Sustainability : The Five Core Principles A New Framework (original) (raw)
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Sustainable Development and its Principles
Today, the objective of sustainable development is acclaimed by almost all international organizations, national governments, and also private enterprises. This general consensus seems mainly to rest upon the vague substance of the terms 'sustainable development' and 'sustainability' themselves, which leave much room for interpretation. Different definitions of 'sustainable development' or 'sustainability', often general and vague, lead one to question how these terms can be of any practical value. In this article, I do not attempt to provide a single definition or single acceptable approach to sustainable development or sustainability. My intention is to point out that sustainable development (sustainability) is not a (key) principle, especially not a principle of environmental law. It is rather a fundamental and overarching objective, aiming to continuously improve the quality of life and well-being for present and future generations, by linking eco...
What Does Sustainable Development Really Means? - a Study on Different Dimensions of Sustainability
Sustainable Development, although a widely used phrase, is a contested concept. In a wider sense, it is an attempt to combine growing concerns about environmental issues with socio economic issues of development. Sustainable development, while maintaining a sound economic base, must remedy social inequities and environmental damages. To have a clear understanding of the plurality of opinion and policies, this paper present a classification of different perspectives of sustainable development. This paper also stresses the need to adapt the existing institutions of all kind, including corporations, local and national governments, and transnational organisations to the requirement of sustainable development.
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THE CONCEPT AND PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Climate Change and Sustainable Development, 2011
Sustainable development (SD) is one of the leading issues in the contemporary development discourse. It is an approach to development that takes the environmental dimension and which owes its origin to various debates and environmental movements in 1970s and 1980s regarding the connection between environment and economic development. The approach seeks to reconcile human needs and the capacity of the environment to cope with the consequences of the economic system so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations. It holds that wealth of nations does not rest solely on its economic wealth but also on the smooth development and protection of environmental resources. The major principle of the concept is that the natural resources should be used in a manner which does not eliminate or degrade them, or otherwise diminish their usefulness for future generations. However, the concept has been criticized as being vague, oxymoron, unattainable which is introduced by developed countries to protect capitalism and impede development of other countries. Others believed that the implementation of sustainable development would mean a reversion to pre-modern life styles. This paper, therefore, attempts to examine the concept of sustainable development, its principles, and efforts made by the international community to ensure its realisation and also presents some of the arguments against the concept.
Sustainability and sustainable development.
S.O. Idowu, N., Capaldi, L., Zu, L., & A. Das Gupta (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2013
The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, up). The way in which sustainability is used nowadays, is based on the English term sustain-ability, which is an expression of the possibility of a certain matter to be supported. Sustainability is seen as a paradigm for thinking about the future in which environmental, societal and economic considerations are balanced in the pursuit of an improved quality of life. The ideals and principles behind it lays on broad concepts such as intergenerational equity, gender equity, social tolerance, poverty alleviation, environmental preservation and restoration, natural resource conservation, and building just and peaceful societies. Sustainable development is the overarching paradigm of the United Nations. The concept of sustainable development was described by the 1987 Brundtland Commission Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations General Assembly, 1987, 24). There are four dimensions to sustainable development – society, environment, culture and economy – which are intertwined, not separate. Sustainable Development is about engaging the world’s educational systems to work for a more sustainable future. We can shortly say that sustainability is thought of as a long-term goal while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it.
A New Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Development
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2008
A critical review of the multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development reveals a lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding sustainable development and its complexities. A critical review shows that the definitions of sustainable development are vague; there is a lack of operative definitions and disagreement over what should be sustained; the concept is unclear in terms of emotional commitment; and it ''remains a confused topic'', ''fraught with contradictions''. This article aims to theoretically synthesize the interdisciplinary literature on sustainable development, and then identify the results by broad categories. Therefore, this article uses conceptual analysis, which reviews multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development, which recognizes patterns and similarities within the literature, then it synthesizes the patterns to different categories and independent concepts, where each concept has distinctive meanings and represents close ideas on sustainability. The analytical process elaborates seven concepts that together assemble the theoretical framework of 'sustainable development' and each concept represents distinctive meanings of the theoretical framework.
Sustainability and sustainable development: unraveling overlays and scope of their meanings
Cadernos Ebape.br, 2017
The sustainable, sustainability and sustainable development are remarkable and timely terms at the global level. However as they lack an axiomatic concept, they lead to criticism and doubts in their theoretical application and praxis. In this sense, this study aims to analyze the attributes of sustainable, sustainability and sustainable development to contribute to its concept. This work is typified as a qualitative, bibliographical, and interpretive one, in which the databases of consulted journals are related to Science Direct, Springer Link, Wiley Online Library, and Google Scholar. The main results show that the sustainable is responsible for solutions to the deterioration of the humanenvironment system with the help of sustainability and sustainable development. Sustainability measures the level of quality of this system in order to evaluate its distance from the sustainable. Sustainable development works with strategies to bring the level of sustainability closer to the sustainable human-environment system. The attributes of these terms have distinct meanings and relate to specific praxis, but they converge to a single goal. Thus, an axiomatic concept of these terms assists in praxis to hold areas with distinct functions accountable, but with a single final attempt to achieve the idea of a sustainable human-environment system. We hope this work may prompt further study on these terms and help in understanding their praxis and theoretical application.
The concept of sustainable development revisited
Foundations of Science, 2001
The concept of sustainable development is here revised in the light of a brief historical analysis, followed by a semantic analysis of the expressions development and sustainability. The authors criticize the common use of this concept in a loose way or in wide generalizations, to conclude, based on the principles of human ecology, that it is only possible to make it operational in limited spans of time and in limited spatial units.
Sustainable development has achieved widespread acceptance throughout the world as an appropriate goal for humankind. Applying the concept at both government and corporate levels has proved difficult due in part to an inherent conflict between the ecological, social and economic dimensions contained within contemporary interpretations of sustainable development. This paper describes a version of sustainability that provides clear and unambiguous direction for decision makers. Replacing the typically Western neoclassical economic perspective contained within most interpretations of sustainable development with a Buddhist perspective of economics leads to an internally consistent version of sustainability referred to as sustainable sufficiency. A study of a decision process within an organization operating within a sustainable development framework is used to provide contrast with decision making within a sustainable sufficiency framework. A conclusion of this paper is that the sustainable sufficiency concept reinforces the view that neoclassical economic principles provide a barrier to achieving the social and ecological objectives contained within contemporary interpretations of sustainable development.