Scope and Definitions

The term sustainable development was used by Brundtland Commission which has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

The field of sustainable development can be conceptually divided into three constituent parts: environmental sustainability economic sustainability and social-political sustainability.

Sustainability is a process which tells of a development of all aspects of human life affecting sustenance. It means resolving the conflict between the various competing goals, and involves the sumeltaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity, of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible.

An “unsustainable situation” occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature’s resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability require that human activity only uses nature’s resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally.

Economic sustainability is not just about achieving economic growth year on year. It’s about understanding that economic growth is only sustainable if it is sumultaneously improves our quality of life and the environment. Economic sustainability can be applied to individuals, families, small and large businesses, communities, governments or world wide organizations.

If environment protection is concerned with the preservation of our natural environment and resources, and economic sustainability is concerned with seeking durable growth solutions therein, then the social – political sphere can be thought of as representative of the more purely element in the equation. Social-political sustainability too is very much concerned with physical and material standing of peoples, but further that it concerned with the state of their civil society. Social-political development entails not only the engagement of institutional mechanisms, but also their modification and advancement. Social-political sustainability thus seeks pathways to durable social enrichment and advancement via the vibrancy and health of a society’s political process.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

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