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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. 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.
United Nations Initiatives
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