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Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development

Introduction

Development is something that is done for the betterment or well-being of the society. The word sustainable derived from a Latin root sus-tinere, which means to "under-hold" or hold up from underneath. It means durability over time.

History

The concept of Sustainable Development was first presented by the Brundtland Commission in 1987. This commission was initially known as the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). It was held to realize and stop the destruction of environment and its further impacts on human health. This commission defined Sustainable Development as "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This definition explained sustainable development as a development that is done to meet the needs of current generation but not compromising the resources of future generations to meet their needs. Later on this commission led  to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992 (UNCED). It is commonly known as Earth summit that was held in Rio de Janeiro. This conference presented an action plan called Agenda 21 adopted by 178 nations that attended the conference. This action plan was to preserve environment along with sustaining economic growth and social development.
Sustainable development is basically a broader view of development that includes an integrated frame work of economy, environment, and society. Older view about development was that there is always a trade-off between economy and environment. Trade-off means to gain economic growth; environment have to be compromised. But the newer version is that their is no trade-off between environment and economy. Economic and environmental development or well-being can be achieved together and the thing that enables them to develop in integration is the concept of innovation.
Innovation is defined as a new idea, product, or method. Innovation leads to economic growth as it helps in efficient production (by the invent of computer-integrated manufacturing), and it also helps in achieving environment friendly production processes and developing environment friendly products (like electric cars).
There are 2 major sectors in a society; private sector and public sector. Private sector contributes a major part in the growth of an economy but it is lead by public sector directly and indirectly mostly. Private sector have less resources as compare to public sector in-terms of financial resources, and infrastructure etc. The public sector provides resources and healthy atmosphere for private sector for doing business activities. Today most of the inventions are done in universities and research centers owned by public sectors. The policies of government authorities provide innovative atmosphere for private businesses and helps in achieving an integrated approach towards development known as Sustainable Development.
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