sustainable development

sustainable development, approach to social, economic, and environmental planning that attempts to balance the social and economic needs of present and future human generations with the imperative of preserving, or preventing undue damage to, the natural environment.

Sustainable development lacks a single detailed and widely accepted definition. As a general approach to human development, it is frequently understood to encompass most if not all of the following goals, ideals, and values:

• A global perspective on social, economic, and environmental policies that takes into account the needs of future generations
• A recognition of the instrumental value of a sound natural environment, including the importance of biodiversity
• The protection and appreciation of the needs of Indigenous cultures
• The cultivation of economic and social equity in societies throughout the world
• The responsible and transparent implementation of government policies

The intellectual underpinnings of sustainable development lie in modern natural resource management, the 20th-century conservation and environmentalism movements, and progressive views of economic development. The first principles of what later became known as sustainable development were laid out at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also called the Stockholm Conference. The conference concluded that continued development of industry was inevitable and desirable but also that every citizen of the world has a responsibility to protect the environment. In 1987 the UN-sponsored World Commission on Environment and Development issued the Brundtland Report (also called Our Common Future), which introduced the concept of sustainable development—defining it as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”—and described how it could be achieved. At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also called the Earth Summit), more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21, which outlined global strategies for restoring the environment and encouraging environmentally sound development.

Since that time, sustainable development has emerged as a core idea of international development theory and policy. However, some experts have criticized certain features of the concept, including:

• Its generality or vagueness, which has led to a great deal of debate over which forms or aspects of development qualify as “sustainable”
• Its lack of quantifiable or objectively measurable goals
• Its assumption of the inevitability and desirability of industrialization and economic development
• Its failure to ultimately prioritize human needs or environmental commitments, either of which may reasonably be considered more important in certain circumstances

Although the implementation of sustainable development has been the subject of many social scientific studies—so many, in fact, that sustainable development science is sometimes viewed as a distinct field—a number of public intellectuals and scholars have argued that the core value of sustainable development lies in its aspirational perspective. These writers have argued that merely attempting to balance social, economic, and environmental policymaking—the three “pillars” of sustainable development—is an inherently positive practice. Even if an imbalance of results is to a certain extent inevitable, it is better that policymakers at least attempt to achieve a balance. Abandoning the notion of sustainable development altogether, they argue, would likely worsen social, economic, and environmental conditions throughout the world, thus undermining all three pillars.

Despite widespread criticism, sustainable development has emerged as a core feature of national and international policymaking, particularly by agencies of the United Nations. In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included 17 sweeping goals designed to create a globally equitable society alongside a thriving environment.