CHANGING DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

6.4 ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS – I

Submitted by:

Kartik Solanki

UID: UG2019-56

B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) 3rd Year, 6th Semester

Under the Supervision of:

Ms. Trishla Dubey

(Assistant Professor of Law)

Dr. Veena Roshan Jose

(Assistant Professor of Law)

March, 2022

MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NAGPUR

Certificate of Originality
I hereby certify that this paper titled “Changing Dimensions of Sustainable Development” is
my 0riginal w0rk. I affirm that any secti0n 0f the paper which has been submitted previ0usly
is attributed and cited as such. I have identified the s 0urces 0f all inf0rmati0n whether qu0ted
verbatim 0r paraphrased and all the due ackn0wledgement 0f all the s0urces have been made
in citati0ns.

I als0 declare that the c0ntent 0f this pr0ject is the pr0duct 0f my 0wn w0rk, except t0 the
extent that assistance fr0m 0thers in the pr0ject’s design and c0ncepti0n 0r in style,
presentati0n and linguistic expressi0n is ackn0wledged. I further agree that the name typed
0n the line bel0w in intended t0 have, and shall have, the same validity as my handwritten
signature.

Kartik Solanki

Semester VI, Year III.

Acknowledgement
I express my sincere gratitude and indebtedness to all those people who assisted me in
successful completion of the project. Their invaluable support and guidance helped in the
successful completion of the Project. I express my sincere thanks and heart full indebtedness
to Ms. Trishla Dubey and Dr. Veena Roshan Jose, Assistant Professors of Law, MNLU,
Nagpur for being the constant sources of inspiration, knowledge and guidance all throughout
my project. I am equally indebted to my Parents and my Family members for unconditional
support, motivation and encouragement to do the challenging task. I deeply acknowledge
their support and inspiration. I am most grateful to all the scholars and academicians whose
research and writings have made an immense contribution to my project. I also want to thank
all my friends who have more or less cooperated in completion of the project. I acknowledge
their support.

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Table of Contents
Certificate of Originality.............................................................................................................i

Acknowledgement......................................................................................................................i

1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................1

1.1 Statement of Problem..................................................................................................2

1.2 Research Objectives....................................................................................................2

1.3 Research Questions.....................................................................................................2

1.4 Literature Review........................................................................................................2

1.5 Rationale of the Study.................................................................................................3

1.6 Research Methodology................................................................................................3

1.7 Limitation....................................................................................................................4

2. History and Evolution of Sustainable Development...........................................................4

3. Dimensions of Sustainable Development...........................................................................6

3.1 Ecological Dimension.................................................................................................6

3.2 Cultural Dimension.....................................................................................................7

3.3 Social Dimensions.......................................................................................................9

3.3.1 Social Equity......................................................................................................10

3.3.2 Diversity/Multiplicity.........................................................................................10

3.3.3 Quality of Life....................................................................................................11

3.4 Economic Sustainability............................................................................................11

4. Conclusion........................................................................................................................12

5. Bibliography......................................................................................................................iii

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1. Introduction
Sustainable development has become the buzzword in development discourse, having been
associated with different definitions, meanings and interpretations.1 Taken literally,
Sustainable Development would simply mean “development that can be continued either
indefinitely or for the given time period”. Structurally, the concept can be seen as a phrase
consisting of two words, ‘sustainable’ and ‘development’. Just as each of the two words that
combine to form the concept of Sustainable Development, that is, ‘sustainable’ and
‘development’. It has been defined variously from various perspectives, the concept of
Sustainable Development has also been looked at from various angles, leading to a plethora
of definitions of the concept. Although definitions abound with respect to Sustainable
Development, the most often cited definition of the concept is the one proposed by the
Brundtland Commission Report. The Report defines it as “development that meets the needs
of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meets
their own needs”.2 It provides a mechanism through which society can interact with the
environment while not risking damaging the resource for the future. Thus, it is a development
paradigm as well as concept that calls for improving living standards without jeopardising the
earth’s ecosystems or causing environmental challenges such as deforestation and water and
air pollution that can result in problems such as climate change and extinction of species.3

It is argued that the relevance of Sustainable development deepens with the dawn of every
day because the population keeps increasing but the natural resources available for the
satisfaction of human needs and wants do not.4 Global concerns have always been expressed
for judicious use of the available resources so that it will always be possible to satisfy the
needs of the present generation without undermining the ability of future generations to
satisfy theirs. It implies that Sustainable Development is an effort at guaranteeing a balance
among economic growth, environmental integrity and social well-being. This is achievable
through the integration of economic, environmental, and social concerns in decision-making

1
J.C. Dernbach, “Sustainable development as a framework for national governance” 49(1) CASE WESTERN
RESERVE LAW REVIEW, pp, 100–103.
2
G. Brundtland, “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future.”,
United Nations General Assembly document A/42/427, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documen
ts/5987our-common-future.pdf, (visited on April 13, 2022).
3
Alexandre Kiss & Dinah Shelton, GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, 1 st ed. 2007, p.
44.
4
F. Guo, “The spirit and characteristic of the general provisions of civil law.”, (8) LAW AND ECONOMICS, p.
54.

1
processes.5 The researcher through the present paper shall throw light upon evolution of
principle of Sustainable Development in modern world and will also explain the different
dimensions of Sustainable development. Additionally, the researcher shall deliberate upon the
relationship amongst various dimensions of sustainable development.

1.1 Statement of Problem

How did the principle of Sustainable Development evolve in the modern world and what are
the different dimensions of sustainable development?

1.2 Research Objectives

- To study the evolution of principle of Sustainable Development in modern world.
- To study the different dimensions of Sustainable development.
- To study the relationship amongst the various dimensions of Sustainable Development.

1.3 Research Questions

1. What are the various environmental challenges posed by the advent of globalisation?
2. Whether the distinct dimensions of sustainable development be studied in isolation?
3. How cultural trait of sustainable development has evolved itself to become the fourth
pillar of Sustainable Development?

1.4 Literature Review

Justice Mensah in his article titled ‘Sustainable Development: Meaning, history, principles,
pillars and implications for human action’ paper focuses on key issues relating to the
concepts of development, sustainability and sustainable development. The issues include the
history of Sustainable development as well as the pillars and principles of this concept. The
paper also presents the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the associated debate
regarding the trade-offs, complementarities, costs and benefits.

Lucian Blaga in her article ‘The Ecological Dimension of Sustainable Development’ has
discusses the challenges and threats that have been caused to the environment due to the
technological advancement. Further she has discussed the term ‘eco development’ and its
three ecological principles.

5
A. Kolk. “The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and
sustainable development”, JOURNAL OF WORLD BUSINESS, pp. 51-52.

2
Michael Redclift in his article ‘The Multiple Dimensions of Sustainable Development’ has
stressed on the need to provide a link between environmental knowledge, political process
and the management of environmental resources.

Darren Robinson and Ben Purvis their article ‘Three Pillars of Sustainability’ reviews and
discusses relevant historical sustainability literature. This article aims to shed light on the
origins of the ‘three pillars’, taking the structure of an initial review of the historical
emergence of the concept of ‘sustainability’ from its disparate early roots to the genesis of
‘sustainable development’ in the 1970s and 1980s.

Nicola Dempsey, Glex Bramley, Sinead Power and Caroline Brown in their article titled ‘The
Social Dimension of Sustainable Development: Defining Urban Social Sustainability’
stressed on the urban policy in regards to the significance of developing social sustainability.
However, while a social dimension to sustainability is widely accepted, exactly what this
means has not been very clearly defined or agreed. This paper aims to address this disparity
through a detailed exploration and definition of the concept of social sustainability within the
urban context. The relationship between urban form and social sustainability is explored and
two main dimensions of social sustainability are identified and discussed in detail.

1.5 Rationale of the Study

There exists a relationship between all the dimensions of sustainable development which are
interconnected in some way or the other. The fourth dimension i.e., Cultural dimension has
not been paid much heed initially but later it proved its worth especially in Urban sustainable
development.

1.6 Research Methodology

Doctrinal research has been followed for the completion of this project. Textbooks related to
this topic have been referred to. Several primary sources such as statutes have also been
referred for this project. The other major source of information is the internet. The
accessibility of technology has made it possible for students to research on any topic
irrespective of discipline. Articles available on the internet concerning the project have been
taken into account for this project through the internet. The main purpose was to find that sort
of information which would simplify this topic and would help the readers in reaching a
logical conclusion. Major source of information for this project have been books and internet.
Those websites have been referred to which have information regarding the topic to explain
the relevance of this topic.

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1.7 Limitation
The project is limited to the incremental development of laws related to International
Environmental Law without delving much into the jurisprudential aspect. Due to the paucity
of time and resources, not all but only major dimensions of sustainable development have
been discussed.

2. History and Evolution of Sustainable Development

Although the concept of Sustainability Development has gained popularity and prominence
in theory, what tends to be neglected and downplayed is the history or evolution of the
concept. While the evolution might seem unimportant to some people, it nonetheless could
help predict the future trends and flaws and, therefore, provide useful guide now and for the
future.6 Historically, SD as a concept, derives from economics as a discipline. The discussion
regarding whether the capacity of the Earth’s limited natural resources would be able to
continually support the existence of the increasing human population gained prominence with
the Malthusian population theory in the early 1800s7. Malthus postulated that population
growth was likely to outstrip the capacity of the natural resources to support the needs of the
increasing population. Therefore, if measures were not taken to check the rapid population
growth rate, exhaustion or depletion of natural resources would occur, resulting in misery for
humans.

The concept of sustainable development received its first major international recognition in
1972 at the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. 8 Although the
term was not referred to explicitly, the international community agreed to the notion now
fundamental to sustainable development that both development and the environment hitherto
addressed as separate issues, could be managed in a mutually beneficial way. Following these
developments, the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro
Harlem Brundtland of Norway, renewed the call for Sustainable Development, culminating in
the development of the Brundtland Report entitled “Our Common Future” in 1987. Central to
the Brundtland Commission Report were two key issues: the concept of needs, in particular
the essential needs of the world’s poor and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of
technology and social organisation on the environment’s ability to meet present and future
6
J Elkington & H. Rowlands, “Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business.”, 25(4)
ALTERNATIVES JOURNAL, p. 42.
7
J.A. Dixon, & L.A. Fallon, “The concept of sustainability: Origins, extensions, and usefulness for policy”, 2(1)
SOCIETY & NATURAL RESOURCES, p. 72.
8
UN General Assembly, “United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, A/RES/2994”, available at:
https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f1c840.html (visited on April 8, 2022).

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needs. Brundtland report stimulated the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development [hereinafter referred to as “UNCED”], known as the Rio Earth Summit, in
1992. The recommendations of the report formed the primary topics of debate at the UNCED.
The UNCED had several key outcomes for Sustainable Development articulated in the
conference outcome document, namely Agenda 21 It stated that SD should become a priority
item on the agenda of the international community and proceeded to recommend that national
strategies be designed and developed to address economic, social and environmental aspects
of sustainable development9

In 2012, 20 years after the first Rio Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development [hereinafter referred to as “UNCSD”) or Rio+ 20 was held. The
conference focused on two themes in the context of sustainable development: green economy
and an institutional framework. n 2012, SD was identified as one of the five key priorities by
the United Nations [hereinafter referred to as “UN”] Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in the
UN action agenda, highlighting the key role SD should play in international and national
development policies, programmes and agenda.

As part of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s initiatives to promote sustainable

development,2 the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network [hereinafter referred to
as “SDSN”] was launched in 2012 to mobilize global scientific and technological knowledge
on the challenges of sustainable development.

The SDSN fully supports the Rio+20 vision of sustainable development as a holistic concept
addressing four dimensions of society:10 economic development (including the end of
extreme poverty), social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and good governance
including peace and security. Societies aim to achieve all four dimensions. Failures in one
area, such as environmental sustainability or gender equality, can undermine progress in
others, such as the eradication of poverty. Poor governance and insecurity can all too easily
undermine progress on economic, social, and environmental objectives.11

9
United Nation, “Report of the United Nation Conference on Environment and Development, UN Doc.
A/CONF.151/26”, 31 ILM 874 (1992), https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/general
assembly/docs/globalcompact/A_CONF.151_26_Vol.I_Declaration.pdf, (visited on April 18, 2022).
10
United Nation, Report of the United Nation Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20,
A/CONF.216/16 (2012), https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/, (visited on April 19, 2022).
11
Philip Sands & Jacqueline Peel, PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, 3 rd ed.
2012, pp. 48-49.

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3. Dimensions of Sustainable Development

3.1 Ecological Dimension

The concept of sustainable development has experienced over 60 definitions. At one extreme
are the supporters of ‘deep ecology’, which gives a value of nature, independent of human
needs and advocates absolute protectionism leading to a steady state economy. 12 Opposite lies
‘ecocentriștii’ who consider that it is always possible to substitute natural and produced
capital assets, as such, there were no real environmental constraints; for them the nature has
only an instrumental value and technical progress will always offer solutions to repair the
damage before they become too important. 13

By its nature, the relationship between the environment and sustainable development
determines minimize the adverse effects of human activities on the environment. Therefore,
to ensure compatibility between the environment and sustainable development, sustainable
development management should encourage sustainable ecological point (eco-development).
Term eco-development should safeguard the biosphere, i.e., biodiversity and the normal
course of events and bio-geo-chemical cycles.14

Term eco-development appears as a new strategy of development of the economy in general.

It is able to provide improved quality of life and protecting the environment, while
maintaining an increased pace of sustainable development. At the same time, term eco-
development, the compatibility between the environment, the greening of production and the
technologies employed, can lead to prevent damage to the environment.

Term eco-development is based on three fundamental ecological principles:15

- human economic activity is a subsystem operating within a larger but finite - ecosystem.
Clutter in the ecosystem (e.g., resource depletion and pollution) interfere, ultimately, life
support systems, which are based economy;

- as human activity expands and the population is growing, they are used increasing
amounts of natural resources, which generate a growing volume of waste, risking
exceeding the tolerance limits of ecosystems;
12
C. Brodhag & S. Taliere, “Sustainable development strategies: Tools for policy coherence”. 30 NATURAL
RESOURCES FORUM, pp. 136–138.
13
R. Goodland & H. Daly, “Environmental sustainability: Universal and non-negotiable, 6(4) ECOLOGICAL
APPLICATIONS, pp. 1002–1003.
14
Supra, note 1.
15
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “2013 Sustainable Development Challenges, WORLD
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY, https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/publications/world-
economic-and-social-survey-2013-sustainable-development-challenges.html, (visited on May 5, 2021).

6
- in some cases, produce environmental changes impact the development of long term or
irreversible. Now that environmentalists are increasingly involved in the development,
has formed a sense of development, which aims to: - the integration of environment.

However, not only the conservation of nature is connected with the ecological dimension of
sustainable development. Indirectly it relates to the more general matter of the shaping of
spatial order, so also to proper creation and maintenance of areas habituated by human
beings. This is touching all other dimensions, especially social relations between people.

3.2 Cultural Dimension

The post 2015 process aims “to define the UN Development Agenda, to continue the fight
against poverty and diseases, and to support sustainable development as a focus of the
international community”.16 A Development Agenda cannot be successfully implemented if
only three pillars (economy, social inclusion and environment) are considered. This approach
is not useful to read the world, and is not useful to provide operational tools to transform the
world. It is an old fragmented approach that has failed because it lacks the soul, the glue
providing coherence and meaning to development in cities, nations and our existence as
human beings. It lacks culture. Culture is about creativity, heritage, knowledge and diversity.
These values are intrinsically connected to human development and freedoms. 17These values
are being recognised as the cultural dimension (or the fourth pillar) of sustainable
development at local, national and international level. There are standard-setting documents
and international benchmarks that perfectly allow the explicit inclusion of culture in the UN
Development Agenda with measurable targets, goals and indicators.18

People and places cannot be threatened by globalization but, instead, invited and empowered
to become actors of globalization, that is, to generate new meaning without losing the
identity. This is a cultural process. The humanity is learning that a plurality of knowledge
systems (cultures) is critical for our future. When the cultural dimension is ignored,
development processes remain incomplete or fail.19

16
J. Cao & G. Emission, “Trading contract and its regulation”, 23 JOURNAL OF CHONGQING
UNIVERSITY, p. 84.
17
M. Kahn, “Concepts, definitions, and key issues in sustainable development: The outlook for the future”,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1995 INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
CONFERENCE, pp. 2–13.
18
J. Tosun & J. Leininger, “Governing the interlinkages between the sustainable development goals:
Approaches to attain policy integration.” WILEY ONLINE LIBRARY.
19
M. Browning & A. Rigolon, “School green space and its impact on academic performance: A systematic
literature review”, 16(3) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC
HEALTH, pp.100-101.

7
Specific goals, targets and indicators on the relation between culture and development
already exist, and are implemented mainly by cities and local governments. People and places
cannot fight against poverty unless they are given the tools and skills to become active actors
in a society. Some of these tools are literacy, beauty, critical thinking, sense of place,
empathy, trust, risk, respect, recognition. These tools and skills can be summarized in
creativity, heritage, knowledge and diversity, the values that shape the cultural dimension of
sustainable development.

Interrelation of Cultural Dimensions with other dimensions

- Culture boosts the economic dimension: it generates income and employment, it is the
engine of many development processes and it has impact on entrepreneurship, new
technologies and tourism. Culture brings creativity and innovation to the economy.

- Culture is linked to the social dimension: it is the accelerator of resilience and rootedness,
it gives tools to fight against poverty, it facilitates participation of citizens, intercultural
dialogue and equality of rights.

- Culture embraces the environmental dimension because it explains the identities and
raises awareness on ecological responsibility.

Key values for development like creativity, heritage, knowledge and diversity must shape
culture as the fourth pillar of development. A holistic and integrated approach to development
will only be achieved when these values are explicit and operationalized.

International benchmarks

The Millennium declaration and the Millennium Development Goals were approved in 2000.
Since that year, the international community has approved sound documents (international
benchmarks and standard-setting documents) to boost the relation between culture and
development. UNESCO approved the Declaration (2001) and the Convention (2005) on
Cultural Diversity. UCLG approved the Agenda 21 for culture (2004) and the Declaration
“Culture is the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development” (2010).20 Rio+20 (2012)
“acknowledges the natural and cultural diversity of the world and recognizes that all cultures
and civilizations can contribute to sustainable development”. The General Assembly of
21

United Nations approved two resolutions (65/166 and 66/208) on culture as a driver and an
20
Committee on Culture, “Agenda 21 for Culture”, UCLG, http://www.agenda21culture.net/sites/default/files/
files/documents/multi/ag21_en.pdf, (visited on May 6, 2021).
21
supra, note 10.

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enabler of sustainable development. All these standard setting documents are being
successfully implemented. The international community is ready to include culture as an
important dimension of development in the Post-2015 Agenda.

3.3 Social Dimensions

Social sustainability is a broad term that has been used for a long time but its meaning is still
very far from developed. Social sustainability is one of the important dimensions of
sustainability and is interlinked to other dimensions in various ways, which entails that
change in any dimension of sustainability has an impact on social sustainability. From a
social perspective, human wellbeing cannot be sustained without safe surroundings, a healthy
environment and the presence of a vibrant economy that can fulfill all the basic needs of the
communities residing nationally or globally. Government makes policies for the uplifting of
social communities to achieve social sustainability but, alongside this, every nation needs
informed citizens who participate actively. This is the essence of democracy and is essential
for the protection of basic human rights. The three fundamental goals of social sustainable
development are poverty reduction, social investment, and safe and caring communities.
Nations, social communities and corporate communities are required to work together to
achieve these goals.

The important environmental and economic issues have always dominated sustainable
development discussion, but in the late 1990s social issues and their impacts were taken into
consideration within the sustainability agenda. Social sustainability relies on the basic values
of equality and democracy, which means the appropriation of human legal rights in terms of
the political, civil, economic, social and cultural arenas by all people. Social sustainability is
defined as the quality of societies or communities that signifies the relationship between
nature and society mediated by work and relationships within the society.

Social sustainability is affected by many factors and these factors are described in depth
below to understand the diversity and importance of social sustainability. Nobel prize-winner
Amartya Sen gives the following dimensions for social sustainability, which helped develop
the theory of “social choice” in the early 1970s.

3.3.1 Social Equity

The expanding horizon of sustainability needs development in every area with respect to all
three pillars of sustainable development. Social equity is an important indicator that
determines social sustainability. It is an indispensable requirement for sustainable

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development. With social equity rises in living standards, economic growth and the balance
of use of natural resources are maintained. Thus, growth cannot be only about economic
progress, nor can sustainability only be about environment protection and preservation.
Global development must be people-centered and should promote human rights,
empowerment, prospects, dignity, pride and variability. Social equity is a concept that
focuses on equal justice and objectivity for all members of society. In the early years of
sustainability social equity was used in various institutional contexts, such as education and
public organizations. With advancement in the goals and objectives of sustainability the new
concept of social equity was developed, defining the fair and equal delivery of public
facilities and policies.

The three main areas of social equity are considered equally important for social
sustainability

- Equality in terms of gender and sexuality: As per social equity objectives, there should
be equal rights for all individuals of a society irrespective of gender and sex.

- Racial equality: For social sustainability racial equality is an important factor. It focuses
on giving biological equality and social equality to all human races of the world.

- Religion equality: Religion equity is as important as gender and race equality. Religion is
defined as all aspects of religious observance and practice as well as religious beliefs.
Religion equity is important to protect human rights in the corporate sector and in other
religion-dominated societies.

3.3.2 Diversity/Multiplicity
Diversity is attained after a long period of time influenced by environment and social factors;
it is a process of recognizing differences and similarities and creating an environment that
capitalizes on them. Diversity has environmental, social and economic impacts. Development
in social sustainability is greatly affected by diversity. Diversity enhances Quality Of Life by
promoting different ways of accepted living. The multiplicity of people and agencies located
at different levels of community entails an attention to social integration, housing provisions,
social infrastructure and services for resource generation. It is relevant for various public
policies and decision-making sectors such as education, health, social and community
services, communication, transport services and resource management. Diversity is required

10
for better understanding of the concept and its application to an urban context for better
Quality Of Life.

3.3.3 Quality of Life

Quality Of Life is the state of well-being of persons, societies and communities, focusing on
every aspect of life. It is all about attaining satisfaction in life in terms of education, sacred
principles, family, health, employment, economy, wealth and natural resources. From the
global development point of view, Quality of Life has a wide range of contexts including
areas of global development such as international relations, health services, employment and
legislation. Some important dimensions of QOL are described as follows – Economic and
physical wellbeing; Health and maintenance; Social interactions; Education and personal
development; Basic rights.

3.4 Economic Sustainability

Economic sustainability’ implies a system of production that satisfies present consumption
levels without compromising future needs. Economic sustainability aims to maintain the
capital intact. If social sustainability focuses on improving social equality, economic
sustainability aims to improve the standard of living. In the context of business, it refers to
the efficient use of assets to maintain company profitability over time The notion of
economic sustainability was originated by Hicks. In his classic work Value and Capital, 22
Hicks defined ‘income’ as ‘the amount one can consume during a period and still be as well
off at the end of the period’. Traditionally, economists, assuming that the supply of natural
resources was unlimited, placed undue emphasis on the capacity of the market to allocate
resources efficiently. They also believed that economic growth would bring the technological
capacity to replenish natural resources destroyed in the production process. Today, however,
a realization has emerged that natural resources are not infinite. The growing scale of the
economic system has strained the natural resource base.

An economic system designed in light of the theory of ‘economic sustainability’ is one

constrained by the requirements of ‘environmental sustainability’. It restrains resource use to
ensure the ‘sustainability’ of natural capital. It does not seek to achieve ‘economic
sustainability’ at the cost of ‘environmental sustainability’.23

22
J.R. Hicks, VALUE AND CAPITAL, Second edition 1975 Oxford Publication
23
J.E. Krier and P.C. Gillette, The un-easy case for technological optimism”, MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW,
p.405.

11
A way to implement the theory of ‘economic sustainability’ in a practical sense is to fashion a
method of urban design that meets the urban service needs of the general public, particularly
the urban poor, while enhancing the naturalness of the urban environment.

The United Nations adopted the resolution ‘Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development”1 that sets 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 targets in
order to allow sustainable development. The Goal 8 established by this resolution - Goal 8.
Promote sustained, inclusive an sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment and decent work for all” covers different economic and social areas such as
promoting of: economic growth, economic productivity, entrepreneurship, sustainable
tourism, sustainable consumption, decent work and job creation, youth employment, labour
rights.24

4. Conclusion
It is argued that the sustainability debate ‘has moved on from the ecological and
environmental to the social and economic, such that ‘social sustainability’ has emerged as a
theme in its own right.

The ultimate aim of SD is to achieve a balance among environmental, economic and social
sustainability, thus, making these the pillars on which SD rests. While not assuming a
definitive posture, sustainability of society can be said to depend on the availability of proper
health systems, peace and respect for human rights, decent work, gender equality, quality
education and rule of law. Sustainability of economy, on the other hand, depends on adoption
of appropriate production, distribution and consumption while sustainability of the
environment is driven by proper physical planning and land use as well as conservation of
ecology or biodiversity. Although the literature is awash with a plethora of definitions and
interpretations of SD, implicit in the pervasive viewpoints about the concept is
intergenerational equity, which recognises both the short and long-term implications of
sustainability in order to address the needs of both the current and future generations.

24
H.E. Daly, “The economics of the steady state”, 21 AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, p.44.

12
5. Bibliography
A) Books
- Alexandre Kiss & Dinah Shelton, GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW, 1st ed. 2007, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Netherlands.
- Philip Sands & Jacqueline Peel, PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
- J.R. Hicks, VALUE AND CAPITAL, 2nd ed. 1975, Oxford Publication, United Kingdom.
B) Articles/Journals
- J.C. Dernbach, “Sustainable development as a framework for national governance” 49(1)
CASE WESTERN RESERVE LAW REVIEW, Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland.
- F. Guo, “The spirit and characteristic of the general provisions of civil law.”, (8) LAW
AND ECONOMICS, University of Chicago, United States.
- A. Kolk. “The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development”, JOURNAL OF WORLD
BUSINESS, Columbia Journal of World Business, United States.
- J.A. Dixon, & L.A. Fallon, “The concept of sustainability: Origins, extensions, and
usefulness for policy”, 2(1) SOCIETY & NATURAL RESOURCES, International
Association for Society and Natural Resources, United States.
- J. Cao & G. Emission, “Trading contract and its regulation”, 23 JOURNAL OF
CHONGQING UNIVERSITY, Chongqing, China.
- M. Browning & A. Rigolon, “School green space and its impact on academic
performance: A systematic literature review”, 16(3) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH, Multidisciplinary Digital
Publishing Institute, Switzerland.
- J.E. Krier and P.C. Gillette, The un-easy case for technological optimism”, MICHIGAN
LAW REVIEW, University of Michigan Law School, United States.
- H.E. Daly, “The economics of the steady state”, 21 AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW,
American Economic Association, United States.
C) Websites
- https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/

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- https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/
- http://www.agenda21culture.net/sites/default/files/

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