Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Thus, it takes into account both the present and future generations without over-exploitation of natural resources and environmental degradation.
This was the definition provided by the group led by Mr. Brundtland in its 1987 report, “Our Common Future.” It urges coordinated efforts to create a future that is both inclusive and resilient for both people and the environment.
Why do we need sustainable development?
The cause is the overuse of natural resources by our ancestors; the human race already experiences resource scarcity, and the crisis of climate change makes sustainable development essential for human society. According to the IPCC report, food production must double over the next 40 years despite the degradation of about 23% of the world’s arable land. By 2025, over 2/3 of the world’s population will reside in locations with limited water resources.
Sustainable development is now necessary for future development as a result of the issues that are approaching our planet. Economic expansion, social inclusion, and environmental conservation are the three main pillars of sustainable development. It is essential to bring them together.
Sustainable livelihood, living in harmony with the environment, sustainable economic progress, and appropriate technology are important for sustainable development.
Focusing on equitable economic growth that generates wealth for all while protecting the environment is what economic sustainability is all about. By making investments and distributing resources equally, we can end poverty in all of its manifestations and dimensions while integrating modern science and ancient wisdom.
Environmental sustainability ensures that nature is protected and exploited responsibly while preventing it from being used as an endless source of resources.
Environmental sustainability is achieved by a variety of factors, including water conservation, renewable energy investment, support for sustainable transportation, and innovation in sustainable building and architecture.
Social sustainability promotes gender equality as well as the growth of individuals, groups, and cultures in order to assist the world to attain a reasonable and fairly distributed standard of living, access to healthcare, and access to education.
Blockchain technology in Sustainable Development
Blockchain technology creates a chain of blocks that each contains digital data that is kept in a public database. It is a distributed database that exists on several computers simultaneously and expands as fresh blocks or sets of recordings are added to it.
A new technological paradigm that integrates the real and virtual worlds and increases automation may include blockchain as a core technology. In addition to the economy, it has the potential to affect how people interact with one another, how governments run, how we interact with the environment, and how countries could pursue sustainable development.
A technological revolution is currently taking place, and blockchain is at the forefront of it. This period is marked by radical developments (driven by suppliers), experimentation, new technology solutions, numerous standards, and conflicting technical specifications.
The key to sustainable development with the aid of Blockchain development is to build a robust infrastructure and transparent supply chains while promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and encouraging innovation. COVID-19 has increased calls for openness and traceability by highlighting the difficulties and weaknesses in international supply networks. We have witnessed how crucial a role Blockchain plays in such circumstances.
Supply chains are a crucial part of the equation for sustainable development since they are essential to everything from international trade to the delivery of aid. This variation has been reflected in supply chain use cases using blockchain. As an illustration, international development institutions like the Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank are looking into the use of blockchain for projects involving trade single windows in South Asia and Latin America, respectively.
Promoting inclusive and peaceful societies is one of the SDGs, as is ensuring everyone has access to justice and creating inclusive, effective institutions at all levels. When combined with “monitorship” models like those developed by Transparency International or the Partnership for Transparency Fund, blockchain technology can be a potent instrument.
When it comes to domestic SDG targets, tax administration can also be a useful tool or an obstacle. The World Bank reports that just 30 of the 75 poorest nations collect more than 15% of their GDP in taxes, which is insufficient to fund even the most basic services.
Importance of Edge computing in Sustainable Development-
Edge computing is the deployment of data-handling functions or other network operations toward specific sources of data capture, such as endpoints like laptops and tablets, as opposed to centralized and always-connected network segments (like Dropbox, Gmail, etc.). This aids in reducing the enormous quantities of energy used by massive data transfers, which account for 2% of global carbon emissions.
When accessing a cloud-based gaming library or streaming a video on services like Netflix, edge computing enables faster data processing and content delivery.
Faster response times, less latency (delay), and easier maintenance are all made possible by technologies like 5G wireless technology and artificial intelligence.
In remote areas with poor or no access to a centralized site, it is preferred to cloud computing. Edge computing offers the ideal answer for the local storage needed at these sites, which functions like a small data center.
Only important data is delivered; the other data does not need to be transferred over a network as soon as it is processed. Thus, a network with edge computing minimizes the quantity of data that passes across it, aiding in sustainable development.
Recent Trends in Sustainable Development
Extreme poverty has significantly decreased in 2019, according to the Sustainable Development Goals Report. Millions of lives have been saved thanks to vaccinations, and the vast majority of people on earth now have access to energy.
Countries are acting proactively to safeguard our world. The Paris Agreement on climate change has been approved by 186 parties, and almost all of them have expressed their first nationally defined commitments.
More than 70 nations and the European Union already have more than 300 policies and instruments promoting sustainable consumption and production, and almost 150 countries have adopted national policies to address the issues of growing urbanization.
There is a lot of hope since a variety of other actors—international organizations, enterprises, local governments, the scientific community, and civil society—have interacted with the SDGs in a positive way that generates great hope for the coming decade.
Establishing a shared goal that can unite the perspectives and efforts of different development stakeholders around the world is crucial in order to make the process of sustainable development feasible and operational. This is done while taking into account the diversity in terms of geography, society, economics, the level of science and technology capabilities, and educational standards and levels.