12.2.
Concept of sustainable development
Today the concept of sustainable development is not just an
opinion on how humanity as such and also each community and
society should develop; it is principally a set of opinions about
the model of a society that can ensure its own existence. The
concept of sustainable development includes physical conditions,
political conceptions, the notions of the quality of life or welfare
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and an optimised influence on the environ ment to ensure that the
resources are equally accessible to all generations. The concept of
sustainable development is based on the understanding of three
notions: development, needs of society and needs of the future
generations. Within the concept of sustainable development, the
notion ‘development’ includes not only growth (of production,
gross national product, welfare) but also the development of social
and economic spheres that guarantees the preservation of natural
ecosystems and the human living environ ment. Thus, the concept
of sustainable development not only looks at short-term processes
(to satisfy the current needs) but also aims at ensuring equal
possibilities for the next generation.
A society that would exist eternally could be deemed sustainable.
With this perspective, the concept of sustainable development is a
frame of reference that aims at influencing the future of humanity
and the existence of society. So far, social development models have
been unsuccessful and have proved either their obvious inability to
ensure social development, or they have not managed to take into
account essential differences between various regions of the world.
Re-evaluation of social development conceptions largely depends
on understanding the impact of social development on the environ-
ment and the urgency of environ mental protection. Many arguments
support the necessity to re-evaluate the models that have been
practiced up to now.
Development, especially in Western societies, is understood
as human domination over nature (illustrated by the phrase
‘man – the crown of creation’) and the use of its resources for
the development of production. This attitude ignores the role
of nature and ecosystems in providing for the development of
humanity; it also ignores the value of nature per se and that
other forms of life and living organisms may have needs and,
most importantly, a right to exist.
The main priorities in the development model that dominates
in Western societies is economic growth and consumption,
the latter being the principal parameter of an individual
person’s and humanity’s welfare. In conformity with this
concept, social welfare is the standard of life – the part of
income that is used to purchase goods and services. This
model of development, based on individual consumption,
eventually leads to huge inequality in terms of income and
welfare even within a single country (especially because of
the cyclic nature of free market economy), to say nothing of
the arising differences between different regions of the world.
The inevitable differences of such welfare model result in
social tension, military conflicts and social instability.
290
ENVIRONMENT, POLLUTION, DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF UZBEKISTAN
The consumer society’s development based on the increase in
resources unavoidably leads to the increase in consumption
and industrial waste (pollution) and depletion of resources.
Due to the growth of production and increase in consumption,
the nature of environmental problems over the last decades
has changed.
Environmental pollution sources – point or non-point. In
the past, point sources of pollution were common, for
example, pollutant discharge into the air or water from
a plant, leakage of hazardous substances as a result of
an accident or from a landfill. Gradually, the harmful
influence on the environment became less concentrated,
and non-point sources of pollution started dominating,
such as agricultural runoff of nutrients, domestic use of
chemicals, pollution arising from automobile exhausts.
The consequences of point source pollution can be tackled
by restrictive measures; dealing with the problems
created by non-point sources is much more complicated
and takes more time to achieve positive result.
Scale of environmental problems – local, regional or global.
Until quite recently, pollution was of a local nature,
usually around the point source of pollution. Later on,
it transpired that pollution can impact regions, crossing
the borders of countries, for example, acid rains and
eutrophication. At present the most topical environmental
problems are of a global scale. The larger the scale of the
problem, the more difficult it is to tackle it, as it requires
international cooperation.
Duration of environmental problems – short-term or
long-term. In many cases the harmful impact on the
environment is short-term if the activity of the source
is limited in time. Such were the cases of air pollution
from district heating plants or water pollution from small
inhabited places. Currently, most of the environmental
problems are long-term; they do not disappear
immediately even after the source is liquidated. Persistent
organic compounds, compounds of heavy metals or
radioactive contamination can affect the environment
long after the pollution has stopped. An example of this
is the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, the reduction
of which is going to take several decades, even if the
nutrient release were totally stopped.
Complexity level of environmental problems – simple or
complex. Many environmental problems are becoming
more and more complex. A single enterprise may use
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hundreds of various chemical substances and many of
them can be environmentally persistent. Also, consumer
goods can affect the environment in more ways than
one. Not just various substances, even different sectors of
industry, have a synergistic influence on the environment.
The more complex the environmental problem is, the
more complicated it is to understand and tackle it.
The consumer society’s model of development ignores the fact
that it is unviable to globally sustain the type of production
which consumes resources and degrades the environment
and which ensures the lifestyle of the world’s most developed
countries. Already now, when the desirable consumption level
has been attained in a relatively small number of the world
countries, all the ecosystems of the planet cannot absorb
the human-created pollution, like in the case of greenhouse
gas emissions causing climate change. It is obvious that
the Earth’s resources are insufficient to ensure the existing
consumption level in West European and North American
countries over a long period of time, not to speak of ensuring
such a volume of consumption for all people in the world.
Similarly, the consumption rate increase is unviable in the
future, even if we do not take the technological progress into
account.
The understanding of the character of the development of
the so-far existing Western societies was based on the idea of
limitless development and growth. Now we have to admit that
there are limits to economic growth. They are determined by
the planet’s carrying capacity, accessibility of resources whose
amount is limited, and the capacity of the planet’s ecosystems
to absorb pollution. Although technological progress can,
undoubtedly, increase the efficiency of how resources are
used, it is impossible to overcome these development limits.
Hence, the development of humanity must guarantee a
balance between the planet’s ability to sustain human
existence and the desired lifestyle.
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