Defining Sustainable Development
It always helps to go back to definitions, and some, like this one, make so much sense. 25 years have passed - we can’t afford 25 more without bringing this definition to life in our concept of development.
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It 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.”
Our Common Future in 1987.
