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| Stan Bernstein |
Even though the rate of growth has slowed as a result of women spacing the birth of their children, the need to feed the growing numbers will put an increasing strain on the environment. For example, the Green Revolution required the use of massive amounts of fertilizers and pesticides and led to the depletion of the soil. Irrigation schemes have led to the drying up of the Aral Sea and the reduction of the water level on Lake Chad by half.
Humankind is increasingly an urban species. In five years the majority of the world’s population will be living in cities and by 2050 all regions of the world will be mostly urban, with megacities of more than 10 million people spread throughout the globe. Urbanization leads to the problems of poverty and slums, with air and water pollution, poor housing, and inadequate schools and health care.
The environmental effects of poverty are not widely appreciated in the United States. We need greater awareness of the social agenda for sustainable development — how peoples’ lives affect and are affected by it. A local partnership between governments and “civil society” (non-governmental groups like business, labor unions, educational institutions, advocacy groups, etc.) is vital. Demography can be changed by small changes.
Women’s empowerment is the key to slowing population growth and to improving the quality of life for all. Women need education and training, inheritance and property rights, and employment opportunities. They need universal access to reproductive health care, spacing their children to insure their health, and reduce the need to have more to compensate for those who died. The eradication of AIDS will also protect women and children’s health.
As population declines, consumption becomes more sustainable and economic opportunities for people increase. The quality of life for all people improves with a balance between population, development, and the environment.
The Urban Biosphere — Christine Alfsen-Norodom, Senior Programme Specialist, UNESCO
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| Christine Alfsen-Norodom |
Cities, as they developed in the nineteenth century, are blamed for environmental degradation, poverty, and inequality. However, we should recognize the environmental value of cities as they are unique laboratories for sustainability. Their “ecological footprints” (see later student presentation) reveal the relationship between the consumption needs of cities and the area of cultivation that is required to supply them. The green spaces within cities perform necessary functions in protecting air and water quality, biodiversity, as well as providing recreation. Cities are centers of trade, political activity, and cultural diversity. They illustrate the interdependence of all aspects of the environment.
UNESCO has established a joint program with the Earth Institute at Columbia University to study cities as biosphere reserves. We can learn much by studying the logistics of how cities are economically sustainable and use and conserve their resources. Children need to know more about their immediate environment, the environmental degradation and poverty in cities, but also the resilience of cities and their social and cultural values. Environment is not only what happens in the wilderness, but every action and everyday decisions by ordinary people that can affect the rest of the world, especially in large urban areas. New York City is a good example.
Rio+10 — Zehra Aydin-Sipos, Programme Officer, Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations
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| Zehra Aydin-Sipos |
Many partners in this effort have developed “best practices” in dealing with problems of sustainable development. But the world is still full of problems, and what are best practices in some areas must become normal in all. The Johannesburg Summit is a partnership initiative to work with many stakeholders in a sustainable future. The participants are coming together in a series of Preparatory Committees (PrepComs) to identify what they can do together.
There are two challenges for education. First, people’s minds need to be changed. They need to learn how to think in an integrated way, how the choices they make today will affect society. Secondly, educators can become active partners in the summit initiative by checking the website for information and ideas (http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/ ), and by proposing their own curricula for teaching about sustainable development. Many educators are determined to put such curricula into use and become part of the process of working for a sustainable future.
