TITLE:
Conceptual Analysis of Sustainability and Sustainable Development
AUTHORS:
Nishan Sakalasooriya
KEYWORDS:
Sustainability, Sustainable Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.3,
March
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: Understanding contemporary issues of
social-ecological systems in environmentally sensitive areas is very
complicated and requires careful and extensive research. The approach of “sustainability”
is highly applicable to this task because it demands both social and ecological
perspectives and it projects contemporary practices into the future. The World
Commission on Environment and Development (1987) defined sustainable
development as “the use of environment and resources to meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs”. This reiterates Karl Marx’ suggestion that people make their own
history, built on the past, and it becomes their future. In this sense, what we
do today is the future of human society. The ultimate objective of this article
is to discuss the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development which
helps to generate new knowledge by creating a framework for sustainable
development in environmentally sensitive areas of Sri Lanka. To achieve this
objective, it is essential to employ a multifaceted and multidimensional
methodology.