Sustainable Development
BasicDevelop without shortchanging the future: the UN definition, conservation practices, and everyone's responsibilities.
- Two layers of the definition: development is needed, and future needs must not be harmed — fairness at the core.
- UN 2015: the 2030 Agenda with 17 goals.
- Four practices: low-carbon transport, waste management, biodiversity, responsible consumption and production.
文體小知識：全球議題課——由聯合國定義到回收與郊野公園，理解可持續發展的理念與各持份者的責任。
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1The United Nations defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The definition has two layers: development is still necessary — better lives and poverty relief need economic activity — but it must be restrained, for exhausting resources would leave future generations our bill.
2In 2015 the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, setting 17 Sustainable Development Goals covering poverty relief, quality education, climate action, marine life and more — a shared blueprint for the world's efforts.
3Ideas need practice. Conservation experience around the world falls into four types: low-carbon transport systems, such as mass transit and electric vehicles that burn less fossil fuel; sustainable waste management, such as reducing waste at source and sorting for recycling so waste becomes a resource; protecting biodiversity, such as designating protected areas for species and habitats; and responsible consumption and production, such as cutting disposables and choosing durable, greener products.
4None of this is the government's job alone: government and education bureaux set policy and promote environmental education; businesses adopt greener production and honour social responsibility; non-governmental organisations monitor policy and run conservation projects; individuals start with daily choices — saving energy, cutting waste, going green. With all four stakeholders playing their parts, sustainable development is more than a slogan.
1Summary 重點摘要
Develop without shortchanging the future: the UN definition, conservation practices, and everyone's responsibilities.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
Meeting present needs without compromising future generations' needs.
The UN's global development blueprint, adopted in 2015.
The 17 goals covering poverty, education, climate and more.
Mass transit and electric vehicles that cut carbon emissions.
Cutting waste at source and recycling so waste becomes a resource.
The variety of species and habitats that protection maintains.
Cutting waste and choosing greener products and production.
The parties involved in an issue: government, business, groups, individuals.
A civic body outside government, often active in conservation and monitoring.
Actions protecting nature and resources so they endure.
3Step by step Steps
- Step 1: Unpack the UN definitionEvery answer on sustainable development must start with an accurate definition: the UN interprets it as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. Two layers follow: first, development is still necessary — better lives and poverty relief need economic activity; second, it must be restrained — growth cannot exhaust resources or wreck the environment. Writing only 'environmental protection' while missing the fairness between present and future generations is the most common way to lose marks.
- Step 2: The global blueprint — the 2030 Agenda and 17 goalsIn 2015 the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, setting 17 Sustainable Development Goals that gather poverty relief, zero hunger, quality education, gender equality, climate action and ocean and land ecosystems into one framework, calling on governments, businesses and civil society to deliver together. Three memory points: the year 2015, the horizon of 2030, and 17 goals in total. These are objective facts — quote them precisely in answers, never vaguely.
- Step 3: Practice one — low-carbon transport systemsTransport is a major source of carbon emissions, so low-carbon transport systems are a conservation priority worldwide. Two directions: build mass transit such as rail and bus networks, replacing swarms of private cars with high-capacity modes; and electrify vehicles with cleaner energy. Hong Kong's rail-centred public transport model and the Mainland's rapid development of a high-speed rail network and an electric vehicle industry are ready-made examples showing that development and emission cuts can advance together.
- Step 4: Practice two — sustainable waste managementThe core of sustainable waste management is turning waste from a 'burden' into a 'resource'. The order: reduce at source first — cut unnecessary consumption and packaging; then sort and recycle — let paper, metal and plastic circulate again; finally convert organic waste — food waste can be processed into compost or energy. Hong Kong's waste-sorting schemes and measures against single-use plastics, and the recycling bins in your estate and school, are the front line of this system.
- Step 5: Practices three and four — biodiversity and responsible consumptionProtecting biodiversity means keeping species and habitats intact: designate country parks and nature reserves, and combat illegal wildlife trade. Hong Kong has large stretches of land set aside as country parks, letting citizens reach nature near the city. Responsible consumption and production works from the demand side: consumers choose durable goods and cut disposables, while producers improve processes to use less energy and make less scrap. One guards the supply side, one reshapes demand — together they put resources to good use.
- Step 6: The roles and duties of four stakeholdersConservation needs four stakeholders playing their parts. Government and education bureaux set regulations and policy and promote environmental education; businesses adopt greener production and operations and honour social responsibility; non-governmental organisations research, monitor policy and run conservation activities; individuals begin with daily habits — saving energy, bringing their own bags, taking public transport. Arrange answers along the four layers of 'policy, production, monitoring, lifestyle' and the structure stays clear with nothing missed.
- Step 7: The answer frame — definition, practice, stakeholdersOverall, the frame for sustainable-development answers has three moves: quote the UN definition to show understanding; illustrate how the idea lands through the four practices — low-carbon transport, waste management, biodiversity protection, responsible consumption and production; then analyse the roles and duties of stakeholders, noting that no single party suffices. For 'do you agree' questions, add the point that development and conservation must be balanced, showing multi-angle thinking.
5Worked example Example
Read the data: a public housing estate runs a food-waste recycling scheme; households hand sorted food waste to the management office, which converts it into garden compost and energy; the estate also holds environmental education workshops and operates the scheme with a recycling company. Explain how the scheme embodies sustainable development, and identify the roles of different stakeholders.
- Step 1: Set the frame with the definition — 'meeting present needs without compromising future generations' anchors every point, along the line of 'cycling resources back into use'.
- Step 2: Match the practice category — converting food waste into compost and energy belongs to sustainable waste management, the 'turning waste into resource' strand.
- Step 3: Match each stakeholder — households sorting (individuals), the office and workshops (government and education), the recycling company (business); write only what the data shows.
- Step 4: Explain in the 'evidence, concept, effect' pattern: households sort (evidence), reduction at source (concept), less landfill and waste (effect).
- Answer: Sample answer: The scheme embodies sustainable development — meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations: food waste, after sorting, becomes compost and energy, easing landfill and letting resources circulate, which is sustainable waste management. For stakeholders: residents sort at source, the individual role that puts the idea into action; the estate management runs workshops, fulfilling the education function of raising public awareness; the recycling company operates the processing, showing business supporting conservation with professional services. Each plays its part, and the scheme can keep running — proof that sustainable development needs society's cooperation, not one party's effort alone.
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1The UN's definition of sustainable development?
Q2When were the SDGs adopted, and how many are there?
Q3Name two conservation practices.
Q4The four stakeholders of conservation?
Q5What can individuals do for sustainable development?
8Recap Recap
- Two layers of the definition: development is needed, and future needs must not be harmed — fairness at the core.
- UN 2015: the 2030 Agenda with 17 goals.
- Four practices: low-carbon transport, waste management, biodiversity, responsible consumption and production.
- Four stakeholders: government and education, business, NGOs, individuals — all indispensable.
- Three-step answers: definition, practice, stakeholders.