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The process of describing indicators helps diverse members of a community reach consensus on what
sustainability means. Indicators help put sustainability in concrete terms that demonstrate a new way to
measure progress. Concepts like a person’s ecological footprint help people understand how their everyday
actions relate to issues that seem beyond the reach of a single individual and explain sustainability.

In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development met to
discuss and develop a set of goals to acknowledge the concept of nature having
certain rights, that people have stewardship of the world, and the importance of
putting people at the forefront of solving these global issues.

Problems Related to Sustainable Development
The challenges for development are multiple and complex. The global economy is changing; it will experience a
structural transformation in next few years. The dilemma of sustainable development lies in the challenges for
economic growth and development that are directly linked to the immense risk of climate change.
Let’s read about some problems related to sustainable development:

Population and Human Resources

Since the world population has experienced a very rapid growth and is likely to reach 8 billion by 2025, the
degree of consumption of resources per capita has also increased.

Food Security

There is widespread hunger today despite the dramatic increase in the world production of cereal, meat, and
milk, which have more than tripled since 1950. The increase in food production has been due to new methods
of farming, including the use of new seed varieties, chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and increased irrigation,
but the cost of these inputs is beyond the reach of most small farmers. These new methods of farming have had
detrimental effects on the environment. The new seed varieties are not generally resistant to pests and require
large amounts of water and chemicals. Overuse of chemical pesticides and fertilisers has led to widespread
pollution of water and biological magnification of these chemicals in food chains. Irrigation has also caused
salinisation and alkalisation of soils.

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