ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
Fig. waters of Cave Creek Guans in Tingo Maria, Peru M.Sc. Eng Fernando S. Gonzales Huiman
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Sustainable development can be defined as "development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This definition was first used in the 1987 World Environment Commission of the UN, created in 1983. However, the issue of the environment is more distant history. In this sense, the United Nations has been at the forefront in addressing the issue, focusing initially on the study and use of natural resources and the fight because countries - especially developing ones, exert control over their natural resources.
In the first decades of existence of the United Nations-related issues only environment were among the concerns of the international community. Organization's work is this area is focused on the study and utilization of natural resources and trying to ensure that developing countries, in particular, to control their own resources. In the sixties were concluded agreements on marine pollution, especially oil spills, but the face of growing evidence that the environment was deteriorate worldwide, the international community was increasingly worried about the consequences that could be development for the planet's ecology and human welfare. The United Nations has been a leading advocate of the environment and one of the biggest promoters of "sustainable development."
From the sixties began to make arrangements and various legal instruments to prevent marine pollution and seventies were redoubled efforts to expand the fight against pollution in other areas. Also, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm 1972 he joined the working themes of the international community the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation. After the conference was created United Nations Programme for Environment (UNEP ) that even today remains the world's lead agency in this field. Since 1973 have created new mechanisms and specific measures have been sought and new knowledge to solve global environmental problems.
For the UN the issue of the environment is an integral part of economic and social development, which can not be achieved without the preservation of the environment. Indeed, ensuring sustainability the environment is 7 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Thank UN conferences on environmental issues and the work of UNEP have studied major environmental issues such as:
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Desertification - Sustainable development and forest
- Protection of the Ozone Layer
- Climate change and global warming
- Water, energy and natural resources
- biodiversity and overfishing
- Sustainable Development of Small Island States (Islands)
- The marine
- nuclear safety and the environment
- Island Developing States (Islands )
- highly migratory fish stocks and straddling
Today, awareness of the need to preserve and maintain the environment is reflected in virtually all areas of UN work. The dynamic partnership established between the Organization and governments, NGOs, the scientific community and the private sector is generating new knowledge and practical measures to solve global environmental problems. The United Nations believes that protecting the environment should be part of all activities of economic and social development. Failure to protect the environment will not be achieved development.
THE environment is getting worse
in every environmental sector, conditions during the last decade have not improved or have been worse:
Public Health. contaminated water, along with poor sanitation cause the deaths of more than 12 million people per year, mostly in developing countries. Air pollution kills nearly 3 million more. Heavy metals and other contaminants also cause widespread health problems.
food supply. Will enough food for everyone? In 64 of 105 developing countries studied by the United Nations Food and Agriculture, the population has been growing faster than food supplies. Because of population pressures have degraded some 2,000 million hectares of land arable land, an area the size of Canada and the United States.
Freshwater. The availability of freshwater resources is limited, but demand is soaring as population grows and per capita consumption rises. In 2025, when projected to the world population will reach 8,000 million, the water shortage will be felt in 48 countries with a total of 3,000 million.
Coasts and oceans. Half of all coastal ecosystems are under pressure from high population density and urban development. In the seas around the world the tide of pollution. The overexploitation of ocean fisheries and fish catch has declined.
Forests. has lost almost half the world's original forest cover, and every year are cut, bulldozed, or burned another 16 million hectares. Forests provide more than U.S. $ 400,000 million to the global economy and are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems. However, the current demand for forest products by 25% exceed the limit for sustainable consumption.
biodiversity. Biodiversity de la tierra es de importancia crucial para la vitalidad continua de la agricultura y la medicina, y quizá incluso para la vida misma en este planeta. Pero las actividades humanas están ocasionando la extinción de muchos miles de especies vegetales y animales. Se estima que dos de cada tres especies están decayendo.
Cambios climáticos mundiales. La superficie de la tierra se está calentando a causa de las emisiones gaseosas de efecto invernadero, provenientes en gran parte de la quema de combustibles fósiles. Si la temperatura mundial se eleva de acuerdo con las proyecciones, el nivel de los mares se elevaría varios metros, causando extensas inundaciones. El calentamiento global atmospheric may also cause droughts and disrupt agriculture.
Toward a Livable
The way to preserve or abuse the environment could determine whether living standards are to improve or deteriorate. The increasing number of inhabitants, urban expansion and resource exploitation do not bode well for the future. Without practicing sustainable development, humanity faces a deteriorating environment and may even invite ecological disaster.
Action. now can take many actions that lead sustainability. These include using energy more efficiently, managing cities better; phase out subsidies that encourage waste; managing water resources and protecting freshwater sources, harvesting forest products rather than destroying forests, preserving arable land and increase food production through a second "green revolution"; managing coastal zones and ocean fisheries, protecting critical biodiversity areas ("hotspots"), and adopting an international convention on climate change.
Stabilisation of the population. While population growth has slowed, the absolute numbers continues to increase at a rate of approximately 1,000 billion every 13 years. The slower growth of the population would help improve living standards and give more time to protect natural resources. Ultimately, to sustain higher living standards, the global population size must stabilize.
Population and Sustainable Development
Environmentalists and economists increasingly agree that efforts to protect the environment and to achieve better living standards can be closely linked and mutually reinforcing. The slowdown in population growth, especially in view of the increasing per capita demand for natural resources, you can remove the pressure that supports the environment and buy time to improve living standards on a sustainable basis ..
Although it is unclear whether the rapid population growth causes poverty in the long run, "it is clear that high fertility leading to rapid population growth have short-term increase the number of people living in poverty and in some cases will be more difficult to escape poverty, "observes researcher Dennis A. Ahlburg. It is difficult to invest for the future if all resources are spent on trying to keep pace with current needs of the rapidly growing population.
by slowing population growth, countries can invest more in education, health care, job creation and other enhancements that help raise living standards. In addition, rising incomes, savings and individual investments, more resources are available that can increase productivity. It is recognized that this dynamic process is one of the fundamental reasons for the rapid growth of the economies of many Asian countries between 1960 and 1990.
In recent years, fertility has been declining in many developing countries and as a result, the annual growth in world population fell to about 1.4% in 2000 to about 2% in 1960. According to recent estimates by the United Nations, the population is growing by 78 million people per year, less than the 90 million estimated in the early nineties. Still, at current rates, every 13 years are added to world population about 1,000 million people. In 1999 the world population surpassed the 6,000 million and is projected to rise to over 8,000 million 2025.
Globally, fertility rates have fallen by half since the 60's, with three children per woman. In 65 countries, including 9 of the developing world, fertility rates have fallen below replacement level of about two children per woman. Fertility, however, is above replacement level in 123 countries, and some are considerably above replacement level. In these countries the population continues to increase rapidly.
Approximately 1,700 million people live in 47 countries where the fertility rate is on average three to five children per woman. Another 730 million people live in 44 countries where women have, on average, five or more children.
Almost all population growth occurs in the developing world. As a result of differences in population growth in Europe's population will decline from 13% to 7% of world population in the next quarter century, while sub-Saharan Africa will rise from 10% to 17% . According to projections, the percentages of the other regions are more or less like the present.
By continuing increasing population and demand for natural resources, environmental limits will increasingly apparent. It is expected that water shortages will affect almost 3,000 million people by 2025 and sub-Saharan Africa is the worst area. Many countries could avoid environmental crises if they take steps now to conserve and better manage supply and demand, while offering families and individuals with information and services needed to make informed choices about reproductive health.
If all countries were committed to striving for population stabilization and conservation of natural resources, the world would be better able to meet the requirements of sustainable development. To implement Sustainable development requires a combination of wise public investment, effective management of natural resources, agricultural technologies and industrial cleaner, less pollution and slower growth of the population.
The best management of resources contributes to protecting the environment and conserve the productive capacity of nature. Stronger economies can afford to invest more in protecting the environment. The slower growth of the population can help accelerate economic growth and conserve natural resources.
There is no easy way to measure the full impact of human activities on the environment. Have been developed, however, several methods for this purpose:
Accounting environmental resources
in environmental resource accounting attempts to give economic value to the "environmental goods and services" used natural resources usually been considered free and have been used in common. Included among them unpolluted fresh water, clean air, ocean life, forests and wetlands. In a recent study, Robert Costanza, University of Maryland, estimates that the total value of ecosystem services and products is U.S. $ 33 billion per year. This amount exceeds the total value of the global economy as it is usually measured (U.S. $ 29 billion in 1998).
Some economists argue that the value of goods and services must be included in the estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as manufactured goods. Unlike manufactured capital, which depreciates in value over time, not now considers the environmental capital (forests, fisheries and polluted air and water) to depreciate, and no charge for current income to use. "A country could exhaust its mineral resources, cut down forests, causing soil erosion, contaminate groundwater and capture the terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species to extinction, but measured income would not be concerned with the disappearance of these natural assets, "notes Robert Repetto, World Resources Institute .
If natural resources are valued in the same way as manufactured goods, could help economies to learn to use it more efficiently and to keep to ensure its continued use in the future. These reviews may also help indicate the economic benefits of environmental protection and the benefits organic. In other words, instead of continuing to reduce the "environmental capital" until the end, economies could begin to live their interest, maintaining the capital for use indefinitely in the future.
I = P x A x T
The equation I = P x A x T represents another effort to describe the overall impact of humanity on the environment. In the equation:
- I is the environmental impact
- P is the population (Including size, growth and distribution),
- A is the level of affluence (consumption per capita), and
- T is the technology level
Despite its limitations, such as the inability to assign real values \u200b\u200bto describe each component or factor changes over time, the equation is valuable. Highlights, in particular developing countries with large populations and rapid growth affect the environment, although flow levels are low, while the developed world, with little or no population growth, have considerable environmental impact to be as high per capita consumption.
The equation reveals clearly that slowing population growth is an essential part of any strategy to reduce humanity's impact on the environment. For example, even if the consumption of resources per capita (A) decline or technology (T) improved enough to reduce the environmental impact (I) of humanity by 10%, this gain would be canceled in less than a decade because the world population (P) is growing at more than 1% year. Since it is expected that the per capita resource consumption has to increase as rising living standards, protecting the environment requires more efficient production technologies, less waste, and finally, a stable size of the population.
Ecological Footprints of Nations
The Ecological Footprint is a sustainability indicator developed unique index in 1995, Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at the School for Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia indicators developed one of the most famous of recent times called "Ecological footprint", which reveals what is the number of hectares of ecologically productive land (crops, forests, ecosystems) needed to produce the resources we consume and to assimilate the waste generated. The larger the footprint of a particular city or country, the greater the environmental impact also causes beyond its limits.
From the authors' calculations, each person in the world has 1.8 hectares to produce what it consumes. These results are based on four variables: the consumption of food, fuel for mobility, energy, housing and resources to produce goods and services demanded. Then, if the population continues to grow as planned, by 2030 there will be 10 billion people and each have an average of only 0.7 hectares of productive land. Troubling, no?
Wackernagel and colleagues calculated the ecological footprint of 52 nations containing 80% of the world's population and represent 95% of global domestic product. The researchers concluded that the inhabitants of the world are using about a third more than earth's biological productivity than can be regenerated.
Maximum Density
population
By "maximum stocking density" means the number of people the earth can sustain. Logically, the population growth must stop sometime, or the earth will be overpopulated and depleted its resources. But what is the maximum human population?
This question has been debated since 1798, when the English economist Thomas Malthus predicted that at some point the population growth will inevitably outstrip food supplies and water. Since then, the maximum population estimates have varied widely depending what assumptions are taken in respect of technology, consumption levels and other factors that are difficult to predict. Some have even argued that the maximum population density may already be excessive in the sense that the world could support only 2,000 million if the rate of world consumption was equal to that of the inhabitants of North America and Western Europe.
While no one can know how many people could hold the land, few would want to know from personal experience, to reach this theoretical limit. It seems less important to calculate the maximum number of people that could exist on Earth to determine how can be used wisely and sustainably managed resources to improve living standards without destroying the natural environment ultimately that sustains life.
The rapid growth of cities in the developing world, placed at the forefront of the struggle for better living standards and environmental protection. Since 1950 the urban population has more than tripled, from just over 750 million to some 3,000 million. In 2030 some 5,000 million people live in cities. In the developing world's urban population is projected to rise to double 1,900 million in 2000 to just under 4,000 million in 2030.
Globally, about three quarters of the current population growth is urban. It is estimated that cities are adding 55 million people per year, more than 1 million new residents per week resulting from internal migration and natural population increase within cities. In developing countries many cities are growing two to three times faster than the population as a whole. As cities grow ever larger, its impact on the environment is growing exponentially.
The emergence of megacities
The United Nations was coined in the seventies to describe the term mega-cities with 10 million or more residents. As late as 1975 there were only five megacities worldwide. There are currently 19, of which 15 are in developing countries. In 2015 the number of megacities will rise to 23. "The mega-cities have captured the public interest because there is no historical precedent for such large cities and because the popular perception that human welfare will decline in such dense concentrations of people," writes demographer Martin Brockerhoff. Millions
people move from countryside to city in search of a better life but often find that life is more difficult. In many cities, 25% to 30% of the urban population lives in slums or squatter settlements, or living on the street. Of the 10.6 million residents of Rio de Janeiro, for example, 4 million live in squatter settlements and slums, some of them precariously perched on top of a hill. Nevertheless, developing country cities continue to attract more and more people.
Cities occupy only 2% of the world's land surface, but its inhabitants have a disproportionate impact on the environment. In London, for example, it takes about 60 times the area occupied by the city to provide food and forest products to the 9 million residents. As trade and economic activities have expanded considerably in recent years, city residents consume resources not only from the surrounding areas, but increasingly from all over the world. Urban areas also export their wastes and pollutants affecting the environment and health conditions of these remote locations.
What can be done?
In the long run, slowing population growth would help relieve pressure on cities, buying time for technological improvements. Municipalities can also now take a number of measures including the installation of improved transportation systems, promoting recycling and encouraging water conservation.
Public Transport. One of the best investments you can make the city-both from the standpoint of environmental and economic-is one that is destined for an efficient public transport system. In many cities people waste much time and fuel not go anywhere because of the incredible congestion traffic. In many urban areas, vehicle exhaust accounts for between 50% and 70% of emissions. If you restrict the number of motor vehicles by offering other means of transportation would save energy and reduce pollution. Some cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, for example, have helped alleviate the transportation crisis by creating special lanes for bicycle traffic and promoting their use.
Recycling. The transformation of urban waste piles in new resources is advantageous both environmentally and economic. By recycling saves natural resources and reduces the amount of waste deposited in landfills or dumped into rivers, lakes and oceans. It added that for every million tons of solid waste could create about 1,600 jobs in recycling work in both developing and developed countries.
Water Conservation. Per capita use of fresh water increases markedly with urbanization, as millions of families are gaining access to running water, industries and agriculture are multiplied in large-scale irrigated agriculture in lieu of subsistence. Everywhere, cities need to adopt water conservation measures.
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