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Chapter I.INTRODUCTION
A. Sustainable Development's Origin
"Sustainable development is improving people's life-enabling habits to meet our needs in the present without compromising the ability of future generations tomeet their needs.
Natural resources such as water, air, soil, plants, and animals are the basic assets upon which all life, human and otherwise, depends. Therefore, accordingto this definition it is unwise to use up these supplies, or we will be threatening thesecurity of all people, in the present and future.Without getting too complicated, we can think of sustainable development asthe ability to co-exist in a way that maintains the natural environment, economic well- being, and an equal opportunity for all people on Earth to benefit from a better qualityof life now and in the future. The three are interdependent. Nature is our life-support;there is simply no way around this reality. Only when we have a healthy naturalenvironment, coupled with healthy social systems, can we truly prosper economically.Misleading answers to questions and solutions to problems will be the outcome bylooking at any one of these elements in isolation. Consider the plight of many Africancountries now that are in continual states of poverty, upheaval, and warfare. Are wereally addressing their problems in an integrated manner when we address theapparent symptoms instead of attacking the many common causes of these verydiverse issues?But, sustainability is not a "thing we do" or a "program we carry-out". Instead,it is a process by which we reason and a way we choose to live; a process that usescommon sense and intuition as a baseline. Sustainability should be viewed as a philosophy, or ethic, affording people the ability to consider long-term consequencesof actions and to think broadly across issues, disciplines, and boundaries. As a process,
 
sustainable community development exposes citizens to the ramifications of their thoughts and actions on others, their local environment, and the surroundinglandscape, as well as motivating and organizing people to direct change within thecontext of a responsible and shared vision for a collective future.Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues. More broadly, sustainable development policies encompass three general policy areas:economic, environmental and social. In support of this, several United Nations texts,most recently the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, refer to the"interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars" of sustainable development aseconomic development, social development, and environmental protection
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”.“The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO, 2001) elaboratesfurther the concept by stating that, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature; it becomes one of the roots of development understood notsimply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a moresatisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence. In this vision,cultural diversity is the fourth policy area of sustainable development.Some research activities start from this definition to show that the environmentwe inherited and that we will transmit to future generations is a combination of natureand culture. The Network of Excellence Sustainable Development in a Diverse World,sponsored by the European Union, works in this direction. It integratesmultidisciplinary capacities and interprets cultural diversity as a key element of a newstrategy for sustainable development.The United Nations Division for Sustainable Developments lists the followingareas as coming within the scope of Sustainable Development;
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Agriculture
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Atmosphere
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Edwards A.R. and David W.O, “Sustainability Revolution,” (1993), p 56-60
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Biodiversity
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Biotechnology
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Capacity-building
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Climate Change
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Consumption and ProductionPatterns
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Demographics
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Desertification and Drought
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Disaster Reduction andManagement
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Education and Awareness
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Energy
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Finance
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Forests
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Fresh Water 
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Health
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Human Settlements
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Indicators
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Industry
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Information for Decision Making
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International Law
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International Cooperation for Enabling Environment
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Institutional Arrangements
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Land management
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Major Groups
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Mountains
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 National SustainableDevelopment Strategies
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Oceans and Seas
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Poverty
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Sanitation
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Science
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Small Islands
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Sustainable tourism
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Technology
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Toxic Chemicals
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Trade and Environment
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Transport
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Waste (Hazardous)
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Waste (Radioactive)
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Waste (Solid)
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Water Sustainable development is a notoriously ambiguous concept, as a wide array of views has fallen under its umbrella. The concept has included notions of weak sustainability, strong sustainability and deep ecology. Different conceptions also reveal a3
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