There is no blueprint for sustainable development – It needs to be defined to meet and respect the particular needs and circumstances of individual countries, societies and cultures. Sustainable Development is a progress that can go on year after year. It efficiently uses, but does not waste natural resources and it should lead to an improvement of people’s quality of life and standard of living.
This improvement should be achieved without wasting resources or destroying the environment; improvements should not just benefit people today, they should be still there for future generations to share.
Commercial Logging is an example of inefficient use of a non-renewable source – trees.
- After the forest clearance, the soil quickly loses its fertility and so it can’t support new growth.
- Heavy machinery squashes the soil and damages the means of drainage.
- Soil left without tree cover is quickly washed away by rain and not enough soil is left for new plants to grow.
Trees are a renewable resource but only if they are managed correctly. If practiced properly, logging in the rain forest could be a sustainable industry. Sustainable Development needs good planning. It also needs the cooperation of people and it requires a commitment to conservation.
In some rural parts of Kenya, most families for fuel and cooking use charcoal and fuelwood. As Kenya’s population grows, the demand for wood also increases. So more and more trees are cut down and not replaced by new ones. This mean that-
- People have to walk further to find wood
- The price of wood increases
- Soil is eroded and is exposed to the wind and the rain.
One solution to this is to design cooking stoves that are more efficient than an open fire. These stoves are made from local materials and as well as using them themselves, the villagers can also sell some. As a result, not as much wood is needed, less time is spent gathering wood, air pollution is reduced and the villagers’ health is improved, and money is made from selling the stoves. Improved cooking stoves in Kenya are, therefore, an example of sustainable development.
In a developing country, processing cashew nuts in specially designed small greenhouses can be a perfect example of sustainable development.
Processing cashew nuts in a developing country
- Uses local skills and knowledge
- Uses local raw materials and technology
- Small scale, practical projects
- Develops products needed by local people at a price they can afford
- Does not damage the environment
- Uses small amounts of money
- Develops local skills and trains local people
- Encourages local people to work together
- Uses renewable resources.
Sustainable Development allows developing countries to grow at a pace which the country can afford. This ensures that the level of wealth and productivity will improve in a steady fashion. Giving a country too much finance means it can fall into debt.
As a country makes policies to
- avoid depleting it’s non-renewable resources and harming the environment
- maximize efficiency in industry and all areas of productivity
Then the population’s standard of living and the quality of life will improve.
