ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces the critical issues faced in the world today on sustainability. Rising population, over-extraction of resources and uncontrolled pollution are identified as the areas of the principal concerns. The conventional indicators of development such as Gross Development Product (GDP) are no longer representative of true progress. Concepts such as Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Ecological Footprint and Environmental Performance Indicators are therefore introduced and are illustrated with examples.
The chapter then delves into the challenge of threatened resource security and provides statistics on the material exports and domestic extraction of resources on a global as well as on a regional basis. Ten key issues are identified for a more detailed description. These issues include energy, overexploitation of minerals and fossil fuels, housing, transport (covering aviation, vehicles, rail and sea routes), water stress (covering concepts such as virtual water), air pollution (covering Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs)), degradation of land and agriculture (covering desertification), and the threat to biodiversity ending with natural disasters. For each issue, key statistics are provided with the help of tables, graphs and maps highlighting the impacts that threaten sustainability of the planet.
The chapter presents the importance of understanding the nexus between the issues and the role played by climate change. It emphasizes that the issues cannot be dealt with in isolation. Examples of water, agriculture, food and livelihoods are taken as an illustration of nexus emphasizing the need for a rounded approach consisting of smart technologies, capacity building of institutions and innovative financing. The importance of setting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is brought out with a need to understand “connects” between the goals by adopting systems thinking. In this context, the iSDG model is introduced that recognizes the interlinkages and helps to identify integrated strategies.
One of the key drivers for unsustainability has been intense rate of urbanization. This has led to polarisation of the population and intensive use of the resources and generation of wastes and emissions, in and around urban areas. The second important key driver has been the skew in the global material flows mainly due to the unevenness in economies, population, and geo-politics. To combat this, resource efficiency (RE) and secondary material recycling (SMR) form some of the core elements of SDGs. To implement RE and SMR, efforts need to be taken up not only at the national level, but also collectively across the nations. The chapter presents work carried out by the United Nations (UN) and introduces commitments made by the G7/G20 countries. Finally, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) is introduced stressing the need to adopt a multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach to address environmental management towards sustainability.
