Literature Review On Sustainable Development

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Literature review
After establishing the need for sustainability, it is important to examine the connotations related with it in order to eliminate the ambiguity associated with the term. The concept of sustainable development was defined in a report produced by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) of the United Nations (UN) under the tittle ‘Our Common Future’, also known as, the Brundtland Report, as “development that ensures it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987, p. 43). This definition gives the same level importance to both intragenerational and intergenerational needs. It is neither biased towards the present nor towards the future. Thus, it is widely accepted and is the most quoted definition of sustainable development. However, there are many criticisms to it as well. According to (Goldin & Winters, 1995), this and similar definitions highlight the intergenerational responsibilities imputed on Earth’s inhabitants. According to them, hitherto, the concept of ‘needs’ is one of the most complex in economics and inserting it in the definition of sustainable development makes an already multifaceted definition even more complex. As if the definition was not vague enough, Goldin and Winters’ observation complicates matters even further. That is probably one of the reasons why economists stayed away from this debate for too long. Nonetheless, the story has changed

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