Question

1. Explain the concept of sustainable development and discuss its importance in the context of destruction of natural resources for business purposes.
2. Critically examine the various sustainable development initiatives taken by Alcoa over decades.                      
3. Analyze the role of the natural resources on sustainable economic development in United Arab Emirates initiative carried by Alcoa.

Answer 1

Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept of needs goes beyond simply material needs and includes values, relationships, freedom to think, act, and participate, all amounting to sustainable living, morally, and spiritually. It also icludes that by maintaining a delicate balance between the human need to improve lifestyles and feeling of well - being on one hand and preserving natural resoucres and ecosystems on which we and future generation depends.

The aim of sustainable development is to balance our economic, environmental and social needs, allowing prosperity for now and future generations. It enhance our resouces to establish

Criticisms

• The incorrectness of the term “sustainable development” and its internal logical contradiction.
• The narrowness of the term and the provocative tendency to confine global problems to the environmental context.
• The narrowness of the term and the provocative tendency to confine global problems to the environmental context.
• The diversity in understanding the goals of sustainable development, naturally arising from the different worldviews of the participants implementing a new civilization model, and countries and people representing cultural, social and political diversity

Sustainable development is the management of renewable resources for the good of the entire human and natural community. The goal of sustainable development is to provide resources for the use of present populations without compromising the availability of those resources for future generations, and without causing environmental damage that challenges the survival of other species and natural ecosystems. To be truly sustainable, systems of resource use must not significantly degrade any aspects of environmental quality, including those not assigned value in the marketplace. A system of sustainable development must be capable of yielding a flow of resources for use by humans, but that flow must be maintainable over the long term. An ecologically sustainable economy must be capable of supporting viable populations of native species, viable areas of natural ecosystems, and acceptable levels of other environmental qualities that are not conventionally valued as resources for direct use by humans.