The document outlines the historical evolution of sustainability, emphasizing its cultural significance from early human civilizations to its decline during industrialization. It discusses various environmental crises and the emergence of sustainable development concepts, culminating in the establishment of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to address global challenges. Key initiatives and reports from the UN and other organizations are highlighted, stressing the importance of collaboration for achieving these goals.

1. Elango Stanislaus
Department of Social Work, Bengaluru Central University
Sustainable Development
Prof. Elango S
Department of Social Work
Bengaluru Central University

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Sustainable Development
Elango Stanislaus
Department of Social Work,
Bengaluru Central University
The history of sustainability is traced to human
dominated eco system for the earliest human civilizations to
the present. Sustainability was part of the human culture
until the time the monopoly of individual interest took over
the common interest. Mesopotamia civilization known as the
cradle of civilizations pioneered in agriculture, script,
knowledge and planning which paved way for settlements,
city planning, power centres and so on. The time the
humans started settling in one place the concept of self-
interest took over the common interest but at the miniscule
level as we see common interest was still at the helm of
things. Individuals respected the nature. So in-spite of all
odd things the notion of sustainability never lost its essence,
as we see the traces of sustainability among the natives
across the globe.
In the Indian context the sustainability is been our heart of
development until the crony capitalism started overpowering
the tradition cultural practices. Even one can find the seed
bank practices, community based storage system, need
based agriculture, use of natural fertilizers and so on. The
world transitioned into industrial form of development in the
18th and 19th centuries. This was the beginning of excessive

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tapping of natural resources for industrial purposes which
had an enormous impact on the environment and marked
the beginning of drastic depletion of natural resources.
The concern for Environment started in 1800s through our
political economist through the romantic movement.
Thomas Robert Malthus a English cleric scholar and
political economist was the first to observe the relationship
between Food Production Vs Population growth in 1798 in a
book on “ An essay on the principle of Population” Late 19th
Century Eugene Warming studied the physiological
connection between plants and Environment.
What did industrial revolution do?
● Increased consumption of resources by humans
● The development process was measured by Health,
Wealth and Population
● Depletion of natural resources
● Environmental degradation
This resulted in the Ecologists, economists, social thinkers,
political scientists becoming more conscious on the status
of ecology. They contributed through their analysis and
policy changes to restore the declining environment and
ecology.

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After the two World wars…
● World enters into great depression
● Aggressive growth strategy
● Accelerated use of natural resources
● Innovation in technology
● Revolutions in agriculture and technology had a
greater impact on environment and ecology as both of
them had to address the issues of food security in tern
had adverse impact on the lives of the humans
● Consumerism took over
Chronology of Economical and social crisis:
● 1907 American Banking crisis.
● 1923 American Hyper inflation
● 1929 The financial crisis of 1930s
● 1968 Worldwide protest against bureaucratic ELITES
● 1973 and 1979 Oil Shocks
● 1982 Debt shock of developing countries
Some of the Ecological Crisis:
● 1954: Rongelap nuclear fallout
● 1956: Mercury crisis of Minamata
● 1957: Torrey Canyon oil spill
● 1976: Seveso disaster
● 1984: Bhopal disaster
● 1986: Chernobyl nuclear disaster

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● 1989: Exxon Valdez oil spill
● 1999: Erika disaster
● But also: global warming, air pollution, the issue of the
ozone layer, the loss of biodiversity and so on.
The humans have travelled from sustainability to non-
sustainability practices to thinking to reverse and rethink
its own practices and move from non-sustainability
practices to sustainability practices.
In 1987 Brundtland report had the widely accepted
definition for Sustainable development. "Sustainable
development is development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."
1968: “Tragedy of Commons” by ecologist and philosopher
Garret Hardin discussed the individual interest ending up
against common interest.
1972: Club of Rome ran a ‘computer simulant’ which aimed
at predicting the consequences of what could happen in a
planet with limited resources.
1972: 1st UN conference on Environment and Sustainable
Development to discuss “the human impact on the
environment and how it was related to Economical
Development”. This conference aimed at developing a

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common principle to inspire humans to preserve “Human
Environment”
1987: Brundtland report also known as (Our Future
Common” came out with most accepting definition for
Sustainable development. "Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs."
1988: international panel on Climate change was created by
United Nations Development Program and World
Meteorological Department to discuss and debate “Human
activities on Climate Change”
1994: The triple bottom line and sustainable development
used by John Elkington focused recommended to focus on
PROFIT, PLANET AND PEOPLE
2001: The millennium Ecosystem Assessment lased for 4
years of investigation by 1200 researchers across the world
to assess the consequences Ecosystems’ changes had on
Human wellbeing. The following were the main findings of
the investigation.
● Humans have changed ecosystems more quickly and
widely than ever before. This resulted in a substantial
and largely irreversible biodiversity loss;

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● The changes made to ecosystems improved human
well-being and the economy but have harmed the
planet and society. It wasn’t only biodiversity
decreasing at a high rate. Poverty was also still
affecting many communities and climate change
increased the risk of nonlinear changes;
● The degradation of ecosystems services would
probably get worse over the 21st century;
● The changes needed to preserve the ecosystem’s
degradation and meet the increasing demand for
services could still be met. Nonetheless, it would
involve significant changes in policies across the
public and private sectors.
Millennium Development Goals (UN2015, n.d.)
The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the
UN, including the UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs
● In June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21, a
comprehensive plan of action to build a global
partnership for sustainable development to improve
human lives and protect the environment.
● Member States unanimously adopted the Millennium
Declaration at the Millennium Summit in September
2000 at UN Headquarters in New York. The Summit

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led to the elaboration of eight Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.
● The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable
Development and the Plan of Implementation, adopted
at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
South Africa in 2002, reaffirmed the global
community's commitments to poverty eradication and
the environment, and built on Agenda 21 and the
Millennium Declaration by including more emphasis
on multilateral partnerships.
● At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in
June 2012, Member States adopted the outcome
document "The Future We Want" in which they
decided, inter alia, to launch a process to develop a set
of SDGs to build upon the MDGs and to establish the
UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable
Development. The Rio +20 outcome also contained
other measures for implementing sustainable
development, including mandates for future
programmes of work in development financing, small
island developing states and more.
● In 2013, the General Assembly set up a 30-member
Open Working Group to develop a proposal on the
SDGs.
● In January 2015, the General Assembly began the
negotiation process on the post-2015 development

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agenda. The process culminated in the subsequent
adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, with 17 SDGs at its core, at the UN
Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.
● 2015 was a landmark year for multilateralism and
international policy shaping, with the adoption of
several major agreements:
o Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
(March 2015)
o Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for
Development (July 2015)
o Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development with its 17 SDGs was
adopted at the UN Sustainable Development
Summit in New York in September 2015.
o Paris Agreement on Climate Change (December
2015)
● Now, the annual High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development serves as the central UN
platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs.
Today, the Division for Sustainable Development Goals
(DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs (UNDESA) provides substantive support and
capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic
issues, including water, energy, climate, oceans,
urbanization, transport, science and technology, the Global
Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), partnerships and

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Small Island Developing States. DSDG plays a key role in
the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the
2030 Agenda and on advocacy and outreach activities
relating to the SDGs. In order to make the 2030 Agenda a
reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a
strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the
global goals. DSDG aims to help facilitate this engagement.
The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to
transform our world:
GOAL 1: No Poverty
GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

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GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
GOAL 13: Climate Action
GOAL 14: Life Below Water
GOAL 15: Life on Land
GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal
Refrences:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envisi
on2030.html
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development
https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definitions-
sustainable-development-sustainability/