ABSTRACT
Global warming and other and more local aspects of the dynamics of change of the natural and man-made environments are slowly beginning to influence policy. The phrase, ‘sustainable development’, is on many lips. Since the UN Conference in Rio in 1992, it has been enshrined in international agreements and been put into national programmes with Agenda 21. The change in policy thinking required to achieve sustainability is, however, probably more profound than many realise. Even a moderate prognostication of the future to 2050 and beyond points to hundreds of millions of deaths in degraded areas, and to attempts by the first world to contain the consequences through large scale solutions, for example, relocation and concentration or densification of cities, large-scale dams and CO2 dumping in oceans (Kuntze et al., 1998). Sustainability means much more than environmental sustainability. The present and projected future are an outcome not only of the exploitation of resources and societies for economic ends but also of social attitudes and desires. Similarly, environmental sustainability will be an outcome of economic and social sustainability. If the concept of sustainability is to be the cornerstone of the future, then policy must take account of three dimensions of sustainability: the economic, the socio-cultural and the environmental.
