Published by: BhumiRaj Timalsina
Published date: 02 Feb 2022
The earth is a common habitat of all creatures. The earth is the habitat for human beings, animals-birds, plants and micro-organisms. They receive food from the earth to survive. Humans do various kind of development works on the earth. They build small homes to big castles. There are continuous construction works such as roads, bridges, canals, tunnels etc. on the earth. Similarly, there is development and use of means of electricity and communication, industries, modern agriculture works etc. These all development and construction works take place on the earth.
The above developmental works have been to meet human interest. These help in economic, social and cultural development of human beings. What are the advantages that we get from development works? How long do we get their advantages? To what environmental aspects such as land, water, air, animals are affected by these works? We must consider the answers to these questions while doing developmental works. The answers to these questions are connected to sustainable development. In 1983, World commission published a report on “Our Common Future”. This report had focused on sustainable development. As a result, the terminology Sustainable Development got significance in different fields. At, present, its importance has been increasing. What is sustainable development? The term "Sustainable Development" is formed when the word sustainable is added to the development works. The literal meaning of 'sustainable' is remaining something for long term.. It also suggests that something that is durable. Shortly, sustainable development means development that stays for long time and does not harm other aspects of nature. In other words, sustainable development is the utilization of environmental means and resources to fulfill the present need of human beings. But sustainable development also means that the advantages from such resources should be protected for the future generations.
Sustainable development is also called durable development. Development works should be sustainable so that we can get the advantages for a long time. Such works do not affect environmental aspect. They become sustainable. As a result there will be a balance in the environment. Animal’s life will run continuously. Sustainable development is a global need. It has advantage at local, national and international level. Therefore, there are numerable advantages of sustainable development. Some of the advantages are given below:
There are various type of creatures on the earth. Human is a special creature. Therefore, it is his duty to protect other animals. Humans should not misuse them to fulfill their needs and aspirations. It means they should not destroy the forest for their benefit. They should not use total water source for their benefit only. If they do so, other creatures do not get water for drinking. It will be difficult for other animals to survive, if we do not think about the sustainable development. Human beings should protect all the creatures. Therefore, when we consider about the sustainable development it will be helpful to protect other creatures. It will be beneficial to human beings as well. Sustainable development is connected to respect and care of animals.
Human beings receive needed things by using resources and means of nature. They produce grains, fruits, vegetables etc on the land. They use water for irrigation. They receive wood, firewood, medicinal plants from the forest. They run industry and produce many foods. In this way they use natural resources to conduct their lives. When these objects are received in less or more quantity, it will be difficult to run our life properly. There won’t be uniformity in our life. If we work according to sustainable development, then there is no fluctuation in the benefits. In such a situation, it won’t be difficult for us to conduct our life. Therefore, sustainable development helps to make our life easy and standard. It will help to improve our life. It also sustains our life style.
We should protect all the means and resources in the environment. They are called environmental resources. The main objective of sustainable development is to protect the means and resources of environment. We should not think only for the development neglecting the environmental things. Such a destructive work does not match with the sustainable development. Development without protection of nature is against the concept of sustainable development. Irrigation is helpful to agriculture but if we do not leave water in the rivers-streams, it will destroy the natural habitat of water animals. There will be lack of food to them. The surrounding land becomes dry. Therefore we should follow the measures to stop negative impact when we make dam and use total water for irrigation. Sustainable development focuses on the protection of means and resources in the environment.
Natural resources have limitation in their production capacity. In other words, they have limited production capacity. There is limitation in the number of plants that can be grown in a particular piece of land. Therefore, more plants than the land can bear can’t be grown there. They don’t grow properly. The soil of that region is degraded. There is limitation to what extent we can graze animals there. Grazing more animals than the capacity of land will harm the land. There will be negative impact when the resources and means are excessively used. These resources are destroyed. They give less advantages. Sustainable development gives emphasis to the proper use of natural resources. We should protect them along with their use. When we follow it in practice then only this is possible. When we properly follow the concept of sustainable development, the resources are not used excessively. It will help to protect and sustain them. It also helps to make the development sustainable.
Sustainable development will bring change in human concept and behavior. When a human is determined to do sustainable development, change is realized in his/her works. He/She should practice the concept of sustainable development in his/her behavior. This behavior will change his/her habit of using land, water, forest, animals and birds. They will develop the concept that they should not use all the resources by themselves. They will develop the feeling that they should protect these resources to future generations. In this way, human behavior is improved and it will help to conserve the environmental resources. The feeling of sustainable development will also be extended to other people generally. Therefore, the activities to sustainable development will bring improvement in human thought and behavior.
We should practice to bring the concept of sustainable development in our behavior. The concept to sustainable development should be extended to towns and villages. If we do so, sustainable development and environment protection will go together. Beginning of this work will bring awareness to sustainable development. Their interest to sustainable development also increases. They do sustainable development works. This develops the capacity of people at local level to do sustainable development. It brings change in their work pattern. This helps in the conservation of environment
Population, Environment and development are three different terms. Population includes human being. We know environment is the entire surrounding of us. Similarly, development is called the change. Development is also the works done by humans for their benefits. We have already studied about them. We also know that development should be based on sustainable development. From these studies, we can predict many things about population, environment and development. Population, environment and development are inter connected with each another. Among these, population is one of the important aspects. Growth in population increases needs. It forces to increase the ratio of development. These activities may harm or improve the environment. Therefore, there is strong inter relationship among population, environment and development.
Population has been increasing day by day in the world. As the population increases, there is increment in the needs also. How can we fulfill these needs? If we consider only towards the fulfillment of human needs and demands what will be the condition of the environment? Thus if we fullfill human welfare only be development work, their habitat will be spoiled. Population growth is one of the major problems of the world today. There is increment in the demand of food shelter, clothes, health, security, education, employment, transportation etc along with the population growth. If these things are not managed wisely, environmental aspect useful for human beings, may be destroyed. Developmental works will no be sustainable. People will fight against each other.
Air is an important aspect of the environment. Pure air is necessary for healthy life. In the same way it is necessary to have healthy environment too. People involved in the development activities should not destroy the purity of the air. If the air gets polluted, it affects human beings, animals, birds, plants and other environmental aspects.
To minimize the bad effects caused by development activities, the preventive measures should be adopted along with the development activities. Thus, development is beneficial to the human beings and the environmental aspects also get preserved. It helps to fulfill the needs of all.
Water is one of the important aspects of the environment. It is interrelated with human beings and development activities. All the living beings need water for survival. The demand of water increases with population growth. In the same way, water is necessary for irrigation. Therefore, dams, canals, water resorviors etc are constructed. Such activities are related to the environment. But the activities like blocking the water source, changing the direction of water streams, carry water from everywhere should not be done to fulfill the necessity of the water. Such type of activities do not sustain. This creates difficulty for the survival of human and other living beings. The condition of environment gets damaged. It harms the life style of all of us.
It is necessary to have healthy habitat for human beings. If the population increases, people keep on constructing buildings, drains, roads etc. such activities reduce the open land. There is desertification of fertile land. People destroy forests to make their habitat. There can be destruction of the habitats of birds and animals. The sources of water start to dry up and the habitat of human beings cannot be healthy. Therefore, population growth, construction of buildings (habitats) and the environmental aspects are inter-related to each other.
It is one of the important aspects of the environment. There is increase in the necessity of the forest products with the population growth. People collect fire wood, timber, grass, medicinal plants, leaves, etc from the forest. The number of domestic cattles can also be increased along with the population growth and the demand of grazing lanes increase. Due to such demands the use of the forest can be increased. Only the old trees are to be removed from the forest. Cattle should not be grazed continuously in the same grazing land. Only the dry leaves and branches are to be collected from the forest. There should be afforestation after cutting the trees. Such activity increases the number of plants in the forest. Human beings can get advantages continuously from the forest and the environment of the forest cannot be destroyed. It continues the food, life style and habitats of the animals and birds.
There is some change in the environment during the construction of roads. It is our duty to make such changes which are environment friendly. We should increase the forest by planting trees in the deforested areas. We should help to repair the damaged water sources and grow plants around them. Land slide should be prevented by planting trees on both sides of the constructed road. Such work helps to sustain the coconstruction of road. This type of development is beneficial for long time. We should equally look after the environmental aspects as well as the development activities. From this, we need to know the relation among the human beings, environment and development.
Population, environment and development are inter-related to each other. The earth exists even if there is no existence of human beings. There is continuity of activities of environmental aspects like physical, natural, animals and birds in the earth. There is no human and social environment in the absence of human beings. In absence of human beings there is no human activities with earth. As a result there are no activities done by the human beings. Thus the development can not be imagined in the absence of human beings. Development has been grown by human needs. Some of the development activities conducted by the human beings are environmental friendly where as some are not. Human beings should do the development works in favour to the environment. The development works in favour of the environment are related to the sustainable development. Maintaining the sustainable environment is the responsibility of human beings. We should improve the environment so that it sustains for the future generations. It is good for the human beings as well as for the environment. As a result there is sustainable development. People keep on getting advantages from the environment and development. Thus the development activities done by the human beings in their own sector should be sustainable. It is necessary to have all our efforts for the sustainable development. Various efforts are made of local level for the sustainable development. Some of the major efforts are as follow.
Human beings acquire timber, fire wood, grass etc as forest products. Some of the trees in the forest are old and some of them dry up themselves and die. Thus afforestation programmes should be conducted from time to time for the conservation of forest. Afforestation programmes are being conducted from national level to local level. It helps to conserve forest, land and sources of water. Thus afforestation is an activity which helps for the sustainable development. Every house in the local level should conduct plantation programmes. Afforestation helps for the sustainability of the forests. Along with this, it helps to sustain other aspects of the environment.
Use of chemical fertilizer is increasing in the agricultural works. Although it increases the production, the fertility of the soil is decreasing by it. Therefore, it is encouraged to use the organic fertilizer along with the chemical fertilizer. More or less farmers use organic fertilizer in their field. It helps to sustain the agricultural work to some extent. Like wise, it helps to maintain the fertility of the agricultural land. It is necessary to encourage more of such type of efforts.
Water is the base for the survival of all the organisms. Water sources may be destroyed after getting buried or damaged. Like wise they may get destroyed during various development activities and construction works. Therefore, various efforts are being made in the local level to conserve the sources of water. These efforts help for sustaining the water resources in the long run. Similarly, the environmental aspects in such places like animals, birds and plants can also sustain for the long time. Schools should also help to conduct such work.
The awareness programmes for raising consciousness about environment are being conducted in the local level. Different attemps for the conservation of environment are being done by the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Some of the environmental works are done at personal level as well. Such activities help the sustainable development.