Why is the issue of sustainability important for development? Explain with examples.

(i) Sustainability is important for development because it results in protecting the people against pollution ensuring their quality of life and health.

(ii) Conserving the environment which is necessary for development.

(iii) Development can be sustained in any economy by using renewable resources such as groundwater, wind energy and solar energy.

(iv) Groundwater is an example of renewable resources. These resources are replenished by nature as in the case of crops and plants. However, even these resources may be overused. For example, in the case of groundwater, if we use more than what is being replenished by rain then we would be overusing this resource.

(v) Non-renewable resources are those which will get exhausted after years of use. We have a fixed stock on earth which cannot be replenished. Over usage of resources need to be checked.

(vi) We do discover new resources that we did not know of earlier. New sources in this way add to the stock. However, over time, even this will get depleted/used.