What Is Sustainability And Why Is It Important

Sustainability is the latest buzzword doing the rounds, and like many other buzzwords, its true meaning can get lost in the clamour. Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword though; it is a plan for the future of the world.

What is sustainability?

Sustainability is the responsible use of resources to fulfil our needs, such that they do not deplete beyond recovery, and therefore are available for successive generations as well. While that is quite the mouthful to say and understand, it simply means that we use resources — especially finite ones — and make sure they can be replenished.

It is tempting to think of resources as just natural or environmental ones, because those are the ones so obviously in danger. However, sustainability also considers social and economic issues equally in addition to environmental ones. You cannot solve the problems with one of these factors at the cost of the other two. They must be considered together to arrive at, well, sustainable solutions for implementing sustainability.

How did sustainability come about?

Although the world is now abuzz with talk of sustainability, it is not a new concept. The UN first mooted the importance of sustainability at the 1987 Brundtland Commission that was convened to address the growing and urgent concerns about the depredations made to the environment.

Most importantly, they discussed the connection between development and the environment, because the former is often considered to be the cause of the destruction of the latter. Yet, you cannot do away with development altogether. Under-developed nations, with large swathes of the population in poverty and without access to the basic necessities of life, cannot reasonably be expected to halt or slow down development in the name of the environment. There needed to be a solution that worked on both fronts, because the environment cannot be separated from human beings and the need for their development.

What problem is sustainability trying to solve?

The issue then was uneven development. Richer, more powerful nations had rampant development that used up more than their fair share of resources. Poorer countries needed to continue to develop.

There are further complexities to be considered though. Historical, cultural, societal, and national barriers exist that in human society need to be understood. For example, the ever-increasing population is a problem, but it is not possible to tell communities to have fewer children to protect the environment. In many cultures, the practice of having many offspring is a cultural one; sometimes even a religious one. Therefore, it is important to tread considerately and lightly.

Sustainability aims to solve a single problem: how to make sure that humans endure in concert with their environment, because the environment sustains humankind.

The commission released its report, Our Common Future, a clarion call for a unified action.

What are the different types of sustainability?

Sustainability thus interleaved the question of the environment, with social and economic concerns. These are known as the 3 pillars of sustainability.

Environmental sustainability

The genesis of sustainability was because of the grave concerns about climate change. Thus environmental sustainability is the first and most commonly discussed area. It is concerned with reducing emissions, carbon footprints, reversing climate change, water usage, and minimising the impact of the supply chain on the environment.

Our ability to survive is directly and indirectly linked and influenced by the environment. In order for future generations to have a decent standard of life, we need to reverse the damage made to the environment, create processes that will exist in harmony with the environment, and make those processes viable for human development.

Economic sustainability

The primary cause of most environmental destruction has been because of the pursuit of business and development. However, ceasing these activities is not practical nor possible, nor even desirable. Therefore, change in economic practices must be to use renewable resources, extend the life of products, recycling, careful use and extraction of raw materials, and so on.

One of the key measures for sustainability in the economic sphere is to consider the entire lifecycle of products and their impact. This concept is known as the circular economy, and we will talk about it in future articles.

Social sustainability

This is arguably the trickiest one to comprehend, because the goals of social sustainability don’t look sustainable at first glance. Things like equal rights, equity, and participation in decisions that affect everyone seem far removed from sustainability and the environment.

However, when you bring economic sustainability into the picture, it all starts to fall into place. Development right now is the province of the wealthy nations. Although it has raised the standard of living, it has also brought with it rampant consumerism and waste. The answer is not to do away with development, because poorer nations will then never have a better standard of living. Their access to clean water, ample food resources, and shelter, among other things, is not possible without development. That’s where social sustainability comes in.

Already developed countries need to rein in their habits, so that the majority of resources are not diverted to satisfying their consumption needs. Responsible consumption is a key tenet of social sustainability, for instance. Building and using products that last and can be repaired reduces production considerably.

Think about fashion, or fast fashion as the current trend is. There is a tendency to wear clothes for seasons, which are very short periods of time. Also, these clothes not only cost a ton of resources to make, but they are made to fall apart quickly, so that the consumers will purchase more. However, clothes are not easily recycled either. Mountains of used clothes land up in Kenya and Ghana, only to rot and end up as a disease vector.

What next?

We can all agree at this point that sustainability is a necessity. However, there is much to be done yet. In the upcoming articles of this series, we will talk more about sustainability and the implementation challenges it faces. Stay tuned!

Sources

1. World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future towards Sustainable Development 2. Part II. Common Challenges Population and Human Resources 4.” http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf.
2. BBC News. n.d. “Fast Fashion: The Dumping Ground for Unwanted Clothes.” https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-58836618.