Sustainable development

At present, in national development there are certain economic, social or environmental problems that need to be solved in order to guarantee the quality of life of its citizens and their future. In this sense, sustainable development is born to solve these problems and to give an optimal administration for available resources without jeopardizing the citizens' future or the goods used to sustain quality of life.  

Sustainable development dimensions

Society, the economy and the environment

What is sustainable development?

Sustainable development is a concept that takes into account nations' evolution through the efficient management of their resources to generate the capacity to meet needs without compromising the future of social, economic or environmental resources. In order to generate quality of life in countries, sustainable development is sustained by balancing social, economic and environmental development with a vision of the future. Needs and limitations are elements that are taken into account in sustainable development strategies for proper resource management and durability of quality of life over time.

In sustainable development it is important to take into account three key elements. These are society, economy and the environment. If one of these elements is not in harmony with the others when developing sustainable its planned, there is a risk of compromising one of these elements for the benefit of others. For example, if one seeks to develop an economy without taking into account the problems that may be generated in the environment, sustainable development will not occur because it puts at risk the natural resources and the quality of life of individuals. For this reason it must seek to meet current needs without compromising future generations.

Sustainable economic development

It takes into account the efficient management of human, economic and environmental resources in order to improve the citizens’ quality of life without putting future resources at risk. In this sense, sustainability is linked to good management.

Environmentally sustainable development

Natural resources and energy that can be obtained from the environment are indispensable for sustainable development and the well-being of the inhabitants of a region. In this sense, it fights against natural resource degradation seeking that these resources can be used in the present without risking their permanence in the future. For the environmentally sustainable development, resource protection and its efficient use are the key elements to generate quality of life.

Human sustainable development

The sustainability of sustainable human development is promoted through social equity between present and future generations, allowing both to meet basic needs and have opportunities to grow and build their quality of life. In relation to this, it is necessary that political, social, educational, medical and security entities work in harmony and in an efficient manner in order to avoid social crises that generate poverty, diseases and social resource theft which deteriorate society’s development.

Currently, accelerated population growth puts human sustainable development at risk because it is becoming more and more difficult to achieve social equity to meet all citizens’ needs. For this reason, it is important that State policies optimize their human sustainable development plans so that, these are not limited by population growth.

Sustainable rural development

Sustainable rural development is born in response to the changes generated by economic development in ecosystems. Taking into account that there are renewable and non-renewable natural resources, it is important to make good use of them, in order to avoid damaging the soils, fauna or flora of rural areas.

Actions

Actions to promote sustainable development exist in many developed and developing countries to protect the environment from pollution, the efficient use of renewable and non-renewable resources as well as the development of a recycling culture to reuse materials and to use organic waste as fertilizer for some crops. These are some of the actions of many of the nations that have sustainable development as part of State policy to guarantee the future of next generations.

Project

Among the sustainable development projects being implemented in some countries, the following can be mentioned:

• Plants for the use of solar energy.
• Wind farms to use renewable energy.
• The use of wave energy generated by ocean waves.
• Culture of ecological agriculture.