Components Of Sustainable Development

Ongoing developmental activities pose serious threat to the very survival of mankind and therefore there is a need to adopt sustainability principles across sectors. We have to understand that adoption of sustainability principles is the only way to maintain the finite resources for both the present and future generations. Sustainable development an offshoot of sustainability (and often used interchangeably) has also captured significant attention in recent years. Sustainability is a global challenge primarily because of the bias that exists, when trade-offs are made between the three dimensions viz. economic, social and environment, of sustainability. Over the years economists, environmentalists and socialist have debated over the perplexities involved in the implementation of sustainability principles. Many argue that it is impossible to maintain a balance between the three components of sustainability, mainly because of the complex interrelationship between environment and anthropogenic factors.

Several definitions of sustainable development have been proposed time to time but the landmark definition appeared in Brundtland Report 1987, which describes sustainable development as the “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987).” Sustainability, primarily relates to resource usage within the carrying capacity of the environment, so as to lead to equal distribution of its