Outline the concept and challenge of ‘sustainable development’.

 Sustainable development is a phrase we hear thrown around from time to time in order to underline our ideal vision of the future – rid of all the problems that the inhabitants of the Earth tackle today. Depletion of natural resources. Gender inequality. An unequal distribution of wealth. These are just a few but they illustrate accurately the issues which we are striving to eliminate. However, due to the all-encompassing nature of the term Sustainable Development and the gravity of the situation which it looks to solve, many treat it as an abstract, unachievable concept usually taking into consideration the shocking images of over polluted oceans or the hopelessness of their life situation due to being born female. Nevertheless, a thorough understanding of this field and its challenges is quite necessary in our current environment and can help in living a more conscious and altruistic life. Basically, sustainable development is a long-term solution to how we plan our indefinite progress in the future without causing damage to the environment so as to guarantee a safe habitat for the next generations, who will continue to develop their economies, societies, and care for the environment with a similar ideal in mind. It satisfies our needs without sabotaging the opportunities of others. The concept covers a broad scope of matters such as environmental, social, and economic development which continues to prove its importance in our lives as it affects all aspects of them. The United Nations have set out a number of Sustainable Development Goals and targets to serve as guidelines for the future and optimal conscious development.

The Main Challenges of Sustainable Development Today

Having highlighted the importance of sustainable development, it is also important to understand that it does need a lot of concentrated effort and, like many things in life, it does have many challenges ahead of itself. It is also important to note that sustainable development is equally valid in developing and developed countries, despite them dealing with polarly opposite sides of the spectrum. Developed countries may be developed but that doesn’t necessarily imply that they are sustainable and for these countries, the main goal is to rid their society of issues such as social inequalities, waste management, and environmental responsibility.

1. Lack of financial resources to carry out and plan sustainable development

2. Sustainable development is often not possible in war-torn countries as there are other priorities on hand.

3. Natural occurrences, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, can pose a threat to sustainabilityas they can shift the flow of water and destroy certain elements of infrastructure. (In thevillage of Ramche in Nepal, the only source of water was shaken off course by the earthquake of 2015 and as a result of the difficulty of access to the village, it has beenundergoing a water crisis. Expenditure on bottled water in the village has in turn grownand in many other areas in Nepal undergoing a water crisis, people resort to drinking and cooking with E-Coli infected water as an act of desperation. Meanwhile tsunamis in Southeast and East Asia may pose a threat to the already existing sustainableinfrastructure, such as the destruction of means of public transport in Japan.)

4. The governmental conflict between immediate profit and investment towards sustainabletechnologies. (In Poland, the government has even increased financing towards the miningsector instead of moving full steam ahead towards adopting sustainable energy sources,with coal amounting towards 80% of total energy generation in Poland. These measuresare thought to have been implemented as a move to win miners’ votes in the south ofPoland.)

5. Corruption. (Funding to developing countries is usually provided through foreign grants, inthe case of Nepal foreign grants constitute the majority coming from the UK. Nevertheless,due to bureaucracy and corruption in Nepal, in order to pass certain development projectsa stipend needs to be paid to ministers as well as service fees to the Nepal governmentwhich significantly slow down NGO processes.)

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