Transformation toward Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary, Actor-Oriented Perspective

The notion of “sustainable development” has become very popular through the report “Our Common Future” published in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development in preparation of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (WCED, 1987). The report states that sustainable development “integrates economics and ecology in decision making and law making to protect the environment and to promote development” (p. 37). It “aims at a type of development which integrates production with resource conservation and enhancement and links both to providing an adequate livelihood base and equitable access to resources” (p. 39). It tries to “reorient international relations to achieve trade, capital and technology flows that are more equitable and consistent with environmental imperatives” (p. 40). It “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (p. 43)