Re-assessing traditional notions of sustainable development

Traditionally, sustainable development has been considered to represent the marriage of environmental and developmental objectives. More recently, sustainable development is understood to represent the integration of environmental, economic and social concerns. However, three critiques of the traditional notion of sustainable development have been identified. Central to the sustainable development objective is the notion of equity. There is a fundamental problem with focusing on providing for the needs of future generations when a vast majority of the present generation is unable to meet its basic needs. Sustainable development is in fact nothing more than a mechanism for the rich western world to facilitate ongoing development activities in order to cater and provide for future rich western generations. One particular significance as one of the key principles to the concept of sustainable development is integration. Sustainable development attempts to provide a framework that focuses on the problems and difficulties associated with reconciling the various concerns and priorities in order to achieve an overall mutually beneficial outcome. Traditional conceptions of the concept have largely focused on the application of sustainable development as an international framework with less attention being attributed to its implementation or adoption at the grassroots level. Another problem with focusing on sustainable development from an essentially global perspective relates to the way in which sustainable development is 'administered' in various situations.