Sustainable development

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' (defined by the Brundtland Commission and multilaterally agreed by the UN Conference on Environment and Development – Rio 1992). The question of how to translate this generic ideal into practice has been answered over the years in different ways. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa) introduced the notion of the three pillars of sustainable development, that is the environmental, the social and the economic, considered as “interdependent and mutually reinforcing”. To ensure policy coherence with the 2030 Agenda, this draft policy has adopted the three dimensions of sustainable development from the conceptual framework adopted at the wider UN level, complemented by peace and security (paragraphs 2 and 35 of the 2030 Agenda).

Source(s): http://whc.unesco.org/document/139747