Sustainable Development

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development was first used in the report prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development (commonly known as the Brundtland Commission), which was established by the United Nations in 1984. It is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). Since then, many discussion points and interpretations involving the actualization and elaboration of this abstract concept have been proposed in order to connect it with policies and efforts that aim to achieve such development and progress. One of these efforts involves the development of indicators. The discussion points and indicator development can broadly be reorganized to two origins of argument. The first considers sustainable development to be an extension of discussions regarding how development or progress should be approached (intragenerational equity), while the other regards the concept as an extension of discussions on global sustainability (intergenerational equity). The purpose of this paper is to organize the main discussion points by dividing them into two origins and to gain an understanding of how they are reflected in the development of indicators.