Revista Tempo do Mundo (Apr 2024)
BEYOND SDGs: QUEST FOR A NEW DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM THROUGH G20 LENS
Abstract
The quest for an alternative development paradigm has become significant in view of the multiple crises faced by the global community. The increased concern about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 is a clear indication of inability of existing development paradigm to help us achieve the desired objectives. Development has for a considerable time been argued to be achieved through optimisation of individual interests with a belief that it would automatically result in maximising aggregate welfare. However, the complex interactions among economic, social, cultural, political, environmental, and ecological spaces and the resulting plethora of crises make us realise that development calls for a collective effort that engages the simultaneous interactions, not only among the individuals but also with nature to ensure sustainable existence for all – the fundamental objective of sustainable development. The Group of Twenty (G20) as a collective platform of countries must play an effective role in delivering development as a collective good. The diplomatic clout and strategic stature of the G20 must bring an amplified change in our interactions with each other and with the planet. The prevalence of the conceptual paradigm of individual-led development was necessitated by two most cliqued understanding in the contemporary development discourse: development being understood synonymously with gross national product (GNP)-led growth, and the reversible and limitless nature of resources being exploited to achieve growth. This perspective is getting questioned as it is clear that one’s development is not achieved without meaningful contributions from others. It is even argued that one’s freedom today is often the result of unfreedom of some others as development pursued so far has mostly resulted from extraction – both from nature and other individuals. This realisation has resulted in the coinage of the term “no one left behind” as the spirit of sustainable development. The paper engages in a discussion on interlinked nature of development along the socio-economic, enviro-ecological, and physical strands of development and proposes a new “development paradigm” that involves dynamic interactions among these strands to ensure sustainable development in reality and argues that G20 platform is required to play an active role in ensuring the necessary interlinkages.
Keywords
