How can sustainable development help address population challenges?

Sustainable development is crucial for addressing population challenges because it emphasizes the importance of aligning growth with resource availability. This approach ensures that population increases do not outpace the natural resources or infrastructure needed to support such growth. By fostering a balance between environmental integrity and human needs, sustainable development promotes responsible management of resources such as water, land, and energy.

This harmony is vital as it allows communities to grow economically and socially while minimizing the negative impacts on the ecosystem and ensuring that future generations can meet their needs. When development strategies incorporate sustainability, they create opportunities for education, health care, and employment, which can lead to more stable populations and improve living standards.

The other options present ideas that conflict with the principles of sustainable development. For instance, promoting unchecked population growth ignores the limitations of resources and can lead to environmental degradation. Reducing access to education generally exacerbates population issues by limiting awareness and opportunities. Encouraging urbanization without planning can create slum conditions and strain urban infrastructures, contradicting the aims of sustainable development.