world today? Are the developed countries prepared to commit and

willing to address the human and environmental problem with full

intention of solving the problem? These questions are to be addressed

with relation to the concept of sustainable development with

particular reference to developing countries.

During the 1960's the first United Nations (UN) Development Decade was

thought to be optimistic. The growing problems between underdeveloped

and developed worlds were assumed to be easily combated by

transferring financial and technological enhancements to the poorer

countries (Elliot. 1993: 1). This was also seen to enhance developed

economic growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). This

introduces the changing perception of sustainable development and the

certain requirements that everyone needs to be involved to

successfully solve the problem. It may be easy to think that ...

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...aid that coming up with development

programmes and creating sustainable development concepts is a lot

easier than applying them to our everyday world situation. The number

of inequalities that lie between developed and developing countries

are so large that it is basically improbable that sustainable

development can effectively be achieved. The growing problem and

frustration roots from the results that these summits have failed to

achieve. Many countries that are already in desperate need of help are

getting poorer and poorer with many programmes been constructed to

solve this problem. Even in 1987 in the WCED's report entitled Our

Common Future, had highlighted and stressed the central importance of

global cooperation, yet that has not really been evident with

reference to the worlds current situation 15 years later.