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The word sustainability, meaning "to maintain a certain state or condition indefinitely" is being used in this article in a restricted sense.

Main articles: Earth Charter, sustainability science, sustainable development, sustainability governance, sustainability accounting.

Sustainability^{[nb 1]} as an international commitment to a secure environmental, social and economic future ^{[nb 2]} arose in the 1980s as part of the United Nations program for sustainable development.^{[nb 3]}

In implementing this program three key areas have emerged: sustainability science as the academic study that examines and underpins the broad, inclusive, and contradictory currents that humankind will need to navigate toward a just and sustainable future;^[1] sustainability governance^[2] ^[3] as the process of implementation of sustainability strategies, these being informed by sustainability accounting,^[4] ^[5] the evidence-based quantitative information necessary to establish benchmarks, set management goals, and measure progress.

Historical development of the idea

Main articles: environmentalism, United Nations Conference on the Environment, Brundtland Commission, Earth Summit (1992), United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Agenda 21, Millennium Declaration, Earth Summit 2002, Millennium Development Goals.

Beginning with the environmental movement of the 1960s there has been an increasing awareness that human use of the Earth is approaching a range of environmental and resource limits and that this trend, rather than diminishing, is escalating at an alarming rate. ^[6] ^[7] ^[8]

The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment held in Stockholm was the UN's first major conference on international environmental issues and marked the beginning of cooperative international environmental policies and politics. During the 1970s, while the developed world was considering the effects of the global population explosion, pollution and consumerism, the developing countries, faced with continued poverty and deprivation, regarded development as essential - to provide the necessities of food, clean water and shelter. In 1980 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature had published its influential World Conservation Strategy^{[nb 4]} followed in 1982 its World Charter for Nature^[9] which drew attention to the decline of the world’s ecosystems. Faced with the differing priorities of the developed and developing world the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) worked for two years to try and resolve the apparent conflict between the environment and development. The Commission concluded that development was acceptable but it must now be different: it must be sustainable development. Development needed to be directed to meeting the needs of the poor in a way that no longer caused environmental problems but helped to solve them or, in the words of the Commission in 1987:

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

In the same year the Commission’s book Our Common Future was launched and that effectively began the era of sustainability. The 1992 UN Environmental Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil produced the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development Earth Summit (1992)with an action agenda,Agenda 21, implemented by thee Commission on Sustainable Development. Also at Rio negotiations began for an international agreement on climate change which eventually lead to the Kyoto Protocol and agreements on forestry and the Convention on Biological Diversity were also initiated. The global sustainability process continued to evolve and expand. By the time of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit 2002), held in Johannesburg, delegates included those from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and thousands of local governments reporting on how they had implemented Local Agenda 21 and the Cities for Climate Protection program^[10]. A broad-based consensus had been reached on what was to be done. This Summit, building on the 2000 United Nations Millennium Declaration produced eight Millennium Development Goals for 2015 (adopted by 189 countries) and established the "WEHAB" targets for water, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity. ^[11] Focus has now shifted to the core value of human well-being which is predicated on the successful integration of the three pillars of sustainability with ecosystem services (see below).^[12]

Definition

There is no consensus definition of sustainability although that of the Brundtland Commission is most frequently quoted. Following the Rio Summit it is also often pointed out that, to be effective, any action must integrate three sustainability "pillars": environment, society and economy. ^{[nb 5]}

Difficulty in defining sustainability stems in part from the fact that it encompasses the entire domain of human activity. It is a very general concept, like liberty or justice, which is accepted as important and for which no other terms are available, but which defies consensual definition. ^[13] It is also a call to action and open to political interpretation concerning the nature of the current situation and the most appropriate way forward. The Brundtland plea to protect the environment for future generations is less controversial than the implied negotiation between environmental, social and economic interests that followed the Rio Summit. The notion of sustainable development is sometimes resisted because many regard it as an oxymoron – that development is inevitably carried out at the expense of the environment.^[14] A further practical difficulty with a universal definition is that the the actions needed to address "sustainability" will vary according to the level of human organisation under consideration — so addressing sustainability at the global, institutional or individual levels requires different governance and behaviours. The European Environment Agency sustainable development program lists eight objectives that summarize the thrust of the global sustainability agenda: ^[15]

provide future generations with the same environmental potential as presently exists (addressing intergenerational equity)
manage economic growth to be less resource intensive and less polluting (decoupling economic growth and environmental deterioration)
better integrate sectoral and environmental policies (integrating sectors)
maintain and enhance the adaptive capacity of the environmental system (ensuring environmental adaptability)
avoid irreversible long-term environmental damage to ecosystems and human health (avoiding irreversible damage)
avoid imposing unfair or high environmental costs on vulnerable populations (ensuring distributional equity)
assume responsibility for environmental effects that occur outside the area of jurisdiction (accepting global responsibility)
introduce rules, processes and practices that ensure the uptake of sustainable development policies at all levels of sustainability governance (applying sustainability governance)

Environmental, social and economic cooperation

Main article: sustainable development. Template:UN portal As the debate about the best way to address sustainability^{[nb 6]} evolved it became broadly accepted that the global sustainability agenda, to be effective, would require cooperation across the environmental, social and economic domains and this was reinforced at the 2005 World Summit.

Are environmental, social and economic interests equal?

Environmentalist disenchantment with some aspects of the global sustainability agenda can be attributed to the view that the environmental, social, and economic pillars cannot, strictly, be treated as equal.

Environmental pillar

The global environment is seen as the ecological and material basis of human existence and it is being progressively degraded. Economies should address the goals of the societies they serve, and these societies, in turn, are ultimately dependent on available natural resources. However, this ranking is often observed in reverse order. ^[16] By placing such strong emphasis on economic growth as a core human value, and investing such little effort in protecting the biosphere, we are setting ourselves on a trajectory of self destruction.^[17] One consequence of this discussion is that for many people sustainability means simply environmental sustainability a reduction of human impact on the Earth’s resources and environmental services to a sustainable level without full consideration of the social and economic dimensions.

Economic pillar

Main article: environmental economics, environmental law.

Ecological economics explores the environment-ecological system interface ^[18]. The relationship between sustainability is now the As commodity or service scarcity increases then the resultant increase in prices will act as a restraint that also encourages technical innovation and alternative products. Howe..ver, this principle applies only when the product or service falls within the market system. ^[19] Nature, referred to by sustainability science as ecosystem services, can no longer be regarded as both unlimited and free. While these services remain unpriced economic externalities they will be overused and degraded, a situation referred to as the Tragedy of the Commons. ^[20] The biological world is now becoming progressively subject to taxes, tradable permits.

Social pillar

Main topics: list of global sustainability statistics, sustainability accounting.

With the view that “it is the responsibility of sustainability science to map the broad, inclusive, and contradictory currents that humankind will need to navigate toward a just and sustainable future” Kates and Parris have identified key interconnected areas that will need careful monitoring as part of a sustainability transition. ^[21] These are the areas needing rigorous sustainability accounting. Although environmental social and economic factors are closely interconnected the following items they list have a strong social dimension.

Peace and security

War, crime and corruption divert resources from areas of greatest human need and generally threaten human well-being and the environment. Diminishing natural resources increase the likelihood of “resource wars”.

Population, migration, urbanization

Main topics: population, overpopulation,urbanization, megalopolis, migration.

The world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion over the next 43 years, passing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050. This increase is equivalent to the overall number of people in the world in 1950 and it will be absorbed mostly by the less developed regions, whose population is projected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050. In contrast, the population of the more developed regions is expected to remain largely unchanged at 1.2 billion and would have declined were it not for the projected net migration from developing to developed countries, which is expected to average 2.3 million persons a year after 2010. ^[22] Between-country migration and movement from rural to urban situations continues to increase. In some regions coalescence of urban centres has given rise to the term megalopolis. Emerging economies like those of China and India aspire to the living standards of the Western world as does the non-industrialised world. Long-term estimates suggest a peak at around 2070 of nine billion people, and then slowly decreases to 8.4 billion by 2100. ^[23]^[24]

Affluence, poverty, well-being, health

Main topics: poverty, affluenza, well-being, environmental law

Per capita gross domestic product continues to increase around the world, except in Africa. Income inequality continues to grow both within and between countries. ^[25] Global disparity between affluent and poor people and nations is addressed by the Millennium Declaration. Human well-being as measured by the Human Development Index is, on average, improving in terms of life-expectancy, literacy, pwer capita income, gender equity and access to legal support. Health has improved with lower child mortality, improved nutrition and general health although there is still concern over AIDS and the potential for a global pandemic of an illness like bird flu, spread rapidly by modern transport.

Globalisation, governance

Main articles: globalization, sustainability governance

The increasing globalization of trade and exchange of technology, along with increased migration, and communication together with a global approach to the management of environmental problems, are all indicative of an emergent global culture. The power of national governments appears to have decreased in the face of transnational and non-government organizations. Sustainability must be a key part of this increased connectedness and transition towards an international value system.

THE SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION

Main articles: Ecological Footprint, Environmental Performance Index, Environmental Sustainability Index.

Almost all developed nations have an Ecological Footprint significantly larger than their geographic area. ^[26] These ‘’extra’’ resources are derived in several ways: embedded in the goods and services of world trade; taken from the past (e.g. fossil fuels); or taken from the future as unsustainable resource usage. The global sustainable development goal is to raise our collective standard of living without increasing our use of resources.

Decoupling environmental degradation and economic growth

Main article: environmental economics.

Historically there is a close inverse correlation between economic growth and environmental degradation: as communities grow, so the environment declines. This trend is clearly demonstrated on graphs of human population numbers, economic growth, and environmental indicators.^[27]
Limitless economic growth has been compared to the malignant growth of a cancer.^[28] This is because unsustainable growth is eating away at the Earth's life-support system of environmental services. Sustainability must break this link between growth and environmental degradation while, over the second half of the 20th century, world population has doubled, food production has tripled, energy use quadrupled, and overall economic activity has quintupled. ^[29] Mismanagement of finite natural resources by cultures such as the Maya, Anasazi and Easter Islanders eventually led to their demise by destroying their life-support resource base ^[30] ^[31] and there is the concern that, unless growth is checked, planet Earth will follow a similar path.

Direct global environmental impacts

Main articles: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Living Planet Report 2006, Convention on Biological Diversity, World Conservation Monitoring Centre, lists of environmental topics, conservation biology, list of global sustainability statistics, list of environmental agreements.

Perhaps at their most basic level, human impact on the Earth is manifest through changes in the global biogeochemical cycles of chemicals that are critical to life, especially water, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. There is now sound scientific evidence that human activity is having a significant impact on all of these cycles and this is most obvious through the direct human impacts on the oceans and freshwater systems, the land and atmosphere (see direct impacts below, monitored largely by environmental science as part of conservation biology). However, the main driver of these direct impacts is human demand for food, energy, materials and water (see indirect impacts below, currently a major aspect of sustainability science). Managing sustainability can be undertaken both at the point of impact (direct impact) or by managing human demand and the process of direct impact creation (indirect impacts). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessmentprovides the most comprehensive current synthesis of the state of the Earth’s ecosystems.Ecosystem services are the life-support system of the planet. The rapidly escalating and potentially critical nature of human global impact on the environment over the last 50 years is now the source of major biological concern ^[32] ^[33].

Atmosphere

Main topics: Earth’s atmosphere, climate change, acid rain, ozone depletion, air pollution, decarbonisation.

Human negative effects on the atmosphere include production of acid rain, photochemical smog, toxic chemicals and particulate matter. Because the atmosphere has an important role in climate and weather control, cloud formation and major weather events, climate change and the carbon cycle have become a major focus of research (see Energy).

Oceans

Main topics: overfishing, ocean acidification.

Oceans and their circulation patterns have a critical effect on climate and the food supply for both humans and other organisms. Major environmental impacts occur in the more habitable regions of the oceans – the estuaries, coastline and bays. Because of their vastness oceans act as a dumping ground for human waste. Trends of concern include: ocean warming and sea level rise, alteration of present-day currents, over-fishing (beyond sustainable levels), ocean acidification, and reef bleaching. Strategies for improvement include more careful waste management, statutory control of overfishing and restoration of coastal and other marine habitat.

Land

Main topics: Land use, land-use change and forestry, land cover, urbanization, deforestation.

Land use change is fundamental to the operations of the biosphere. This includes alteration to biogeochemcal cycles, effects of agriculture, proportions of forest and woodland, grassland and pasture.

Forestry

Main topics: forestry, deforestation.

Historically about 47% of the world’s forests have been lost to human use. Present-day forests occupy about a quarter of the world’s ice-free land with about half occurring in the tropics ^[34] In temperate and boreal regions forest area is gradually increasing (with the exception of Siberia), but deforestation in the tropics is of major concern. Forests can moderate the local climate and the global water cycle through their light reflectance (albedo) and evapotranspiration. They also conserve biodiversity, protect water quality, preserve soil and soil quality, provide fuel and pharmaceuticals, and purify the air. These free ecosystem services have no market value and so forest conservation has little appeal when compared with the economic benefits of logging and clearance which, through soil degradation and organic decomposition returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that about 90% of the carbon stored in land vegetation is locked up in trees and that they sequester about 50% more carbon than is present in the atmosphere. Changes in land use currently contribute about 20% of total global carbon emissions (in heavily logged Indonesia and Brazil it is the greatest source of emissions).^[35] Climate change can be mitigated by sequestering carbon in reafforestation schemes, new plantations, and timber products. Wood biomass is a renewable carbon-neutral fuel. The FAO has concluded that, over the period 2005–2050, effective use of tree planting could absorb about 10–20% of man-made emissions – so clearly we need to monitor the condition of the world's forests very closely (both reafforestation and deforestation) as they must be part of any coordinated emissions mitigation strategy.^[36]

Cultivated land

Main topic: agriculture.

Agriculture now occupies about 38% of the Earth’s land surface area and land use change, especially clearance for crops is occurring mostly in the tropics. Grasslands have been extensively modified world-wide.

Extinctions

Main topic: extinction, International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Appropriation of land for agroforestry has resulted in loss of biodiversity. Current extinction rate are 100 to 1000 times their prehuman levels with more than 10% birds and mammals threatened, about 8% of plants and 5% of fish and more than 20% of freshwater species.

Biological invasions

Main topics: introduced species, invasive species.

Increasingly efficient global transport has facilitated the spread of organisms across the planet. The most stark examples are human diseases like HIV AIDS and bird flu but invasive weeds and animals are now, after climate change, the greatest threat to native biodiversity.

Freshwater

Freshwater habitat is the world’s most vulnerable of the major biological systems due to the human need for potable water for food irrigation, industry and domestic use. Human freshwater withdrawals make up about 10% of global freshwater runoff. ^[37] and of this 15-35% is considered unsustainable - a proportion that is likely to increase as climate change worsens, populations increase, and water supplies become polluted and unsanitary.^[38] ^[39] In the industrial world demand management has slowed absolute usage rates but in the developing world water security, and therefore food security, remain among the most important issues to address. Increasing urbanization pollutes clean water supplies and much of the world still does not have access to clean, safe water.

Indirect global environmental impacts

Main topic: Appropriate technology

The direct impacts on the environment described above are the effect of human consumption of biological and physical resources. Managing direct human impacts on oceans, atmosphere and land is "end of pipe" management; it does not manage the indirect "start of pipe" causes of this impact which can be attributed to three fundamental factors:

population numbers
levels of consumption (affluence)
impact per unit of resource use (which is a result of the technology used)

This has been expressed through an equation: ^[40]

I = PAT

where: I = environmental impact, P = population, A = affluence, T = technology

However, this equation has been subject to several criticisms: affluence may provide the means to tackle environmental problems; it does not include social considerations such the effect of efficient environmental governance; it is difficult to apply in a realistic and useful way. ^[41] Nevertheless, it provides a strong starting point for discussion and addressing sustainability now focuses much of its attention on managing levels of consumption and resource impact by seeking, for example, to modify individual lifestyles, and to apply ideas like ecodesign, industrial ecology, dematerialisation and decarbonisation.

As individuals we are inclined to monitor our use of resources like energy and water through our domestic water and energy bills and car fuel use – but much greater quantities of these resources are embodied in the goods and services we use. In the same way society as a whole tends to consider environmental management in terms of direct impacts rather than their driver - human consumption. Patterns of consumption must reflect the cleverer use of resources: e.g. using renewable energy rather than fossil fuels and fewer embodied resource in goods and services etc.

Production, consumption, technology

Main topics: consumption, primary production, simple living, consumerism.

Whether we must live off the interest of our natural capital (strong sustainability.^[42]) or whether it is possible to thrive indefinitely while taking more natural resources, provided total capital remains constant (weak sustainability.)^[43]

In coming to terms with human consumption sustainability science focuses on four interconected and basic human resource needs: water (agriculture, industry, domestic use), energy (industry, transport, tools and appliances), materials (manufacturing, construction) and food (horticulture, agriculture and agribusiness).^[44]

Energy

Main articles: energy, climate change, decarbonisation.

Since the industrial revolution the concentrated energy of the Sun stored in fossilised plants as fossil-fuels have been a major driver of technology and the source of both economic and political power. In 2007, after prolonged skepticism about the human contribution to climate change climate scientists of the IPCC concluded that there was at least a 90% probability that this atmospheric increase in CO2 was human-induced - essentially due to fossil fuel emissions and, to a lesser extent, the CO2 released from changes in land use. Projections for the coming century indicate that a minimum of 500 ppm can be expected and possibly as much as 1000 ppm. Stabilising the world’s climate will require high income countries to reduce their emissions by 60-90% over 2006 levels by 2050. This should stabilise atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at 450-650 ppm from current levels of about 380 ppm. Above this level and temperatures would probably rise by more than 2o C to produce “catastrophic” climate change. ^[45].^[46] Reduction of current CO2 levels must be achieved against a background of global population increase and developing countries aspiring to energy-intensive high consumption Western lifestyles.

Water

Agriculture accounts for about 70% of total human water use and many efficiencies can be introduced here to reduce evaporation, improve irrigation technology and more intensive demand management.

Materials

Main topics: ecolabelling, ecodesign, recycle, detoxification, extended producer responsibility.

Materials used by humans are still increasing in volume, number, diversity and toxicity. Synthetic chemical production is escalating and global transport systems accelerate distribution across the globe. Much of the sustainability effort is directed at converting the linear path of materials from one of extraction to production and disposal as waste, to a cyclical one that reuses materials indefinitely, much like the waste cycle in nature.

Waste

Main articles: dematerialization, zero waste, industrial ecology.

To achieve a more circular material flow many ideas are becoming more widely accepted apart from the well-established “reduce, reuse and recycle” appeal. Chief among these are the ideas of dematerialisation and zero waste combined with materials flow analysis, but there are also attempts to engage industry through ecodesign, product stewardship, integrated product policy, integrated waste management and extended producer responsibility, and individuals are encouraged by ethical consumption, green purchasing, ecolabelling. Financial incentives include deposits, refunds, taxes, advance disposal fees etc.

Food

Main articles: food, poverty, food security, organic agriculture, sustainable agriculture, vegetarianism.

Feeding more than six billion human bodies takes a heavy toll on the Earth’s resources. This begins with the human appropriation of about 38% ^[47] of the Earth’s land surface and about 20% of its net primary productivity^[48]. Added to this are the resource-hungry activities of industrial agribusiness – everything from the initial cultivation need for irrigation water, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to the resource costs of food packaging, transport (now a major part of global trade) and retail. The benefits of food production are obvious: without food we cannot survive. But the list of costs is a long one: topsoil depletion, erosion and conversion to desert from tillage for monocultures of annual crops; overgrazing; salinisation; sodification; waterlogging; high levels of fossil fuel use; reliance on inorganic fertilisers and synthetic organic pesticides; reductions in genetic diversity by the mass use of monocultures; water resource depletion; pollution of waterbodies by run-off and groundwater contamination; social problems including the decline of family farms and weakening of rural communities. At the local level there are various movements working towards more sustainable use of wastelands, peripheral urban land and domestic gardens. Included here would be permaculture, ^[49], urban horticulture, local food, slow food, organic gardening and the like.

Cultural change

Further articles: Precautionary Principle, cultural change, ecopsychology, environmental psychology, environmental sociology.

Human behaviour does not necessarily change simply as a result of scientific evidence. Achieving a sustainability transition is more to do with cultural and behavioural change. The solutions are not to be found only in environmental science and engineering, but in the social sciences, humanities and business. Barriers to sustainability include the following: continued population growth; increasingly efficient but resource-hungry technology (extracting, processing, and distributing more in less time); a social and political culture that focuses on the short term change is only seen through the eyes of an election cycle or a human lifetime and we are inclined to accept our environmental heritage without question; constant incentive to increase consumption; a distancing from the environmental consequences of our actions (e.g. our waste does not pile up in the back yard); the complexity of ecosystems makes it difficult for scientists to give clear and unequivocal advice to political decision-makers, hence the recommendation to adopt the Precautionary Principle (in difficult cases take the cautious approach); we do not (as yet) pay for nature as we would for other goods and services and are therefore inclined to assume it has little value; we are not prepared to change our behaviour if it takes us out of our comfort zone (even in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence); we feel that our own individual action is insignificant and unimportant. In summary, we have a cultural tradition that places a high value on material goods and a low value on nature – hence the need for a period of cultural and behavioural change. ^[50]

Footnotes

^ The word sustainability is being used in a restrictive sense here
^ there is no universally agreed definition of sustainability. This statement is not a formal definition but a statement of sentiments expressed by the Brundtland Commission and the environmental, social and economic distinction promoted at the Rio Summit in 1992
^ The distinction between sustainability, sustainability science, and sustainable development is unclear but it is retained here to reflect current practice
^ An updated version entitled Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living (IUCN/WWF, 1991) was published in 1991.
^ the three pillars are not universally accepted: to these is sometimes added a fourth ’’institution’’ pillar, and indigenous peoples at UN summits have also advocated a culture pillar; the society pillar is sometimes replaced with "community".
^ Determining what is truly sustainable is often an extremely complex problem needing extensive sustainability accounting: “more sustainable” and “less sustainable” are generally more precise expressions to use

References

^ Kates, R.W. & Parris, T.M. 2003. Long-term trends and a sustainability transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 100(4): 8062-8067.
^ [1] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’’, see Conceptual Framework
^ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board. 2003. Ecosystems and human well-being: a framework for assessment. Island Press, London
^ Schaltegger,S. , Bennett, M. & Burritt, R. (eds) 2006. Sustainability Accounting and Reporting. Springer. ISBN 9781402049736
^ Hak, T., Moldan, B. & Dahl, A.L. (2007). SCOPE 67. Sustainability indicators. Island Press, London. ISBN 9781597261319
^ Meadows, D.H., & D.L., Randers, J., & Behrens III, W.W. 1972. The Limits to Growth. Universe Books, New York.
^ World Wildlife Fund 2006. ‘’Living Planet Report 2006’’.
^ [2] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment web site – full range of reports available here
^ [3] World Charter for Nature
^ [4]Cities for Climate Protection
^ United Nations Development Program. 2002. Human development report 2002. United Nations Development Program, New York.
^ [5] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment web site – full range of reports available here
^ Beckers et al, in SCOPE-ASI background paper, 2004.
^ Hamilton, C. 2003. Growth Fetish. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest.
^ Stanners et al. 2006. Frameworks for policy integration indicators, for sustainable development, and for evaluating complex scientific evidence. In: Hak, T. et al. Assessing Sustainability Indicators, SCOPE 67. Island Press, London.
^ Daly, H.E., (1996), Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Beacon Press, Boston.
^ Arrow, K., Bolin, B., Costanza, R., Dasgupta, P., Folke, C., Holling, C. S., Jansson, N.-O., Levin, S., Maler, K.-G., Perrings, C., and Pimental, D., 1995. Economic Growth, Carrying Capacity, and the Environment. Science 268: 520-521.
^ Hawken, P, Lovins, A.B. & L.H. 1999. ‘’Natural capitalism: creating the next industrial revolution.’’ Rocky Mountain Institute, Snowmass, USA
^ Nemetz, P.N. 2003. Basic concepts of sustainable development for business students. Journal of International Business Education vol. 1 no. 1.
^ Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons", Science, Vol. 162, No. 3859 (December 13, 1968), pp. 1243-1248. Also available here and here.
^ [6] Kates, R.W. & Parriss, T.M. 2003. Long term trends and a sustainability transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 100(14): 8062-8067.
^ [ http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/wpp2006.htm] United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2007). World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision, Highlights, Working Paper No. ESA/P/WP.202.
^ Lutz, W., Sanderson, W.C., Scherbov, S. 2004. ‘’The End of World Population Growth in the 21st Century’’ .... Earthscan, London. ISBN:1844070891.
^ [7]AAAS Atlas of population & environment
^ [8] see World Bank Statistics
^ [assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report.pdf]World Wildlife Fund 2006. Living Planet Report 2006.
^ [9] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment web site – full range of reports available here
^ see Nemetz, P.N. 2003. Basic concepts of sustainable development for business students. Journal of International Business Education????
^ National Research Council. 1999. Our common journey. National Academic Press, Washington.
^ Diamond, J. 1997. Guns, germs and steel: the fates of human societies. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-06131-0
^ Diamond, J. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking Books. ISBN 1-586-63863-7.
^ [10] ‘’Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’’, see Conceptual Framework
^ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board. 2003. ‘’Ecosystems and human well-being: a framework for assessment.’’ Island Press, London
^ World Resources Institute 1998. World resources 1998-1999. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
^ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 2006 Global forest resources assessment 2005: progress towards sustainable forest management. Forestry paper 147. FAO, Rome.
^ IPCC, 2006. IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse inventories, vol.4, agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. Institute for global environment strategies, Japan.
^ WWF. 2006. Living Planet Report 2006.
^ [11] ‘’Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’’, see Conceptual Framework
^ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board. 2003. ‘’Ecosystems and human well-being: a framework for assessment.’’ Island Press, London
^ Ehrlich, P.R. & Holden, J.P. 1974. Human Population and the global environment. American Scientist 62(3): 282-292.
^ see Goudie, A. 2006. The human impact on the natural environment. 6th edn. Blackwell, Oxford.
^ Daly H. 1996. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-4709-0.
^ Hartwick, John M. 1977. Intergenerational Equity and the Investment of Rents from Exhaustible Resources. ‘’American Economic Review’’ 67, December, pp. 972-74.
^ Cross, R. & Spencer, R. 2008. Sustainable gardens. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Melbourne. ISBN 0 643 09422 2
^ [www.ipcc.ch] IPCC (2007). Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Summary for policymakers
^ [unfccc.int]] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
^ [12] Food and Agriculture Association
^ Imhoff, M.L. et al. (2004). Global patterns in human consumption of net primary production. ‘’Nature’’ 429: 870-873.
^ [13] Newman, L. 2002, Permaculture: Designing For A Sustainable Future, sustainability case study, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Perth, viewed 15 August 2002
^ [14] learning for sustainability

v t e Sustainability
Subdisciplines	sustainability science · sustainability accounting · sustainability governance ·
Internl. agreements, reports etc.	United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm (1972) · Brundtlandt Commission Report (1983) · Report of Brundtland Commission published as book Our Common Future (1987) · Earth Summit (1992) · Agenda 21 (1992) · Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) · Millennium Declaration (2000) · Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) ·
Philosophy and definition	Earth Charter · environmentalism · environmental ethics · sustainable development ·
Related disciplines	environmental biotechnology · environmental chemistry · environmental design · environmental economics · environmental engineering · environmental ethics · environmental history · environmental law · environmental psychology · environmental science · environmental sociology ·
Population	birth control · overpopulation · population · population control · zero population growth ·
Consumption	consumption · Ecological Footprint · ethical consumerism · overconsumption · tragedy of the commons ·
Technology	environmental technology ·
Food	poverty · food security · local food · permaculture · sustainable agriculture · sustainable eating · urban horticulture ·
Energy	biofuels · carbon footprint · emissions trading · energy conservation · energy descent · peak oil renewable energy · solar power · wind power ·
Materials	materials · industrial ecology · recycling · waste · zero waste ·
Biodiversity	biosecurity · biosphere · endangered species · invasive species ·
Sustainable professions etc.	advertising · agriculture · architecture · art · business · city · communities plan · community · design · development · eating · fashion · fisheries · forest management · forestry · industries · landscape architecture · living · municipal infrastructure · packaging · procurement · reporting · tourism · transport · urban drainage systems · urban infrastructure · yield ·
Lists	Association of Environmental Professionals · climate change topics · conservation issues · conservation topics · environmental agreements · environmental health hazards · environmental issues · environmental organisations · environmental topics · global sustainability statistics · environmental sound topics · environmental studies topics ·
Glossaries	glossary of climate change · glossary of environmental science ·
Major topics	climate change · invasive species · population ·
Categories	appropriate technology · biodegradable plastics · biofuels · climate change · ecovillages · energy conservation · environmental design · green energy design · human development index · industrial ecology · permaculture · recycling · renewable resources · simple living · sustainable agriculture · sustainable building · sustainable development · sustainable eating · sustainable energy · sustainable transport ·
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