ABSTRACT
In 1987, the Brundtland Report identified three components of sustainability – environment, society and economy – and defined sustainable development as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ ( WCED, 1987, p43). In broad strokes, this definition sought to harmonize the demands of socio-economic change with the need to ensure continued availability of the Earth’s natural resources over time. By so doing, the report was still, by and large, taking an economics-driven perspective on the natural world – one that views nature principally as a store of valuable resources for human use rather than as an interconnected web of life and provider of life-sustaining functions for all living beings. At the same time, it did enshrine some fundamental realizations: that the planet’s natural resource base is not infinite; that its replenishment capacity has not been keeping pace with the rhythm and scale of economic development; and that this has severe consequences for both the environment and people, particularly the more vulnerable sectors of society.
