Sustainable Development This is a case study that defines sustainable development. It explains the importance of sustainable development, why it is a catch phrase for countries, why it is promoted as a primary solution to protecting the environment, and some pros and cons. Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations. (Shah, 2009) It encompasses a number of areas, such as industry energy efficiency, climate change, and industrial policy, and highlights sustainability as the idea of environmental, economic, social progress, and equity, within the limits of natural resources.

While all humans depend on nature and the ecosystem, the ecosystem has been decreased by growing demands for food, water, fiber, and energy. There has been improvement for some, but conditions are worse for others because nature's ability to purify water and air, protect from disasters, and provide medicine has been weakened. Some of the outstanding problems are; fisheries are now unable to meet growing demands, deeper vulnerability of people in dry regions, the growing threat from climate change, and nutrient pollution. A number of species are facing extinctions. Loss of service from the ecosystem creates a greater barrier to millennium development goals to reduce poverty, hunger, and disease. Measures to conserve natural resources can succeed if local communities have ownership, share benefits, and are involved in decision making. Technology and knowledge can reduce...

(Living Beyond Our Means) Two thirds of the services provided by natural resources are in steady decline. This is what makes the sustainable development so important to countries and societies.
"Sustainable development (SD) has become a catch-all phrase for forms of economic development which stress the importance of environmental quality and the conservation of Nature's assets." (Turner) In order for economic development to provide for environmental quality and conserve natural assets, societies need to develop with real per capita income rising over time. Continuous improvements in knowledge and health need to be measured by literacy and life expectancy. Human freedoms and development need to be sustained over time. All of these are conditions that determine the achievement of sustainable development. Future generations need to be left with a stock of capital assets to provide the capability of generating future development. This includes man-made stock, knowledge and skills, and environmental or natural stock.

The rules for sustainable development are the cost benefit rule and the weak sustainable rule. Cost benefit says the cost of degradation is less than the benefits. The weak sustainability rule says it is acceptable to run down environmental capital if other forms of capital are being built up. The overall value of…