{"id":11305,"date":"2013-05-31T13:53:37","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T13:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rtcc.org\/?p=11305"},"modified":"2013-05-31T13:53:37","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T13:53:37","slug":"comment-a-healthy-planet-is-a-precondition-for-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2013\/05\/31\/comment-a-healthy-planet-is-a-precondition-for-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Comment: A healthy planet is a precondition for development"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Fred Boltz<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This week in New York City, the 27 members of the high-level panel of eminent persons appointed by the UN Secretary General will deliver a report<\/a> providing recommendations on the post-2015 development agenda.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a critical opportunity to address the inadequacies of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to chart a new course for sustainable development.<\/p>\n

The post-2015 \u201cSustainable Development Goals<\/a>\u201d (SDGs) must break from failed convention by integrating environmental and social dimensions into the pursuit of economic development aims, acknowledging that our future economic health will critically depend on our planet\u2019s ecological health.<\/p>\n

Thirteen years ago in New York, the United Nations established the MDGs \u2014 eight global commitments<\/a> to eradicate extreme poverty, promote gender equality, improve human health and achieve other ambitious objectives by 2015. Important progress has been made toward achieving the MDGs (learn more in the 2012 report<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The world met its poverty reduction target, with poverty rates declining in every developing region. Over 2 billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources between 1990 and 2010. The lives of some 200 million slum dwellers improved, exceeding the targeted level.<\/p>\n

Yet as a whole, our accomplishments have fallen short of our ambitions \u2014 particularly on environmental concerns.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Boltz says environmental protection should not be viewed as a parallel process to development but as a pre-condition<\/p><\/div>\n

The status of the world\u2019s birds, mammals and amphibians is declining, and a substantial proportion of species in all taxonomic groups are threatened with extinction.<\/p>\n

Since 1990, greenhouse emissions increased almost every year, with particularly high growth since 2002.<\/p>\n

The resulting temperature rise has led to more frequent extreme weather events across the globe, making communities \u2014 many of them already poverty-stricken \u2014 increasingly vulnerable to devastating droughts, fires and storms.<\/p>\n

Why have the MDGs fallen short of critical development aims? Several reasons may be given, of course, from issues of equity to governance challenges to the global economic downturn. But one certainty is that there is a critical flaw in our approach to sustainable development.<\/p>\n

The health of our planet, which is fundamental to sustainability, is treated as a distinct and parallel goal rather than an underlying principle. Indeed, it may be argued that we have sacrificed sustainability for the sake of development.<\/p>\n

The dangerous assumption that environmental concerns can be subordinated to economic goals disregards the fact that our society and economy are bound by a natural biophysical system. Natural resources and ecosystems are the bases not only of all material wealth, but a precondition for our very existence.<\/p>\n

We draw on nature to fuel our economic growth \u2014 to power our homes, pollinate our crops and filter our wastewater. We depend on its proper functioning to provide vital resources and to maintain conditions suitable for our success \u2014 and indeed our survival.<\/p>\n

RTCC Video: Fred Boltz on water, forests and climate change<\/strong><\/p>\n