The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), entitled "Our Common
Future", defined sustainable development as -
"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 organizations on the
environment's ability to meet present and future needs." |
WCED, which was commissioned by the UN General Assembly in 1983, is also known as the
Brundtland Commission from its chairperson Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway.
The report further states that
"...the strategy for sustainable development aims to promote harmony among human
beings and between humanity and nature. ... The pursuit of sustainable development
requires:
 a political system that secures citizen
participation in decision making,
an economic system that is able to
generate surpluses and technical knowledge on a self-reliant and sustained basis,
a social system that provides for
solutions for the tensions arising from disharmonious development,
a production system that respects the
obligation to preserve the ecological base for development,
a technological system that can search
continuously for new solutions,
an international system that fosters
sustainable patterns of trade and finance, and
an administrative system that is flexible
and has the capacity for self correction."
A common view of
sustainable development is that the three domains of nature, economy and society including
culture must all develop but not at the expense of each other. That is why
sustainable development issues, prescriptions and tools always cut across the three
domains. After the 1992 Rio Summit, 178 nations adopted Agenda 21, a set of
guidelines for development in the 21st century. The 40 chapters of Agenda 21 cover
issues that cut across the three domains.
Sustainable development tools and prescriptions similarly cut across the three domains:
The 1996 Human Development Report issued by the UNDP listed what sustainable development
is NOT:
Jobless and ruthless -- development where there are losers such as
unemployed people (socio-economic dimension)
Voiceless -- development where the people had no say or participation (political
dimension)
Rootless -- development which does violence on communities and their cultures
(socio-cultural dimension)
Futureless -- development which is at the expense of future generations such as
irreversible destruction of natural life support systems (ecological dimension)
|
other resources on sustainable development [International Institute
for Sustainable Development (IISD)]
