Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Interpretation
Sustainable development aims to fulfill current needs without jeopardizing future generations' ability to fulfill theirs.
This quote emphasizes the importance of balancing present-day demands with the preservation of resources and opportunities for future generations. It calls for a responsible approach to development that considers long-term impacts on the environment and society, ensuring that future populations can thrive and meet their own needs just as we do today.
In practice
In a speech on climate change, I referenced Brundtland's quote to stress the need for sustainable policies.
We are working towards a shared vision of the future for health among all the world's people. A vision future in which we develop new ways of working together at global and national level. A vision which has poor people and poor communities at its centre. And a vision which focuses action on the causes and consequences of the health conditions that create and perpetuate poverty.
More than ever before, there is a global understanding that long-term social, economic, and environmental development would be impossible without healthy families, communities, and countries
You cannot achieve environmental security and human development without addressing the basic issues of health and nutrition.
The dual scourge of hunger and malnutrition will be truly vanquished not only when granaries are full, but also when people's basic health needs are met and women are given their rightful role in societies
If globalization is to realise its potential as a force for good, we have to look more closely at the means by which we handle our growing interdependence. We do not have a world government, but we do have an increasingly complex network of institutions that are concerned with global governance. They are central to our future and international human rights law
You cannot tackle hunger, disease, and poverty unless you can also provide people with a healthy ecosystem in which their economies can grow.
Permissible growth in the future has to be based on sustainable and equitable models.
If we achieve our sustainability targets and no one else follows, we will have failed.
Looking at the world through a sustainability lens not only helps us 'future proof' our supply chain, it also fuels innovation and drives brand growth.
If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn't throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn't contaminate it.
Sustainability makes good business sense, and we're all on the same team at the end of the day. That's the truth about the human condition.
Global sustainability is now the only avenue to future inclusive progress that can deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement.
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