ABSTRACT
The idea of sustainability emerged in the 1980s in the borderland betw een ecology and social policy. It has become a very widely used concept today, finding its way into social sciences and even everyday parlance. In 1983 the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, responding to the environ m ental crisis threatening the Earth, invited Mrs Gro Harlem Brundtland, then Prime M inister of Norway, to develop a com prehensive program me for change. The Commission she headed made its report in 1987. This seminal docum ent form ulated the principles and requirem ents for sustainable developm ent as follows: 'Developm ent that meets the needs of the present generation w ithout compromising the ability of future generations to m eet their own n eeds.'1 Five years later at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro2 178 countries adopted the declaration which came to be know n as Agenda 21. This became the blueprint for UN m em ber states on how to achieve sustainable development.
