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Sustainable development is a pattern of resource
use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so
that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the
indefinite future. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which
coined what 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.
Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity
of natural systems with the social challenges facing humanity.
Haynesville Shale
As early as the 1970s "sustainability" was employed to describe an
economy "in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems.
Ecologists have pointed to the “limits of growth and presented the
alternative of a “steady state economy" in order to address
environmental concerns.
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into
three constituent parts: environmental sustainability, economic
sustainability and sociopolitical sustainability.
1. Scope and
Definitions
2. Environmental Sustainability
3. Business Benefits
4. Critique of Sustainable Development
United Nations Initiatives
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