Sustainable Communities Toolkit
| Definitions of Sustainable Development |
Depending on the detail of the accepted definition, it may be necessary to complement or clarify its meaning with supporting principles and objectives. Listed below is a catalog of known definitions (or goals) of sustainable development.
In surveying a broad range of literature on the subject, sustainable development has been defined as:
. . . development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
* World Commission on Environment and Development (the "Brundtland Commission"). . . development which ensures that the utilization of resources and
the environment today does not damage prospects for their use by future
generations.... Sustainable economic development does not require the
preservation of the current stock of natural resources or any particular
mix of human, physical, and natural assets. Nor does it place artificial
limits on economic growth, provided that such growth is both economically
and environmentally sustainable.
…providing for a secure and satisfying material future for everyone,
in a society that is equitable, caring, and attentive to basic human needs.
* Rees, "Defining Sustainable Development"
... positive socioeconomic change that does not undermine the ecological
and social systems upon which communities and society are dependent. Its
successful implementation requires integrated policy, planning, and social
learning processes; its political viability depends on the full support
of the people it affects through their governments, their social institutions,
and their private activities.
* Rees, "Defining Sustainable Development"
... the management of our resources in such a way that we can fulfill
our economic, social, cultural, and aesthetic needs without permanent
impairment to the resource base and the life support systems on which
we all depend.
* Environment Council of Alberta - Conservation Strategies in Canada
... an approach to development which increases the long-term wealth of
the earth's inhabitants. It opposes policies and practices which support
economic growth by depleting natural resources or degrading and destroying
the earth's natural potential. It supports the planned and controlled
use and extraction of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources.
* Canadian University Students Organization. Sustainable Development:
A CUSO Education Program
... an integrated approach -- including social, environmental, cultural,
and spiritual well-being, as well as economic progress in its field of
endeavor. It places emphasis on ecological balance and social equity in
development planning, promoting, for example, decentralization and democracy
in the workplace and the broader community.
* S. Wismer, Sustainable Development and Urban Life
... a goal which unites two activities: 1. resource use and development,
indeed all economic activity, undertaken without reference to global or
regional environmental capacities is self-limiting; it simply will not
be maintained over the long term. 2. Environmental protection, on the
other hand, often seems to be promoted without reference to human needs,
or recognition of the role of economic development in meeting them.
* B. Sadler, Environmental Protection and Resource Development:
Convergence for Today
... utilizes its natural, human, and technological resources to ensure
that all members of present and future generations can attain a high degree
of health and well-being, economic security, and a say in shaping their
future while maintaining the integrity of the ecological system upon which
all life and production depends.
* Anthony Cortese, Cambridge Civic Forum
... seeks to develop strategies and tools to respond to five broad requirements:
1. integration of conservation and development
2. satisfaction of basic human needs
3. achievements of equity and social justice
4. provision for social self-determination and cultural diversity
5. maintenance of ecological integrity
* D. Brooks, Beyond Catch Phrases: What Does Sustainable Development
Really Mean?
...development that maintains or enhances economic opportunity and community
well-being while protecting and restoring the natural environment upon
which people and economies depend.
* An Act from the legislature of the State of Minnesota