Transition from environmental protection to environmental sustainability

Abstract

The multiplication of sources of pollution, the increase and diversification of forms of environmental pollution have made environmental protection one of the most important and serious problems of humanity in recent decades, affecting human life and the economic development of countries and the whole world. Protection of the environment serves to maintain the quantity and quality of life on Earth, being assumed, through the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, as the major desire and interest of the peoples of the whole world and, at the same time, becoming a duty of all governments. Alongside economic and social development, environmental protection is one of the three interdependent and complementary pillars of sustainable development, defined for the first time in the Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Clear and time-bound sustainable development goals have been set, global targets for a sustainable and prosperous future, but these are now proving elusive as the challenges are growing ever greater and more dangerous. The effects of global warming can be seen and felt everywhere, the climate crisis is increasingly being talked about, biodiversity and nature are in steadily increasing decline, a water crisis, a food crisis, and dangerous critical points are being predicted. In this context, the transition from environmental protection to environmental sustainability is essential to respond to contemporary global challenges, and requires a concerted effort from all of us - governments, institutions and companies, civil society and every individual. Sustainability is a proactive approach that is crucial for our survival and that of future generations and implies a responsible commitment to the planet, to conserve natural resources and ecosystems and to maintain ecological balance.