Sustainable Development

‘Sustainable development’ is jargon commonly used by development experts. But what does it really mean? The most widely used definition appeared in the 1987 Brundtland Report Our Common Future, which was endorsed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio: ‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

www.un.org/esa/sustdev/index.html

There are 5 steps of ‘capital’ we can exploit for society’s benefit. We need to nurture all of them and ensure that they are used prudently and effectively:

Natural capital is the basis of life on earth. It includes renewable and non-renewable resources.

Human capital consists of people’s health, their well-being, their knowledge and skills, their creativity, and their motivation to actively make things better. Education, training, and sharing of ideas all help build human capital.

Social capital consists of those institutions that enable people to work together in common cause, including families, communities, businesses, trade unions, schools, and voluntary organizations.

Manufactured capital includes tools, machines, and buildings, which are all needed for production. Invention and advances in technology extend the impact of manufactured capital.

Financial capital is the money needed to make things happen, including investment funds, grants, loans, and microcredit.