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A Introduction to the Concept of Sustainability
History:
Sustainability
did not play any role in development projects until the late 1980s.
But a steady growing population, especially in the developing world,
environmental worries like deforestation, desertification, air
pollution, toxic waste and ongoing scarceness of clean water and the
absence of ground-braking success in poverty reduction putted it on
the Agenda of the United Nations.
In
1983 the UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar invited
Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland to chair a World
Commission on Environment and Development. The commission´s report
was finally presented in 1987 and established the concept of
sustainable development.
Brundtland
declared that only sustainable
development could lead to the fulfillment of human needs with the
protection of air, soil, water and all forms of life - from which,
ultimately, planetary stability was inseparable. Therefor, for the
first time poverty reduction was linked with environmentalism and
vice versa.
The
findings of this report led to the first Earth Summit - the UN
Conference on Environment and Development - at Rio de Janeiro in
1992, and to the Agenda 21.
Today,
more then 20 years after the release of the Brundtland Report,
sustainable development is one of the key issues on the political
agenda. But as the report indicates, arriving at a commonly accepted
definition of sustainable development
remains a challenge for all the actors in the development process.
Prominent Definitions:
Oxford
Dictionary:
sustainable
(1) involving the use of natural products and energy in a way that does not harm the environment;
(2) that can continue or be continued for a long time
GTZ:
(Declared in 2005 sustainable development to be the corporate guiding principle)
For
the work of GTZ, sustainable development means:
- supporting economic growth for more prosperity in partner countries
- ensuring
equal opportunities for rich and poor, North and South, women and men
- utilizing
natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations
Reinhard
Stockmann:
(Scholar)
A
project in development cooperation is sustainable
- if
there were built up adequate structures which enable the counterpart or beneficiary to successfully react on changing environmental conditions (problem solving capacity)
- if
there are planned and unplanned multiplier effects (Multiplikatorwirkungen), in a way that benefits spread to a wider population
- if the project becomes a role model for others
Franz
Nuscheler:
(Scholar)
Nuscheler
defines it as a
- permanent impact,
- economic efficient/ productive,
- social fair and
- environmental compatible
development („dauerhafte,
wirtschaftlich leistungsfähige, sozial gerechte und
umweltverträgliche Entwicklung“)''.
Links
- Brundtland Report: Our Common Future
- GTZ: Sustainable Development
