Sustainable Development

Sustainable development refers to a process of societal advance embodying a more equitable and environmentally aware pattern of development that requires a careful integration of economic, social, and environmental objectives. Since the 1990s, the concept has increasingly been endorsed by governments and official bodies, and it has gradually emerged as a new international norm qualifying the sort of change that is to be regarded as authentic development. In governance terms, sustainable development raises the challenge of how human societies are to address urgent environment and development problems and how existing systems of governance (at the international, national, regional, and local levels) can be reformed to ensure a more desirable pattern of societal advance.

Initially popularized by the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987 and formally endorsed by world leaders at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the idea of sustainable development is now routinely cited by governments as a fundamental policy objective. The WCED defined the concept as development for the present that does not compromise the future, emphasizing both the moral imperative of responding to the urgent development needs of the world's poor and the threat to continued progress represented by the failure to respect environmental limits.

As further elaborated in international political debate, sustainable development has come to be associated with a series of normative ideas including: protection of the environment, particularly the essential life support functions of the global ecosphere; promotion of human welfare, especially the urgent [Page 946]development needs of the poor; concern for the wellbeing of future generations; and public participation in environment and development decision making. It is often spoken about in terms of ensuring an appropriate balance between three pillars—environment, economy, and society.

Sustainable development is a complex and contested concept, and despite the pages of “consensus documents” adopted by international agencies and conferences, there remain many different perspectives on what it entails and on the scale of political and social reform required to give it force. One often hears complaints about its fluidity and about the difficulty of translating the idea into specific policy prescriptions. Some environmentalists argue it has been co-opted by governments and corporations, while some enthusiasts of unfettered economic growth claim it is a creation of the environmental lobby. Nevertheless, the term remains at the heart of contemporary discourses of environment and development. Like other normative political concepts (such as liberty or democracy), it helps to frame and focus debate while being open to constant interrogation and reinterpretation.

Within industrially advanced countries, reconciling continued economic and social improvement with a radically reduced environmental burden stands at the crux of sustainable development. Although developed states have proven relatively successful in promoting economic growth and social welfare, much of the progress over the past half-century has been purchased at the expense of the global environment. Moreover, evidence suggests that the extension of prevailing patterns of “Northern” consumption across the globe would result in catastrophic damage to the biosphere. Yet there can be no ethical justification for denying people of developing countries access to living standards currently enjoyed in affluent states. Thus, it is incumbent upon developed countries to free up environmental space—dramatically reducing resource consumption and pollutant release—to make room for further growth in the developing world. This requires a decoupling of economic activity from environmental loading. In global terms, the significance of this decoupling is particularly evident with respect to climate change, where stabilization of the climate system will eventually require a decline in global carbon dioxide emissions to a small fraction of current levels. But threats to long-term ecological integrity are manifest in many other areas, including water use, the management of forests and fisheries, patterns of land utilization, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, chemical releases, and the disposal of wastes.

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