Sustainable development

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Sustainable Development

While there is no one definition of sustainable development, one often quoted is that put forward in the Brundtland Report of 1987, which defines it as "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". ^[1]

Sustainable development covers a broad range of topics based around the key pillars of "People, Planet, Prosperity". It covers not only environmental issues such as the use and management of natural resources, combatting climate change and the protection of biodiversity, but also social and economic aspects such as poverty reduction, promoting health and sustainable human settlements. Democracy and citizen participation are also crucial to sustainable development, as is the recognition of the role of indigenous people and their communities.

History

The concept of sustainable development is not new, and many cultures have been practicing "sustainable development" in some form for thousands of years. In the West, however, with the emphasis strongly on growth, the concept of "sustainable development", while discussed as early as the 1950's, did not begin to get strong international support until the 1970s or later. Below is a timeline of key events:

1972 - UN Conference on the Human Environment leads to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The same year, the Club of Rome published its controversial Limits to Growth.

1987 - Our Common Future (the Brundtland Report) redefines and popularise the term "sustainable development".

1992 - Earth Summit, also called the UN Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro, agrees on Agenda 21, an action plan for sustainable development.

1999 - Launch of the first Sustainability Index that tracks the performance of sustainability-driven companies worldwide.

2000 - UN Millennium Summit that leads to the agreement by world leaders to the Millennium Development Goals.

2002 - World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, marks 10 years since the Rio Earth Summit. Leads to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI).

2005 - Kyoto Protocol enters into force, legally binding developed countries who have signed on to reducing greenhouse gas emissions

2006 - Publication of the Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change

2008 - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Bali results in the "Bali Road Map"

2012 - UN High Level Panel Report on Global Sustainability -- Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing

For more details see the International Institute for Sustainable Develoment's timeline.

Topics

The UN Division of Sustainable Development lists the following topics as part of sustainable development:^[2]

Social and Economic

Industry
Poverty
Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (SCPP)
Sustainable Tourism
Trade
Demographics
Health
Human Settlements

Natural Resources Management

Agriculture
Desertification and Drought
Rural Development
Biodiversity
Forests
Land
Mountains
Oceans and Seas
Sanitation
Water/Freshwater
Atmosphere
Climate Change
Disaster Reduction and Management
Energy
Transport
Toxic Chemicals
Waste

OECD core set of sustainable development indicators:

Resource indicators:

Environmental assets:

Economic assets:

Produced assets
R&D assets
Financial assets

Human capital:

Stock of human capital
Investment in human capital
Depreciation of human capital

Outcome indicators:

Consumption
Income distribution
Health
Work Status/Employment
Education

Indicators for Sustainable Development

Chapter 40 of Agenda 21, the road-map which emerged from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, calls on countries to develop their own measures of sustainable development. It states that:

"Commonly used indicators such as the gross national product (GNP) and measurements of individual resource or pollution flows do not provide adequate indications of sustainability. Methods for assessing interactions between different sectoral environmental, demographic, social and developmental parameters are not sufficiently developed or applied. Indicators of sustainable development need to be developed to provide solid bases for decision-making at all levels and to contribute to a self-regulating sustainability of integrated environment and development systems."^[3]

The Bellagio Principles are a set of 10 principles to bridge the gap between assessing sustainable development theory and practice. They were initiated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development with a diverse group of measurement practioners and researchers.

The Global Footprint Network is an international think-tank that measures the Ecological Footprint globally and for individual countries.

For more indicators search by Countries or the Global Project on Measuring the Progess of Society's knowledge base.