The basic pillars and dimensions of sustainability
When it comes to sustainability, we often predominately refer to environmental sustainability. It is certainly true that our livelihood depends on nature, but we cannot achieve environmental sustainability without financial balance and meeting human needs. Sustainable development as coined by the IUCN’s 1980 World Conservation Strategy stated that “For development to be sustainable, it must take account of social and ecological factors, as well as economic ones”. These three components of sustainable are known as 3P, which are “People, Planet, Profit/Prosperity”. Typically, they are represented either as intersecting circles, concentric circles, or literal pillars. Nonetheless, they are tightly intertwined. Personally, this is best demonstrated by “The Tragedy of the Commons” (Hardin 1968) in which the actions that are benefiting certain people and individuals, in the long run can be negatively affecting the larger group that also depends on that resource. As an analogy, we can think of a group of people who like to fish in the same pond. Individually, they might think of catching a few more fish to benefit themselves, which may seem harmless, but collectively leads to overfishing and the disruption of the ecosystem to the point where fishing is eventually no longer possible. This simple example has continuously reminded us that natural resources that belong to everyone should be managed sustainably, which can only be successfully done by considering the following 3 intertwined and non-separate entities:
Economy sustainability
This sustainability pillar emphasizes on the use of resources today should not reduce real incomes in the future because sustainability requires that the conditions necessary for equal access to the resource base be met for each subsequent generation(Markandya and Pearce 1988). This implies (1) the use of renewable natural resources in a manner that does not eliminate or degrade them or otherwise diminish their usefulness for future generations, (2) the use of non-renewable resources in a way which does not make it more difficult to access by the future generations, and (3) the need of sufficiently slow-rate of depletion of non-renewable energy resources to ensure the high probability of an orderly societal transition to renewable resouces (Moldan, Janoušková, and Hák 2012) . Economic sustainability requires development and growth to be balanced in its contents and quality, which is not in the long run based on indebtedness or destruction of resources (Jeronen 2013).
Sociocultural sustainability
The social aspect of sustainability is described as the extent to which social values, social identities, social relationships and social institutions can continue into the future which requires that the cohesion of society and its ability to work towards common goals be maintained (Moldan, Janoušková, and Hák 2012). The aim is to secure the transfer of prerequisites of welfare from one generation to another and to equip society with skills and knowledge required for meeting the challenges of sustainable development, thereby also generally improving social well-being which includes individual needs such as health, nutrition, shelter, education and cultural expression (Jeronen 2013).
Environmental sustainability
In terms of environmental sustainability, the primary goals are to reduce the usage of nonrenewable resources, to preserve nature’s generative capacity and ecological values, and to generally improve the condition of the environment. To do so, the important challenges of ecological sustainability are slowing down climatic changes to a level endured by the ecosystems, securing biological diversity and a sustainable use of natural resources(Jeronen 2013).
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
To facilitate progress in sustainability, The UN created The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030 (“About the Sustainable Development Goals – United Nations Sustainable Development” n.d.). They address the global challenges we face and are interconnected. There are 17 goals, as follows:
1. NO POVERTY
Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality.
2. ZERO HUNGER
The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for development, and is central for hunger and poverty eradication.
3. GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages is essential to sustainable development.
4. QUALITY EDUCATION
Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.
5. GENDER EQUALITY
Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.
6. CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in.
7. AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity.
8. DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs.
9. INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Investments in infrastructure are crucial to achieving sustainable development.
10. REDUCED INEQUALITY
To reduce inequalities, policies should be universal in principle, paying attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations.
11. SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
There needs to be a future in which cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more.
12. RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
Responsible Production and Consumption
13. CLIMATE ACTION
Climate change is a global challenge that affects everyone, everywhere.
14. LIFE BELOW WATER
Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future.
15. LIFE ON LAND
Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
16. PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
Access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels.
17. PARTNERSHIP
Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
The Case of Biobased Economy : the concepts and hierarchy of plant-based material
Biobased economy or bioeconomy is the sustainable and innovative use of biomass and biological knowledge to provide food, feed, industrial products, bioenergy, and ecological and other services. Biobased economy can provide sufficient food of adequate quality as well as renewable resources to a growing population and at the same time making sustainable use of natural resources (Lewandowski 2017). This has resulted in biomass as the most common source of renewable energy whose demand is predicted to increase constantly in the future (Energy Agency n.d.). Wood and biofuel crops majorly contributed to the total biomass material used for 60% of EU renewable energy (Scarlat et al. 2019). Consequently, it becomes a question whether enough biomass can be produced for food, animal feed, and bioenergy needed for our future population. Our resources (land, water, labour and capital) and ability to produce biomass is limited, and thus this has created a battle for biomass.
To exemplify, about 40% of agricultural land is used to produce high quality feeds, including cereals which human could also consume and resulting in feed-food competition. Directly consuming these cereals is more resource efficient rather than intermediated by the consumption of livestock which was fed with these cereals. Such use of edible biomass is further complicated by bioenergy production which created the competition between food, feed, and fuel. To mitigate this competition for biomass and avoid increasing pressure on natural resources and ecosystems, we need management strategies for effective use of biomass(Muscat et al. 2019). The concept of circularity in agricultural production has been rising to popularity to solve this problem. The principles are (1) plant biomass is the building block of food and should be used by humans first, (2) by-products from food production processing and consumption should be recycled back into the food system, and (3) use animals for what they are good at (De Boer and Van Ittersum, n.d.). In general, this means optimizing a system by coming up with better ways to integrate crops and livestock production e.g. livestock manure as a fertilizer of food production and the food waste as animal feed. This implies that loss and waste is minimized, while side streams are being incorporated back into the system in a cascading manner based on their quality and following the hierarchy of food-feed-fuel. As an indirect results, this might potentially lower the production cost which in return increase the margin profit and eventually the welfare of farmers. Although the examples have been quite distant to our personal lives. The mindset of biobased and circular economy can always be incorporated to things that we might use on a daily basis e.g. plastics made from cassava starch. Undeniably, such invention is a good start, but personally I’d be more excited to see biodegradable plastics made commercially from waste stream.
S.A.D Team
References
“About the Sustainable Development Goals – United Nations Sustainable Development.” n.d. Accessed July 5, 2020. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
Boer, M De, and Martin K Van Ittersum. n.d. “Imke J Circularity in Agricultural Production.”
Energy Agency, International. n.d. “Technology Roadmap: Delivering Sustainable Bioenergy.” Accessed July 5, 2020. www.iea.org/t&c/.
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243.
Jeronen, Eila. 2013. “Sustainability and Sustainable Development.” In Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2370–78. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8_662.
Lewandowski, Iris. 2017. Bioeconomy: Shaping the Transition to a Sustainable, Biobased Economy. Bioeconomy: Shaping the Transition to a Sustainable, Biobased Economy. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68152-8.
Markandya, Anil, and David Pearce. 1988. “Natural Environments and the Social Rate of Discount.” Project Appraisal 3 (1): 2–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/02688867.1988.9726647.
Moldan, Bedřich, Svatava Janoušková, and Tomáš Hák. 2012. “How to Understand and Measure Environmental Sustainability: Indicators and Targets.” Ecological Indicators 17 (June): 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.04.033.
Muscat, A., E. M. de Olde, I. J.M. de Boer, and R. Ripoll-Bosch. 2019. “The Battle for Biomass: A Systematic Review of Food-Feed-Fuel Competition.” Global Food Security. Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2019.100330.
Scarlat, Nicolae, Jean-Francois Dallemand, Nigel Taylor, Manjola Banja, Javier Sanchez Lopez, and Marios Avraamides. 2019. “Brief on Biomass for Energy in the European Union.” Publications Office of the European Union, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.2760/546943.
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