Scope of Sustainable Development

Learning outcome:
Students will be able to comprehend the level of complexity intertwined into the concept of sustainable development.

1. Sustainable Development: An Introduction Preeti Kana Sikder Assistant Professor Department of Law & Justice

2. Sustainable Development: Embracing Complexity

3. What is a ‘System’? A system is a group of interacting components that together with the rules for their interaction constitute an interconnected whole.

4. Interactions within the system give rise to behaviors and patterns that are not easily discernible from the underlying components themselves . Complexity scientists speak of the  emergent properties  of a complex system, meaning those characteristics that emerge from the interactions of the components to produce something that is “more than the sum of its parts.” What is a Complex System?

5. They often respond in a nonlinear way to shocks or changes, meaning that even a modest change in the components of the system can cause a large, perhaps catastrophic change in the performance of the system as a whole. Unexpected Characteristics of a Complex System

6. Complex Systems within Sustainable Development

7. Complex Systems within Sustainable Development A skilled sustainable development practitioner needs to be a complex-systems expert in the same way, acknowledging the complexity of the issues and looking to make a specific diagnosis of each specific case . It is a mistake to believe that the world’s sustainable development problems can be boiled down to one idea or one solution. A complex phenomenon such as poverty in the midst of plenty has many causes that defy a single diagnosis or prescription, just as in the cases of environmental ills or communities torn asunder by mistrust and violence .

8. Role of Technological Change

9. Aspects of technological advancement Governments have long hired engineers and inventors to design and build new weapons and defenses, many involving pioneering breakthroughs in technology. World War I heralded major advances in aviation; World War II brought advances in computers, radar, semiconductors, rocketry, antibiotics, communications, semiconductors, and countless other advances led by state-supported research, including America’s Manhattan Project, which brought together world-renowned physicists to design and construct the first atomic bombs.

10. Aspects of technological advancement Technological advances are the main driver of long-term global economic growth . Such advances often have negative side effects, even when their direct effects are enormously positive.  Technological advance is, at least to some extent, under human guidance. Sometimes technological advance is portrayed as a great lottery, determined by the luck of the draw or the skill of individual inventors and scientists. Alternatively, technological advance is sometimes described as merely following the demands of the market.  We are used to the idea that governments steer technology for “reasons of state”—that is, for military purposes. 

11. Yet there is another side to technological change, the idea that it can be  directed  toward human goals through a deliberate, goal-based interaction of public and private R&D efforts.

12. SD has a normative or ethical view of the world, a way to define the objectives of a well-functioning society, one that delivers wellbeing for its citizens today and for future generations. Normative or Ethical View The basic point of sustainable development in that normative sense is that it urges us to have a holistic vision of what a good society should be.

13.  Are some people still exceedingly poor in the midst of plenty? Are the gaps between the rich and poor very wide? Can a poor person today hope to achieve economic success in the future, or are the practical barriers to advancement too high? Are some individuals such as women, racial minorities, religious minorities, or indigenous populations disadvantaged by their identity within a group? Is the society riven by distrust, animosity, cynicism, and the absence of a shared moral code?

14. Dimensions of Well Being Sustainable development takes a view on these issues, calling on society to aim for the end of extreme poverty; the reduction of glaring gaps of wealth and poverty; a high degree of social mobility, including good life chances for children born into poverty; the absence of discrimination including by gender, race, religion, or ethnicity; and the fostering of social trust, mutual support, moral values, and cohesion. We can summarize these objectives with the term  social inclusion .

15. Dimensions of Well Being Another aspect of a good society is being a good steward of the natural environment . If we break the physical systems of water and biodiversity, if we destroy the oceans and the great rain forests, we will lose immeasurably .

16. Normative Dimension of Sustainable Development From a normative perspective then, we could say that a good society is not only an economically prosperous society (with high per capita income) but also one that is also socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and well governed. It is the point of view endorsed by the SDGs adopted by the UN member states. The fundamental question is how to take our knowledge of the interconnections of the economy, society, the environment, and governance and apply it to determine how to produce prosperous, inclusive, sustainable, and well-governed societies; that is, how do we achieve the SDGs? 

17. Sources used for this Lecture Chapter 1, Age of Sustainable Development, Prof. Jeffery Sachs, Columbia University Press Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals: Addressing Sustainability and Development, Arun Agarwal , University of Michigan, 2020

18. Thank you