Sustainable Development

Introduction
The word sustainable has roots in the Latin subtenir, meaning ‘to hold up’, or ‘to support
from below. A community must be supported from below- by its inhabitants, present and future.
Certain places, through the atypical combination of physical, cultural and, perhaps, spiritual
characteristics, inspire people to care for their community. These are the places where
sustainability has the best chance of taking hold (Muscoe Martin, 1995).
The concept of sustainable development has received much attention in the past decade.
The interest in sustainable development results from the growing concern over the depletion of
natural resources that we humans need for our survival. As our population continues to grow to
unequaled numbers, our environment’s resources are being stretched thinner than ever, and are
unevenly distributed among the population. Sustainable development is maintaining a delicate
balance between the human need to improve lifestyles and feeling of well-being on one hand,
and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and future generations depend.
The World Wildlife fund defines it as “Improvement in the quality of human life within the
carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems” (Goodland, 1995, p.4). The idea of sustainable
development thus includes not only ensuring that there are enough resources for the human
population as a whole, but also that these resources are distributed to benefit as many as
possible. The writings of many economists who discuss sustainable development are optimistic,
for their equations are concerned with keeping up levels of profit and production despite
shrinking resources. But as Goodland (1995) states, “Any consumption that is based on depletion
of natural capital is not income and should not be counted as such” (p.14). To destroy natural
capital for short term profit is to liquidate one’s assets, and will result in a net loss of total capital.
Corporations and economists seem to be using the term sustainable development to mean
“sustainable growth.” Goodland (1995) argues that growth is by definition not sustainable.
Logically, a finite planet cannot tolerate infinite increases in human population or manufacturing
output. To develop something is to make it better, to grow is merely to get bigger. With a
shrinking resource base and flooded waste sinks, further growth is not a viable option. Goodland
(1995) makes a point to distinguish between environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Social sustainability requires maintaining human and moral capital, increasing community
participation, and reducing poverty. Economic sustainability is defined as keeping economic
capital stable. Environmental sustainability requires that the source and sink capacities of our
planet not be exceeded. These three types of sustainability are related, and none can fully
succeed without the others. Reducing global inequality is an important feature of sustainable
development. Currently, 20 percent of the human population uses 80 percent of the resources
(Raven, 2002; Mega, 1999), and one-eighth to one-half of the global population is malnourished
(Raven, 2002; Pimental and Pimental, 1999). Keep in mind that the total production of food has
so far kept above the total demand. These people are malnourished for socioeconomic and
political reasons. Daily, et al. (1998) point out that food shortages are a local problem, not a
global problem. Succeeding in keeping global food production ahead of population growth does
not ensure that everyone will be fed. Food, sanitation, and medical technologies are not evenly
distributed. Life expectancy in the year 1995 was 12 years higher in the developed countries that
make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) than it was in less
developed non-OECD countries (Mega, 1999). The goals of sustainable development are to keep
human consumption at rates that can be sustained indefinitely, and to reduce inequality and
improve the quality of life for as many people as possible.
Thus, Sustainable development contains within it two key concepts: the concept of
“needs”, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should
be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization
on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”

World Commission on Environment and Development

 Sustainable development" has become the leading environmental theme of our time. Like
most great issues, the discussion about sustainable development involves an argument about our
future. It is a concept of both common sense and controversy. It reflects common sense because
no one is for a mode of life that diminishes our capital stock, which would make future
generations poorer, or degrades our living conditions, which would make current and future
generations less healthy. Yet sustainable development is also a subject of controversy because of
the difficulty of comprehending the myriad linkages between environmental factors in a dynamic
world. Clashing conceptual frameworks lead to widely varying conclusions about what
constitutes "sustainability." Still less is there any clear direction for public policy with regard to
sustainability; at this point the policy discussion resembles the Woody Allen gag about trying to
find a framework to turn a concept into an idea. The conceptual difficulties with the issue arise
chiefly because of a lack of clarity and definition about what "sustainable development" means.

The concept of Sustainable Development was presented for the first time in 1987 by the
World Commission on Environment and Development, in the report Our Common Future . The
commission was created by the United Nations, and was made of 21 nations, include Canada.
The commission, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, said that the
planet needs " a new era of environmentally sustainable sound economic development." Dr.
Brundtland also said that "government must strongly support a new political approach to
environment and development, where economic and fiscal policies, trade and foreign policies,
energy, agriculture, industry, and other sectorial policies, all aim to induce development that is
not only economically but ecologically sustainable."

Earth Summit

Sustainable development was a key issue on the agenda at the 1992 United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), or the Earth Summit, held in Rio de
Janeiro. The Summit brought together representatives of Governments, international and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society to discuss the challenges of the next
century and to adopt a global plan of action to meet these challenges. The action plan, known as
Agenda 21, provided a comprehensive set of principles to assist Governments and other
institutions in implementing sustainable development policies and programmes. It also suggested
that economic, social and environmental considerations were intertwined with issues of poverty,
equity, quality of life, and global environmental protection. Agenda 21 viewed education as an
essential tool for achieving sustainable development and identified four areas of action for
education. These are:

 Improve the quality of basic education;

 Reorient existing education programmes to address sustainable development;
 Develop public awareness and understanding; and
 Provide training for all sectors of private and civil society.
 From Rio to Johannesburg

During the 1990s, thinking about sustainable development evolved further through many UN
conferences including the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, the International
Conference on Population and Development (1994), the World Summit for Social
Development (1995), the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995), the Conference on
Human Settlements (1996), the World Food Summit (1996), and subsequent five- and ten-
year reviews.
“Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract -
sustainable development - and turn it into a reality for all the world’s people.”

-Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, March 14, 2001, Bangladesh

While considerable progress has been made developing the concepts of sustainable development,
achievement of the UNCED goals has been lagging. Pressures on the environment and natural
resources has kept the state of the world’s environment fragile; poverty has increased in absolute
terms; and unsustainable production and consumption patterns abide in many parts of the
developed world. And while notable achievements have been made in improving health, new
problems such as HIV/AIDS have reversed hard-won gains in infant survival and life expectancy
in a growing number of countries and communities worldwide.
Johannesburg: Into a Sustainable Future?
Ten years after Rio, the world community came together to review accomplishments and
outcomes of the Earth Summit, and to adopt concrete measures and identify quantifiable targets
for better implementation of Agenda 21, and the more recent Millennium Development Goals. At
the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, a more fully
developed paradigm of sustainable development was endorsed at the highest political levels. The
Political Declaration states that sustainable development is built on three “interdependent and
mutually reinforcing pillars” - economic development, social development and environmental
protection - which must be established “at local, national, regional and global levels” (Para. 5).
This paradigm recognizes the complexity and interrelationship of critical issues such as poverty,
wasteful consumption, environmental degradation, urban decay, population growth, gender
inequality, health, conflict, and the violation of human rights.

The Road Map for "Change" in the 21st Century

The road map for “change” in the 21st Century is Agenda 21, Sustainable Development. The
“change” has become part of our national policy as well. Change the way we think, change the
way we talk, change the way we live, change what we drive, change our eating habits, change
our health habits, change the way we teach, change what we teach, change how we build,
change, change, change. Change for sustainable this and change for sustainable that. According
to Hegel, “Change”, is the rule of life. Every idea irrepressibly breeds its opposite and the two
merge into a synthesis which in turn produces its own contradiction. Therefore, when we enter
into a dialog about “Sustainable Development”, “change” is inevitable. Sustainable development
has set us on a course to a place where “unalienable rights” do not exist.

Sustainable development is a process, not an end in itself. It also implies that participation and
genuine dialogue among stakeholders are key prerequisites for sustainable development. In brief,
sustainable development needs democratic thinking, but it can also help strengthen democratic
institutions through consensus-based public participation. The World Commission on Sustainable
Development words: "... sustainable development is ... a process of change in which the
exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological
development, and institutional change are made consistent with the future as well as present
needs”.

Sustainable development is a dynamic concept with many dimensions and many

interpretations. Some argue that there is no need for one agreed definition of sustainable
development; instead, sustainable development should be seen as a process of change that is
heavily reliant upon local contexts, needs, and priorities. Clearly, while there is no one definition,
the global dimensions and impacts of the challenges facing the 21st Century require extensive
international co-operation, political commitment and stewardship, and energy to move forward
into a sustainable future.

Sustainable development is not a neatly defined concept, but a catalytic vision. Translating this
vision into commitment and action will be the yardstick of success or failure in the attainment of
sustainable development goals. The core idea of sustainable development is that future
generations will have the means to meet their own needs better than we are able to meet our
own today without degrading the natural environment. This implies that there will be adequate
resources for future generations, and that sufficient care should be taken not to pollute our air
and water, and not to despoil our forests and biological habitats.

Toward meaning of Sustainable Development

For the two decades the concept of sustainable development has increasingly captured the
imagination and commitment of individuals, communities, business and nations throughout the
world. At the same time, reaching a consensus definition of what sustainable development is and
understanding what it means has remained elusive. Contained within this often confusing but rich
dialogue surrounding sustainability are some key concepts which make sustainable development
a more holistic approach than traditional development activities. A hallmark of these key concepts
is the desire to seek a balance between the economic, social and ecological aspects of a
community. Sustainable development serves as a comprehensive framework for the formation of
policies that integrate environmental, economic, and social issues. Sustainable development
offers an alternative to traditional decsion- making policies and values. It recognizes that the
natural system of our environment are not only critical to basic economic needs, but alsoto
quality of life. Sustainable development or sustainability is a term that is constantly evolving in
definition and application. It reflects the dynamic character of natural and human system.
Current literature seeks to define sustainable development as a paradigm that has distinct
meaning but is flexible enough to apply to the broad criticized for appearing to mean anything to
anybody. The term is said to have so many definitions that it has not meaning at all. The criticism
is partially valid. There are numerous interpretations of sustainable development, but every major
concept that encompasses human ideals – such as liberty or democracy, is subject to diverse
interpretation. These broad interpretations do not undermine the importance of usefulness of
these terms. Indeed, the definitions and interpretations of sustainable development reflect its
extensive scope.

Basic definitions of sustainable development

The meaning of sustainable development varies from one individual to another. For instance,
sustainable development for many is limited to environmental issues. This meaning is restrictive,
since it does not allow for the economic and social facets of sustainable development. In 1987,
the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) released
a report calling for the emergence of:

" ... development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."

This definition was included in the amendments to the Auditor General Act.

The Brundtland Commission went on to state that:

" ... sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in
which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological
development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs."

Three essential elements of sustainable development are quality of life, integrated decision-
making, and equity.

Quality of life

The concept of quality of life recognizes that Canadians value many different aspects of their life
in society, including economic and social development and the preservation and improvement of
environmental quality. Reconciling economic development, social equity and environmental
quality is at the core of sustainable development. Clearly, Canadians want an economy that
performs well. A healthy economy meets demands for job creation, economic security and
improved living standards. It also allows Canada to pursue social objectives that are key
elements of our quality of life — including health, education and protection of the environment —
now and for generations to come.

Integrated decision-making

Reconciling development and environmental quality means paying particular attention to

integrated decision-making. As the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and
Sustainable Development has noted:

" The integration of environmental and economic considerations, along with the consideration of
equity, is a fundamental underpinning of the concept of sustainable development."

The connections among economic, social and environmental objectives need to be

acknowledged, and any conflicts among them that may emerge should be dealt with openly, on
the basis of full information and taking advantage of the best tools available.
Equity
The commitment to equity is a third element of sustainable development. Equity involves the fair
distribution of the costs and benefits of development between the rich and the poor, among
generations, and among nations. Equity also implies that we all have the means to meet basic
needs, and that we are all entitled to basic rights.

Some Alternative Definitions of Sustainable Development

The complete definition of Sustainable Development as well as creating a method of

measurement. The technical definition of Sustainable Development was
"a sound balance among the interactions of the impacts (positive and/or negative), or stresses,
on the four major quality systems: People, Economic Development, Environment and Availability
of Resources." and

The non-technical definition was "a sound balance among the interactions designed to create a
healthy economic growth, preserve environmental quality, make wise use of our resources, and
enhance social benefits.".

"Sustainable utilization is a simple idea: we should utilize species and ecosystems at levels and in
ways that allow them to go on renewing themselves for all practical purposes indefinitely."

—Robert Allen, How To Save The World (Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980), p. 18

"Sustainability might be redefined in terms of a requirement that the use of resources today
should not reduce real incomes in the future."

—Anil Markandya and David Pearce, "Natural Environments and the Social Rate of Discount,"
Project Appraisal, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1988, p. 11

"The core idea of sustainability . . . is the concept that current decisions should not impair the
prospects for maintaining or improving future living standards . . . . This implies that our
economic systems should be managed so that we live off the dividend of our resources,
maintaining and improving the asset base."

—Robert Repetto, The Global Possible—Resources, Development, and the New Century (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), p. 10

"Sustainable development implies using renewable natural resources in a manner which does not
eliminate or degrade them, or otherwise diminish their usefulness to future generations. . .
Sustainable development further implies using non-renewable (exhaustible) mineral resources in
a manner which does not unnecessarily preclude easy access to them by future generation . . . .
Sustainable development also implies depleting non-renewable energy resources at a slow
enough rate so as to ensure the high probability of an orderly societal transition to renewable
energy sources."

—Robert Goodland and G. Ledec, "Neoclassical Economics and Principles of Sustainable

Development," Ecological Modeling, No. 38 (1987), p. 37

"Sustainable development is development without growth in throughput of matter and energy

beyond regenerative and absorptive capacities."
—Herman Daly and Robert Goodland, "Environmental Sustainability: Universal and Non-
negotiable," Ecological Applications, Vol. 6, no. 4 (1996), p. 1002

“We summarize the necessary conditions (for sustainable development) as “constancy of the
natural capital stock. More strictly the requirement as for non-negative changes in the stock of
natural resources such as soil and soil quality, ground surface waters and their quality, land
biomass, water biomass and the waste assimilation capacity of receiving environment.”

“Our standard definition of sustainable development will be non declining per capita utility –
because of its self evident appeal as a criterion for inter generational equity.”

-John Pezzey, Economic analysis of sustainable growth and sustainable development, World
Bank, Environment Department, Working Paper No. 15.

Sustainable Development is development which allows all future generations to have a potential
average quality of life at least as high as the average quality of life of the current generation.” In
this definition quality of life is a measure of the average well being of the members of a
generation and depends on traditional material consumption as well as on leisure environment
quality etc.

-Economics of sustainable development –A Report from working group.

Sustainable human development puts people at the center of development and points out
forcefully that the inequalities of today and so great that to sustain the present form of
development is to perpetuate similar inequalities for future generation. These essence of
sustainable development is that, everyone should have equal access to development
opportunities new and in future..

-Human Development Report, 1994

“Sustainable development is development which meets the basic needs of all, particularly the
poor majority, for employment, food energy, water, and housing, and ensures growth of
agriculture, manufactures, power and services to meet these needs. In that sense, sustainable
development merges economics and environment both in theory and decision-making.”
(Adiseshiah (1989:32)

Barbier (1987), Simon (1989) and Gale (1991) considered sustainable development as a process
of development by which various environment al, economic and social benefits can be
simultaneously and concurrently maximized. Pezzy (1992) and Pearce (1995) underscored the
central idea that the case of environment needs to be higher on the development agenda if there
has to be sustainable development. Thus viewed, sustainable development is ‘environmentally
responsible’, ‘environmentally friendly’ – a development that takes present and future, long term
and short-term, and a development that is environmentally benign and which focuses on the
need for better environmental stewardship.

Component of sustainable development

Sustainable development will go on, and should go on, for a long time and that our chosen
abstract conception is but one of many that might be offered at this time. The formula is very
simple. In that human development is subjected to live constraints. In this view, development is
unsustainable when an enlargement of human choice excludes, disconnects, promotes inequity,
reflects imprudence or raises insecurity. These terms are challenging to define, with notions such
as security or prudence more easily identified by their absence than their presence more easily
identified by their absence than their presence. Each of the five components is further amplified
next.

Inclusiveness: Sustainable development presented an expansive view in terms of space, time

and component parts of the manifest world. They suggest that sustainability embraces both
environmental and human systems, both near and far, in both the present and the future. An
understanding of the human dimensions of sustainability must encompass the “driving forces” of
anthropogenic global environmental change: population change, economic growth, technological
change, political and economic institutions, and attitudes and beliefs (Stern, young & Druckman,
1992). Sustainability thus goes beyond ecological efficiency tom also include social sufficiency: it
goes beyond “The Natural Step” (Robert, 1994) to include social and economic steps.

Connectivity:- Sustainability demands an understanding of the world’s problems as systemically

interconnected and interdependent. As the world resources Institute has concluded. Sustainable
development is based on the recognition that a nation cannot reach its economic goals without
also achieving social and environmental goals –that is universal education and employment
opportunity, universal health and reproductive care, equitable access to and distribution of
resources, stable populations, and a sustained natural resources base” (1994:43). Social equity
and biosphere respect are required for enhanced welfare anywhere on the planet: Improved
human welfare and social equity are necessary to motivate biosphere respect, and enhanced
welfare and biospheric respect are needed to facilitate social equity (Gladwin, Krause, & Kennelly,
1995). Efforts aimed only toward ecological health and integrity, in the absence of efforts to
alleviate poverty, stabilize population, and redistribute economic opportunity, may produce trival
results at best. Any gains may be counteracted by global ecosystem degradation and
sociopolitical instability induced by the poverty population nexus (Dasgupta, 1995)

Equity: Fair distribution of resources and properly rights, both within and between generations,
is a central dimensions of nearly all conceptions of sustainable development. Some people place
special emphasis on providing for the needs of the least advantaged in society. Few people
address human obligations regarding the nonhuman world. The moral imperatives of
intergenerational and intragenerational (as well as interspecies) equity cannot be found
empirically : they can be found only intersubjectively.The absence of objectives criteria pushes
the study of sustainability towards that of a normative science where rules will be worked out
over time via a competition of beliefs and moral debate. While acknowledging the vast realm of
debate regarding fairness, equity and justice. The sustainability, at a minimum, means that
human activities should not shift costs anto, or appropriate the properly or resource right of,
other human interests, today or tomorrow, without proper compensation.

Prudence : Sustainable development call for keeping life-supporting ecosystems and interrelated
socioeconomic systems resilient, for avoiding irreversibility’s, and for keeping the scale and
impact of human activities within regenerative and carrying capacities. Most analysis call for
prudence and humility in the pursuit of sustainable development, given the massive uncertainty
and unpredictability, non linear interaction between system components. Unknown thresholds,
and complex dynamics in ecological and social systems (Costanza, wainger Folke, & Maler, 1993).
This constraints demands precaution, preemptive safeguards, reversible actions, safety margins
and preparation for perpetual surprise (Ludwig, Hilborn, & Walters, 1993)
Security : Sustainable development is generically a human – centered construct, aimed at
ensuring” a safe, healthy, high quality of life for current and future generations” (U.S. President’s
on sustainable Development, 1994:1) There are a number of overlapping boundary conditions
that must be fulfilled in support of this goal. At a minimum, sustainability mandates no net loss of
(a) ecosystem and social system health (i.e., capacities of natural and social systems to resiliently
provide essential life –support services to humanity) (constanza, Norton, & Haskell, 1992): (b)
critical natural capital (i.e., stocks of irreplaceable natural assets such as biological diversity, the
ozone layer, and biological cycles) (Daly, 1994): (c) Self organization (i.e., capacities of living
systems to carry out self-renewal, self maintenances and self –transformation, which provide the
context for all human activity) (Norton, 1991): (d) carrying capacity (i.e., long run capacities of
biophysical scales of human enterprise) Daily & Ehrich, 1992): and (e) human rights in day –to-
day living dependent on participation, account-ability, reciprocity and transparency (Veiderman,
1994) including the fulfillment of basic human needs.

Pre-requisites for Sustainable Development

There are certain pre-requisites for a new development paradigun because the combination of
high debt, slow economic growth, and rapidly increasing poverty exacerbated the profound levels
of human suffering that already existed in many of these countries. Even so, a surprisingly
debates on at least the following points:-

(1) Economic growth does not automatically improve peoples lives, either within nations a
internationally.
(2) Rich and poor countries compete in the global market place as unequal partners, if
developing countries are to compete on a more equal feeling. They will require massive
investment in human capital and technological development.

(3) Neither”free market” dependency in Marxist paradigms of development needs of the

world’s poorest and slowest developing countries.

(4) The socio-economic conditions of the world’s least developing countries (LDC’S) in the
main and with important exceptions, became worse during the past 20 years.

(5) Sectural approaches to development are inadequate ----------as the most developing
countries are systematic in nature and, therefore, require systematic solution.

(6) The systematic solutions required to meet the development challenges comparing the
world’s developing countries require fundamental readjustment in both the goals of
development and their methods of achievement.

(7) A political system, while is based on democracy and welfare state principles.

(8) An education system, which is utilization and academic both.

(9) Prosperity and production, but not at the cost of ecological balance.

(10) A technological, which is not based on unmindful imitation of the foreign technology.

(11) A strong family system, where individual freedom is also appreciated to great extent.
 (12) The Political uncertainties created by the collapse of communism, the economic failures
of capitalism and newly revived efforts at the establishment of “a new world order”.

(13) The vicious cycle of poverty human degradation and environment destruction that exist
in many developing countries.

(14)The existence and inter-relatedness of new financial and ecological problem that are
unprecedented either in scope or seriousness, and

(15)The need for global mechanism to guide international program towards the promotion
and protection of democratic principles, human rights, economic and social

Goals and Objectives of Sustainable Development

The goal of sustainable development are far reaching and have as their objectives the formation
of contemporary development are

(1) The formulation of new paradigms of economic, political, cultural, ecological and social
development.
(2) More rational approaches to development that take into account the long term costs
associated with short term movements.

(3) The judicious use of the planets non renewable physical resources.

(4) A balance between economic, social cultural and physical development.

(5) The realization of fully integrated development strategies that bring together all relevant
sectors and actors into a common framework of local, regional, national and international
action.

Some thinkers emphasize sustainable development must also succeed in :-

(1) Restructuring the existing system of international Trade.

(2) Creating a new system of international financial institution.

(3) Obtaining debt forgiveness for the world’s poorest countries from at least official lenders.

(4) Ending international trade in ornaments and tools of human destruction.

(5) Converting all programmes of bi-lateral military assistance to humanitarian purposes.

(6) Imposing effective controls on the non-sustainable activities of transnational corporation.

The UNDP identifies the following outcomes as minimum additional requirements for achieving
the goal of sustainable development.

(1) The elimination of poverty

(2) A reduction in population growth

(3) More equitable distribution of resources

(4) More educated and better trained people

(5) Decentralized more participatory government

(6) More equitable, liberal trading system within and among countries.

(7) Better understanding of the diversity of eco-system, including locally adapted solutions to
environment problems & better monitoring of the environmental of development
activities.

Values of Sustainable development

Falk (1972) identified seven “informing values” that he regarded as foundational to a “new
world order” i.e., a world order based on “harmony within limits, harmony among human
groups and harmony between man and nature”

(1) Unity of mankind and the unity of the earth, with particular recognition that the future of
man and planet are tied to one another.
(2) The minimization of violence, especially the elimination of state terrorism and the
reduction of violence associated with the struggle of various groups for scaree resources,
space influence or prestige.

(3) The maintenance of environment quality, including the establishment of global ceiling on
such critical factors as population increase, resource use, and waste disposal, etc.

(4) The satisfaction of minimum world welfare standard, with particular attention to be given
to the elimination of mass misery through the satisfaction of at basic social and material
needs of people everywhere.

(5) The primacy of human dignity, with particular emphasis on the establishment of codes of
personal and collective freedom. Personal rights of conscience and group rights of
assembly and cultural assertion.

(6) The retention of diversity and pharalism, especially to strength the existing biological
gene pool and to promote greater tolerance and moderation in political and social
outlook.

(7) The need for universal participation, especially to avoid the oppression that is associated
with the exclusion of people from actions and process that directly impact the quantity
and quality of their lives.

Dimension of sustainable development

President of the Institute for Development Research at Bosion University Davie Brown
has distinguishes between four dimensions of sustainable development.

(1) Ecological sustainability implies that non-renewable and other natural resources are not
depleted for short-term improvements.
(2) Economic sustainability implies that improvements do not depend on continuing infusions
of resources that cannot be maintained .
 (3) Political sustainability requires that changes are consistent with present or emerging
distributions of power in the society, and

(4) Cultural sustainability suggests that changes must be constant with core values,
expectations and more of the society.

Systems of sustainable development

In a systems view of sustainable development six essential subsystems or different

relevant sectors can be distinguished :-

Sr. No. Sub System Features

1. Individual development Civil liberties, human rights, equity, individual autonomy,

self-determination, health, right to work, social integration
and participation, gender and class-specific role, family and
life planning horizon, leisure and recreation,

2. Social System Population development, ethnic composition, income

distribution and class structure, social groups and
organizations, social security, medical care, old age
provisions.

3. Government System Government and administration, public finances and taxes,

political participation and democracy, conflict resolution
(national, international ), human rights policy, population
and immigration policy, legal system, crime control,
international assistance policy, technology policy)

4. Infrastructure system Settlements and cities, transportation and distribution,

supply system (energy, water, food, goods, services),
waste disposal, health services, communication and media,
facilities for education and training, science research and
development).

5. Economic System Production and consumption, money, commerce and trade,

labour and employment, income, market, inter-regional
trade.

6. Resources and (Natural environment, atmosphere and hydrosphere,

environment System natural resources, ecosystem, species, depletion of
nonrenewable resources, regeneration of renewable
resources, waste absorption, material recycling, pollution,
degradation, carrying capacity.)

The six subsystems can be aggregated to three subsystems : human system, support system and
natural system:-

 Human System = Social + Individual system + Government

  Support System = Infrastructure + Economic system

 Natural System = Environment + Resources

Individual
Development System Social System
Human
System
Government System

Support Economic System Infrastructure System

System

Natural Environment and

System Resource System

These three subsystems correspond to the three categories of capital that are often used in
analysis of the total system: human capital, structural (built) capital and natural capital

Indicators of Sustainable Development

Indicator Subsystem Subsystem Contribution to total system

performance

Human Accumulated public debt Share of population living in urban

per capita as fraction of areas (no subsistence self –
mean annual income sufficiency)

Existence Support Net growth of built capital Infant mortality

(infrastructure and
economic system)

Natural Rate of degradation and Grain production per person per

loss of agricultural land year
forests

Human Share of population Share of population below poverty

affected by unsolved level
social problems

Effectiveness Support Amount of grain that can Average personal income vs.
be bought for one hour subsistence level income
minimum wage

Natural Land area fraction with Renewable fraction of energy and

polluted groundwater material resources
 Human Unemployment rate: Annual growth rate of population
percent of working age
adults who cannot find
paid work

Freedom of Support Energy productivity Life expectancy at birth

action

Natural Average atmospheric acid Share of land in natural state or

deposition (kMolH+ Per under sustainable management
ha)

Human Burden of diseases and Net rate of refugee generation or

injuries (disability absorption, percent of resident
adjusted life years) population

Security Support Foreign trade as share of Rate of change of ecological

total domestic trade footprint
volume (dependence)

Natural Biocide resistant strains Share of vital dependence on water

as fraction of total supply not under regional control
harmful strains and spices

Human Average length of formal Average per capita membership in

education of females non-governmental organizations
(public interest)

Adaptability Support Ratio of entrepreneurs to Ratio of tax revenue to long term

government employees committed state expenditures
(college graduates

Natural Ecological diversity index Rate of development of renewals

vs. rate of depletion of
nonrenewable resources

Human Prison population as share Percent of population able to

of total population converse in more than one
language

Coexistence Support Ecological footprints vs. Vertebrate species extinct and at

permissible sustainable risk as fraction of total in 1990
footprint

Natural Rate of change of Cumulative use of chlorinated

ecological diversity index hydrocarbons (g/ha)

Human Income ratio of richest 20 Percent moving because of social

percent of population to and political problems
 poorest 20 percent

Psychological Support Percent of population Percent moving because of

needs within one hour of all inadequate support structure
essential services

Natural Wildness area as share of Percent moving for the sake of their
total land area children’s health

Principles of Sustainable Development

Sustainable development principles reflect the orientating values and goals of the sustainable
development movement as well as its alternative “visitors” The principles also suggest the
comprehensive nature of the local, national and international actions that area required to
reverse the profound kevels of social deterioration that are occurring in many areas of the world.

1. Efforts towards the establishment of a worldwide strategy of sustainable

development must go forward with the recognition that the most fundamental problems
confronting immunity are essentially political, social and moral in nature.
2. The WDS must assign the higher priorities so a) The unity of Humanity and life
on earth. b) the minimization of violence c) the manufactures of environmental quality d)
the satisfaction of minimum world welfare standards e) the primacy of human dignity f)
the retention of diversity and pluralism, and g) universal participation.

3. The WDS must promotes the three goals on which concerned people everywhere
agree a) war prevention b) economic security and c) social justice.

4. A significant narrowing of the still widening gap in development between the

world’s richest and poorest nations must be a compelling near-term goal of the WDS

5. To be effective the WDS must call for a significant shift from provincial and
nationalistic attitudes and “ways of thinking” toward approaches that place increasing
emphasis on recognition.

6. The WDS must encourages people everywhere to accept increasing shared

responsibility for the well-being of others and for then of the planet and its fragile
ecosystem.

7. An effective WDS will require the speedier and more complete implementation of
the far reaching social, political, economic and ecological reforms oriented on “Agenda
21” and in other “visionary” models of world social development.

8. To be effective the WDS must respect national sovereignty.

9. The existing system of government and quasi-governmental international

institutions and organizations will need to be strengthened as part of a comprehensive
WDS
10. New international and regional institutions will need to be created as part of the
implementation machinery of the WDS

11. As recommended by the United Nation’s Development Programmes (UNDP,

1992,82) and other international bodies a development security council should be
established either under the aegis of a substantially strengthened United Nations system,
or other properly constituted world body.

12. The WDS must contain a range of flexible funding mechanisms for ensuring us
full implementation.

13. The WDS must contain mechanism for the timely review and as needed
redirection of the strategy in light knowledge or in response to new technologies or
emerging social, political, economic or environmental realities.

14. Finally, the WDS must include mechanisms for the continuous and reporting to
the world community, concerning the strategy’s successes and failures.

Models of Sustainable Development: There are two models of sustainable development –

(1) The Three -dimensional Model, and (2) The Capital Stock Model

1.The Three-dimensional model : The popularity of ‘sustainability’ stems also from a

simple model used to facilitate the comprehension of the term: the triangle of environmental
(conser-vation), economic (growth) and social (equity) dimensions (Figure 1). Mostly, sustainable
development is modeled on these three pillars ( Serageldin, 1995). This model is also called
‘three pillar’ or ‘three circles model’. It is based on basic aspects of human society, but does not
explicitly take into account ‘human quality of life’. Sustainable development is often depicted
schematically using three circles for the target dimensions of environment, economy and society,
to which are added the time and north-south dimensions. The diagram illustrates that:

Source - World Commission on Environment and Development,1987

Environmental dimension (Conser-vation)

The natural-environmental constraint to (human) development is the main reason for any
concern about sustainability. More precisely, the economic processes of production and
consumption draw to a greater or lesser extent on services provided by resources of the natural-
physical environment. These resources are of two broad types: natural resources (in the
conventional narrow sense) and environmental resources.

Natural resources of the conventional type - recognized by economists as crucial inputs to most
production processes - include non-renewable such as minerals, renewable such as forests, and
all forms of energy. They have been studied for a long time, so that policies dealing with them
can build on a whole body of theoretical and empirical knowledge.

Environmental resources have come under the purview of analysts more recently. Nevertheless,
fairly well-developed tools are now available for their analysis. In general, environmental
resources provide services not only for immediate human consumption but also for use in
connection with production as well as consumption processes. The former services sustain the
biological basis of human life and well-being as well as provide for enjoyment of natural
resources by people. The latter services derive mainly from the absorptive capacities of the
physical environment and as such contribute to human well-being.

Economic dimension (Growth)

The growth of economies and their structural transformation have always been recognized as
being at the core of development. They still are the most important preconditions for the
fulfillment of human needs and for any lasting improvements in living conditions. In addition to
the quantitative economic aspects of development, an increasing number of qualitative aspects
have come to be recognized too. The main argument is that neither economic growth in the
aggregate nor growth of income at the personal level is sufficient to guarantee progress of an
entire society. Accompanying qualitative changes are needed as well.

Social dimension (Equity)

Seen from a broad angle, development encompasses the strengthening of the material
income base as well as the enhancement of capabilities and the enlargement of choices. Such a
view of development clearly transcends the narrow concept of development-as-economic-growth
and also emphasizes the importance of social development in the context of sustainable
development.

There is one more argument for including social issues under the concept of sustainable
development. This argument is part of the general discussion on sustainability and can be
described in the following way: equity considerations are vital to the notion of sustainable
development. More precisely, inter-generational or inter-temporal equity forms one of the
cornerstones of the concept. As a consequence, the issue of intra-generational equity cannot be
excluded from a comprehensive notion of sustainable development, because doing so would
destroy the symmetry of the equity-argument on which the term 'sustainable' is built. Hence
intra-generational equity -- covering the whole gamut of social issues in development, such as
regional and gender distribution -- is rightly considered as an integral part of sustainable
development.

2. The capital stock model : The capital stock model was developed at the World Bank as
early as 1994. It is based on the idea that there are three types of capital stock, namely
environmental, economic and social. Sustainability capital consists of the sum of the three capital
stocks:

K sd = K env + K econ + K soc

According to this view, the Earth’s ‘capital’ should not simply be consumed but needs to be
constantly renewed. Sustainability is achieved when it is possible to live off the interest rather
than on the capital. The question of how far environmental, economic and social capital can be
substituted for each other is addressed by the concepts of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ sustainability.
Strong sustainability requires that none of the three individual types of capital should be
diminished in the long term, while weak sustainability imposes this condition only for the
aggregate capital stock. Thus, in the latter case, the consumption of environmental capital, for
example, would be permitted as long as it was ‘compensated for’ by an increase in economic or
social capital. This approach acknowledges that individual assets can be replaced, and that the
various types of capital may be mutually complementary. Limited substitution is therefore
permissible provided that for each type of capital there are critical limits below which the stock
must not fall. Nor can the rundown of one stock below the critical limits be offset by an increase
in capital in another area. Critical limits – such as environmental standards relevant to health (air
pollutant levels), sociopolitical standards (equal opportunities, minimum income, decent living
conditions, etc.), or guaranteed human rights – represent non-negotiable minimum requirements
or threshold values.

Levels and Strategies of Sustainable Development

Levels of Sustainable Strategies of Sustainable Development

Development

Individual and Group
Empowerment
Conflict Resolution
Community - Building
Institution – Building
Nation – Building
Region – Building
Through “conscientization” the process whereby individuals learn how
to perceive and act upon the contradictions that exist in the social,
political and economic structures intrinsic to all societies.
Efforts directed at reducing (1) grievances between persons or
groups, or (2) asymmetric power relationships between members of
more powerful and less powerful groups.
Through increased participation and “ Social ambition” of the
populace, the process through which community’s realize the fullness
of their social, political and economic potential, the process through
which communities respond more equitably to the social and material
needs of their populations.
Refers both to the process of “existing social institutions and that of
establishing new institutions that respond more effectively to new or
emerging social needs
The process of working towards the integration of a nation’s social
economic and cultural institutions at all levels of political organization.
The process of working towards the integration of a social, economic
 cultural institutions at all levels of political organization.
World – Building
The process of working toward the establishment of a new system of
international social, political, economic and ecological relationship
guided by the quest for world peace increased social justice, the
universal satisfaction of basic human needs and for the protection of
the planets fragile eco-system) (David 1987, 1991, Ekins, 1992,
Estes, 1988, 1990, Falk, 1992, Halperin et al 1992 Henderson, 1991
Pref, 1992b)

Conclusion

Sustainable Development is not a new idea. Many cultures over the course of human history
have recognized the need for harmony between the environment, society and economy.
Sustainable focused on improving the quality of life for all of the Earth’s citizens without
increasing the use of resources beyond the capacity of the environment to supply them
indefinitely. It requires an understanding that inaction has consequences and that we must find
innovative ways to change institutional structures and influence individual behavior. It is about
taking action, changing policy and practice at all levels, from the individual to the international.
Sustainable Development is an innovative and powerful concept with considerable unifying
power for international development . Sustainable development grew out of the profound, and as
yet unsolved, concerning existing development paradigm. The crisis is particularly acute
concerning the failure of existing models of development to offer effective and lasting solutions
to recurrent and worsening problems of world poverty, environmental degradation , and the
inability of most developing countries to achieve parity with economically advanced nations.
Sustainable development is product of fundamental social changes and international political
realignment that are occurring as a result of the collapse of communism. Sustainable
development offers at least general guidance to those newly emerging countries that are seeking
to accelerate their development . Sustainable development reflects a crises of vision in the goals
and means of international development.

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