The concept of sustainability explores the relationship among economic development,environmental quality, and social equity. This concept has been evolving since 1972, whenthe international community fi rst explored the connection between quality of life andenvironmental quality at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment inStockholm. However, it was not until 1987 that the term “sustainable development” was defi ned as“development that can meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development,1987.) This defi nition established the need for integrated decision making that is capable of balancingthe economic and social needs of the people with the regenerative capacity of the natural environment.Sustainable development is a dynamic process of change in which the exploitation of resources, thedirection of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are madeconsistent with future as well as present needs. According to the Brundtland Commission, sustainabledevelopment, in the fi nal analysis, must rest on political will of the governments as critical economic,environmental, and social decisions are made. There are many defi nitions and concepts of sustainabledevelopment as depicted in Table 2-1. Besides, there is a vast literature on sustainable development,which also provides other defi nitions, concepts, principles, criteria, indicators, and references (see: http://
www.iisd.org/ie/info/ss9504.htm and http://www.gdre.org/sustdev). Reviewing these and other relevant
references constitutes a major task in trying to understand the meaning and signifi cance of the term
“sustainable development.”
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