Geoenvironment Management and Sustainability - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 10

Mankind”) that, “If present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollu-
tion, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on
this planet will be reached sometime within the next hundred years,” although some have
argued that the conclusions are perhaps too pessimistic, since the system dynamics model
used in the Meadows et al. (1972) report, by their own admission, was, at the time of publica-
tion of the report, somewhat “imperfect, oversimpliied, and uninished.” However, it cannot
be denied that the essence of the model and the analyses were fundamentally sound. The
ive speciic quantities examined in the model were deemed signiicant in view of the global
concern on “accelerating industrialization, rapid population growth, widespread malnutri-
tion, depletion of non-renewable resources, and a deteriorating environment.”
The subsequent analyses by Meadows et al. (1992) using data gained from the 20-year
period following their irst publication showed that “in spite of the world's improved tech-
nologies, the greater awareness, the stronger environment policies, many resource and
pollution lows had grown beyond their sustainable limits.” They concluded that not only
were the initial conclusions in Meadows et al. (1972) valid, these conclusions needed to be
strengthened. In particular, their irst conclusion relects the growing concern we have
regarding the capability of our geoenvironmental resources to provide the long-term
necessities to sustain life at the pace we now enjoy. The Meadows et al. (1992) report sug-
gest that, “Human use of many essential resources and generation of many kinds of pol-
lutants have already surpassed rates that are physically sustainable. Without signiicant
reductions in material and energy lows, there will be in the coming decades an uncon-
trolled decline in per capita food output, energy use, and industrial production.” Glasby
(2002) has offered the suggestion that a marked decrease in world population (to 1.2 bil-
lion) is needed if sustainability is to be achieved.
It is well recognized that to meet the present and future needs of the ever increasing
global population, there will be increased requirements for adequate supplies of goods
and services to feed, shelter, and clothe the population. The 27 principles articulated in
the 1992 Rio Declaration show the need for protection and maintenance of environmental
quality while meeting the needs of the global population. These were reinforced in the
2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg. Principles
1, 3, and 4 of the Rio Declaration state that:
Human beings are at the center of concerns for sustainable development. They are enti-
tled to a healthy and productive life nature. (Principle 1)
The right to development must be fulilled so as to equitably meet developmental and
environmental needs of present and future generations. (Principle 3)
In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute
an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from
it. (Principle 4)
There are many who maintain that such declarative statements are designed to show a
measure of political will and are not necessarily practical or supportable from a scientiic
point of view—given that development at the expense of depletion of scarce resources
will never be sustainable. Although this topic is not the forum for a debate on whether the
goals identiied by the declarative statements issued by world bodies can be successfully
implemented or met, it is nevertheless necessary to take guidance from such statements.
By highlighting the need for development in a sustainable manner, in both the WSSD