Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Sustainable Development

TORICO, Bryan R.

TUAZON, Nicole Andrea Q.

USMAN, Soad O.

VILA, Adreian C.

February 23, 2021

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 CONTENTS

I. WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? By: Nicole Andrea Q. Tuazon

Sustainable Development 4

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals 5

How does one country achieve sustainable development? 6

Developed Countries with Unsustainable Development 6

Canada 6

Australia 8

United States of America 8

Is sustainable development possible in developing countries? 10

Conclusion 10

II. PRIMARY PRODUCT AND MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES By Bryan R. Torico

Comprehensive Wealth 11

Adjusted Net Savings 11

Market Failures 11

Externalities 11

Tragedy of the Common 12

3 Pillars of Sustainable Development 12

Social Progress 12

Economic Development 12

Climate and Environment 12

Key Questions 13

Conclusion 14

III. INTERNATIONAL TRADE By: Adreian C. Vila

Trade Regions 15

Imports and Exports 16

South Africa Imports/Exports 17

Madagascar Imports/Exports 18

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 Philippines Imports/Exports 19

Conclusion 21

IV. RURAL DEVELOPMENT By: Soad O. Usman

How can agricultural and rural development best be promoted? 22

Rural Infrastructure 22

Building Human Capital for Rural Sector 23

Agricultural Research and Technology Development 24

Agricultural Prices 24

Stabilization and Risk in Agriculture 25

Direct Government Involvement 26

Sustainable Rural Livelihoods 26

Sustainable Rural Livelihoods for the 21st Century: Policy Implication 27

Enhancing Capability 27

Improving Equity 27

Increasing Social Sustainability 27

List of Policies by Developed Countries that are not Sustainable 28

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WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT By: Nicole Andrea Q. Tuazon

Sustainable Development

Simply put, sustainable development is the concept that human societies must live and meet their

needs of today, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The official

definition, which is also the widely used definition, of sustainable development was developed for the first

time in the Brundtland Report in 1987. When we say a sustainable development, it does not necessarily

mean that we are solely focusing on the future because that would mean that we will be neglecting the

present. The goal of sustainable development is to meet the needs of today, without compromising the

needs of tomorrow, to do things more efficiently, in a way that it is balanced for both the future and the

present. This means we cannot afford to keep using the current available levels of resources as this will not

be enough for future generations to use. Stabilizing and reducing carbon emissions is the key to living within

environmental limits, and together with the development of technology, we are able to come up with better

ways to reduce these carbon emissions.

The goal of sustainable development is to secure economic development, acquire social equity and

justice, and to achieve environmental protection. Although these factors can work in harmony, they can

possibly be in conflict with one another. In the 20th century, we are currently in a position wherein we are

consuming more resources compared to the previous centuries, and continuously polluting the earth with

waste products. Studies show that society has grown to realize that it is impossible to live in a healthy

society, environment, or economy with a big portion of poverty still rampant together with environmental

degradation. Economic growth is still a basis for human development, but it must change and become less

destructive to the environment. The challenge for sustainable development is to change out unsustainable

ways into sustainable ones and to live by these practices. Sustainable development not only needs a long-

term plan, but also an integrated approach in developing and achieving a healthy community through

addressing economic, environmental, and social issues while avoiding the overconsumption of natural

resources. Developing countries should also be allowed to meet their basic needs of employment, food,

energy, water, and sanitation. Economic growth should be supported and along with that, developing

nations should be allowed a chance of equal growth similar to the quality of developed nations.

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The 17 Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development provides a blueprint for the peace and prosperity

of people and the planet, for the present up to the future. Currently, there are 17 Sustainable Goals or

SDGs. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go together along with strategies

that improve health and education. To reduce inequality, all while taking in consideration how climate

change will affect us.

Figure 1.1 The 17 Sustainable Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals are also known as the Global Goals, and they were adopted

by the United Nations Member States on the year 2015 as a universal call of action to end poverty, protect

the planet and ensure that all people will enjoy peace and prosperity by the year 2030. More importantly,

with the rise of the pandemic. The 17 Sustainable Goals provide a critical framework for a COVID-19

recovery worldwide.

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How does one country achieve sustainable development?

The aim of sustainable development is to balance 3 factors, which is economic needs,

environmental needs, and social needs to allow prosperity now and for future generations. Sustainable

development consists of a long term and integrated approach to develop and achieve a healthy community

and it can be achieved by jointly addressing the economic, environmental, and social issue while avoiding

the overconsumption of key natural resources. The key word is long term. Whenever we say long term, it

means that it will continue on for more than just a year. It requires a continuous effort. To say that a country

is achieving a sustainable development, means that the problem over economic, environmental, and social

issues are addressed and resolved. Not only that, but avoiding the over consumption of natural resources

should also be observed. We cannot say that a country is already achieving a sustainable development if

it is just simply doing one over the other.

Developed Countries with Unsustainable Development

Developed countries are known to be leading in terms of Gross Domestic Product or GDP. There

are numerous countries who are excelling in the world trade and they are holding top spots in terms of GDP

Rankings. Though these developed countries are leading in terms of GDP, does that automatically mean

that these countries are also achieving a sustainable development? Here are some developed countries

with a high GDPs, yet they have unsustainable development.

Canada

The development of tar sands in Canada are posing an existential threat to the boreal

forests. These boreal forests are also called a Taiga. It mainly consists of pine trees and spruce

wood. The tar sands oil is not pumped out of the ground, instead it is mine in a similar manner to

coal. Coal requires a mountain top removal practiced by coal miners. Similarly, tar sands mining

requires clear cutting of the boreal forests. It acts a double carbon hit. There is carbon released

when the forest is being cleared cut and there is carbon released whenever oil is burned, which

makes tar sands the dirtiest of all fuels.

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 Figure 1.2 Boreal Forest

Figure 1.3 Tar Sands Mining and Clearing of Boreal Forests

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Australia

Australia’s wildlife is currently in a poor state and it is continuously worsening. Reports say

that “81 ecosystems, 511 terrestrial and aquatic animal species, and 1,355 plant species” are listed

as threatened to the national level. For the past year, we have been seeing reports and news

coverage that there is an alarming increase of bushfires in Australia, due to these forest fires, many

of these creatures living inside the forests are listed as threatened. Reports say that over 1 billion

animals have died in the forest fires and about 15 million acres have burned in the year 2020.

Figure 1.4 Forest Fires in Australia

United States

The United States of America is doing well on the economy yet it scores badly on gender

equality, income equality, sustainable consumption and production, taking climate and environment

action, ensuring peace and security at home, and supporting the sustainable development goals.

It is common knowledge that the United States of America has a high GDP per capita, even being

the 5th in the 2020 ranking of OECD countries.

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 As we have observed having a high GDP does not equate to having a sustainable development.

For all we know, you could be the richest country yet in exchange for that, you are consistently damaging

the environment with unsustainable ways.

Figure 1.5 Sustainable Goals Dashboard for OECD Countries

OECD stands for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. These OECD

Countries by all means are those who are leading in terms of their GDP. Based on the graph, it can be

observed that a lot of countries are failing to meet or uphold the sustainable development goals, such as

Canada, Australia, and the United States of America. We can conclude that because of these countries’

development, they are the ones who are majorly affecting the climate change, with their clearing of forests

in exchange for industrialization, to forest fires that destroys the forests, disrupts the ecosystem, and

pollutes the atmosphere.

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Is sustainable development possible in developing countries?

We have talked about developed countries with unsustainable development, now let’s head over to

developing countries. Reports say, that sustainable development remains a distant hope for many

developing countries. It is because of the fact that managing urbanization and poverty in these developing

countries is essential to achieve a sustainable development. It is considered distance because the main

problem that these countries are facing is poverty. In poverty, stems many problems which results in a

chain reaction. When you are poor, you cannot afford quality education, worse you have no means to

access any form of education at all, unemployment is also a result of poverty, along with no access to clean

water. For developing countries, completely eradicating poverty is idealistic, because as long as there are

people living below the poverty line, achieving a sustainable development will remain distant.

Conclusion

So now we can conclude that in achieving a sustainable development, it will require a joint effort from

everyone that will be affected, and everyone that will benefit if we were to achieve the sustainable

development goals. The main challenge of sustainable development is to address poverty and exclusion,

unemployment, climate change, and conflict, both external and internal in nature. Achieving a sustainable

development does not happen overnight, it requires years of improvement as well as consistency because

if we are not consistent with our ways, sustainable development is impossible. Although eradicating poverty

in developing countries is going to be a long process, it is not totally impossible. Even though we have

established that it is distant for developing countries to achieve a sustainable development, does not

necessarily mean that it won’t happen. Every one has the right to have a good standard way of living and

not just the bare minimum, because no one deserves to live with just barely getting by.

Sources:

https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definitions-sustainable-development-sustainability/

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/30/australias-record-on-emissions-and-sustainability-condemned-by-oecd-review

http://www.senseandsustainability.net/2012/02/15/canadas-unsustainable-development/

https://www.fastcompany.com/40438271/when-it-comes-to-sustainable-development-the-u-s-is-failing-by-a-lot

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PRIMARY PRODUCT AND MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES By: Bryan R. Torico

Comprehensive wealth

Comprehensive wealth defines the current generation’s well-being and constrains the well-being of

future generations. A sustainable path of development (a path along which the well-being of each

generation is at least equal to that of the previous generation) requires the creation of wealth at a rate at

least equal to the rate of population growth.

Adjusted Net Saving

The increase in comprehensive wealth equals adjusted net savings ANS, sometimes called

genuine saving, defined as gross national savings adjusted for the annual changes in the volume of all

forms of capital
NS = Net Savings

𝑁𝑆 = 𝑆 − 𝐷𝑚 S = Gross Savings

𝐴𝑁𝑆 = 𝑁𝑆 − 𝐷𝑛 𝐷𝑚 = Depreciation of Made Capital

𝐷𝑛 = Depreciation of Natural Capital

Market Failures

Market failure is the economic situation defined by an inefficient distribution of goods and services

in the free market. In market failure, the individual incentives for rational behavior do not lead to rational

outcomes for the group. In other words, each individual makes the correct decision for him or herself, but

those prove to be the wrong decisions for the group. In traditional microeconomics, this can sometimes be

shown as a steady-state disequilibrium in which the quantity supplied does not equal the quantity

demanded.

Externalities

An externality stems from the production or consumption of a good or service, resulting in a cost or

benefit to an unrelated third party.

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Tragedy of the Common

Problem in economics that occurs when individuals neglect the well-being of society in the pursuit

of personal gain.

-Common pool Resources

-Rivalrous in consumption

-Non-excludable

3 Pillars of Sustainable Development

To make the world a better place for everyone without destroying possibilities for future generations

• Social Progress

it refers to the human capital, as the creation of tools that improve the citizens’ quality of life, laws to

support the necessity of the population and the development of improving politics in areas like

education, security and leisure. This pillar assumes that the searching for a sustainable society has the

idea of having a well-cared and healthy society. Besides, it is important to provide an environment that

stimulates the legitimate and healthy work relationship, in order to favor the personal and collective

development of all people involved.

• Economic Development

the environmental pillar has its roots on the many ways to search for the environmental preservation,

the natural resources and the diminishing of the damage caused to the environment during the years.

It is on this stage that the companies study the ways to accomplish their operations causing the lowest

possible impact to the environment.

• Climate & Environment

it refers to subjects about production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. To have

sustainability, companies cannot profit at the expense of work exploitation or irresponsible and criminal

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 exploitation of the environment. The financial area benefits from sustainable attitudes, because they

reduce materials, energy and water, reducing also their bill in the end of the month. In other words,

there is a cyclic process of benefits between sustainability and economy.

Key Questions:

Should exports of primary products such as agricultural commodities and raw materials be

promoted?

Primary products have their own limitations but it can provide a starting block for a country to earn

export revenue. It depends on whether the country is able to use this export to invest and diversify into

other areas of the economy. Sustainable development goals should be abode specifically the life on land

and water to promote primary products for export

Why manufacturing is essential for economic growth?

1. Economic development has (almost never) happened without industrialization

Throughout the history of capitalism, practically all countries that have transformed their

economies from low to high income have done so through a process of industrialization.

2. Manufacturing drives productivity growth and innovation

The reason for the strong relationship between industrialization and economic

development is that the manufacturing sector is the driver of productivity growth. This, in turn, is

the lifeblood of technological development.

Economies of scale (reduced cost per unit that arise from increased production) are more

easily achieved in the manufacturing sector than in the service sector. This is because

manufacturing activities lend themselves more easily to mechanization and chemical processing.

3. Manufacturing helps services

Every economic activity stimulates another economic activity. So, just as manufacturing

stimulates the provision of services, services stimulate manufacturing production. But evidence

shows that manufacturing has a stronger “multiplier effect” than services.

4. The manufacturing sector is larger than you think

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 Not only do many services depend on a manufacturing core, some of them are also by

their very nature linked to manufacturing. These most importantly include industrial R&D,

innovation, product design, and other engineering-related services.

5. The fourth industrial revolution is not stealing manufacturing jobs

With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution – technological breakthroughs associated

with things like artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, and 3D

printing – there is a growing fear that manufacturing will become less reliant on human labor

Should all developing countries attempt to industrialize by developing their own manufacturing

industries as rapidly as possible?

Yes, because developing manufacturing industries would greatly benefit the economy of the

developing countries. But, the phrase “as rapidly as possible” makes it cringe-worthy. It is more of economic

development and social progress; climate and environment might be at stake. With the help of the SDGs,

three aspects of sustainable development can be achieved.

Conclusion

If the manufacturing industries to be established would strictly follow these SDGs, then the

developing countries should attempt to industrialize by developing them since thru this sustainable

development is achievable. The smarter we use our natural resources and the better systems we create

for a fair distribution the more sustainable we are. One way to contribute to this is to be more aware of what

we buy and how it is produced. If we are to win the battle for a sustainable future, we have to play with fair

rules that applies to everyone (the 3 aspects mentioned earlier) Those 3 must work together to achieve

sustainable development. There is actually a plan for this which is why UN's SDGs exist. We need to

address global issues to ensure sustainability.

Sources:

https://aspioneer.com/why-manufacturing-is-essential-for-economic-growth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V8oFI4GYMY&ab_channel=FN-sambandetNorge
https://slideplayer.com/slide/4988598/

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE By: Adreian C. Vila

Trade Regions

Is expanded international trade desirable from the point of view of the development of poor

nations? Who gains from trade? How are the advantages distributed among nations? Before answering

those questions, we should first establish how a poor country is considered. Low and middle-income

economies are usually referred to as Developing Countries and the upper-middle income and the high

income are referred to as Developed Countries. There are factors affecting the decisions for classifying

income. Such as growth, inflation, exchange rates, and population growth influence of Gross National

Income or GNI per capita. What are the advantages of international trade? International trade comes

along increased revenues, longer product lifespan, easier cash-flow management, better risk

management, benefiting from currency exchange, access to export financing, and disposal of surplus

goods.

Listed below is a table of countries sorted by their trade region and colored according to their

income. Red means low-income countries, Orange means lower-middle income countries, Yellow means

upper-middle income countries, and Green means high income countries.

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 Figure 3.1 Table of Countries by their Trade Region

Figure 3.2 Table of Countries by their Trade Region

Based on the observation, the Sub-Saharan Africa has a high-concentrated low-income country,

while the Europe and Central Asia region has a high-concentrated high-income country, which is good

because if you apply research techniques here, you will use convenience sampling and selecting 2

cluster regions for comparison of improvement.

Imports and Exports

The 2 Graphs below shows the import trades and export trades of the Sub Saharan Africa

Region. The blue line indicates the totality of all trades of the region, with a peak of 350-400 trillion

dollars’ worth of trades at 2011-2013.

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Figure 3.3 South Africa Imports compared with Sub-Saharan Africa Region

Figure 3.4 South Africa Exports compared with Sub-Saharan Africa Region

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 Removing the total trades, and excluding some countries since they are at the lower-middle income

category and for the sake of better look of the graph, will let us see the lower portion of the graph that is

crumpled. In here, you will see now that the average trade per low-income countries is somewhere 3-5

Trillion Dollars’ worth of trade.

Figure 3.5 Madagascar Imports compared with Sub-Saharan Africa Region

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 Figure 3.6 Madagascar Exports compared with Sub-Saharan Africa Region

Are these numbers big for their country to be called “benefiting” from international trade? Let’s now

look at these next graphs.

These 2 graphs show the Europe and central Asia region trade, both in exports and imports. The

Blue line, once again, is the totality of all trade in the region, which has a peak of 7500 trillion dollars’ worth

of trades. This is 18.75x higher than those of Sub Saharan Africa Region.

Figure 3.7 Philippine Imports compared with Europe and Central Asia Region

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 Figure 3.8 Philippine Exports compared with Europe and Central Asia Region

Removing the Europe and Central Asia line will let us see a more detailed graph, now seeing

Germany as the highest import and export trade with a peak of 1250 trillion dollars’ worth of trade, both

exports and imports, with also having the average trade of all countries in the region are about 250 trillion

dollars’ worth of trade and that is 50x higher than the Sub-Saharan Region.

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 Figure 3.9 Philippine Imports Compared with Europe and Central Asia Region

Figure 3.10 Philippine Exports Compared with Europe and Central Asia Region

Conclusion

In general, the distribution of gains and disadvantages are favorable to the developed high-income

countries, since almost no countries grow faster than the others. They are all just growing at a steady pace,

and therefore not giving the developing countries a chance to grow faster than the already developed

countries. Overall, every country is still growing, even those that are considered as third world countries

are now able to trade globally, which is better than no trade at all.

Sources:

https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-
groups
https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Compare/Country/USA/Indicator/MPRT-TRD-
VL/partner/WLD/product/Total/region/NAC/show/line

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT By: Soad O. Usman

How can agricultural and rural development best be promoted?

With more than half of the people in developing countries still residing in rural areas, how can

agricultural and rural development best be promoted? Rural development is a process integrated with

economic and social objectives, which must seek to transform rural society and provide a better and more

secure livelihood for rural people. Rural development, therefore, is a process of analysis, problem

identification and the proposal of relevant solutions. This process is usually encompassed within a

program or a project which seeks to tackle the problem identified. SARD means Sustainable Agriculture

and Rural Development.

1. Rural Infrastructure

Rural infrastructure improvements contribute to sustainable agriculture rural development by

improving the availability of services or other facilities that enhance the productivity of private rural capital.

Examples are:

• A tarmac road that lowers travel time and reduces vehicle running costs, also lowers the

costs of marketing agricultural produce and reduces the delivered cost of farm and

household requisites.

• Similarly, an irrigation system raises the productivity of farmland,

• While a telephone system lowers transaction costs in agricultural marketing and improves

efficiency by giving producers better access to price information.

While public investments in rural infrastructure are important, so is the provision of systems and

funding for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. Without the latter, investments in infrastructure may

be wasted or may yield lower benefits than they should. One of the most significant impacts on

sustainable development of the crisis in Africa in the 1980s was the serious deterioration of all types of

infrastructure because of lack of maintenance.

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 Because provision of infrastructure is usually expensive and because opportunities are many and

funds restricted, major policy questions arise as to which infrastructure projects are to be given priority. In

such a situation, proper investment appraisal is important. Such appraisals should obviously account for

environmental impacts of the proposed project. In planning a new road, for instance, proper attention to

alignment and to such design features as the control of storm-water run-off may add little to costs but may

reduce the environmental harm considerably.

2. Building Human Capital for Rural Sector

Improvement in human capital have been the source of most of the gains in the productivity of

agricultural land and labor in the past. While economists typically think about human capital as arising

from schooling, it is often helpful to think of human capital as anything that enhances worker productivity,

including physical strength, schooling, experience, and entrepreneurial skill. Given that the land frontier

has been reached in most countries, and that areas available for farming and forestry are likely to decline,

policies to enhance rural human capital need to be given high priority.

The provision of universal education and health services in rural areas are two main ways of

improving the agricultural human resource base. Usually, neither of these will be the responsibility of

agricultural planners. However, the training of agriculturalists and the dissemination of agricultural

knowledge to farmers and others is usually a matter in which agricultural ministries have some

responsibility.

Policy interventions here, therefore, relate to the provision and operation of training facilities, and

programs to extend that training into rural villages. The scope, organization and orientation of agricultural

extension also need to be considered. The existing extension service may not be up to the task of

promoting SARD. The skills of the personnel may need to be upgraded to provide them with better

understanding of sustainable farming methods. Given the increasing recognition of the importance of

people's participation in attaining SARD, those extension services that have been used to a 'top-down'

approach may need to undergo dramatic reform.

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 3. Agricultural Research and Technology Development

Agricultural research can be broadly defined as any research activity aimed at improving

productivity and quality of crops by their genetic improvement, better plant protection, irrigation, storage

methods, farm mechanization, efficient marketing, and a better management of resources.

It is generally believed that investment in agricultural research will result in beneficial returns.

• Protecting crops and livestock from pests and disease

• Improving the quality and safety of agricultural products

• Sustaining soil and other natural resources

• Ensuring profitability for farmers and processors

• Keeping costs down for consumers.

Agricultural technology. Given that improvement in efficiency ng production is needed and the

solution is in agricultural technology. Agricultural technology has been a primary factor contributing to

increases in farm productivity in developing countries over the past half-century. Although there is still

widespread food insecurity, the situation without current technology development would have been

unimaginable.

4. Agricultural Prices

Policies designed to raise the prices paid for agricultural produce may be implemented by

restricting or taxing competing imports, by limiting production by quotas, or by direct subsidies. Producer

prices may be driven down by restricting or taxing agricultural exports, by subsidizing imports, or by

directly taxing sales.

In the past, at least, governments in less developed countries have typically sought to drive farm

prices down to keep food prices low. Often, the aim was to benefit urban dwellers and to restrain the

growth of urban wages. Governments in industrialized countries, on the other hand, have typically sought

to push farm prices up to satisfy farm lobby groups. Recently, there has been increasing recognition that

both types of distortion cause mis-allocation of resources and are therefore not conducive to SARD.

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 While any inefficiency in resource allocation can be damaging for SARD, there are some specific

negative impacts of distorted agricultural prices. Low agricultural prices threaten SARD by discouraging

the growth of farm production and by making it difficult for rural people to earn sustainable livelihoods.

Investment in agricultural resources, such as land improvements, will be dampened under a low-price

regime. High prices, on the other hand, lead to uneconomic use of inputs, some of which, such as

chemicals, may be damaging to the environment. High prices may encourage the too intensive use of

marginal lands. They may also prompt socially unprofitable and unsustainable but privately profitable

investments, such as unsuitable clearing of forest and woodland, or draining of wetlands, for agricultural

use.

5. Stabilization and Risk in Agriculture

There are two main areas of policy intervention in relation to risk in agriculture. The first is in

hazard reduction. Major natural disasters, such as cyclones, severe floods, or fires, can have significant

negative impacts on the resource base. Land may be irreversibly damaged by sudden erosion, land slips

or inundation. Similarly, assets such as crops, trees, animals, and land-based improvements such as

fences, terraces, irrigation works, roads and villages may be damaged or destroyed over large areas.

Policy makers need to give attention to justifiable measures to prevent or limit the impacts of such

disasters. Instruments include the construction of protective works such as levee banks or fire breaks,

and the establishment and maintenance of disaster warning systems.

The invasion of agricultural systems by serious pests, diseases or weeds is another potential

hazard that can be minimized by proper quarantine measures and by having in place plans to control

outbreaks before they spread.

Man-made disasters, such as wars and civil unrest, can produce damage at least on the same

scale as many natural disasters. In these cases, both prevention and mitigation of consequences are

obviously more difficult.

The second type of policy intervention is needed after a disaster, whether natural or man-made,

has happened. For the damaged systems to recover with minimal threat to sustainability, governments

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(perhaps along with international agencies) may need to implement various forms of disaster relief. Relief

measures adopted may include emergency food supply, provision of materials for replanting crops,

supply of replacement breeding animals, and help with reconstruction.

6. Direct Government Involvement

Governments often engage directly (usually through government agencies set up for the purpose)

in rural resource management, more often in forestry than in farming. They also often participate in

agricultural input supply, provision of rural credit, and in marketing agricultural production.

In regard to all such participation, the policy question to be addressed is whether government

agencies are as efficient and effective in the attainment of SARD as private enterprise would be.

Governments are increasingly moving to privatize these types of functions in the belief that the answer to

the question is in the negative. However, it is unwise to be too dogmatic on the issue. There may be

cases where public ownership can be advantageous. For example, governments can typically get access

to capital at lower rates than private businesses. Arguably, therefore, they are better placed than the

private sector to make the long-term investments needed for sustainable production in, say, forestry.

Thus, direct government participation in production and marketing in agriculture needs to be looked at on

a case-by-case basis, and not judged in any doctrinaire fashion.

7. Sustainable Rural Livelihoods

Since SARD means sustainable rural livelihoods, now and in the future, policies are needed in

many less developed countries (and in some industrialized ones) to deal with the persistent problem of

rural poverty. Unfortunately, it is not easy to identify and implement appropriate remedial measures - if it

were, the problem of poverty would have been solved long ago.

Sustainable reductions in poverty will surely require the integrated and effective implementation

of a wide range of policy initiatives under all or most of the headings in this section of the guidelines. To

illustrate what may be entailed, Box 1 contains one suggested list of the policy measures needed to assist

the rural poor to attain sustainable livelihoods.

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Sustainable Rural Livelihoods for the 21st Century: Policy Implication

Adapted from Chamber and Conway, pp. 31-33

I. Enhancing Capability

The provision of enabling infrastructure and services including:

- Education for livelihood-linked capability

- Health, both preventive and curative to prevent permanent disability

- Bigger and better baskets of choices for agriculture, and support for farmer’s experiments

- Transport, communications, and information services (about rights, markets, prices, skills,

etc.…)

- Flexible credit for new small enterprises

II. Improving Equity

Giving priority to the capabilities and access of the poorer, including minorities and women, via:

- Redistribution of tangible assets, especially land, and land to the tiller

- Secure rights to land, water, trees, and other resources, and secure inheritance for children

- Protection and management of common property resources and equitable rights of access for

the poorer

- Enhancing the intensity and productivity of resource use, and exploiting small-scale economic

synergy

- Rights and effective access to services, especially education, health, and credit

- Removing restrictions which impoverish and weaken the poor

III. Increasing Social Sustainability

Reducing vulnerability so that the poor do not become poorer by:

- Establishing peace and equitable law and order

- Disaster prevention

- Counter-seasonal strategies to provide food, income, and work for the poorer at bad times of

the year

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 - Prompt support in bad years, and high prices for tangible assets that people sell in distress

- Health services that are accessible and effective in bad seasons, including treatment for

accidents

- Conditions for lowering fertility

List of Policies by Developed Countries that are not Sustainable

Delany-Crowe, T., Marinova D., Fisher, M. et al.

Australian policies on water management and climate change: are they supporting the

sustainable development goals and improved health and well-being?

SDG 6: ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

According to the article, “the way water is governed in Australia is not optimal”. Problem is there

is an isolated division of accountability and action for water system management to the environment

sector while many of the levers for change remain unaddressed in other sectors. Example is the relative

silence on policy strategies of agricultural industry to reduce the water consumption. Also, there is a

neoliberal government ideology that shapes how government respond on the situation or problem that

favor economy, industry or market that compromise our environment. Many of the change humans have

made to freshwater rivers, such as diversions, and to land, such as clearing and deforestation, have

occurred to support agricultural activities and other human resource production. Majority of Australia’s

surface water are used to service irrigated agriculture. The amount of water used in agricultural

production means that unsustainable production activities are likely to have much more impact than

domestic water use. On average, agriculture uses 50–70% of the water consumed in Australia each year.

Billions of people around the world, they do not have infrastructure to deliver water to people’s

home. So people have to leave their house, walk long distances, fetch water from well or lake, carried all

the way back to their home.

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 There is a need to address this unsustainable act, knowing that the main contributor is the

country itself. There are threat including restricted availability of adequate, clean river flows, food

insecurity and potential increases in floods and the resulting social dislocation.

Luckily, Australia has made a reform to manage water system especially on the agricultural

industry.

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