Article 9 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948–66) states that all people ‘should promote sustainable development all over the world to assure dignity, freedom, security and justice for all people’. Sustainable development ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (1987 UN Convention on Environment and Development). ‘Sustainable development requires a balance between economic prosperity, social equity and the environment to ensure quality of life now without damaging the planet for the future’ (UK DEFRA). For the economic geographer, development is sustainable ‘if it does not decrease the capacity to provide non-declining per capita utility for infinity’ (Neumayer (2003) Env. & Res. Econ. 15).
Advocates of ‘strong sustainability’ argue that natural capital—the range of functions the natural environment provides for humans and for itself—should be afforded special protection, while those who espouse ‘weak sustainable development’ hold that natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital, especially produced capital. ‘The weak interpretations are bound to an anthropocentric world-view, and have typically phrased the essence of sustainable development in terms of an environmental question, rather than also a developmental one…The strong interpretations refuse to treat humans and nature as separate from each other and wish to maintain life opportunities by reconciling sound human development and environmental integrity…while the weak interpretations tend to have faith in authoritative and coercive structures, such as market forces, the strong interpretations hold that more participatory, transparent and democratic processes are required’ (Kallio et al. (2007) Sust. Dev. 15).
Agenda 21 concludes that ‘indicators of sustainable development need to be developed to provide solid bases for decision-making at all levels and to contribute to a self-regulating sustainability of integrated environment and development systems’.
‘A sustainable community is one in which improvement in the quality of human life is achieved in harmony with improving and maintaining the health of ecological systems; and where a healthy economy’s industrial base supports the quality of both human and ecological systems (Indigo Development). A sustainable drainage system aims to mimic as closely as possible the natural drainage of a site to minimize the impact of urban development on the flooding and pollution of waterways (Jones and MacDonald (2007) Geoforum 38, 3).
https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-sustainable-development-a-part-of-all-government-policy-and-operations UK government sustainable indicators.
http://www.indigodev.com/Sustain.html Indigo Development.