Sustainable development as an approach to development has a long history. Nonetheless, it was only in the 1980s that it was popularized. Today, this approach is criticized as too anthropocentric and vague, and therefore open to abuse. Even so modern environmental and sociocultural events such as climate change make it a vitally important concept for the future.

It is sometimes believed that sustainable development is a Western invention that came out of the U.S. conservation movement. However, efforts to protect environmental resources from overexploitation are not new; for instance, they could be found in ancient Greece. In 1713, Hannß Carl von Carlowitz published a book titled Sylvicultura Oeconomica (Economic sylvicultura) or “Natural instructions for the care of wild trees.” There he outlined the principle of achieving ...