Canadian & World Issues

Sustainable Development

What is it Good For?

Absolutely Nothing!!!!

……just kidding!!!!

Before we become sustainable….

• Here is something to ponder…• If you woke up this morning with more health than

illness..you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week

• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world

• If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death..you are better off than 3 billion people in the world

…something to ponder…..

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back and a roof overhead and a place to sleep..you are richer than 75% of this world

• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace…you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy

Global Village

• If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would include:

• 57 Asians• 21 Europeans• 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North

and South• 8 Africans

Global Village

– 52 would be female– 48 would be male– 70 would be non-white– 30 would be white– 70 would be non-Christian– 30 would be Christian– 89 would be heterosexual– 11 would be homosexual

Global Village

• 6 people would possess 59% of the world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States

• 20 people would control 80% of the world’s resources, leaving 20% for the remaining 80

• 80 would live in sub-standard housing• 70 would be unable to read• 50 would suffer from malnutrition• 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth• 1 would have a college education• 1 would own a computer

Global Village

• Nuclear Power in the Village:– The village has buried beneath it enough explosive

power in nuclear weapons to blow itself to smithereens many times over. These weapons are under the control of just 10 of the people.

– The other 90 are watching them with deep anxiety, wondering whether they can learn to get along together; and if they do, whether they might set off the weapons anyway through inattention or technical bungling; and if they ever decide to dismantle the weapons, where in the world village will they dispose of the radioactive materials of which the weapons are made?

Back to Sustainable Development

• Sustainable Development is an ambiguous, controversial, and perhaps overworked concept

• In theory it means using the Earth’s resources and improving quality of life for all, without degrading and using up those resources so as to compromise their ability to future generations

• It is supposed to be a process that integrates environmental, economic and social considerations into decision making

Sustainable Development

• …when using this concept, there is a problem….and the problem can be described through the mindset of 2 famous people…..

Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development

• And by……• Christopher Columbus

Sustainable Development

• Why????• Alice comments that if you don’t know where you

want to go, any road will get you there….• While, in contrast, Columbus knew where he

wanted to go (Orient), but ended up somewhere else, because he didn’t know what route to take

• The Lesson????

Sustainable Development

• It helps to know where you want to go, and also how to get there

• Unfortunately many resource and environmental planners too often are like Columbus or Alice!!!

• The concept of Sustainable Development began in 1987 in the report “Our Common Future” produced by the World Commission on Environment and Development and continued with 2 Earth Summits, one in 1992 in Rio and the second in 2002 in Johannesburg

• This initial 1987 report looked at how development and environmental concerns could be balanced

Sustainable Development

• The Original 1987 Definition: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

• The definition contains 2 key concepts:• “needs” : in particular the essential needs of the

world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given

• Idea of “limitations” of technology and the environment’s ability to satisfy both present and future needs

Sustainable Development

• It was stated that: • Sustainable Development requires a change in the

nature of growth• Has to be an integration of economic and ecological

considerations in decision making• A “Blueprint” was developed, identifying critical

objectives to reach sustainable development• Revive economic growth, meeting essential needs for

food, water, energy, sanitation, ensuring a sustainable level of population

• What is the problem with trying to develop generic guidelines or principles for sustainable development all over the world?

Sustainable Development

• Economic and social systems and ecological conditions vary greatly among countries

• So where in the world do you think we have problems with this concept of sustainable development?

• Who will have contrasting views? Why?

A Shift in World Views

Category Dominant Social World View

New Environmental World View

Humankind and Nature •Domination of nature•Natural environment valued as a resource

•Harmony with nature•Environment intrinsically valued

Growth and Technology •Continual economic growth•Market forces•Confidence in science and technology

•Sustainable development•Limits to science

Quality of Life •Large scale•Increased material consumption

•Small scale•Decreased consumption

Limits to the Biosphere •Unlimited resources•Non-renewable resources (hard energy)•No limits to growth

•Limits to resource extraction•Renewable (soft energy)•Limits to growth

The Precautionary Principle

• The Precautionary Principle means trying to take into account in our decision making how little we might know about certain phenomenon and what the consequences might be if we are wrong in our predictions

Some Expert Definitions

• “That ‘buzz word’ sustainable development is not a destination, but a direction. In reality, we surpassed our own needs a long time ago. Now it is all about achieving balance. We will never know what it looks like, so we need to break it down into bite-sized pieces. In a 100,000 piece puzzle of a sustainable future, sustainable development is perhaps only 100 pieces” – David McGuinty, Executive Director of the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy

Experts continued…

• “To be sustainable, development must be economically viable, ecologically supportable, and socially acceptable. If any one of these is not delivered, the others collapse. To be sustainable, development must provide fulfilling jobs and enrich lives and rehabilitate ecosystems. It must redistribute wealth and power, reduce material and energy use, foster civility, build cooperative social involvement, and prepare for surprises. It must do all these things more or less at once, because they are mutually interdependent” – Robert Gibson, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo

The UN Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger2. Achieve universal primary education3. Promote gender equality and empower women4. Reduce Child mortality5. Improve maternal health6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases7. Ensure environmental sustainability8. Develop a global partnership for development

Demographics

1. Studying Population2. Population Pyramids

Studying Population

• Population Geography– The study of SPATIAL variations in the distribution,

composition, migration, and growth of populations over time.

• Demography– The study of human population dynamics. It looks at

how populations change over time due to births, deaths, migration and ageing.

• Demographics– A term for population characteristics. Demographics

include birth rate, death rate, immigration, age, income, sex, education, occupation, religion, nationality, …

Studying Population

Population change over time will inevitably affect….• Political Systems• Economics• Social Structures• Environments

Studying Population

0123456789

Source: United Nations Populations Division, World Population Prospects, The 2004 Revision, medium variant.

Developing countries

Billions

Developed countries

Studying Population

• Factors that may lead to population increase include:– Food– Health– Economic Growth– Migration

Studying Population

• Growth Rate– the number of persons added to (or subtracted from)

a population due to natural increase and net migration.

• Birth rate: number of live births per 1,000 population per year.

• Death rate: number of deaths per 1,000 population per year.

• Rate of Natural Increase – birth rate – death rate = rate of natural increase

Studying Population

• Factors that contribute to the decline in death rate include:– Better Nutrition– Better Access to Medical Care– Improved Sanitation– Better Immunization

• Net Migration = immigrants – emigrants

Studying Population

• Effects of Population Increase– Increased poverty – Resource depletion – Medicine shortages– Urban sprawl

Studying Population

• Factors that may lead to population decline– Heavy Emigration– Disease– Famine– War

• Why low sub-replacement fertility rate?– Urbanization– Contraception– Government Policies

Studying Population

2.031.9

1.771.741.731.72

1.491.31.31.281.26

1.19

United StatesFrance

AustraliaSweden

NetherlandsUnited Kingdom

CanadaSpain

GermanyJ apanI taly

South Korea

Average Number of Children per Woman

Source: PRB, 2005 World Population Data Sheet.

Studying Population

300 200 100 00 100 200 3000-4

10-14

20-24

30-34

40-44

50-54

60-64

70-74

80+Females

Source: United Nations Populations Division, World Population Prospects, The 2004 Revision.

Age

Males

Millions

In the developed countries, there are fewer and fewer young people and more and more elderly.

Studying Population

300 200 100 00 100 200 300

0-4

10-14

20-24

30-34

40-44

50-54

60-64

70-74

80-84

90+

Source: United Nations Populations Division, World Population Prospects, The 2004 Revision.

Females

Age

Males

Millions

The young population of the developing countries translates to great growth potential.

Studying Population

Europe is the only world region projected to decline in population by 2050.

728

1,941

668

778

457

549

326

885

3,8755,385Asia

Africa

Europe

LatinAmerica/Caribbean

North America

20502005

Millions

Studying Population

Population Pyramids

• A population pyramid is two back-to-back bar graphs, one showing the number of males and one showing females in a particular population in five-year age groups (also called cohorts).

• A great deal of information about the population broken down by age and sex can be read from a population pyramid, and this can shed light on the extent of its development.– Birth rate trends– Death rate trends– Number of economic dependents (<15, >65)

Population Pyramids

• Three basic shapes of population pyramids.

Population Pyramids – CAN 1961

Depression

Baby Boom

Aging Population

Population Pyramids – CAN 2006