ABSTRACT
This chapter defines sustainability, analyzes its components, and begins to explain how it can be measured. The concept of sustainability was ill defined until 1987, when the UN World Commission on Environment published "Our Common Future". The report is often referred to as the "Brundtland Report" because the Norwegian prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, chaired the Commission. While the Brundtland Report defined sustainability in terms of meeting human needs, sustainability now usually refers to maintaining human well-being now and in the future. The most widely used measure of well-being in a country is the human development index (HDI), developed by the United Nations Development Program. It takes into account progress in life expectancy, education, and standard of living as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP). One measure of well-being is the accumulated amounts of economic capital, social capital, and natural capital. Sustainable use of renewable resources is desirable because it guarantees long-term availability of those resources.
