ABSTRACT
The phrase “sustainable development” has staying power because most people want to believe in it. It survives because it appears to build bridges between the demands of environmentalists and developers. From a political perspective, one of the most important of the fundamental principles of sustainable development is fairness. This does not just apply to the rights of future generations to be able, realistically, to adjust to what this generation bequeaths them. It also applies to rights of all present generations to enjoy fundamental democratic rights and access to sustained livelihoods. The transition to sustainable development will be an intensely political process because it will create a new set of gainers and losers in society. This is hardly surprising since all patterns of development generate gainers and losers and a change to sustainable development will be no exception. Any shift towards sustainability will inevitably be slow, taking generations, not years.
