What is Sustainable Development?

The United Nations defines Sustainable development as Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This common definition was derived from the 1987 report entitled "Our Common Future" by the Bruntland Commission.

Agenda 21 outlines a list of sustainable development themes in a 40-chapter programme of actions developed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Agenda 21 themes

A related set of sustainable development issues is identified in the Millenium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals are an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives that world leaders agreed on at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. For each goal one or more targets have been set, most for 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark.