Sustainable Development: The Environmental Approach

Abstract

It has been ascertained that the reconciliation of the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability will help to strengthen effort towards achieving sustainable development. This paper therefore focuses on the importance and relevance of the environmental sustainability in achieving the sustainable development that is being preached nowadays. Amongst the prevailing problems affecting the environment, deforestation has become the most important of them due to the current downward trend of forest land area and  the  inextricable linkage it has with other type of environmental problem such as carbon emission, climate change, and biodiversity effects. With the aim of ensuring reduction in the rate of forest loss, the role played by the effort to expand agricultural land area has been investigated wherein policy measures to curb its further expansion so as to ensure reduction in deforestation has been formulated. These policies include the initiative to further strengthen the forest protective and reforestation measures so as to reduce and eventually restrict access to protected forest land while simultaneously advocating organic agriculture and improved agricultural technology to help enhance agricultural production. This will confine agricultural land area to the existing size (because its reduction might not be possible). In addition, other measures include providing more off-farm activities such as small and medium scale enterprises and implementation of the agro-forestry initiative made available through the Payment for environmental service scheme.

Keywords: Agricultural land expansion, Deforestation, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Development.