The term Sustainable Development was coined almost 15 years
ago by the United Nations World on Environment and Development
to challenge society to make its businesses to sustainable.
The concept of sustainable development was introduced in
a 1987 report entitled Our Common Future by the World Commission
on Environment and Development of the United Nations. This
report has been referred to as "the Brundtland Report"
in honor of the Chairperson, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland,
Prime Minister of Norway.
The Commission defined sustainable development as: "...development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."(1)
For most of us, development means progress or change for
the better. Development involves maximizing the efficiency
of resource allocation to meet needs - which is the dominant
paradigm in economics at the present time. Thus, for most
of us, sustainable development is, and should be, an economic
concept.
The Commission integrated sustainable development into the
world's economy as follows: Sustainable development is "...
a process of change in which the exploitation of resources,
the direction of investments, the orientation of technological
development ... institutional change and the ability of
the biosphere to absorb the effects of human activities
are consistent with future as well as present needs."
The Commission cautioned, however, that "sustainable
development can be pursued more easily when population size
is stabilized at a level consistent with the productive
capacity of the ecosystem." This statement expanded
the role of economics in meeting the needs of the current
"reality." Sustainable development holds humankind
responsible for existing circumstances and challenges humankind
to accept responsibility for instituting the changes necessary
to attain sustainability. This challenge was reinforced
at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The conference's
principal product (endorsed by the more than 100 heads of
state and close to 10,000 delegates) was an agenda for change,
called Agenda 21, a description of perceived needs and proposed
actions to bring humankind into harmony with the finite
resources of the earth by the middle of the twenty-first
century.First, "the business" can address the
wastefulness of current business and societal practices.
As a benchmark, the United States is one of the most inefficient
users of energy, water, materials and food. We use about
100 times or more of the kilocalories of energy, the cubic
meters of water and the metric tonnes of materials required
to meet subsistence needs. We use about nine kilocalories
of nonrenewable fossil fuel energy to put one kilocalorie
of food energy on the table. In colonial America, our ancestors
used only renewable energy and less than one kilocalorie
of human energy to put a kilocalorie of food on the table.
They had to meet those criteria to survive and to accumulate
wealth. The first step will enhance national competitiveness.
Simultaneously, "the business" can address alteration
of the free-market economic system to include full-cost
accounting; improvement of national Gross Domestic Product
reporting; modification of existing institutions and policies
constraining sustainable practices; and implementation of,
research for, and commercialization of new technologies.
"The business" will develop into a mature, competitive
business. It will grow as virgin resources become more scarce,
society learns, attitudes change, institutions adapt, policies
are altered and technology becomes more effective. It will
be a business of many niches. As "the business of sustainable
development" grows, it will be a powerful force toward
stabilizing the economy and toward maximizing the potential
for a high quality of life and standard of living for all.
To attain sustainable development, every individual will
need to contribute toward the sustainability effort and
every individual will be impacted by the behavior of others.
Also, the integration of sustainable development principles
into all economic behavior is essential to achieving success.
This means that a shared vision and effective and efficient
teamwork are mandatory
Since then they have so many polices stated on Sustainable
Development including agenda 21 at the 1992 reo-conference
on Environment and Development
.There has been little progress since then on the ground
that some is required by the development countries to implement
agenda 21 estimated at 600 billion $ have not been forthcoming.
The problem with the implement of Sustainable Development
is that as with other issue that it is . And not integrated
with other issues such as globalization, poverty and governance.
Besides, business has a fear that sustainable development
some how will curtail its priorities.
The fact is that business can be a driver for Sustainable
Development. Indeed the private sector is key to initiate
and entertaining a sustainable future for mankind. Entertain
sustainable development calls for adoption of good governance
prorating based on transparency, ., acuity, integrity and
responsibility.
My believe is that there are enough good people in the
World and enough fund that can be used as seeds in Sustainable
Development, in developing countries. The problems in the
government systems, it is estimated that of the 33 billion
$ of international aids of the 18% reaches right people.
In India itself, the government spent as such as Rs. 30,000
crore a year on rural development and poverty evaluation
but only a small proportion of the same reaches right people.
The government systems are also responsible for wasteful
subsidies within humbler the Environment as well as the
economic activity. A recent study by the International Institute
for Sustainable Development estimates that global society
spent almost 1500/- billion $ a year to subsidies activities
that calls significant environmental damage.These subsidies
exist in mining, hear-utilities and sound agriculture, fishing,
forest, energy and textile Industries.
These subsides not only calls the environment damage but
also faster in-effiencey through loc-in of old technologies
and preventry innovation.
Corruption is also is a serious impediment for Sustainable
Development. Tens of billions of dollars exchanges hands
in graft and kickbacks. This results in production of wrong
goods and services and increasing the burden of poor to
or at the receiving end. Good governance practice can ensure
better market framework condition. The public policy is
show design that the targets, the desired end result rather
than specifying the means of achieving the result. This
couple with freedom of competition would allow businesses
to use their innovative ability to reach the target in a
most cost effective manner. Governance structure should
be show designs that the support and tropical action and
risk-taking.
Asking business is to be transparent is a very tall order
specially in the aftermath of a raft of scenes that has
hits the headlines. Indeed, these have threaten the market
mechanism and wonders that the market are true medium to
promote sustainable development.
It seems that all believes in Richard Nixon’s maximum that
we can forget about each one of the firm commandants as
long as we follow the 11th commandants Thou Shalt not be
found out It has impound time and time that good governance
can not be brought simply Quotes and Static’s. We have to
change society paratines in all our endeavors to improve
our future we forget that no change can take place unless
I start myself. If I think that I am perfect and what I
do the best and all talks about Sustainable Development,
we have to recognize that we are far from perfect but everyday
in every way I am doing better and better. This will bring
the humility required accept imperfect behavior and the
courage, which admit. The problem with our society is that
the value material success so much that individuals organisation
are prepared to go any length to manipulate situation to
make them successful.
The tremendous destruction in share hotel values in enharmonic
did not come because; they made wrong business decision
because they did not share their setback to shareholders
of the board of directors.
Society has to do something to cultivate a sense of honor
ship of and indeed pride in them because no success has
come with failure. This is particularly true to the knowledge
economy, where we are constantly aiming at revolving targets
where success comes through innovation.
It is an irony that the curdling and mind-numerous a long
side extreme affluence and abundance in this world. The
World has no shortage of financial resources. Indeed our
entire economy system is built in waste.
United States, which prides itself a richest country. Perhaps
has the highest rate of waste as well.
Of the $9 trillion spent every year in the United States,
at least @2 trillion annually is wasted. What is meant by
waste in this context ? Simply stated, it represents money
spent where the buyer gets no value. An example of waste
familiar to everyone is sitting in a traffic jam on a congested
freeway. Nearly $200 billion a year in energy costs is wasted
because we do not employ the same efficiency practices as
Japan in businesses, homes, and transportation.
In health care, $65 billion is spent annually on nonessential
or even fraudulent tests and procedures, $250 billion of
inflated and unnecessary medical overhead is generated by
the current insurance system. We spend $50 billion a year
in health costs because of our dietary choices, and as much
as $100 billion on obesity, $274 billion on heart disease
and stokes, and $52 billion on substance abuse.
Legal, accounting, audit, bookkeeping, and record keeping
expenditures cost citizens at least $250 billion a year.
Crime costs $450 billion a year. Another $300 billion is
spent on lawsuits (how much of that amount is necessary
can be gauged by the fact that the United States has 70
percent of the world’s lawyers).
It is conceivable that as much as one-half of the entire
GDP is attributable to some form of waste.
When electric entrepreneurs arrived on the scene in 1880s
with the technology so much superior than gas, the gas lighting
monopolies strove to make gas lighting more efficient. The
resulted in the surge of productivity and for a while it
took the old technology to unheard of heights. But in the
end the inevitable happened. These improvements simply delayed
the impending death of the old technology.
