UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY PESHAWAR
CE-422
Sustainable Development and Disaster Risk Management
Assignment #01
Submitted to
Dr. Shahidullah
By
Muhammad Luqman
Reg No:18PWCIV5026
Class No: 146
Section: D
8th Semester
Civil Engineering Department
UET PESHAWAR
Date: 16-04-2022
1. Write a report on the Brundtland Commission in your own words.
Introduction:
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), which
had been set up in 1983, published a report entitled «Our common future». The document came to
be known as the «Brundtland Report» after the Commission's chairwoman, Gro Harlem
Brundtland. It developed guiding principles for sustainable development as it is generally
understood today.
Summary:
The Brundtland Report stated that critical global environmental problems were
primarily the result of the enormous poverty of the South and the non-sustainable patterns of
consumption and production in the North. It called for a strategy that united development and the
environment – described by the now-common term «sustainable development». Sustainable
development is defined as follows: «Sustainable development is development that meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. »In
1989, the report was debated in the UN General Assembly, which decided to organize a UN
Conference on Environment and Development.
Sustainable Development:
In the Brundtland Report, 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”
 Humanity can make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
 Meeting essential needs requires not only a new era of economic growth for nations in which
the majority are poor, but an assurance that those poor get their fair share of the resources
required to sustain that growth.
 Sustainable global development requires that those who are more affluent adopt lifestyles
within the planet's ecological means - in their use of energy, for example. Further, rapidly
growing populations can increase the pressure on resources and slow any rise in living
standards.
 thus, sustainable development can only be pursued if population size and growth are in
harmony with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem.
1) Economic Growth:
Economic growth is the pillar that most groups focus on when
attempting to attain more sustainable efforts and development. In trying to build their economies,
many countries focus their efforts , which leads to unsustainable efforts for environmental
protection and economic growth sustainability.
2) Environmental protection:
Environmental protection has become more important to
government and businesses over the last 20 years leading to great improvements in the number of
people willing to invest in green technologies. For the second consecutive year in 2010, the US
and Europe added more power capacity from renewable sources such as the wind and sun. In 2011
the efforts continued with 45 new wind energy projects in 25 different states.
3) Social equality:
Social equality and equity are pillars of sustainable development that focus
on the social well-being of people. The growing gap between incomes of the rich and poor is
evident throughout the world with the incomes of the richer households increasing relative to the
incomes of middle- or lower-class households.
4) Common Challenges:
Following are the common challenges for sustainable development.
 Population and Human Resources
 Food Security: Sustaining the Potential
 Species and Ecosystems: Resources for Development
 Energy: Choices for Environment and Development
 Industry: Producing More with Less
 The Urban Challenge
5) Common Events:
 Managing The Commons
 Peace, Security, Development, and the Environment
 Towards Common Action: Proposals for Institutional and Legal Change
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2. Write the importance of IPAT equation in sustainable development?
Importance of IPAT equation in sustainable development
IPAT Equation:
The IPAT Equation is an attempt to describe the impact of population, affluence, and technology
on the environment.
I= PAT
 P= Population A= Affluence
 T= Technology I= Total Impact
Introduction:
Human survival relies on several resources and an environment that is ecologically
healthy. Since the beginning of time people have used the earth’s resources but since the industrial
revolution, human activity, resource usage (consumption) and environmental impact have grown
dramatically. We are now using many resources at a greater rate than they can be replaced or
replenished. Scientists and researchers have tried to measure the effect of human activity on the
environment by developing equations which calculate the interaction and impact of key factors,
such as population growth, on the environment.
Importance of IPAT Equation:
1) Role of Technology:
Technology has an important role to play in Earths future survival.
Technology is the way, or the methods that we use to convert natural resources into real goods and
services. It is important that developments in technology are resource efficient.
Resource efficiency refers not only to the operation of the technology or a product, for example, a
mobile phone but also to what is described as the complete product life cycle. This cycle includes
the extraction of the raw materials required to make the phone to the actual design, manufacturing
and end of life processes associated with the product.
2) Sustainable Design:
Sustainable design requires exploring if a product is manufactured in
the most energy efficient and resource efficient manner using minimal materials or components
that can be recycled or re-used.
3) Waste:
The environmental impact of waste is a consideration for many types of technology.
This applies to the waste from manufacturing processes themselves, packaging, products that are
surplus to requirements, such as excess food, and items that are worn out, broken-down,
technologically obsolete (out of date) or otherwise no longer useful.
The IPAT equation shows clearly:
 The need to reduce our individual consumption.
 The need to stabilize our populations at sustainable levels.