Introduction to Sustainable Development

About Introduction to Sustainable Development

There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this landmark one which first appeared in 1987: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In theory, development that is sustainable and not damaging to the planet is very possible. The idea of sustainable development grew from numerous environmental movements in earlier decades. Summits such as the Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil, 1992, were major international meetings to bring sustainable development to the mainstream. However, the record on moving towards sustainability so far appears to have been quite poor. The concept of sustainability means many different things to different people, and a large part of humanity around the world still live without access to basic necessities. The present book has been designed to outline the basic and fundamental aspects of this subject to be understood in its right perspective. The book uses straight forward, less-technical jargon and manages to introduce each chapter with a basic concept, which ultimately evolves into a more specific detailed principle.