Sustainable development
- Goodland and Ledoc (1987) defined sustainable development as a pattern of social and structural economic transformations (i.e. development) which optimizes the economic and societal benefits available in the present without endangering the potential for similar benefits in the future.
- A primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations.
Features of sustainable development
a. Economical: An economically sustainable system must be able to produce goods and services on a continuing basis, to maintain manageable levels of government and external debt, and to avoid extreme sectoral imbalances.
b. Environmental: An environmentally sustainable system must maintain a stable resource base, avoiding over-exploitation of renewable resource systems or environmental sink functions and depleting non-renewable resources.
c. Social: A socially sustainable system must achieve distributional equity, adequate provision of social services including health and education, gender equity, and political accountability and participation.
Principles of sustainable development
- Living within environmental limits
- Achieving a sustainable economy
- Promoting good governance
- Using sound science responsibly
- Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society.
