Development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainable Development has been defined as development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainable development has often been mistakenly interpreted in a narrow sense as an environmental issue. This ignores the power and utility of the concept in its integration of economic and social development in the context of high quality environmental management. Given these complexities, however, it is understandable that the concept of sustainable development presents a challenge to communicate.
At the heart of the concept of sustainable development is the belief that social, economic and environmental objectives should be complementary and interdependent in the development process. Sustainable development requires policy changes in many sectors and coherence between them. It entails balancing the economic, social and environmental objectives of society the three pillars of sustainable development integrating them wherever possible, through mutually supportive policies and practices, and making trade-offs where it is not possible.
Approaches to sustainable development have been varied, reflecting the diversity of challenges faced by individual countries. While sustainable development is a universal challenge, many practical responses can only be defined nationally and locally. Reaching agreement on how to address the challenges requires a degree of pluralism and room for negotiation. This depends on factors such as peace and security, prevailing economic interests, political systems, institutional arrangements and cultural norms.
All of FoEME's projects have the concept of sustainable development at its foundation, whether in localized community projects or in our research papers for advocacy work.
Please visit the relevant publication page to see our involvement in other joint local sustainability efforts