Exposure to Sustainable Development

- Raj Das

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Two most important economic activities…….

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Production

and

Consumption
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Production and Consumption (A model of linear economy)

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What is environment?
The complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (as climate, soil,
and living things) that act upon an organism / ecological community &
ultimately determines its form and survival.

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In simple words Environment is

• We and everything surrounding us

• Includes air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna,

humans and their interrelation

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Before we understood ‘environment’ in true sense we rarely
gave attention to its linkage with one very important
component of the production and consumption process.

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Production and Consumption (A model of linear economy)

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Externality
An externality is a cost or benefit of an economic activity experienced
by an unrelated third party.

•Positive Externality: Transfer of benefits

•Negative Externality: Transfer of costs

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Till we realized the meaning of ‘environment’ properly we never paid
attention to the negative externalities of our economic activities or
rather all our activities. We never acknowledged the costs of economic
activities forced upon the unrelated third parties.
Excessive and irrational usage of resources for centuries heavily
affected the ecosystem and posed a threat to the growth potential of
successive generations. This ultimately paved the path for inequalities
among communities and countries.

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 Some Glaring Facts
•Nature provides services worth US$ 125 Trillion a year and supports
approximately 70 per cent of the world’s poor for livelihoods
•The value of ecosystem services lost between 1995 and 2011 at US$ 4-20
Trillion
•Losses due to pollution is US$ 4.6 Trillion per year (6.2% of global eco
output)
•29% of land is degraded affecting approximately 3.2 billion
•Around 700 extreme events each year costing an average of US$ 127 billion
per annum (2010 to 2016)

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Here comes the concept of Sustainable
development

“Development that meets the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs”, 1987 Bruntland Commission Report, United Nations.

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Sustainable development
In broader perspective through sustainable development we not only
aim to safeguard the interests of the future generations, but also try to
addresses the concerns of our contemporaries and counterparts across
the globe.
Sustainable development aims to attain a state of society where living
conditions and resources are used to continue to meet human needs
without undermining the integrity and stability of the environment.

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 Sustainable Development
Bringing together multiple, interdependent dimensions

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Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the
United Nations
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United
Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and
prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
The SDGs also known as the Global Goals, adopted by the United Nations
member states is a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the
planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
At its heart are the 17 Goals, which are an urgent call for action by all
countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They
recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand
with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and
spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to
preserve our oceans and forests.

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The Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) acts as
the Secretariat for the SDGs, providing substantive support and
capacity-building for the goals and their related thematic issues,
including water, energy, climate, oceans, urbanization, transport,
science and technology, the Global Sustainable Development Report
(GSDR), partnerships and Small Island Developing States. DSDG plays a
key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the
2030 Agenda and on advocacy and outreach activities relating to the
SDGs.

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The SDGs were built on the lessons learned during the implementation
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations.
In September 2000, leaders of 189 countries gathered at the United
Nations headquarters and signed the historic Millennium Declaration,
in which they committed to achieve a set of eight measurable goals
(MDGs) that ranged from halving extreme poverty and hunger to
promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality, by the target
date of 2015.
Substantial progress was made regarding the MDGs. However, the
achievements were uneven. The MDGs were set to expire in 2015 and
the discussion of a post-2015 agenda continued. The focus was now on
building a sustainable world where environmental sustainability, social
inclusion and economic development are equally valued. This paved
the path for SDGs.
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MDGs and SDGs
• MDGs adopted in 2000, focussed on social development and
poverty eradication and concluded in 2015.
• MDGs provided a goal-oriented global results framework for
development policies, articulated around 8 goals.
• SDGs are integrated, indivisible and has 3 dimensions: Economic,
Social and Environmental.

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 Transition from MDGs to SDGs
Millennium Development Sustainable Development
Goals Goals
Period 2000-2015 2016-2030
Coverage Developing countries Universal
Effective date 08th September, 2000 1st January, 2016
to 31st December, 2015
Goals 08 17
Targets 21 169

Indicators 60 231 unique indicators

(35 in India) (308 in India)

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Key Themes (5 Ps)

PEOPLE
PLANET
PROSPERITY
PEACE
PARTNERSHIP

Mentioned In Preamble to the Resolution adopted by UN General

Assembly in Sept 2015 called Agenda 2030 since SDGs to be achieved
till 2030.

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 SDGs Architecture
• Goals : 17
• Reflect global vision / ambition

• Targets : 169
• Reflect action points

• Indicators : 247 (231 unique indicators as some indicators repeat

under 2 to 3 targets)
• Reflect measurement criteria
• Can be customized to national priorities (e.g. 308 in India) 23
Linkages between Environment and SDGs
• SDGs with direct environmental focus
• Water (SDG 6),
• Clean energy (SDG 7)
• Climate (SDG 13),
• Oceans (SDG 14) and
• Land and biodiversity (SDG 15).
• Other goals are indirectly related to the physical environment
• natural disasters (SDGs 1 and 11),
• food, hunger and agriculture (SDG 2),
• human health (SDG 3),
• economic growth and employment (SDG 8),
• industry (SDG 9) and
• cities (SDG 11)
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SDGs in Indian context
SDGs are part and parcel of longstanding tradition and heritage of India. Moreover, India,
home to one-sixth of all humanity, holds the key to the success of the 2030 Agenda. It has
made a conscious paradigm shift to a ‘whole of society’ approach by engaging all key
stakeholders – subnational and local governments, civil society, communities and private
sector in collaborative adoption, implementation and evaluation of the SDGs.
NITI Aayog had released (November 2018) a medium term seven year strategy document
in the form of “Strategy for New India @ 75” to define clear objectives for 2022-23 in a
diverse range of 41 areas that recognize the progress already made; and challenges that
remain; identify binding constraints in specific sectors; and suggest the way forward for
achieving the stated objectives. The Strategy document has disaggregated the 41 sectors
under four sections: drivers, infrastructure, inclusion and governance.
Niti Aayog in August 2018 mapped the Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central Sector
Schemes with SDGs to indicate the overall responsibility towards implementation of the
Agenda 2030.

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Stakeholders for the SDGs in India (1)
• NITI Aayog - Coordinating and overseeing the implementation of
SDGs. Prime Minister is the Chairperson of NITI Aayog.
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation – To evolve
indicators related to all 169 Targets.
• Ministry of External Affairs – All SDGs related issues involving
international declarations, treaties, conventions and conferences.
• Finance Ministry – Financing for implementing the
programme/schemes connected with SDGs, foreign aid, loans credits,
allocation of funds to states.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change - Environmental
considerations in the implementation of SDGs

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Stakeholders for the SDGs in India(2)
• Ministry of Panchayati Raj - Supporting Panchayati Raj Institutions in
planning and implementation of SDGs related development activities at
Gram Panchayat levels.
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs - Coordinating the urban
development activities
• Other central ministries- Central and nodal ministries identified for
implementation of schemes/programmes mapped with SDGs
• State governments- Implementation of SDGs at state level
• Civil society organisations, resource institutes, NGOs-participation during
planning and implementation process e.g. NIPFP, RIS
Document prepared by iCED
“Linking of the Annual Budget of India FY 2021-2022 and SDGs” Document
•Aug 2018: Niti Aayog mapped Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central
Sector Schemes with SDGs to indicate the overall responsibility towards
implementation of the Agenda 2030.
•Allocation of the Union Budget FY 21-22 are mapped with the most relevant
SDGs since schemes are cross-cutting in nature.
•This mapping is based on the mapping of programmes and interventions
done by the Niti Aayog.
•Trends are ascertained by including similar information for last 2 years too.

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 ISSAI 5130: Role of SAIs in
Sustainable Development
• It explain the concept of sustainable development i.e.
intergenerational equity. It also assesses the role that SAIs might
play in auditing national progress towards sustainable
development, It comprises four parts
• It defines SD as development that reconciles social, economic and
environmental objectives (three objectives). It provides an overview of
how the concept of sustainable development may be reflected in the
strategies, policies and operations of governments and individual
agencies, and how it affects SAIs.
• Explains how governments have set about developing frameworks and
national strategies for pursuing SD objectives, and considers the
opportunities these might offer to SAIs for review.
• Examines how the concept of SD has been applied to individual policies
or programs, and the role played by SAIs in auditing how well this has
been done.
• Considers the steps SAIs may need to take to develop their ability to
undertake audits in the field of SD. 29
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