Sustainable Resource Management: What, What For And How?

Abstract

As many as 8 goals of The 2030 Agenda, one way or the other, lay emphasis on
sustainable management and utilization of resources. The 17 goals of the Agenda use the
term ‘sustainable’ as many as 14 times and the word ‘inclusive’ 6 times As such the process
of resource management needs to ensure sustainability, equity and inclusion. Resource
management is a process of decision making regarding the allocation of resources based on
survey, planning and implementation activities. It needs to resolve property conflict,
development conflict and resource conflict in order to be economically viable, socially equitable
and environmentally bearable. The idea of sustainable resource management takes in to
consideration the concept of ‘needs’ and the idea of ‘limitations’ and emphasizes the need for
equity and growth in a long term perspective. National governments and international
organizations are actively engaged in developing location specific, cost effective, efficient
and eco-friendly technologies of resource utilization, exploration, management and
conservation. The paper examines the concept of resource scarcity, availability and abundance,
discusses the rationale behind sustainable resource management and outlines an approach to
achieve it.