SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

GOALS AND APPROACHES

GUEST LECTURE
By Dr V.B. Hans
AMARTA/Economics PG Dept., St Aloysius College
(Autonomous), Mangaluru, Karnataka, INDIA.
6.9.2016

INTRODUCTION
Education
for
Sustainable
Development - critical reflection and
greater
awareness
and
empowerment - new visions and
concepts to explore, new methods
and new tools to develop: healthy,
creative & innovative growth
A challenge to stationary state/limits
to growth

Sustainability as a
call/concept
We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we
borrow it from our children - Ancient American
Indian Proverb
You have to decide whether development means
affluence or whether development means peace,
prosperity and happiness -Sunderlal Bahuguna
Development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland
Commission Report, Our Common Future, 1987).

Contd
SD means a better quality of life now and for
generations to come.It means not using up
resources faster than the planet can replenish,
or re-stock them and joining up economic, social
and
environmental
goals.
It
also
influencesdecision-makingwithin organisations,
and therefore can go towards forming principles
and business values UK Govt website
Thus, SD is a dynamic, all (resources)- inclusive
concept a development goal of goals

Contd
For students of Arts, Science, Management
our common agenda
Art of Household management Oikos or
Arta/Varta
Resources,
governance,
ethics
&
social
responsibility
In India jells well with new philosophy of
inclusive growth, women empowerment, climate
change, agrarian crisis, water problem, clean
Ganga,
clean
India
campaign,
smart
cities/villages, eco sensitisation etc. -

Dimensions or ELEMENTS

Contd

Contd
Smart/healthy/livable villages and cities
The three pillars of sustainable development economic growth,
environmental stewardship, and social inclusion carry across
all sectors of development, from cities facing rapid urbanization
to agriculture, backward villages, to infrastructure, energy
development and use, water availability, and transportation.
Cities are embracing low-carbon growth and public
transportation. Farmers are picking up the practices of climatesmart agriculture. Countries are recognizing the value of their
natural resources, and industries are realizing how much they
can save through energy and supply chain efficiency
SD not why but how?

Contd
Economics meets Ethics
Business
Economics,
Business
Ethics,
Environmental Economics accountability
People of the same trade seldom meet
together, even for merriment and diversion, but
the conversation ends in a conspiracy against
the public, or in some contrivance to raise
prices. Adam Smith: Invisible Hand; not free
human hand; Nurkse: balanced growth(BG)
Hirschman: compulsive and permissive (UG)

Contd
Business Ethics: Harmful products (tobacco,
alcohol, weapons, chemical manufacturing,
bungee jumping); Strained relations/negative
externalities (pollution, environmental ethics,
carbon emissions trading. Ethical problems
arising out of new technologies: genetically
modified food, mobile phone radiation and
health, animal rights and animal testing, use
of economically disadvantaged groups (such
as students) as test objects, commodification
of women, dalits & marginalisation )

Contd

Need for SD
Because
we
approaches:

are

now

having

unsustainable

1. 'Unsustainable transport facilities.' chaos,

congestion, callousness = overcapacity
2. 'Inefficient and uncontrolled consumption of
energy.' only 3% of the total energy that India
consumes is generated energy. The rest is still
coming from wood, charcoal, crop waste or other
solid fuels to cook food and heat homes. Theseemit
carbon dioxide thus contributing to the changes in
the Earth's climate.
3. Problem of Potable Water - the big thirst

Contd
Vulnerability to a double burden of
diseases: Health for All a mirage?
(Human Poverty/distress)
(i) Traditional diseases (malaria, cholera),
(ii) modern/lifestyle ones (obesity, cancer,
AIDS, dengue, and stress-related disorder)
and (iii) social maladies (dangerous:
domestic violence, regressive: rapes,
common: communal discord, (value? added:
adulteration, eruption of corruption)

From MDGs to SDGs

Earlier we had 8 MDGs 2000-2016
Now we have 17 SDGs (169 targets) - United
Nations (UN) has developed a set of actionoriented goals to achieve global sustainable
development by 2030: Transforming our world: the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, are an
intergovernmental set of aspiration Goals with 169
targets.
to end poverty, ensure prosperity and equality
for all, and tackle climate change by 2030

The GOALS
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and
promote sustainable agriculture.
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote
lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and
sanitation for all.
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern
energy for all.
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth,
full and productive employment and decent work for all

Contd
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable
industrialization, and foster innovation.
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable.
12. Ensure suitable consumption and production patterns
13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine
resources for sustainable development.
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and
halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable
development, provide access to justice for all and build effective,
accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global
partnership for sustainable development

Some Targets
1.1 Eradicating extreme poverty for all people
everywhere, currently measured as people
living on less than $1.25 a day, by 2030
1.b Creating sound policy frameworks, at
national, regional and international levels,
based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive
development strategies.
3.4 Reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases
17.1 Enhance support to build statistical
capacity

The APPROACHES
Big and open data
Standards
Transparency
Accountability
Impact Assessment
Low-Carbon Models
Adaptation to Climate Change as a
Social Cause
Economically Profitable Approach
Technology Transfer
Ur local model e.g. ur method of rain
water harvesting/recycling
Social Transformation: role of civil
society

Contd
Local and Global
North-South Dialogue
Intra industry and inter industry
linkages
Seeking alternatives e.g. village
tourism (monsoon tourism Kerala)
Do not depend exclusively on eco
centric approach or techno centric
approach

BARRIERS & SUGGESTIONS

Absence of strong legal framework (SDGs are a soft law
agreement, meaning that governments are not legally
required to deliver on the commitments), logger heads of
bureaucracy and civil society; unity or uniformity in diversity
Huge funds required $2-3 trillion a year to deliver the SDGs
Criticism: too many and messy targets; rather eliminate
hunger in 5 years
Best practices - to become training modules with vernacular
materials
Key areas: Agriculture, Power, Water
PPP model

CASES/EXAMPLES
1.Civil society can take the lead in bridging the design
capacity gaps that public agencies sometimes face. For
example, the TenderSURE Project (PPP initiative) in Bengaluru
sourced U.S. $160,000 through civil society groups for the
development of road design templates. The project then leveraged
this funding into a U.S. $56 million commitment by the Karnataka
State Government to provide adequate space and safety features
for pedestrians while constructing 30 km of major roads in the city
(St Marks road, Residency road, Vittal Mallya Hospital road etc.)
[TENDER S.U.R.E (Specifications for Urban Roads Execution), 2011] :
mandated integration of networked services under the road water,
sewage, power, OFC, gas, and storm water drains. TENDER S.U.R.E
(Specifications for Urban Roads Execution), 2011

Contd
2. Innovative airport for sustainable
development
Innovative
airport
for
sustainable
development:
the
new
Bangalore International Airport built in
just 33 months: 1st Indian Airport to be built
in Greenfield site in partnership with
private companies
3. From Tree for Every Child to
Saalumarada Timmakkas row of trees

CONCLUSION
SD will not be easy; yet, an
unavoidable, achievable
responsibility; not a destination but a
journey (no preordained route)
Stable Planet, Able People! Reliable
policies for attainable goals
SD not a choice but a condition
Male in India; Make India Sustainable

Contd
Poet Machado told us:
Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.

Contd
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
PATIENCE