Realizing Sustainable Development

Abstract

As has been shown in subsection 2.2, sustainability is widely acknowledged as overarching goal; and sustainable development is a generally accepted principle und guideline for political action. The degree of familiarity with the concept has increased considerably in the last decade; and sustainable development has been institutionalized and mainstreamed into many areas of politics and everyday life. But the simple fact that the concept is known and has been introduced into rules for decision-making on many levels and in many countries does not necessarily mean that the world is closer to realizing sustainability than before. It is common knowledge that knowing is not the same as doing; and added to this, the many facets of sustainability and sustainable development may not be as well understood as surveys asking about the familiarity with the concept imply. In Germany, for example, sustainability is translated as “Nachhaltigkeit”, but the word “nachhaltig”, sustainable, is often used to simply describe something as long-term.