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The World Development Report 2003 has forecast that by the year 2050 the global population will soar to 9 billion from today's 6 billion with 66 percent of them living in cities. The demand for energy, water, housing and education will be enormous. In 50 years from now the world's GDP will be US dollars 140 trillion. It is widely believed that this 140 trillion dollar world cannot be sustained on current production and consumption patterns. The average income in the richest 20 countries is already 37 times that in the poorest 20 countries. A little over 25 percent of the world's population live below the poverty line of less than one dollar a day.

Of the 1.3 billion people living on fragile lands which cannot sustain them, 330 million or nearly one quarter are in South Asia. Since the 1950s nearly two million hectares of land worldwide representing 23 percent of all croplands, pastures, forests and woodlands have been degraded. Tropical forests have been disappearing at the rate of 5 percent per decade. Unless there is a significant reduction in poverty accompanied by a substantial lowering of environmental degradation social unrest will be heightened. This will result in the derailment of the sustainable development process itself on which we have placed all our bets.

Food like water and air is fundamental for human survival. In 1950 to feed the then world population of 2,500 million we produced 630 million metric tons of grain. In 2000 to feed a population of 6,000 million we produced over 2000 million metric tons of grain. This means that the per capita availability of grain had improved considerably. Yet in Africa and Latin America there is widespread hunger and malnutrition. This is because for many of the world's poor and deprived people food is not accessible, nor affordable nor available. A considerable proportion of the world's grain production is consumed as meat, milk and eggs through a wasteful and expensive process of conversion.

Poverty, environment and development are closely interconnected. While affluence leads to over consumption and wasteful use of resources, poverty necessitates over exploitation and the decimation of marginal resources. Despite a legacy of impressive achievements in social welfare and economic development poverty levels in Sri Lanka remain high with 28 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Inevitably, the poor are caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, disease and loss of output.

The physical environmental surrounding the poor is systematically abused. People living at the margins of existence cannot afford the luxury of conserving for the future, but must take wood for fuel, let livestock graze on whatever pasture that is left, and work the land to exhaustion in their struggle for food. No amount of public assistance, food subsidies or foreign aid could alleviate poverty. The poor should be taught how to stand on their own feet so that they become increasingly self-reliant and self supporting. Population pressure has further compounded this problem. The poor tend to have large families more as social security. Quite often it stems from lack of awareness and education on family health, family budgeting as well as family planning.

There is a symbiotic relationship between inequality and distribution. Basically inequality in the distribution of assets hinders economic growth. Distribution of wealth and income has major impacts on output and investment. Development of a sustainable society has to be founded on a vision; a vision of a society where all the individuals have the opportunity to live, grow and contribute to their full capabilities. Advancement of the privileged few on the labour and resources of the many is certainly not sustainable. Today human kind is at the crossroads owing to its own sins of omission and commission. Some of them are within our control and some others beyond our control.

In this scenario it is justifiable to ask whether sustainable development alone is the panacea for all these ills? The concept of sustainable development encompasses three parameters, namely, economic, ecological and social. It is a much wider concept than environmental protection. It is a fusion of ideas of the proponents of economic development and those of environmental protection. It has three far- reaching priority goals namely, economic growth, resource management and human development. Reaching the goal of sustainability calls for an innovative approach where the root causes of environmental degradation such as poverty, hunger, population pressure, resource depletion, over consumption and wasteful production are either eliminated or minimised and environmental and social considerations are fully integrated into the economic development process.

Modern industrialised societies assume that happiness and well-being lie in the satisfaction of man's material needs and sensual desires. This assumption makes it imperative that nature must be conquered and exploited at any environmental or social cost. The ecocrisis is not solely a developmental problem nor is it a technological problem. It is indeed an ethical problem caused by an erosion of social and moral values. Biodiversity conservation, shifting to alternative energy sources, environmentally sound and sustainable management of resources, population management and poverty alleviation are only emergency measures. They are mere fire fighting exercises and may suffice as temporary short-term solutions.

South Asia's econological and socio cultural foundations are strong, deeply rooted and as old as human civilisation. Throughout history South Asians have established an enviable record of living in harmony with nature in a spirit of caring and sharing. This way of life is intricately interwoven with religion, culture, customs, ethics and social organisation. In fact Buddhism and Hinduism are South Asia's greatest gifts to the world. Yet for all, the world is in crisis today materialistically spiritually and sustainably. This dilemma we are confronted with is four dimensional in character. It is not only economic, ecological and social but also ethical as well as moral.

It has been said that Buddhism is ultra spiritualistic and anti- materialistic. Also it has been said that it is self-centered and egoistic; hence not amenable to rapid economic growth. Does this mean that Buddhism cannot show us the way out of this crisis? One of the Lord Buddha's Discourses, the Cakkavattisihanada Sutta extols, among other things, the Buddhist conception of economic life of human beings. For example, it is observed that when there is an economic downturn, adverse economic conditions are likely to lead to a lack of opportunities, and poverty becomes rampant. Consequently, those distressed by poverty, resort to crimes such as lying and stealing and even commit acts of violence. Interestingly, the blame for this is not placed on the individual but on society as a whole.

The economic prescriptions in this Discourse for alleviating poverty are also of interest. They point to the need for better economic opportunities such as increased capital and also a more equitable distribution of wealth. For this reason, it is suggested that cooperation between the government and people is desirable as a means of achieving a degree of economic and social security for the welfare of society. In another Discourse, Lord Buddha extols the virtues of righteous economic conduct in relation acquiring wealth, namely avoidance of acquiring wealth by the sale of arms, killing of animals or other non-virtuous activities.

Also, Buddhist teachings emphasise the moral values of frugality, resourcefulness, control over excessive craving and conspicuous consumption. In fact, there are many instances in the Buddhist texts testifying to the need for a balanced and moderate approach to living. Economic and material happiness is seen as a means to an end which is none other than moral progress and spiritual happiness in the striving for salvation.

Buddhism not only gives us an insight into the interdependence of all conditional things but also teaches us the basic concepts of sustainable living as reflected in the famous dictum that contentment is the highest gain (Santhusthi paraman dhanam). Among other Buddhist ethics of sustainable living are happiness through control of desires and not through their proliferation; reverential attitude to all forms of life; practice of frugal living devoid of wastefulness and miserliness and extending compassion and kindness to all living beings.

Reaching the goal of global sustainability while eliminating food insecurity, alleviating poverty and maintaining ecological integrity will be made easier if we can find new lifestyles that are less dependent on the earth's finite resources and more in line with its carrying capacity. In switching over to new lifestyles the rich could and should give the lead. The biggest savings can come in the areas of food, clothing, shelter and transportation through more frugal living. Vegetarian diets, rural livelihoods, energy saving shelter, energy efficient transport and reusing and recycling of almost everything; the way our forefathers did not so long ago can quicken the pace. In other words we must put into practice new concepts of wealth and prosperity which allow higher standards of living through changed lifestyles. This is not a sacrifice. Even if it is so, it is only a simple sacrifice that our generation and the next one should make for the benefit of thousands of generations yet to be born.

Has the sustainable development process, which is now 30 years old succeeded in resolving this global crisis? I am afraid it has not. In this context, I would like to place before your five basic and critical issues for consideration. Firstly, the world economic order, which fosters and promotes more riches for the rich and abject poverty and hunger for the poor, has to be reversed. Currently, we are doing this voluntarily through goodwill and charity. This is not good enough. We should do this by consensus decree.

Secondly, we should strive not only to find ways and means of narrowing the gap between haves and havenots and the wellfeds and the underfeds but also to work out a global strategy to recreate a society that recognizes caring and sharing, moral responsibility and social justice. In the ultimate analysis what we must strive for is a major social and ethical transformation for achieving universal peace, prosperity and sustainability.

Thirdly, the extreme global village concept, excessive globalization, unsustainable macro economic and trade policies and the debt burden imposed by World Bank, IMF, WTO etc have had an adverse impact on traditional agriculture and rural livelihoods in particular. The resulting human suffering and abject poverty is humiliating, debilitating, degrading and suicidal. Will the poor continue to take things lying down or will there be riots, violence and civil war? We must work out a global compact for ringing about equity and social justice through sharing of wealth and property. This has to be done today, for tomorrow may be too late. Lord Buddha has preached that craving (Thanha) is the root cause of all evil. Advancement of the few on the labour of the many is not sustainable. Will the middle path advocated by Lord Buddha be the answer? Not extreme capitalism and economic openers; not extreme socialism and closed door policies; but equity, equality, social justice and being humane to fellow human beings.

Fourthly, sustainable development will remain a mere slogan until and unless there is food security. Food security is all about food availability, acceptability, safety, palatability, adequacy, affordability and convertibility to human energy leading to healthy living. As far as the poor and the deprived are concerned none of these conditionalities of food security is satisfied. The only way in which we can ensure the food security of the poor is through sustainable development leading to increased income and employment and equal opportunities to achieve better standards of living and quality of life. There are four essential prerequisites for achieving the goal of sustainable development. They are; minimizing environmental degradation and pollution, eliminating the root causes of environmental decay such as poverty, population pressure, over consumption and wasteful production, integrating environment into development and precipitating a socio-cultural and moral revolution leading to environmentally sound and sustainable development with a human face.

Fifthly, will the developed, industrialized and affluent nations bite this? They will ask a million questions. We must find the answers. Are they prepared to share their wealth and prosperity for the sake of equity and social justice; for the sake of bestowing kindness and compassion on fellow human beings; for the sake of metal happiness by eliminating greed, craving and accumulation of wealth far beyond their wants?

The rise and fall of great and wealthy empires has shown us that where wealth accumulates, men decay and therefore where values, morals an ethics rule men should thrive generation after generation. In the final analysis the two challenges we face are firstly how best and how soon we could re-awaken the dormant inner strengths, and spiritual potentialities in the human mind through the revitalization of the powers of self-confidence and consciousness? And secondly, how best and how soon we could integrate the ethical, moral and human dimensions into the on going sustainable development process?

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