What's ESD?

History | Manitoba Priorities | Definitions | Characteristics

History

Sustainable Development in the Twenty-First Century

The term sustainable development (SD) was coined in the 1987 United Nations Report Our Common Future. The most widely quoted definition of sustainable development from the report is development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." ¹

The interrelationships of the environment and the economy and the health of society were seen as the scope of sustainable development. The major emphasis was on the effects of development of the economy on the environment. The push was to have issues of the health of the environment and the health of the society included in the discussion of economic development. Over the years changes in emphasis have developed in the use of the term SD.

In the twenty-first century the three major areas are still used. "Three interlinked areas are most commonly identified within sustainable development. These are society, environment, and economy, where political aspects are subsumed under the heading of society. ² "Note that the United Nations uses the term society first. In the earlier writings the order was often environment, economy, and society.

The United Nations reaffirmed these elements at the Johannesburg Summit of 2002. The Johannesburg Summit also formally broadened the vision of sustainable development. The United Nations vision of sustainable development is:

• Society: an understanding of social institutions and their role in change and development, as well as the democratic and participatory systems which give opportunity for the expression of opinion, the selection of governments, the forging of consensus and the resolution of differences.
• Environment: an awareness of the resources and fragility of the physical environment and the affects on it of human activity and decisions, with a commitment to factoring environmental concerns into social and economic policy development.
• Economy: a sensitivity to the limits and potential of economic growth and their impact on society and on the environment, with a commitment to asses personal and societal levels of consumption out of the concern for the environment and for social justice. ³

The broadening or what some people call the maturing of sustainable development has lead to the formal identification of a number of sub headings. These are summarized in the chart on the next page. In September 2005 a consolidated version of the October 2004 and April 2005 version of the Draft International Implementation Scheme for UN Decade for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) was approved.

 

Footnotes:

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¹ World Commission on Sustainable Development (1987) Out Common Future, Oxford University Press, p 43. as quoted in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (October 2004). United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014- Draft International Implementation Scheme United Nations p 7.
² United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (October 2004). United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014- Draft International Implementation Scheme United Nations p 12.
³ United Nations p 12.