Sustainable Development
Sustainable development has got the following definition:
«Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.»
This definition has its origin in the Brundtland rapport from 1987, and it is this definition which internationally is widely recognised and which most people take point of reference from.
The definition of Sustainable Development in the Brundtland Report has the strength that it opens up for to unite the consideration between economical growth and environment; that both becomes necessary preconditions for achieving sustainable development. By doing that this definition of sustainable development has become acceptable for most people. The weakness then is that the definition has become very broad, and it has open up for many interpretation of sustainable development.
Fundamental is however, that the definition points out a mutual dependency. What we are doing to day has consequences for other people at another time (future generations) or for other people another place in the world. There are also something very normative in the definition, which point to that we should not by what we are doing make the living conditions worse for other people.
Future generations
The time perspective is central in sustainable development. It is central in sustainable development that future generations should not be given living conditions that are inferior to what we have today. You can read more about that here.Global
In a global world, what we are doing in our part of the world have consequences for the sustainability of other peoples living conditions, as well as what people do in other part of the world have consequences for our living conditions and thereby for our sustainability. You can read more about that here.International
Sustainable development has international got an important place in formulation of politics. It is especially due to the two important international conferences about environment and development, the Rio-conference of 1992 and the Johannesburg-conference of 2002. You can read more about these conferences and about the state of sustainable development in the world by using this link.How the project use the concept
It is central in our project that we aim after creating a sustainable energy supply for the households in the project area. By using the concept of sustainable development we must therefore also give the concept our interpretation.You can read more about that here.