Sustainable development is an organizing principle that addresses and meets human needs while simultaneously sustaining the ability of those natural systems to provide natural resources and ecosystem services. Basically, it is an action plan which helps us to achieve sustainability through using the resources skillfully.

Popularized through the World Commission on Environment and Development the concept of sustainable development is deep-rooted and derived mostly from the 1987 Brundtland Report. In other words, the aim of this project was to prevent the stripping of the natural world of resources that future generations will require. Now, in the 21st century, it has broadened and developed further as it shifted its focus more toward economic, social and environmental development and its protection for future generations.

Established in 2011, the Society for Environment and Sustainable Development, SENSED, started taking small steps and is now operating and accomplishing its goals towards sustainable development both morally and spiritually by making society think, act and participate in a united way.

Why sustainable development?

Sustainable development for the community and mankind as a whole encourages us to conserve and enhance our resources by utilizing it smartly and gradually changing the manners in which we develop and use these resources. The ultimate goal is to achieve harmony between environmental, economic, and socio-political sustainability.

The four major important motives of sustainable development are as follows:

Stable economic growth: Eradicating poverty and hunger to ensure a healthy and stable life.
Conservation of natural resources: Universal access to basic services to satisfy needs such as water, sanitation, and sustainable energy.
Social progress and equality: Establishing a sense of equality, ethically educating, empowering the weak and reducing gender equality by supporting generations by developing opportunities through inclusive education and decent work.
Environmental Protection: Caring for and conserving the environment by choosing feasible habits and ways to combat climate changes and ecosystems.

We firmly believe in the combined power of Triple E (Education, Environment and Empowerment) and the unimaginable impact it can create in our society to lead us towards a peaceful and sustainable environment.

SENSED has established and comprised in its core values of Education, Environment and Empowerment to contribute towards sustainable development.

• Education

Standing by our values, we focus on empowering the mind of each and every child with ‘Effervescent and Ethical Education’ as it is the only way to create a prosperous and progressing nation. As education is the diffusion of moral values, skills, and knowledge, we have also established “Mohalla schools” and “The Global School of Excellence” to deliver the same.

• Environment

Aligning with our sustainable development goals and objectives we have introduced and followed our projects on the same to ensure a sustainable, Economic and Energetic Environment.

SENSED has begun a weekly newspaper, dedicated to Environment since 2015 – The Karmik Post, to spread awareness and educate people regarding environmental ethics, news and its do’s and don’ts.

• Empowerment

Accepting and acknowledging the fact that ‘People are their own assets’, we began our projects towards ‘Equitable Empowerment’ to provide skills and platforms to enhance the confidence of those who are deprived of the same.

Women are the pillar of our society, we lay emphasis on “Investment in women is a proven path to diminish poverty” as we are devoted towards dedicated for securing and teaching women’s rights and illuminating them about different aspects to improve their economic status through education and business skills

As women are ready to prosper and evolve their status in society we have stood by their side with a number of self-sufficient courses to help them recognize their talent and polish those skills.

We began our objectives of sustainable development bearing these simple things in mind –

1. Restricting unnecessary human activities.

2. Effective utilization of technical development and input utilizing should be discouraged.

3. Minimizing pollution and encouraging afforestation.

4. Proper planned and sensible use of natural resources.

5. The rate of consumption of resources must be kept in check.

Over the years, SENSED has continually taken steps and achieved its sustainable development goals.

We came up with several women empowering projects like “ShikshanPrashikshan”, “Save Girl”, “Mahila Prashikshan Vocational Training for women empowerment”, “Mata AvamSishu Raksha”, and “Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM)” –which started from back in 2013-14 and continues till date, to educate women about their rights and how they should treat themselves helping and contributing the society in the long run.

Further, we came up with “Self & General Awareness Event”, “E-learning” and several other similar projects to teach the children the value of education and how education holds the key to transforming society into a sustainable place to live in.

With our programs and events like “Samagra SwachhataAbhiyan”, “Save Water Campaign”, “Climate Change Vulnerability and Adoption Assessment Programme”, “Environmental Awareness Program”, “Afforestation Plantation Programmes”, “Organic Farming”, and enacting scenes at “Nukkad Natak” we have succeeded in guiding and teaching people about the importance of conserving the resources of our environment while protecting rather than exploiting them for the future generations.

Sustainability as a part of our past project –

Our past projects mainly focused on three broad and our core sectors i.e. “Triple E”, we focused on sustainable development of environmental to add to the numerous contributions to our society –

Protect Environment:

These events were aimed to educate people about the environment and take a stand on such related issues that could affect them in the future. We addressed all the problems of environmental protection at different levels by using awareness and education to achieve our goals such as supporting the use of green renewable fuels and cycles, promoting environmentally sustainable practices, and educating children and other people on how to protect nature to conserve the environment.

Our steps and contributions towards sustainable development –

Empowerment of women
Promotion of education, skill development, and professional courses
Working for the sustainable rural development Promotion of health, environment protection
Efforts for development in the agriculture sector
Publicity, Promotion, and participation in government schemes
Promotion and preservation of alternative sources of energy
Ensuring participation of people in water conservation
Honor the martyr
Organizing sports and cultural activities for maintaining national integrity
Empowerment and all-round development of Minority
Organizing programs for the strengthening of people with disability
Establishment of different kinds of promotional centers

To sum it up, due to its multi-disciplinary nature, ideal-oriented goals, and flexible interpretations, sustainable development continuously seeks to achieve social and economic progress. A clear definition of the concept of sustainable development has yet to be found which will not exhaust the Earth’s finite natural resources, as this concept still continues with a vague interpretation and ambiguity.

The main challenge is to devise a concise definition and then pragmatically apply it to any nation across the world. Sustainable development can be achieved in a true sense when the methods and practices are transparent as well as the nations cooperate together willing willingly for the betterment of the world.

In our upcoming projects, we further intend to extensively expand our working scope on introducing “Promoting the needs and benefits of sustainable development” in and with society.

Also Read: SENSED’s contribution toward child education