The Brundtland report provides a simple ____ to help broaden out the definition of development – so it is not just about ____ any more. This framework was important because it introduced the ____ of the three dimensions of sustainability – social, environmental, and economic. And the report really ____ the idea that there needs to be balance between these dimensions; so, economic development should not be viewed as more important or more ____ than improving social justice, for example. In ____, the focus of sustainable development is how to achieve harmony and balance across these different dimensions. So today I'd like to look at an ____ from history that ____ these three dimensions of sustainable ____. In particular, an example that highlights just why it’s so important we aim to balance the different ____ rather than thinking of one as more important than the others. So… today I’m going to look at the case of the Aral Sea. For those of you who don’t know, the Aral Sea, which once stretched across the two countries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia, is rather ____ for being one of the most haunting examples of the ____ impact humans can have on the environment. In the mid-20th century, the Soviet Union had a plan to develop the region around the Aral Sea. Now, this was long before the concept of ____ development… and at this time, development was narrowly defined in ____ of economic development. There was a belief that economic development would bring ____ to other areas of life and society too. So, the Soviet economic plan for the region around the Aral Sea was to grow ____. The world’s population was growing, so ____ for cotton to produce clothing was ____. But cotton is a very thirsty crop… it takes a lot of ____ to grow it – and it needs to be ____ for many months of the year. So in order to keep expanding and keep ____ cotton, the cotton industry needed ____ amounts of water. Between the 1960s and 1980s, nearly 50,000km of irrigation canals were constructed to take water into the cotton fields… but as a ____ nearly 90% of the water flowing into the Aral Sea was diverted to irrigation. And by diverting the ____ away from the Aral Sea, the Soviet Union basically turned off the taps that were keeping the Aral Sea full of water and ____. So, to recap, while this development ____ did provide some initial positive economic ____, it is clear to see that it was a completely ____ model of development. The negative social and environmental impacts clearly ____ any economic benefits. In fact, the impact has been so bad that today the Aral Sea is a worldwide symbol of environmental ____ and bad development ____. It is a clear case in favour of adopting a ____ model for development.

Lecture: Sustainable Development

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