ABSTRACT
Climatic change, demographic trends and migration triggered by terrorism, war and poverty are jeopardizing previously achieved successes. The 21st century is facing some formidable challenges. Social inequality is increasing dramatically, in both the developed countries and the less well-developed ones. The primacy of economy is threatening not only the social equilibrium, the way people live together in societies and the peaceful coexistence of states, but also the ecology of the planet Earth itself. Poverty on the one hand, which leads for example to deforestation, excessive exploitation of soils, overgrazing etc., and on the other hand, the economically motivated plundering of mineral and natural resources, uninhibited environmental pollution and the production of substances which are harmful to the environment are systematically ruining the environment and prejudicing nothing less than the future of the human race. There is a broad variety of different evaluation approaches which may be used for the purpose of evaluating sustainability.
