E. Towards a Sustainable World PDF

E. Towards a Sustainable World CONCEPTS OF GLOBALIZATION This module discusses the essence and reality of a sustainable world. The Sustainable Development focuses on the importance of highlighting environmental considerations in terms of development and how countries must be con...

E. Towards a Sustainable World CONCEPTS OF GLOBALIZATION This module discusses the essence and reality of a sustainable world. The Sustainable Development focuses on the importance of highlighting environmental considerations in terms of development and how countries must be conscious of the role of the environment in development. OBJECTIVES: Source: United Nations (SDG) At the end of this module, the learners are expected to: 1. Determine the significance of sustainable development globalized world. 2. Differentiate the concept of stability from sustainability; and 3. Evaluate the concept of sustainable development in shrinking world. DIAGNOSTICS: Instructions: Write AGREE if you think the statement is correct; otherwise, DISAGREE. 1. Sustainable development is just an ideal pattern or trend. 2. Sustainable development can only be achieved by developed countries. 3. Environment plays a minor role in achieving sustainable development. 4. Sustainability is a vague concept in international relations. 5. There is a difference between stability and sustainability. Global Issues 1. CLIMATE ACTION ACCELERATED? -The numbers are in: The past decade has been the warmest in recorded history. Deadly wildfires including those affecting Australia, hurricanes, extreme weather events, and climate-influenced migration and hunger in many parts of the world are now regular occurrences. Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, and the very survival of island nations is being threatened. Indeed, our entire ecosystem is at risk: 1 million animal and plant species may be extinct within years, the largest-scale ecological loss humans have seen. And a mounting global movement of youth impatient for change is pushing climate protection into the global consciousness like never before. (Source. Brown, 2020. 5 GLOBAL ISSUES TO WATCH IN 2020. United Nations.org) Figure 1. The Global Greenhouse gas emissions under current scenario. It reveals that the decade to significantly curb carbon emission and avoid catastrophe, it face an even College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 111 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World more pressing mandate. There is a need to halve global emissions by 2030 but the emissions gap between what is needed and the current commitments is significant. Starting this year, it need to cut emissions by 7.6% every year for the next 10 years to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. 2. A DECADE TO DELIVER ON THE SDGS - The start of 2020 ushers in the ten-year countdown to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is a crucial year for ensuring our policies, financing, and ambition align to reach the Goals by 2030. The first four years since the Goals’ launch witnessed new commitments, coalitions, and approaches among national governments from the developed and developing world, local actors and leaders, the investment community and private sector, and other non-state actors. For its part, the United Nations embarked on a major reform effort to better deliver on the SDGs. The relationship between climate, the SDGs, and peace has also come into greater focus. Figure 2. shows the world has made substantial strides: The extreme poverty rate has Figure 2. Extreme Poverty is Becoming concentrated in Africa fallen below 8%, the lowest recorded level in human history. For the first time since the start of the SDGs, the number of people in extreme poverty in Africa is decreasing. India, once a global hot spot for poverty, is now on track to end extreme poverty. Children around the world are living longer and healthier lives. The mortality rate in children under five has nearly halved over the last twenty years and more children than ever are receiving an education, getting necessary vaccinations, and drinking clean water. More people have access to electricity and nearly three-quarters of the world has essential health services. Figure 3 illustrate the account for world extreme poor in 2030. These bright spots the world is off track to realize the global goals by the end of this coming decade. On today’s trajectory, nearly half a billion people will still live in extreme poverty in 2030: 589 million today compared with 479 million in ten years. The overwhelming majority of those will be in Africa, affected by a warming planet and unstable societies. Poverty data for most of Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, Figure 3. Percentage of Extreme poor in 2023 College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 112 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World comes from information gathered before the creation of the SDGs five years ago: a reminder that we urgently need more and better data if we are even to know for sure how we are doing, and what policies are working. 3. INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION IN FOCUS Inequality is at the heart of many of the gravest issues facing the global community, including development, climate, and peace. It affects people and structures across societies and borders and threatens to stymie hard-fought development gains. What does this mean? A recent United Nations report shows that 20% of development progress was lost in recent years due to the unequal distribution of education, health, and living standards. The World Economic Forum has calculated that it will take women almost 100 years to reach gender equality. Exclusionary practices in security, justice, and politics are at the heart of many violent conflicts today. And it is seen as a key factor in the rise of protests around the globe, which shows no signs of abating in 2020. Toppling barriers to opportunity is key to making the transformative progress needed in 2020. As stressed in the 2019 Human Development Report, we need to evolve our understanding of inequality. Just as the SDGs replaced the more basic Millennium Development Goals, so, too, must we expand our definition of inequality to address the obstacles to 21st century skills and opportunities. Figure 5 present the new framework for inequality. This perspective on inequality means understanding who is getting left behind – where, and how. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report measuring Figure 4. A new Framework for Inequality SDG progress noted that birthplace and gender are some of the most powerful predictors of future success. For many of the world’s poorest, including women and children, the odds are stacked against them simply because of where they were born. Another tool to address inequality is expanding measures of economic performance to account for social conditions, as many leading thinkers are starting to do. Some actors, though not nearly enough, are also taking action. New Zealand has created the world’s first ‘Well Being’ budget which balances economic measures with social indicators. And the Business Roundtable shook the business community with a statement that shifts company focus from shareholders to stakeholders. College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 113 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World 4. CRISES ON THE BRINK: CONFLICT, PEACE, AND HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE The year 2020 marks the ninth anniversary of the war in Syria, and the fifth in Yemen. Venezuela may very well become the source of the world’s largest and most underfunded refugee crisis. Lethal violence and violent crime is on the rise, affecting growing cities in an urbanizing world. And the risk of Figure 5. Refugee Displacement from start of conflict to peak interstate conflicts and geopolitical strife has taken center stage. Figure 6 shows the factors build on worrying trends from 2019, where more people required assistance than initially forecast due to conflicts and extreme weather-related disasters. Women and children are being disproportionately affected and are at higher risks of sexual and gender-based violence. Over 60% of the world’s chronically food insecure people live in countries affected by conflict. These figures put into stark relief the challenges of achieving the SDGs in such daunting contexts. At current rates, 80% of the world’s population living in extreme poverty in 2030 will be in fragile or conflict-affected settings. 5. A UNITED WORLD? THE UN AT 75 The year 2020 is the time to move the world closer to a sustainable, equitable, and just future and to set the tone for the decade ahead. This comes as the UN approaches its 75th anniversary, offering a moment to reflect on the world we have achieved working together. It is also an opportunity to look forward together. The UN is Figure 2. UN at 75 launching a global conversation about the future we want and the issues that matter most, with an intent of asking us all countries, communities, businesses, organizations, individuals – to help define what we need to get there. It is looking for new ideas, approaches, and partnerships crucial for the complex challenges the world faces, like the ones detailed above. It will encourage us to consider the intersecting issues and mega-trends that will shape the world ahead: College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 114 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World digital technology, conflict and violence, inequality, climate change, shifting demographics, and global health. (Wacth UN@75 : https://youtu.be/xJ2b5BtUvuA) These five issues have real and pressing implications today, but their fast-moving trajectories demand global cooperation. This September’s UN General Assembly will serve as an important inflection point on the progress made, gaps remaining, and future needs for collective action to tackle poverty, climate, climate and inequality. And this anniversary year for the UN is a moment to look forward at the many critical paths the world faces and to put in place critical efforts that will affect our world not just today but in the years ahead. The stakes are high and the challenges are not to be underestimated. In 2020, our ability to act, in our shared best interest and for greater collective impact, has never been more important. Guiding Light  Explain the link between the five issues in the global economic crisis.  What would be role of SDGs in addressing the gaps in global context? Discussion Sustainable Development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It focuses on fulfilling the basic needs of citizens rather than amazing profits. The World Commission on the Environment and Development (WCED) outline for environment and development policies following its concept of sustainable development. 1. Revving growth 2. Changing the quality of growth 3. Meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water, and sanitation, 4. Ensuring a sustainable level of population, 5. Conserving and enhancing the resource base, 6. Reorienting technology and managing risk, and 7. Merging environment and economics in decision making. UN Agenda 21 of 1992 Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment. (See the Full text of the UN Agenda 21 of 1992 at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf. Agenda 21 requires that nations participating in the quest for a more sustainable social, environmental and economic future develop national strategies for their sustainable development. The UK Government bases its vision of sustainable development on four broad objectives.  Social progress which recognizes the needs of everyone;  Effective protection of the environment;  Prudent use of natural resources; and  Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment. The UK Sustainable Development Strategy recognizes that everybody has the right to a healthy, clean and safe environment. This can be achieved by reducing College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 115 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World pollution, poverty, poor housing and unemployment. Global environmental threats, such as climate change and poor air quality must be reduced to protect human and environmental health. The use of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels should not be stopped overnight, but they must be used efficiently, and the development of alternatives should be used to help phase them out. Finally, everybody has the right to a good standard of living, with better job opportunities. Economic prosperity is required if the UK is to prosper. For this, we need a workforce equipped with suitable skills and education within a framework to support them. The UK Sustainable Development Strategy recognizes the need for a new, more environmentally sound approach to development, especially with regard to transport, energy production and waste management. The Government wishes to allow economic growth to continue, but more sustainably, to ensure that the costs of growth do result in excessive environmental deterioration or social injustice. Changing the way we think about development is an important part of the UK Strategy. The UK Strategy is a catalyst for change. Its ten guiding principles are summarized below:  putting people at the center;  taking a long term perspective;  taking account of costs and benefits;  creating an open and supportive economic system;  combating poverty and social exclusion;  respecting environmental limits;  the precautionary principle;  using scientific knowledge;  transparency, information, participation and access to justice;  making the polluter pay. Source: https://www.sustainable environment.org.uk/Action/UK_Strategy.php#:~:text Sustainability and Stability Sustainability leads to stability; however, stability alone may not necessarily lead to sustainability. Stable environment is simply resistant to change but somehow lack the element of resiliency that sustainable environment possess because is far for stable environment to become unstable in comparison to the possibility of sustainable environments becoming: unsustainable.” Analyze the research article entitled Environmental stability and sustainable development of Santos, (2005) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/sd.259. Environmental stability and sustainable development Miguel A. Santos Abstract Many scholars have advocated that the cornerstone of sound environmental management is an effective control of stability of the human life‐support system. A common theme running through these suggestions is that we should maximize the inherent stability of the life‐support system. This essay proposes a new scheme or technique of classifying the stability of systems. Then the essay describes how the stabilizing mechanisms may be considered as a force that holds the human life‐support system intact. Stabilizing energy is the energy available to do work, without compromising the integrity of the configuration. The anthropogenic processes of harvesting or using the system as a sink for pollutants are the counterforce that tends to destabilize the system. The basic conclusion is that if society is using a system, then the maximum energy of the anthropogenic processes cannot exceed the stabilizing energy. If this occurs, the system reaches its metastate. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 116 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World Guide Question: Do these conceptualizations respond to and reflect on sustainability and stability? The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. Click on any specific Goal below to learn more about each issue. (See the full text at https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development- goals/. College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 117 \\\  E. Towards a Sustainable World Exercise 1. Sustainable Development Name: ______________________________ Date: ____________ Course and Section: ____________________ Score: ___________ Instructions: Write a short essay on the following topics: UN’ s Agenda 21 and its contributing effects; the importance of making the environment residence to human advances; and reasons why the government of the world must always integrate sustainability in the state affairs. Create a plan of sustainable development for the Philippines which consider the SDGs 2020. ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ College of Arts and Sciences – Social Sciences Department For SLSU Use Only 118 \\\