The Imperatives of Sustainable Development

Twenty-nine years ago the UN report Our Common Future put the sustainable development concept firmly on the international agenda. The report raised ethical concerns about widespread poverty, the increased crossing of environmental limits, and the lack of interest in future generations' needs. Today, the dominant model of sustainable development, the three-pillar model (TPM), inadequately addresses these ethical concerns. Rather, is it centred on increasing the quality of life for poor and rich people. Thus, there is now a need for an ethical (re)turn of the sustainable development concept.

This book focuses on how our concern for future generations, for the poor, and for the planet puts constraints on our behaviour. Within these constraints, we can pursue the life we want to live. Outside these constraints, development will be unsustainable. These constraints reflect three moral imperatives: satisfying human needs, ensuring social equity, and respecting environmental limits. More importantly, they reflect both moral imperatives laid out in classical philosophical texts on needs and equity, and recent scientific insights on environmental limits. By identifying indicators and thresholds, we show how these moral imperatives can guide policymaking.

The Imperatives of Sustainable Development will be essential reading for all those interested in the future of sustainable development and the complex environmental and social issues involved.