ABSTRACT

There is no universally accepted definition for sustainable development. The most commonly referred to definition is from the Bruntland Commission: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” What normally is referred to as the Bruntland Commission is the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). The commission was headed by Gro Harlem Bruntland. (She was the first Norwegian minister of the environment, 1974-1979, and the first female Norwegian prime minister, 1986-1989 and February-October 1991.1) The commission presented its report at the World Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. The work was followed by a new world summit in Kyoto, Japan, also known as the Kyoto Protocol of December 11, 1997.