The document outlines the evolution of sustainable development as a concept from the 1972 Stockholm Conference through the present day. It discusses key milestones like the Brundtland Report in 1987, the Earth Summits in 1992 and 2012, and the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon in 2015. The document also provides definitions and frameworks for sustainable development, identifying the three pillars of environmental protection, economic development, and social development. It explains that sustainable development aims to meet current needs without compromising future generations by maintaining natural resources and ecosystems.

1. Sustainable
Development
Ramesh Parajuli
National Planning Commission

2. EVOLUTION
• The landmark event in the evolution of the concept of SD had been the
1972 Stockholm Conference (Declaration containing 26 principles concerning the environment
and development) on the human environment convened by UN.
• In 1980, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature published
a world conservation strategy that included one of the first references to
sustainable development as a global priority and introduced the term
"sustainable development.
• United Nations World Charter for Nature, 1982 raised five principles of
conservation by which human conduct affecting nature is to be guided
and judged.
• In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and
Development released the report Our Common Future, commonly called
the Brundtland Report. The report included what is now one of the most
widely recognized definitions of sustainable development.

3. Evolution
• 1992 UN conference or Rio Earth Summit. UN established the commission
on SD (CSD) in December 1992 to ensure an effective follow up of UNCED
and to monitor and report on the implementation of the Earth summit
agreement at the local, national, regional and international levels.
• The Kyoto Protocol adopted in December, 1997 and the conferences of the
parties (COPs) held over the years have made some advances relating to
clarification of various aspects of financing and implementing SD globally.
• In 1997, the UN General Assembly held a special session to appraise the
status of Agenda 21 (Rio +5). The Assembly recognized progress as
"uneven" and identified key trends, including increasing globalization,
widening inequalities in income, and continued deterioration of the global
environment.

4. Evolution
• Rio+10 (2002): The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, agreed to at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit 2002), affirmed UN commitment to "full
implementation" of Agenda 21, alongside achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals.
• Rio+20 (2012): In 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
the attending members reaffirmed their commitment to Agenda 21 in their outcome
document called "The Future We Want".
• Agenda 2030, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals, was a set of goals
decided upon at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015. It takes all of the goals
set by Agenda 21 and re-asserts them as the basis for sustainable development, saying,
“We reaffirm all the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development…” Adding onto those goals from the original Rio document, a total of 17
goals have been agreed on, revolving around the same concepts of Agenda 21;
1) PEOPLE, 2) PLANET, 3) PROSPERITY, 4) PEACE, 5) PARTNERSHIP.

5. Evolution
• In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
(UNCSD), also known as Rio+20, was held as a 20-year follow up to
UNCED. Colombia proposed the idea of the SDGs at a preparation event for
Rio+20 held in Indonesia in July 2011. In September 2011, this idea was
picked up by the United Nations Department of Public Information 64th
NGO Conference in Bonn, Germany. The outcome document proposed 17
sustainable development goals and associated targets. At the Rio+20
Conference, a resolution known as "The Future We Want" was reached by
member states. Among the key themes agreed on were poverty eradication,
energy, water and sanitation, health, and human settlement.
• Ban Ki-moon, (Secretary-General, 2007-2016), has stated in a November 2016 press
conference that: "We don’t have plan B because there is no planet B." This
thought has guided the development of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).

6. 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.
• It contains within it two key concepts:
i) The concept of 'needs', in particular, the essential needs of the world’s
poor, to which overriding priority should be given
ii) The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social
organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future
needs.
(World commission on environment and development, our common future, 1987)

7. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
❖ Since Brundtland Report, the concept of sustainable development has
developed beyond the initial intergeneration framework to focus more on the
goal of socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic growth.
❖ In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development published
the Earth Charter, which outlines the building of a just, sustainable, and
peaceful global society in the 21st century.
❖ The action plan Agenda 21 for sustainable development identified
information, integration, and participation as key building blocks to help
countries achieve development that recognizes these interdependent pillars.

8. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IMPROVEMENT OF LIFESTYLE
AND WELL BEING
PREVENT NATURAL
RESOURCES AND ECOSYSTEM

10. COMPONENTS
1. CLIMATE CHANGE
2. NUTRIENT CYCLE
3. HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
4. BIODIVERSITY

11. PILLARS OF SD
SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
UN WORLD SUMMIT, 2005 OUTCOME DOCUMENT
Equitable
Bearable
Viable

12. PILLARS OF SD
• ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
• ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
• CULTURAL DIVERSITY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT cannot simply be
understood as economic growth, but also a means of
achieving a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional,
moral and spiritual existence.
* Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO, 2001)

13. ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
• ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY
• BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
• RIGHT POPULATION SIZE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• APPROPRIATE ECO POLICIES
• EFFICIENT RESOURCE
ALLOCATION
• EQUITABLE ACCESS TO
RESOURCES
• PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF
POOR
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
• IMPROVED INCOME DISTRIBUTION
• GENDER EQUITY
• HEALTH AND EDUCATION INVEST
• PARTICIPATION OF BENEFICIARIES
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
• SENSITIVITY TO
CULTURAL FACTORS
• RECOGNITION OF
VALUES CONDUCIVE
FOR DEVELOPMENT
SD AT A GLANCE

14. DESIRED OUTCOMES
• Clean water and air
• Fertile soil and good food.
• Livelihood and healthy economy.
• Optimum population size.
• Check global warming.
• Safety from poverty and diseases.
• Work, rest and celebration.
• Opportunities and learn.

15. ThankYou
RAMESH PARAJULI
ramesh.parajuli@npc.gov.np