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What is sustainable development?

  • Last modified date:
    9 February 2007

Ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for future generations to come, lies at the heart of the Government's sustainable development strategy.  A widely used international definition is 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.  Although the idea is simple, the task is substantial

The UK Sustainable Development Strategy Securing the Future has reviewed the sustainable development goals originally set out in 1999.  The following 'purpose', that has been agreed by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations, has now been adopted as the new framework goal for sustainable development:

'The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations'

'For the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations, that goal will be pursued in an integrated way through a sustainable, innovative and productive economy that delivers high levels of employment, and a just society that promotes social inclusion, sustainable communities and personal wellbeing.  This will be done in ways that protect and enhance the physical and natural environment, and use resources and energy as efficiently as possible'

The guiding principles that will underpin the strategy are as follows:

  • Living within environmental limits
  • Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society
  • Achieving a sustainable economy
  • Promoting good governance
  • Using sound science responsibly

For more information on the Government's approach to Sustainable Development, visit:

To view the 2005 Sustainable Development Strategy Securing the Future visit:

Achieving quality of life

Health -"expected healthy years of life" - is one of the 15 key headline indicators. The indicators are intended to focus attention on what sustainable development means and to give a broad overview of whether 'better quality of life' is being achieved. The Government publishes an annual review of progress towards sustainable development which includes detailed information on the national indicators. This can be found at www.sustainable-development.gov.uk. The "health" indicator shows that life expectancy in the UK is increasing and compares well with most industrialised countries. However, healthy life expectancy has not increased as fast as total life expectancy, meaning that the years of life men and women can expect to spend in poor health has increased. The next annual review will be a stocktake of progress since 1999, and will be published in Spring 2005.

Progress within Government

The Government also publishes information on its own progress in carrying out its business in a way compatible with sustainable development. This annual publication was formerly known as the "Greening Government Report" (see DEFRA sustainable development website for reports published Nov 1999, Nov 2000, Nov 2001). The report has been re-named the "Sustainable Development in Government Report ". The reports for 2002, 2003 and 2004 are available on the Sustainable Development in Government website.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002

An important focus of activity on sustainable development has been the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002. The Summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa and brought together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), representatives from business and industry, children and youth, farmers, indigenous people, local authorities, scientific and technological communities, workers and trade unions.

The Johannesburg Summit was held 10 years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio Summit marked a turning point for the international community due to the adoption of Agenda 21 - an unprecedented global plan of action for sustainable development. The Johannesburg Summit aimed to reinvigorate the global commitment towards the achievement of sustainable development, and this was accomplished as significant commitments were made to improve the lives of people living in poverty and to reverse the continuing degradation of the global environment. Further detailed information is available on the official United Nations website for the Johannesburg Summit 2002.

A Programme of Implementation has been agreed which includes:

  • agreement on water and sanitation, which should save millions of lives, halving the number of people without access to clean water and basic sanitation by 2015
  • better management of the oceans, action to conserve fish stocks, and development of marine protected areas
  • action to protect biodiversity and natural resources
  • action plans for sustainable production and consumption which will set us on a path to using resources more efficiently
  • strong reaffirmation for action to ensure that, in the review of the trade round, environment concerns are properly taken into account
  • agreement on joint action to improve access to sustainable energy services for the two billion people who lack them; agreement on the urgent need to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix; increased technological co-operation to fund support for developing countries; and agreement to phase out energy subsidies which inhibit sustainable development
  • a commitment to monitor, follow up and report transparently on how we meet our commitments on targets and action plans.

More details are available on the UK Government's Sustainable Development website.

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