Sustainable Development

Sustainable development as a term was first introduced to the international community by Our Common Future, the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, which was chartered by the United Nations to examine the planet’s critical social and environmental problems and to formulate realistic proposals to solve them in ways that ensure sustained human progress without depleting the resources of future generations. This Commission—which was originally chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland (1939–), Prime Minister of Norway, and was consequently often referred to as the Brundtland Commission—defined sustainable development as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The goal of sustainable development, according to the Commission, is...