ABSTRACT
The investigation of the quest for sustainable development at international, regional and national levels has shown that there is a reasonably clear idea of the complexity of social, economic and environmental issues of sustainability and an understanding that their interdependencies and interactions have to be taken into account. As far as the theoretical discussion goes, the complexity is understood, and comprehensive policy statements are developed at international level through the UN. However, when it comes to the translation of policy statements into sustainable development action plans, then the comprehensive view of social, economic and environmental indicators is lost as nations focus on those parameters they consider essential for their development and ignore others. They do what they consider best for their development, with little or no coordination at regional and global levels. The inevitable outcome of this is that some of the overarching parameters of sustainability are compromised and that sustainability at global level is not achieved and is not achievable. A number of factors are responsible for this.
