Sustainable Development Rural and Poverty Alleviation

Question: Discuss about the Sustainable Development for Rural and Poverty Alleviation. Answer: Introduction The introduction of new technologies in the world is a result of changing environment and mindset of the people. The modernization of the world is a positive side for the development of the lifestyle and living of the human race but, it is primary notice to look into the fact that these developments reach to the hands of the people equally and globally. The concentration of these developments in the hands of a few countries or in the hands of a few sections of the society will lead to inequality in the world. Every human has the same right to reap the fruits of development and so approaches and initiatives need to taken by the Government and the other Non-Governmental Organizations to supervise the fact that a sustainable development reaches the hands of the backward sections of the society and help to alleviate poverty from the society (Ford, Meadwell Terris 2016). The current paper discusses about the sustainable development approaches in the rural areas and alleviation of poverty through different essential policy goals and dimensions. The paper even evaluates the different institutions who are involved in this development process and changes they need to undertake in order to provide an effective service to the backward class of the society. The essential recommendations that need to be addressed are also shown thereby giving a clear image of how sustainable development in the global environment is attainable Sustainable Development for poverty alleviation and rural development The establishment of sustainable development was in the eighties during the World Commission on Development of Environment in 1987 (WCED). The word sustainable development refers to the progress that fulfills the requirement of the current generation by not sacrificing the capabilities of the coming generations to satisfy their current desires. The life changing moments of sustainable rural development is the Earth Summit of UNCED, organized in Brazil at Rio de Janeiro in the year 1992 (United Nations 2012). The summit decided that there will be an agreement by the agents of the State to initiate a procedure to create a bunch of sustainable development objectives and targets that will act as a significant equipment for undertaking coherent and focused action plan on sustainable development. Sustainable development is an essential part for rural development as poverty still remains an essential rural problem. It is seen that the majority of the world population lives in the rural areas. It is assumed that over 76% of the developing countrys poor dwell in rural areas, which is by far higher than the overall population of people living in the rural areas that is only 58%. The quantity and quality of the food and clothing that the consumers can purchase are greatly restricted by poverty. The labors working in the developing and underdeveloped countries earn less than $ 2 per day and this small amount of money in these areas, the demand for food and other necessities fall, which results to the fall in production and supply of food production and distribution (Pugh 2014). The pressure on the rural areas even lead to environmental limitations, like water resources, soil and energy, which makes the rural environment more difficult to live in. Conceptual and theoretical framework of Sustainable Development The Environment and Development declaration in Rio is the foundation of Sustainable Development. The Rio convention created a set of twenty seven principles and regulations that promoted this concept. Principle 1 includes the concentration of humanity towards the awareness of sustainable rural development. Principles 3 and 4 concentrate on the significance of environment over the present and current population and its balance movement towards improvement. Principle 5 states the primacy of poverty elimination. Principle 6 focuses on the special features and considerations provided to the underdeveloped and developing countries. Principle 7 of CBDR provides the standards of common but differentiated responsibilities. The declaration also highlights the two vital standards of polluter gives according to Principle 16 and the prudent path of Principle 15 (Tilman Clark 2014). It therefore, implements standards pertaining to the involvement and the significance of definite societies for de velopment. United Nations Conference celebrated their twenty years on Sustainable Development in Rio in 2012 where the same agreement was made by the heads of state to establish a development process with a bunch of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which becomes vital equipment to perform coherent and concentrated action on sustainable development (UNDESA 2013). There are other frameworks like the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that are clear indications that the leaders of the worlds can unite to address the major problems and challenges of the present time. These problems are not only financial crisis or wars but poverty is also another factor. The point of difference between the Sustainable Development Goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) shows the amplitude of concurrence that exists in different countries with respect to the huge underlying aims and objectives. The contexts of SDGs and the MDGs are the pervasiveness of the collective challenges in the core of sustainable development and countries constant inefficiency in resolving the pertinent challenges (Le Blanc et al., 2012). Key policy goals and dimensions of Sustainable Development The existence of a high level board on World Sustainability of United Nations in 2012, create the best systematic and orderly review of the standards pertaining with any framework related to Sustainable Development (Morelli 2013). The reviews are as follows: It needs to be universal in character, enveloping the problems to all countries rather than concentrating on the developing countries. It needs to show a global strategy agreed upon vastly for sustainable development. It should bring in the range of the essential area that was not fully focused by the MDGs. The policy needs to be comprehensive concentrating on the various dimensions of sustainable development. It needs to bring in the short term benchmarks with respect to relating to the extended term in scope by moving forward to a deadline of a future year. The policy should bring in all the stakeholders in the establishment and mobilization of the resources. It should provide the extent for the review of these goals and objectives in the view of developing scientific evidence. On the other hand, while undertaking the current research the work of identifying a set of measurable indicators was challenging. The indicators are increased starting from the dimensions of sustainable development it is found that there are no consistent criterion among the firms about the number and varieties of dimensions (Malhotra, Melville Watson 2013). Article 8.6 of Agenda 21 reveals that the countries could establish systems for controlling and analyzing the progress towards attaining sustainable development by implementing indicators that measure transformations across social, economic and environmental dimensions, but in the other documents of UN it considers another prospect like a fourth dimension (United Nations 2012). UNESCO takes into account three dimensions of sustainable development also named as political dimensions like politics, democracy and decision-making. Accomplishment, Challenges and Barriers in introducing Sustainable Development The board on the Global Sustainability also illustrated a detailed analysis about the development in the sustainable development. The vital indicators are discussed below: Economic growth and inequality: The overall GDP of the world in the last decade increased by 75% but the growth of inequality has also been consistent. Poverty Elimination: The countries all over the world are on a smooth track to beat the MDG. Forests: The deforestation rate has lowered but the world is still losing its forest cover at a high rate. Oceans: The overexploitation of fishing has created a situation of decrease in the ocean environment in the last two decades. Climate Change: The emission of CO2 annually has increased by 38% in the last decade that leads to the increase in the average temperature of the country (Morelli 2013). Ecosystem and Biodiversity: There are clues that indicate that most habitats are decreasing and the rate of extinction of species has increased. Gender: There have been substantial growth in the rights, skills and health of women, but there are still a few differences in many societies. Education: There has been remarkable development in the education globally. The literacy has increased worldwide but the progress is low. Hunger: The food production in the world has been increasing and there are enough food to feed everyone but the access to the food is different. The last decade saw drastic changes in technology that as affected the other aspects of science, cultural relations and customs, which has collateral effects in the environment that generates new challenges and scenarios like: Social and environmental costs of Green revolution There have been drastic climate changes, which is a risk to all the countries. Degradation of the environment through loss of fertile soils, unstable forest management etc is also a factor. Transformation in the global economy suggests that no country is immune to situations in the larger global economy. Responsiveness and accountability: The management at all levels is facing new problems from the consumers who ask whether they are acting for the public interest (Crouch 2015). Food security: The problem of chronic hunger is not about the quantity of food but the accessibility of food. The decrease of waste can be an area, which needs proper monitoring. Major Institutions that need Changes The continuous transformation in the world is compelling all the institutions concentrating on sustainable development to change. The NGOs have become important players in the sustainable development and international relations. Even in the private sector, the firms are moving from the voluntarism of corporate social responsibility and going towards complex edged and genuine systematic approaches both through their operations and in their public policy. There are many international and national non-profitable society enterprises that are taking initiatives of coming out of individual portfolios and searching for cutting edge agendas (Moldan, Janoukov Hk 2012). The organizations have an important function to act as an inspiring and introducing sustainable development in both global and national levels as well as creating a gateway to open more political area for sustainable development. In the current state, there are many special cases that transform not only the awareness but the participation of citizens in sustainable development and find out the growth of social networking mechanisms, which are even empowering the individuals. The citizens are even getting aware of the unpredictable political results. If these technologies are used properly, it could open up positive political results, especially if the platforms of crowd sourcing provide more participatory, transparent and collaborative approaches to decision-making and governance (UN Secretary-Generals High-level Panel on Global Sustainability 2012). Essential policy recommendations for Sustainable Development The available clues and scenarios indicate the function of international collaborations in searching answers for the challenges of sustainable development. An initiative for international cooperation needs to be established that helps to support the three dimensions of sustainable development (Cook et al., 2012). These dimensions are: The requirement of eliminating poverty and hunger The worldwide ecological movement of human beings The organization of the worldwide common issues regarding sustainable development and environment. A framework covering these aspects needs to be implemented to eradicate the challenges in the future. The adoption of sustainable development without rejection of the other goals and objectives has shown the resistance from the organizations at all levels to completely bring in sustainable development as advising framework for their operations and activities resulting to the creation of parallel roads in many areas. The financial and economic governance stays out of sustainable development both in the national and international level (UNDESA 2012).Therefore, the following are the recommendations for an effective Sustainable Development: Creativity and innovation Empowering and motivating the people Conserve the resources of the world and promote the use of renewable energies Training, education and skills for sustainable development Goal integration Food security recommendations and strengthening of institutional governance. Conclusion The current study therefore, underlines the need for sustainable development in the world and how it can be effective in transforming the world as a whole. The step towards this development will bring in parity in the society of the world as the problem of poverty in the rural areas can be mitigated and every citizen in the world can have a proper living standard. The different stages of sustainable development and their roles created by the different Governmental organizations are also discussed and the area where sustainable development needs to focus to safeguard the natural environment is also given. Therefore, it is seen that sustainable development is an important factor in the current scenario of the world so that all the citizens residing in the rural and urban areas of the world receive the same of level of satisfaction and have a proper standard of living along with keeping a parity between the current use of resources without affecting the resources for the future generation. Reference List Allen Clouth 2012. Green Economy, Green Growth, and Low-Carbon Development history, definitions and a guide to recent publications, UNDESA: A guidebook to the Green Economy Bowles, W., Boetto, H., Jones, P., McKinnon, J. (2016). Is social work really greening? 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