Sustainability entails addressing our own demands without jeopardising future generations' ability to

satisfy their own. We require social and economic resources in addition to natural resources.
Environmentalism isn't the only aspect of sustainability. Concerns for social fairness and economic
development are found in most definitions of sustainability.

While the idea of sustainability is a novel one, the mission as a whole has origins in social justice,
conservationism, internationalism, and other long-standing causes. Many of these notions had
coalesced into the push for "sustainable development" by the end of the twentieth century. In 1983,
the United Nations appointed former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland to lead the
new World Commission on Environment and Development.Many countries were still suffering from
extreme poverty despite decades of efforts to improve living conditions through industrialization.
Economic progress at the expense of environmental health and social fairness did not appear to lead
to long-term prosperity. It was evident that the world needed to find a method to balance
environmental sustainability and economic growth.

The "Brundtland Commission" published its final report, Our Common Future, after four years of
work. It notably defines sustainable development as "progress that meets current demands without
jeopardising future generations' ability to fulfil their own needs."  On the global development
agenda, the Commission was effective in bringing together environmental concerns with social and
economic concerns.Sustainability is a holistic strategy that takes into account the ecological, social,
and economic components, realising that all of these factors must be taken into account in order to
achieve long-term prosperity.