The Notion of "Sustainable Development"

The notion of ‘sustainable development’ was introduced on the political agenda by the World Commission on Environment and Development through its report (WCED, 1987), also called the Brundtland Report. Since the publication of the Brundtland Report the notion of sustainability has been used (and abused) a rich variety of ways. The present purpose is to give a clarifying interpretation of this notion. We will consider sustainability to be a requirement for a just distribution of quality of life between generations. The question of intergenerational justice has become a question of increasing importance in the latter years, since it is now in the capacity of the current generation to ruin the natural and environmental resource base of our descendants.