Sustainability Insights

The concept of sustainability and sustainable development has been discussed for ages. Plato in the 5th Century BC discussed environmental sustainability and linked it with justice. The term ‘sustainability’ was first used in German forestry circles by Hans Carl Von Carlowitz in 1713. Carlowitz suggested the sustainable use of forest resources. He emphasized maintaining a balance between harvesting old trees and ensuring enough young trees to replace them. In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus wrote ‘Essay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society‘. He expressed his concern that population growth would exceed the growth in food production. In 1864, George Perkins Marsh published ‘Man and Nature’. Marsh discussed the destruction of the natural environment due to human intervention. He further mentioned that the destruction of the natural environment can make the Earth unfit for human living. In 1866, W. Stanley Jevons wrote ‘The Coal Question‘. He clearly stated that England’s coal reserve will deplete in a hundred years. He advocated for the judicious use of coal. In 1898, Alfred Russell Wallace published ‘Our Wonderful Century‘. Wallace mentioned unlimited extraction and exploitation of natural resources (like coal and rain forests) as ‘an injury done to prosperity’.

The period between 1800 and 1970 experienced huge population growth and economic growth due to industrialization. The emphasis was on development in terms of economic growth. From time to time, authors elaborated on development in more profound terms, associating it with growth, change, and modernization. In 1970s, the world experienced the first oil crisis and recession followed. In the 1970s, the Club of Rome published the report titled ‘The Limits to Growth‘. The report mentions that the current trends of population, industrialization, food production and resource depletion will lead to the limit point of growth on this planet within hundred years.

In 1972, the UN Conference on the Human Environment took place in Stockholm. This conference acknowledged the importance of addressing development and the environment in a mutually beneficial way. In 1987, the World Commission for Environment and Development in its report ‘Our Common Future’ defined Sustainable Development as ‘development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This report is popularly referred to as the Brundtland Report.

‘Sustainable Development’ is a popular term nowadays. We come across this term in state plans and reports, development projects, news articles, businesses, and so on. The concept of sustainability and sustainable development has been discussed and published for a long time. There has always been a debate between economic growth and conservation. Literature and reports have periodically noted that growth at the expense of the natural environment is limited.

(Views are personal. The article was first published by the author at Life and Living on April 04 2025)