Project:Sustainable Development

Subject:- Environment Studies

Name:- Md
Gulnawaz Arshad
Course:B.Tech (CSE)
Enrollment No:- CS-14-19

Index

 Acknowledgment
Introduction

03

04
Definition
05
History of Sustainable Development
07
Sustainable Development in India
08
Principles of 'Sustainable Development'
10
Problems in implementation of the principles
12
Sustainable Development as part of our

Constitution
13
Judicial Approach
15
Conclusion
17
Bibliography

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Acknowledgment
First and foremost, to my friends, for working so hard with me on this project and for tirelessly
gather data for the difficult topic. I cannot fully express my gratitude to the exceptional faculty at
AL-FALAH UNIVERSITY, for their generosity, faith, and superb guidance.

Introduction
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while
preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for
future generations.
Definition: In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defines
sustainable development as 'development which meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'
Sustainable development is much more than environmental protection. It is a wider concept of
economic growth, which ensures fairness and opportunities for dignified life for all, without
further destroying recklessly, the world's finite resources.
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts:
Economic Sustainability, Sociopolitical Sustainability and Environmental Sustainability.

Right

to wholesome environment is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the

Constitution of India. But the question is, can the environment be protected at present times
when almost all the countries in South-East Asia are still at their developing stages?
Development comes through industrialization, which in turn the main factor behind the
degradation of environment. To resolve the issue, the experts worldwide have come up with a
doctrine called 'Sustainable Development', i.e. there must be balance between development and
ecology

DEFINITION
Sustainable Development is a process in which development can be sustained for generations. It
means improving the quality of human life while at the same time living in harmony with nature
and maintaining the carrying capacity of the life supporting ecosystem. Development means
increasing the societys ability to meet human needs. Economic growth is an important
component but cannot be a goal itself. The real aim must be to improve the quality of human
existence to ensure people to enjoy long, healthy and fulfilling life.
Brundtland Commission puts it as development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The field of sustainable
development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts:
parts:
(I )
environmental sustainability,
(II)
economic sustainability and
(III)
socio-political sustainability.
But the concept was given a definite shape in a report by world commission on environment,
which was known as ' our common future'. The commission, which was chaired by the then
Norway Prime Minister, Ms. G.H. Brundtland defined 'Sustainable Development' as:
"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future
generations to meet their own needs".

The report was popularly known as 'Brundtland report' the concept had been further discussed
under agenda 21 of UN conference on environment and development held in June 1992 at Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
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HISTORY OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
The sustainability idea emerged in a series of meetings and reports during the 1970s and 1980s,
besides there is a timeline of some important sustainable development events in the United
Nations, the Government of Canada and Human Resources Development Canada.

In 1972, the UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment marked the first
great international meeting on how human activities were harming the environment and putting
humans at risk.

The 1980 World Conservation Strategy, prepared by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature along with the UN Environment Program and the World Wildlife Fund,

promoted the idea of environmental protection in the self-interest of the human species.
In 1987, the UN-sponsored Brundtland Commission released Our Common Future,
Future, a
report that captured widespread concerns about the environment and poverty in many parts of the
world. The Brundtland report said that economic development cannot stop, but it must change
course to fit within the planet's ecological limits. It also popularized the term sustainable

development.
World attention on sustainability peaked at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and
Development, in Rio de Janeiro. It brought together the 179 nations and included the Earth
Summit, the largest-ever meeting of world leaders. Rio produced two international agreements,

two statements of principles and a major action agenda on worldwide sustainable development.
In the year 2002, that is ten years after the Earth Summit in Rio, the World Summit for
Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg. Here Canada submitted a document
reflecting the progress of all federal departments.
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN
INDIA
Although India has traditional institutions, practicing Sustainable Development, the Rio Summit
1992 and WSSD 2002 commitments have changed our policy and plan. To achieve sustainable
development, the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) formulated in 1990 has six primary
principles. They are - (i) Stabilization of population growth; (ii) Integrated land use and water
management; (iii) Conservation of biological diversity; (iv) Sustainable energy and resource
utilization; (v) Pollution control; and (vi) Improvement of human habitats.
Followed by NCS, Environmental Action Program (EAP) and National Forestry Action Plan
(NFAP) were formulated towards the objective of Sustainable Development of India. Three
important government contributions to environment and sustainable development over the past

one and half decades are summarized below:

Establishment of basic infrastructure and institutions at Central and State levels;
Formulation and enforcement of policy and legal instruments. Example: Conservation
Strategy, Amendment of outdated Acts or Enactment of comprehensive new ones like the Forest

Conservation Act and the Environment (Protection) Act; and

Implementation of programs and projects for SD.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, many people argued that development must take priority
over environmental concerns and that environment was an elitist concern -- meant only for the
rich. In 1982, the first citizens report on the State of Indias Environment,
Environment, which Agarwal
conceptualised and edited, provided the social rationale for developing countries to take
environmental concerns into account. It resolved the environment vs. development debate
globally and finally evolved into the concept of sustainable development in the Brundtland
Commission report.

The interest in sustainability that flourished during that period was spurred by a series of
incidents and discoveries, including the leak of poisonous gas from a chemical plant at Bhopal,
India, the explosion and radioactive release from Chernobyl, Ukraine, the hole in the Antarctic
ozone layer, leaking toxic chemical dumps, such as Love Canal, general fears about chemical
contamination and conflicts over decreasing natural resources such as forests and fisheries.

Principles of 'Sustainable Development'

Various principles of 'Sustainable Development':

Some of the basic principles of 'Sustainable

Development' as described in 'Brundtland report' are as follows: -

Inter-Generational Equity
The principle talks about the right of every generation to get benefit from the natural resources.
Principle 3 of the Rio declaration states that:

" The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and
environmental needs of present and future generations." The main object behind the principle is
to ensure that the present generation should not abuse the non-renewable resources so as to
deprive the future generation of its benefit.
PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
The principles states that the Government and the statutory bodies must take environmental
measures to anticipate prevent and attack the causes of environmental degradation. Where there
are threats of serious and irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty should not be used as a
reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. In these circumstances the
onus of proof is on the actor or the developer/industrialist to show that his action is
environmentally benign.
POLLUTER PAYS PRINCIPLE
Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) has been developed by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) as one of the principles for allocation of entitlements. The principle
basically means that the producer of goods or other items should be responsible for the costs of
preventing or dealing with pollution which the process causes. This includes environmental costs
as well as the direct costs to property or people. PPP finds a prominent place in the Rio
Declaration of 1992. Principle 16 of the Declaration proclaims that national authorities should
endeavour to promote the internalisation of environmental costs and the use of economic
instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost
of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting international trade and
investment.

As per this principle once the activity carried on any person or industry is

hazardous or inherently dangerous, the person carrying on such activity is liable to make good
the loss caused to any other person by his activity irrespective of the fact whether he took
reasonable care while carrying on his activity. Thus the purpose of Sustainable development is
to ensure that the developmental activities must be carried on but at the same time if they
adversely affect the environment or the ecology in any manner then the consequence is the
polluting industries are absolutely liable to compensate for the harm caused by them to people in
the affected area, to the soil and to the underground water and hence, they are bound to take all
necessary measures to remove sludge and other pollutants lying in the affected areas.

Problems in implementation of the

principles

(a)
Multiple definitions of the words sustainable development. Difficulties in ascertaining
the substantial meaning of the words polluters pay principle. When have they to be applied?
In some cases, economic considerations may outweigh environment consideration and viceversa. The Supreme Court of India may have the authority to give weightage to these
considerations. However, the question is should it? How to balance these principles which
intersect?
(b)
Are these legal or political principles? The Supreme Court has given legal
recognition but problem is due to multiple definitions of sustainable development.
(c)
In most countries (except India), they are not recognized as legal principles; though
approach is present. According to WTO Appellate Tribunal, Courts should look at the above
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principles in the specific context. The reason seems to be that although enactments like the
Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 regulate human
activities, these Acts give wide discretionary powers to the Authorities under the Act(s).
(d) The Threshold Test when to apply the Precautionary Principle. Neither the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 nor the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 provides for it. If so, whether a
successful judicial review could be brought? The view in some of the countries is that these
principles are to be kept in mind by the executive decision makers as the principles relating to
environment should be the responsibility of the Executive and not the Courts and that judicial
review should be left to extreme cases because the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act,
1980 and the Environment Protection Act, 1986 are symbolic or that these provisions be
monitored through procedural requirement. In this connection, we must keep in mind the
difference between judicial enforcement where the Court is the primary tool and the courts
supervisory role of administrative programmes.
(e)
None of the Acts create criminal or administrative offences in relation to sustainable
development. The duties in the two Acts are directory.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS
PART OF OUR CONSTITUTION
Judiciary in India has played a pivotal role in interpreting those laws to suit the doctrine of
Sustainable Development. Before dealing with the case laws with respect to the environmental
matters as appreciated by the Indian Judiciary we must first look into the various laws and
provisions laid down by the legislatures to protect the environment and maintain the ecology visa-vis promoting the developmental aspects-

ARTICLE 14
Article 14 of the Constitution of India ensures the equality before law and equal protection of the
laws. While awarding the sanction to the industrial projects or granting license to these units the
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government must not act arbitrarily thus granting the permission to them without even
considering the environmental impact of these projects and proper assessment report. Right to
healthy environment is the legitimate expectation, an aspect protected under Article 14 of the
Constitution of India.
ARTICLE 21
As per this article every citizen has the right to life and personal liberty. Slow poisoning by
polluted atmosphere should also be regarded as amounting to violation of article 21 of Indian
constitution. In Virender Gaur v. State of Haryana, it was observed that article 21 protects right
to life as a fundamental right, enjoyment of life including the right to live human dignity
encompasses within its ambit, the protection and preservation of environment, ecological balance
free from pollution of air and water, sanitation, without life cannot be enjoyed. Environmental
pollution therefore should be regarded as amounting to violative of article 21 as the right to life
includes right to live in pollution free environment.
ARTICLE 39
This article contemplates that the State shall direct its policy towards securing that the operation
of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and the means of
production to the common detriment.
ARTICLE 47
It refers to the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living and to
improve the public health.
ARTICLE 48A
This article states that the State shall endure to protect and improve the environment. As laid
down in the case of T. Godavarman v. Thirumal Pad, Tamil Nadu, there is no doubt about the
fact that there is a responsibility bestowed upon the Government to protect and preserve the
environment, as undoubtedly, hygienic environment is an integral facet of the right to a healthy
life and it would be impossible to live without a humane and healthy environment.
ARTICLE 51A (G)
This article points the out the obligation of the citizen to protect and improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living
creatures.
THE ENVIRONMENT (PROTECTION) ACT 1986
The Environment Act was enacted under art. 253 of the Constitution of India with the purpose of
environmental protection, regulation of discharge of environmental pollutants and handling of
hazardous substances speedy response in the event of accidents threatening environment and
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deterrent punishment to those who endanger human environment, safety and health. Further for
the fulfilment of above tasks by exercising the power conferred under Sections 6 and 25 of the
Act, the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 (The Environment Rules) were made by the
Central Government.
THE WATER (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT, 1974
The Water Act enacted under art. 252 of the Constitution of India provides for the constitution of
the Central Pollution Control Board by the Central Government and the constitution of the State
Pollution Control Boards by various State Governments in the country. The Boards function
under the control of the Governments concerned. The Water Act prohibits the use of streams and
wells for disposal of polluting matters. It also provides for restrictions on outlets and discharge of
effluents without obtaining consent from the Board. Prosecution and penalties have been
provided which include sentence of imprisonment.
THE AIR (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT, 1981
The Air Act enacted under article 253 of the Constitution of India provides that the Central
Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Boards constituted under the Water Act
shall also perform the powers and functions under the Air Act. The main function of the Boards,
under the Air Act, is to improve the quality of the air and to prevent, control and abate air
pollution in the country.

CAUSES AND EFFECTS

Ecological Disaster
Thanks to science and technology, more and more people are consuming a more amazing array
of goods today, than at any other time in history. It is a dream world coming true, where
chemists and bio-engineers fiddle with genes, where the life style of the rich and the prosperous,
as epitome of success in a consumerist society, are beamed by satellites to every part of the
globe, where multinationals flourish by picking up beauty queens from the fashion industry as
role models to endorse and market their products. The newly acquired production potentialities
have generated enormous wealth. But, of course, one is not sure whether these have generated
the kind of wealth which makes people happy. The modern economy with all its glamour masks
a disfigured planet. The exuberant life style and wasteful consumption meets it curse in the
ecological disaster that threatens all life on earth. It has scarred the land and stained the seas,
eroding the very foundation of nature, which threatens to destroy humanity's only means of
survival.
The unprecedented growth in production and consumption of material wealth is leading to
environmental stress through impacts that are both global and local. These impacts can be
classified in to four forms:
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 Physical changes
Chemical changes
Direct biological changes
Social pathologies
Physical Changes
Deforestation: Millions of poor people depend on forests for their need of energy, fodder of
animals and food. The worlds forests, which also bind soil and prevent erosion, regulate water
supplies and help govern the climate, are shrinking. Between 1980 and 1990, an estimated 8% of
the total world tropical forest was cut, burnt or otherwise destroyed. As a region loses its forests,
it loses its ability to trap and absorb water, and so clearing woodland deepens the natural process
of soil erosion.
One disastrous consequence of the practice has been the pressure on woodlands, especially the
tropical forests that are the reservoirs of most of the earth's animal and plant species. In the past
decade tropical forest area has shrunk from 4.7 to 4.2 billion acres (1.9 to 1.7 billion hectares).
According to an estimate as much as 17 million hectares of tropical rain forest, an area about the
size of Japan, are destroyed every year. One of the causes for deforestation is commercial
logging. Demand for industrial timber is expected to go up from around 1.6 billion cubic meters
a year in 1995 to 1.9 billion cubic meters in 2010 driven by rising standards.
Soil Degradation and Desertification: Since 1945 nearly 2 billion hectares of productive land has
been degraded. This amounts to losing one sixth of the worlds fertile area undermining the
earths capacity to support human life. Indeed the earth's 6 billion people are already running out
of land. According to Washington's world watch institute the average amount of grain land per
person has dropped in 30 years from over 0.2 hectares to a little more than 0.1 hectare. Much of
the cultivable land is losing its arability because of urbanization, chemical pollution, and
desertification and overuse of water. Eighty percent of the damage has taken place in
underdeveloped countries. In China, for instance, 1.1 million hectares of grain land was lost
annually from 1990 to 1994 as it was converted to industrial sites and put to other uses. The
current policy of creating SEZs in India by acquiring fertile agricultural to be handed over to
multinationals for setting up factories under the cultivable of promoting industrialization, in spite
of country wide protests. The policy will only compound the plight of the farmers, thousands of
whom, bereft of any means of livelihood, have taken their own lives since the beginning of the
current century. China, the world's largest grain producer in the past, has already emerged as the
second ranking grain importer, trailing only Japan. The present import figure of 16 million tons
is expected to reach a whopping 210 million and 370m tons, annually by 2030. According to
world watch institute the world has lost 200m hectares (500m acres) of tree growing area since
1972, an area about one-third the size of continental U.S. At the same time the world farmers
have lost about 500m tons of topsoil, an amount equal to the tillable soil coverage of India and
France combined. Farmers, the world over have boosted their yields and fought against
desertification by resorting to heavy doses of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation water,
but with disastrous consequences. Agricultural chemicals gradually poison the soil; and irrigation
also deposits a harmful residue, when the water evaporates, it leaves behind various salts- the
saline process which renders the land useless for cultivation. According to World Bank report
1993, some degree of saline affects 28% of the U.S' irrigated land, 23% of China and 11% of
India.
Marine life depletion: Land, rivers, even whole seas have been converted into sewers and
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industrial dumps. More than half of the world's people live within 100 K.M. of a seashore and
the oceans are already a mess, littered with plastic and chemicals, threatening all marine life.
Some of the visible reasons are the garbage dumps, the oil spills, and the sewage discharge
which flow from this humanity into the sea. But the actual threats, accounting for 70 to 80
percent of all marine pollution, are the sediments and contaminants that flow into the seas like
topsoil, fertilizers, pesticides, and industrial wastes. As a consequence, many of the worlds fish
species are already starting to die. The rich countries have already, depleted their stock of fish.
They now import large quantities from developing countries that catch more fish than they can
do. In 1995 fish exports from developing countries were worth $23 billion. If the trend in
overfishing
continues it could hurt the poor countries, as their people rely more heavily on fish for
their protein requirement than the rich in the north.
Water Stress: Clean water is our most precious resource in terms of both quantity and quality.
There is a serious threat to the availability of water as depletion all over the world is becoming
irreversible as a result of groundwater over-pumping and aquifer depletion. Since 1950, demand
for water and its consequent withdrawal have nearly tripled. It has gone up from 1365 cubic
kilometers a year to 3760 in 1995.At the same time the availability of water has declined from
about 16800 cubic meters per capita per year in 1950 to 7300 in 1995. According to human
development report, 20 countries with 132 million people suffer from water scarcity with less
than 1000 cubic meters per capita per year, the minimum required for human health. If the
present trend continues 25 more countries would be added to the list of the deprived category by
the year 2050.

Chemical Changes
Global warming and Ozone layer depletion: The two great dangers threatening the balance of
gases in the atmosphere that sustain life on earth are global warming and the thinning of the
ozone layer. Most scientists agree that all the smoke and fumes and exhaust that human activities
generate will eventually alter the earth's climate. The threat comes from carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases produced mainly in the industrial world by the burning of fossil fuels. It is
estimated that the total world wide manufacturing output increased from about $2500 billion in
1975 to about $4000 billion in 1990 and the trend continues unabated. The developed world
generates nearly 10 times as much carbon dioxide from energy use as their counterpart in the
developing countries. While the average American is responsible for between 4 and 5 tons of
carbon per year, the average Indian or Chinese share is 0.4 and 0.6 respectively. CFC's
(chlorofluorocarbons) have been and still are widely used for refrigeration. Despite the 1987
Montreal Protocol which calls for a phase out of CFC's and other ozone depleting chemicals by
the year 2006, the assault on the stratosphere continues unabated.
In order to avert the impending danger, an agreement was made under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) known as the Kyoto Protocol. Named
after the Japanese city where it was concluded in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol is an international
agreement to address global warming and delay climate change. Countries that ratify this
protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or
engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases.
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CONCLUSION
We do not inherit the land from our forefathers. We borrow it from our children.
- Native American Proverb

Sustainable

development is defined as a pattern of social and structured economic

transformations (i.e. development) which optimizes the economic and societal benefits available
in the present, without jeopardizing the likely potential for similar benefits in the future. A
primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed
level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations.
Sustainable development implies using renewable natural resources in a manner which does not
eliminate or degrade them, or otherwise diminish their usefulness for future generations. It
further implies using non-renewable (exhaustible) mineral resources in a manner which does not
unnecessarily preclude easy access to them by future generations. Sustainable development also

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requires depleting non-renewable energy resources at a slow enough rate so as to ensure the high
probability of an orderly society transition to renewable energy sources.
The concept of sustainable development has emerged as an endeavour to address the
environmental problems caused by economic growth in contemporary India. There are varied
interpretations of the theory of sustainable development but its main objective is to achieve a
process of economic development without an indiscriminate destruction of our environment.
However much needs to be done if we want to save our land from imminent peril. Sustainable
development as endorsed by the likes of Sunderlal Bahuguna is the answer to not only our future
but also our present existence on the planet.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES:

http://www.sustreport.org/background/history.html
http://www.google.com.
http://www.yahoo.com.html

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