The Paradox Of Sustainable Development

The most commonly used definition of sustainable development is still that given in the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), i.e. sustainable development is ‘a process to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ Sustainable development is therefore about creating a better life for all people in ways that will be as viable in the future as they are at present. In other words, sustainable development is based on principles of sound husbandry of the world’s resources, and on equity in the way those resources are used and in the way in which the benefits obtained from them are distributed (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

The first event is the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, which is commonly known as Our Common Future. Through this Report, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) made a decisive statement in support of sustainable development (WCSD 1987). The Brundtland Report is considered to be central to ecological modernization such that Mol and others (2010) argue that ecological modernization theory can be understood as the social scientific elaboration and formalisation of the undergirding philosophy pertaining to environmental reform enunciated in Our Common Future. Among other things, the Brundtland Report aimed to overcome the North-South divide on questions

Sustainable development is defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (IISD, par. 1 ).

The definition of sustainability varies widely depending on the context in which the concept of sustainability is used. As Herman Daly (1996) put it, “Sustainable development is a term that everyone likes, but nobody is sure of what it means. The term rose to the prominence of a mantra after the publication of the UN sponsored Brundtland Commission report entitled, Our Common Future.” The Brudndtland Commision (1987) that Daly was referring to defined the term as “development that meets the needs of the present

Sustainable Development is an ambiguous concept as individuals, governments and environmentalists have different opinions on what true sustainability really is. There are many people that think that it simply cannot be achieved and is just a term thrown around to convince people that development is a good thing, whereas others believe that it is proven to work. Sustainable Development can be seen as two completely different concepts, Visvanathan (1991) says that

Sustainable development, when applied to the development of a system, creates complexity for the stakeholders involved in and affected by that development. To delve this complexity, solid definitions must be proposed for development and sustainable development in order for a framework to be established through which these complexities can be understood. Furthermore, these definitions are necessary evils for explorations of the intricacies of sustainable development due to the various paradigms used to define “development” and “sustainable development.” One definition of development, and the one that will be utilized within this report, is the, “utilizing resources to advance the complexity of a whole society.” From this, a definition of

A statement found in Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, released during the 1987 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as a "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Authors Wes Harry and Ina Ehnert describe sustainable development in a unique way in their

In his book, The Age of Sustainable Development, Jeffery Sachs begins with the role of technological change in sustainable development. Sachs uses the Maglev in Shanghai as an example of how technological change can help with sustainable development. It improved transport services and energy efficiency, eventually enabling a shift to a clean low carbon system. Instead of being powered by finite resources such as coal or petroleum, the Maglev is powered by electricity. In most cases states are resistant to adopt practices that encourage sustainable development because they believe it will hinder their economic growth. However, with technological advances such as the Maglev, states have incentives to change because it increases

Sustainable development was first defined in a report by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 and accepted by the UN General Assembly in 1992. It is defined as development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ (Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). There are three important elements of sustainable development, social development, environmental protection and economic development. All three elements are necessary in ensuring that development is long term and meets the needs of the people in all parts of life.

Backing up the history of conceptual Sustainable Development discussed during the lectures and tutorials, which as a term was first used in the book “Limits to Growth” during 1972, in which it was argued that the world will face major ecological collapse in the next 100 years if the resource consumption continued in the current trend. At latter stage, formally the “World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)”, that aimed to collectively bring countries to pursue a sustainable development. Brundtland Commission had published “Our Common Future” also known as the “Brundtland Report”, in which it states that a development should be able to meet the present needs in a much wider sense

Often heard used as a marketing buzzword to boost sales or win votes, it is firmly ingrained in the contemporary public psyche. A term first largely introduced by the 1987 Brundtland Report (by The World Commission on Environment and Development) who defined and politicized the term ‘sustainable development’, ‘sustainability’ has since taken on numerous connotations.

Urbanization, which is becoming a buzzword during the last few decades, is enlarging at a booming speed. It is predicted that 93 percents urban growth will occur to the year 2020, in the developing world (Elliot J.A, 1999). Generally speaking, more than half of the people around the world have been moved to cities, which led to a series of “matters” connected with people’s life that changed in a dramatical way. In this period, sustainable development, another buzzword during the past few years, came into people’s view and gradually became the mainstream of society development. Its definition is to make the development continue in a long term, which means allowing appropriate economic growth and industrialization without

The concept of sustainable development has become a major topic among intellectuals from various fields. Sustainable development has gone through various changes in its definitions and at present does not have a commonly accepted definition. The origination of the concept of sustainable development is debatable. In 1974 at a conference on Science and Technology for Human Development by the World Council of Churches the concept of a “sustainable society” is believed to have been first noted. This early concept focused on equitable distribution of scarce resources and the need for democratic decision making. In 1980 the currently used term of sustainable development emerged in the

Sustainability is defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development’s report 1987 as” Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

Sustainable development is the ‘development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generation from meeting their own needs ‘(Brundtland, 1987). This concept has developed more from the intergenerational framework as indicated in the brundtland report to incorporate the three pillars (social, environment and economic) as a whole through series of environmental meeting held.