TOWARDS AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

A B S T R A C T Sustainable Development (SD) as a norm has been accepted in the literature ever since the publication of the Brundtland Commission report in 1987. The publication of this report has been followed by several attempts at defining SD. Very often, these definitions have been found to be partial and even sometimes at conflict with one another. Distinguishing between of a resource and development, the paper first develops a conceptual framework for defining use. The necessary conditions for guaranteeing sustainable use of a resource are also identified. Observation from the use pattern of forestry resources that offer multiple services to multiple sets of users has been used to come up with a working definition for of a resource. Next, it argues that since any individual or a community does not depend on a single resource for subsistence, the use pattern of other competitive and complementary resources also plays a role in ensuring that forests are/are not put to use. Thus, a necessary condition for SD is simultaneous and sustainable use of all resources—natural, man-made, and human—which is argued in the conclusion of the paper.