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This objective of this section of the country profile is to provide a general overview of the geographic landscape, political system, socio-economic status and natural resource base of each country. Most of this information is harvested from authoritative sources on the web. According to the Brundtland Report, (a 1987 report from the United Nations), sustainable development is a process of developing (land, cities, business, communities, etc) that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" .
One of the factors that it must overcome is environmental degradation but it must do so while not forgoing the needs of economic development as well as social equity and justice. Several United Nations texts, most recently the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, refer to the "interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars" of sustainable development as economic development, social development, and environmental protection.
For some, the issue is considered to be closely tied to economic growth and the need to find ways to expand the economy in the long term without using up natural capital for current growth at the cost of long term growth. For others, the concept of growth itself is problematic, as the resources of the Earth are finite.
It is recognised at all levels - national and international - that pursuit of the objective of sustainable development requires implementation of resolute strategies for stimulation of economic growth, a strengthening of social cohesion and environmental protection, with particular attention to making sure that economic growth is able to underpin environmental and social objectives. The complexity of these challenges calls for a holistic approach on the part of policy-makers and civil society.
Human activities are increasingly contributing to environmental change, which affects the ability of the environment to provide goods and services in support of human well-being and development. The poor are disproportionately impacted by such environmental change. It is therefore critically important for humanity to watch the environment in a systematic way in order to be able to adequately and effectively mitigate or adapt to environmental change. Environmental information and data are, however, often scattered and inadequate. This is hampering progress towards environmental management, including implementation of multilateral environmental agreements and internationally agreed goals and targets for sustainable development.
The human-environment interaction analytical approach is built on the driver, pressure, state, impact and response (DPSIR) framework shown in the figure below. It is multi-scalable and indicates generic cause-and-effect relations within and among:
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Drivers: Sometimes referred to as indirect or underlying drivers or driving forces, they refer to fundamental processes in society which drives activities having a direct impact on the environment.
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Pressures: Sometimes referred to as direct drivers, include the social and economic sectors of society (also sometimes considered as drivers). Human interventions may be directed towards causing a desired environmental change and may be subject to feedback in terms of environmental change, or could be intentional or unintentional byproducts of other human activities (i.e., pollution).
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State: Environmental state also includes trends, often referred to as environmental change, which could be both natural and human induced. One form of change, such as climate change, may lead to other forms of change such as biodiversity loss (a secondary effect of greenhouse gas emissions). Multiple pressures could leave the environment more vulnerable, leading to cumulative change and, in some cases, sudden and disruptive change.
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Impacts: Environmental change may positively or negatively influence human well-being (as reflected in international goals and targets) through changes in ecological services and environmental stress. Impacts may be environmental, social and economic, and contribute to the vulnerability of people. Vulnerability to change varies between groups of people depending on their geographic, economic and social circumstances, exposure to change and capacity to mitigate or adapt to change. Human well being, vulnerability and coping capacity are dependent on access to social and economic goods -and services and exposure to social and economic stress.
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Responses: Responses consist of elements among the drivers, pressures and impacts which may be used for managing society in order to alter human/environment interactions. Drivers, pressures and impacts that can be altered by a decision maker at a given scale are referred to as endogenous factors, while those that cannot are referred to as exogenous factors. Responses are at different levels: for example, environmental laws and institutions at the national level, and multilateral environmental agreements and institutions at the regional and international levels. Responses address issues of vulnerability of both people and the environment, and provide opportunities for enhancing human well-being.
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