Estratègies per al desenvolupament sostenible - Generalitat de ...

2. Why Sustainable Development RequiresThought and Strategic ActionFrom a perspective of sustainability, world development sets out some undeniablechallenges that cannot be faced on an isolated basis, without takinginterrelationships into consideration. This can be seen simply by calling to mindeconomic disparities and political instability; extreme poverty; malnutrition;disease; marginalisation; population growth; prevailing models of consumption;energy use; climate change; nitrogen excess; the deterioration of naturalresources; the loss of biodiversity; water, soil and air pollution; the growingshortage of water resources; and the specific pressures of urban areas, etc.It is the clear interaction (albeit difficult to define) of the above challenges that(1) provides the basis for the idea of sustainable development as a conceptintegrating the different dimensions of development and (2) requires the adoptionof a strategic approach to sustainable development as the most suitable forconsidering interactions.The 1987 Brundtland Report defined sustainable development as developmentthat meets present needs without compromising the capacity of future generationsto meet their own needs. The Brundtland Report, however, did not define theconcept of needs. It also raised many questions. More recently, there has beenemphasis on the idea of intergenerational equity. The notion of sustainabledevelopment thus leads to the moral obligation of every generation of ensurefuture generations a quality of life that is no lower than its current level. Morerecent definitions underline what are known as the three pillars of sustainabilityand their interdependence: these are economic, environmental and social. Thecomplexity of the interaction of these dimensions of human development, andthe limited knowledge we have thereof, means that the concept of sustainabledevelopment is often confused with the idea of environmental sustainability. Thisconfusion, still deeply rooted, obstructs a view of what sustainable developmentmight contribute to ensuring coherence in the political changes required indifferent sectors.A good way of overcoming these limitations consists in considering that thesustainability of human development depends on our capacity to maintain asufficient level of assets for the future. It should be understood that the combination129