20 Year Anniversary of the Commision who developed the phrase "sustainable development"

"Sustainable"

It is certainly the buzzword of the day. Everyone wants to be "sustainable." Yet not many people know what it really means.

Simply put, it is like any other buzzword, it is overused and misunderstood. For example I was told that a woman's jewelry line is "sustainable" simply because the jewelry hangs down the front of the body and gemstones are placed at each of the different chakras. Give me a break.

So what does it mean?

The Native Americans embraced a philosophy called Gayaneshakgowa or "Law of Peace" of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy: "In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

20 years ago the United Nations coined the term "sustainable development" in a report which is the source of much of the use today. The Chairperson of the effort called "World Commission on Environment and Development" was Gro Harlem Bruntland, former head of Norway - thus the name of the report was the "Brundtland Report"

The Commission defined the term sustainability to be "meeting the needs of the present without comprimising the needs of the future."

She wrote in the beginning of the report.

"A global agenda for change" - this was what the World Commission on Environment and Development was asked to formulate. It was an urgent call by the General Assembly of the United Nations:

- to propose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by the year 2000 and beyond;

- to recommend ways concern for the environment may be translated into greater co-operation among countries of the global South and between countries at different stages of economical and social development and lead to the achievement of common and mutually supportive objectives that take account of the interrelationships between people, resources, environment, and development;

- to consider ways and means by which the international community can deal more effectively with environment concerns;"

- to help define shared perceptions of long-term environmental issues and the appropriate efforts needed to deal successfully with the problems of protecting and enhancing the environment, a long term agenda for action during the coming decades, and aspirational goals for the world community."

The entire report is available to read here.

Unfortunately, the last 20 years we have not shown much progress to achieve the goals with coutries like China and India going full steam ahead with not-so-sustainable development paths.

Every one of us would benefit by reflecting on the true meaning of the term "sustainable" as we steer our civilization toward sustainability.