Activity of geography - Importance of sustainable development and value of resources, need to judicious
utilization and conservation.
For example - 1. Use of water as Resources (Scarcity of water) during summer seasons
Answers
Water and sustainable development
Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare and productivity of populations. It is central to the production and preservation of a host of benefits and services for people. Water is also at the heart of adaptation to climate change, serving as the crucial link between the climate system, human society and the environment.
Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well-being. It is only renewable if well managed. Today, more than 1.7 billion people live in river basins where depletion through use exceeds natural recharge, a trend that will see two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed countries by 2025. Water can pose a serious challenge to sustainable development but managed efficiently and equitably, water can play a key enabling role in strengthening the resilience of social, economic and environmental systems in the light of rapid and unpredictable changes.
What is "sustainable development"?
Sustainable development was explicitly popularized and contextualized by the Brundtland Commission in the document "Our Common Future" where it was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (UN, 1987). The Brundtland Commission focused on three pillars of human well being: economic, socio-political and ecological/environmental conditions. The basic concept endorses putting in place strong measures to spur economic and social development, particularly for people in developing countries, while ensuring that environmental integrity is sustained for future generations.
Water, sustainable development, the MDGs and the SDGs
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed in 2000, aim to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation between 1990 and 2015.
A total of 748 million people still do not have access to an improved drinking water source and existing indicators do not address the safety and reliability of water supplies. To reach the requirements of the right to access to safe drinking water requires real improvements for several billions of people.
In July 2010, the General Assembly adopted a resolution, which “recognized the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”. (A/RES/64/292).
The MDG target for sanitation is an even more pressing challenge, with 2.5 billion people currently lacking access to improved sanitation and over one billion still practicing open defecation. At current rates of progress, the sanitation target will be missed by over half a billion people.
These global aggregates also mask large disparities between nations and regions, rich and poor, between rural and urban populations, as well as between disadvantaged groups and the general population.
There is currently no global target to improve hygiene, despite this being one of the single most cost-effective public health interventions.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)
The Rio+20 Conference in 2012 was an opportunity to reflect on progress towards sustainable development over the previous 20 years. One of its main outcomes was an agreement to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals, which build on the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post-2015 development agenda.
2015 UN-Water Annual International Zaragoza Conference. Water and Sustainable Development: From Vision to Action. 15-17 January 2015
The Zaragoza Conference focused on the tools for implementation stated in the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro from 20 to 22 June 2012, entitled "The future we want", which includes finance, technology and capacity building, adding the institutional and policy dimensions.