What is Sustainable Development?

Environmental, economic and social well-being for today and tomorrow

Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted
definition is fromOur Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report
"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it
two key concepts:

the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which
overriding priority should be given; and
the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on
the environment's ability to meet present and future needs."

All definitions of sustainable development require that we see the world as a systema
system that connects space; and a system that connects time.
When you think of the world as a system over space, you grow to understand that air
pollution from North America affects air quality in Asia, and that pesticides sprayed in
Argentina could harm fish stocks off the coast of Australia.
And when you think of the world as a system over time, you start to realize that the decisions
our grandparents made about how to farm the land continue to affect agricultural practice
today; and the economic policies we endorse today will have an impact on urban poverty
when our children are adults.
We also understand that quality of life is a system, too. It's good to be physically healthy, but
what if you are poor and don't have access to education? It's good to have a secure income,
but what if the air in your part of the world is unclean? And it's good to have freedom of
religious expression, but what if you can't feed your family?
The concept of sustainable development is rooted in this sort of systems thinking. It helps us
understand ourselves and our world. The problems we face are complex and seriousand we
can't address them in the same way we created them. But we can address them.
It's that basic optimism that motivates IISD's staff, associates and board to innovate for a
healthy and meaningful future for this planet and its inhabitants.

Sustainability and Sustainable Development

As a working definition, sustainability can be defined as the practice of maintaining processes
of productivity indefinitelynatural or human madeby replacing resources used with

resources of equal or greater value without degrading or endangering natural biotic systems.
According to M. Hasna, sustainability is a function of social, economic, technological and
ecological themes. Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying
capacity of natural systems with the social, political, and economic challenges faced by
humanity. As early as the 1970s, the concept of "sustainability" was employed to describe
an economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems." Scientists in many fields
have highlighted The Limits to Growth, and economists have presented alternatives, for
example a 'steady state economy' to address concerns over the impacts of expanding human
development on the planet.
The term sustainable development rose to significance after it was used by the Brundtland
Commission in its 1987 report Our Common Future. In the report, the commission coined
what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development: "development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs." The United Nations Millennium Declaration identified principles and
treaties on sustainable development, including economic development, social
development and environmental protection.

Definition

More than one hundred definitions of sustainable development exist, but the most widely
used one is from the World Commission on Environment and Development, presented in
1987. It states that sustainable development is Development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. Sustainable development promotes the idea that social, environmental, and economic
progress are all attainable within the limits of our earths natural resources. Sustainable
development approaches everything in the world as being connected through space, time and
quality of life.
In terms of the world being connected by space, consider the following: Pesticides sprayed in
Chile have the potential to harm fish stocks off the coast of Japan. The air pollution we emit
in Los Angeles affect the quality of air in Asia. On the flip side, clean air practices on one
continent will positively impact air quality across the ocean.
The earths connection to time is demonstrated in how we, today, are either benefitting or
suffering from the choices of our grandparents and other ancestors. Their decisions about
how to farm their land, for example, continue to impact the agricultural practices of

today. Looking to the future, the economic choices we make and policies we endorse today
will be the ones affecting our children and grandchildren as adults.
Sustainable development constantly seeks to achieve social and economic progress in ways
that will not exhaust the earths finite natural resources. The needs of the world today are
real and immediate, yet its necessary to develop ways to meet these needs that do not
disregard the future. The capacity of our ecosystem is not limitless, meaning that future
generations may not be able to meet their needs the way we are able to now.

The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in its
1987 report Our Common Future defines sustainable development: "Development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs."[8] Under the principles of the United Nations Charter the Millennium
Declaration identified principles and treaties on sustainable development, including economic
development, social development and environmental protection. Broadly defined, sustainable
development is a systems approach to growth and development and to manage natural,
produced, and social capital for the welfare of their own and future generations.
The concepts of sustainable development and sustainability derive from the older forestry
term "sustained yield", which, in turn, is a translation of the German term "nachhaltiger
Ertrag" dating from 1713. Sustainability science is the study of the concepts of sustainable
development and environmental science. There is an additional focus on the present
generations' responsibility to regenerate, maintain and improve planetary resources for use by
future generations.

Global sustainable development goals

The world's sustainable development goals are integrated into the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) that were established in 2000 following the Millennium
Summit of the United Nations. Adopted by the 189 United Nations member states at the time
and more than twenty international organizations, these goals were advanced to help achieve
the following sustainable development standards by 2015:

To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

To achieve universal primary education
To promote gender equality and empower women
To reduce child mortality

To improve maternal health

To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
To ensure environmental sustainability

According to the data that member countries represented to the United Nations, Cuba was the
only nation in the world in 2006 that met the World Wide Fund for Nature's definition
ofsustainable development, with an ecological footprint of less than 1.8 hectares per capita,
1.5, and a Human Development Index of over 0.8, 0.855.