• Sustainability
• Admin / 26 Feb, 2021

What are the components that cover Sustainable Development?

What are the components that cover sustainable development?

Sustainable development is the development process that concerns the future of the planet. It considers the effects of human activities for development, on the environment, and the ecological system and focuses on creating a better and clean environment for the future. Hence sustainable development refers to development activities that meet the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. With the increase in industrialization and technology, there was an increase in the deterioration of the environment and many of the natural resources are on the verge of depletion. Hence, humanity is forced to pay attention to the degradation of the environment, and sustainable development plays an important role in business and resource management. The sustainable development goals by the United Nations focus on the conservation of natural resources.

The concept of sustainability is a complex approach, which is considered the environmental problems caused by various human activities that require urgent and long-lasting solutions. The social ripples take integrated and calculative measures to generate awareness against the need for sustainable development and promote the ways of achieving sustainable development. 

At the social ripples which is an initiative towards sustainable development and their mission is aligned to sustainable development goals of the United Nations, they advocate that the concept of sustainable development covers the three main components of society are, economic, ecological, and human component.

Economical component

More than 40 percent of the world's population is under the poverty line and is unable to produce the least possible income which, is needed for living their livelihoods. It affects the individual and national development, and the socio-economic well-being of the individual also remains stagnant. Hence the economic component of sustainable development refers to the maximum flow of income in terms of rational use of resources particularly the scarce resources. For increment in the economic well-being of the developed countries, there is a need to structuring the quality and quantity of manufacturing the products with new technologies. But the question arises if the planet can support the manufacturing or the development activity is burdening the planet by degrading the environment or the energy resources are getting depleted. Hence, the economic component is an important component where humans need to think of their economic well-being by keeping harmony with the environment. 

Ecological component 

The ecological component refers to three main functions of the environment,

• The power function of the resources
• Waste receptor function
• Direct utility

These are directly related to how humans use natural resources for their economic development. The sustainable development goals by the United Nations aims at creating a better world for future generations so that they can sustain in a peaceful environment and meet their own needs. Hence the ecological development is closely related to economic development and its interrelation with environment protection and enhancement. Hence the ecological component widely refers to the use of renewable natural resources and perseverance of the scarce natural resources as our earth is the only planet that is blessed with the various natural resources as an environmental heritage. 

Human component

All the development activities are by humans and for humans. Hence, human development is the most important component of sustainable development. Other than the environment, human sustainability is related to social interactions, behavioral activities, and relationships with each other, which leads to both social and economic development. Hence, the human component of sustainable development aims at creating a stable and inclusive society to eliminate discrimination and feeling of loneliness within the individuals of the society. Instead, it focuses on promoting human well-being by understanding the needs of people from the place they stay and work. The human component of sustainable development comprises of the following objectives,

1. Promotion of education, training, and public support for the environment 
2. Protecting and promoting human health( sustainable development goal 3: good health and well being)
3. Fight against poverty( sustainable development goal 1: eradicating poverty in all its forms)
4. Demographic threatening sustainable development by focusing on population growth, especially in developing countries 

At the social ripples, Dr. Lopamudra Priyadarshini with her mission towards sustainable development believes that the sustainable development components are interrelated to each other as similar to the sustainable development goals by the United Nations. They can be achieved only if every individual takes measures to protect and enhance the environment and keep harmony in society to make it more inclusive. 

They also promote that the attitude is needed to be created that leads to the protection of the environment by generating compatibility between the product to be developed and the environment. Hence, while considering the development activities, humans should consider the capacity of the environment to absorb the emissions and evaluate the effects of their development activities on the ecological system.