Dr.

Shashikanth Majagi
Lecturer In Zoology
GFGC Chickballapur
Karnataka
Email: smajgi@rediffmail.com
What is sustainable development?

Over the last three decades, sustainable development has been defined in
literally hundreds of different ways. One of the most popular definitions,
from the Brundtland Report Our Common Future, states:

‘’Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs’’
Australia's National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development
1992 (NSESD) defines ecologically sustainable development (ESD) as

‘’using, conserving and enhancing the community's resources so that

ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total
quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased'.

Sustainable Development must be ecologically sustainable. Economic and

social progress depends on base ecosystem services (for example oxygen
production and carbon dioxide absorption by plants) and a healthy
environment.
Three principles that are necessary to understanding sustainable
development are intergenerational equity, the precautionary approach
and biodiversity conservation. Together these approaches aim to
prevent and reverse adverse impacts of economic and social activities
on the ecosystem, while continuing to allow the sustainable, equitable
development of societies.

Some key changes to the way we think, act and make decisions will
help ensure development, is ecologically sustainable. In particular:

• We need to take a long-term rather than short-term view when taking

those decisions and actions.
A brief history of sustainable development

Sustainable development has been practiced by many cultures, but the

industrialised world first became interested in the concept in the 1960s.
Many credit Rachel Carson and her book The Silent Spring (1962, Penguin
Books) as the catalyst for worldwide acknowledgment of environmental
problems. In the following years a number of publications including Paul
Erlich's Population Bomb (1968, Buccaneer Books) and the Club of Rome's
Limits to Growth (1972, Pan Books) drew attention to global development
issues.

International forums such as the UN Conference on the Human

Environment 1972, and Habitat 1976 further debated the need for a
changed approach to development. In 1987 the Bruntland Report Our
Common Future popularised and defined the term 'sustainable
development'.

In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(commonly referred to as the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro produced
Agenda 21, a major publication that sets out a blueprint for sustainable
activity across all areas of human endeavour.
 Sustainable Development

Ec
Pr on
in om i a l
ci c
pl ic S iples
o
es in c
Environmental Pr
Principles
Interaction of the human social system with the ecosystem
Chain of effects through ecosystem and social system (commercial
fishing in the ocean)
 Deforestation and cooking fuel (chain of effects through ecosystem
and social system)
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