Sustainable development

of present generations are met without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own needs. This basic formulation first appeared in 1987 in the report "Our Common Future". It has prepared the Environmental UN Commission on Environment and Development, which is often also referred to the Commission Bruntlann named its leader - Gro Harlem Brundtland, a political and social activist from Norway, which has made an enormous contribution to the promotion of sustainable development and international cooperation in order to achieve it. It is in the formulation of the Commission that Brundtland contains the key idea of ​​sustainable development - treating it as a balance between generations.

development of the present generation does not run counter to

the interests of future generations. In the classical definition, the generation balance is understood as a balance of needs. However, the word "needs" can be interpreted in different ways. Firstly, we can talk about the ability to meet needs in the context of the availability of natural resources. This means that we must leave to future generations the same amount of resources that we have, so that they can use these resources to meet their needs.

Secondly, we can talk about the ability to meet needs as a standard of living. This means that for future generations it must be at least the same as the standard of living of our generation. At the same time, it is absolutely not necessary that this be achieved due to the availability of natural resources. For example, we can now invest natural resources in the development of human capital and knowledge, and future generations will provide a higher standard of living through increased knowledge. Two of the above interpretations laid the foundation for two branches of sustainable development - the concepts of strong and weak stability.

the concepts of strong and weak sustainability as attempts to

formalize the term "sustainable development" in the understanding of the Bruntland Commission could not overcome such critical arguments, the concept of sustainable development gradually began to acquire an increasingly broad, abstract character. It began to understand the achievement of a balance between the economic, ecological and social dimensions of human development. That is, sustainable development is economic growth that does not lead to environmental degradation and at the same time is accompanied by the resolution of social problems, in particular inequality and poverty.

can inspire. She certainly does not have enough specifics. Of

course, it would be more convenient to have a less abstract idea and an accurate indicator, one view of which would enable us to answer the question whether the country or humanity as a whole is developing steadily. However, there is as yet no such idea, and the concept of sustainable development in its current form largely reflects the complexity of society as a whole - the dynamics of its development becomes more difficult to translate into dry figures. Sustainable development goals are often criticized for the unrealistic and insecure nature of the ambitious goals formulated in them with adequate financial resources.

sustainable development are in many ways even more ambitious than

the Millennium Development Goals. But there are more opportunities for humanity to reach them. It is important to understand that the Goals in the field of sustainable development do not belong to the category of planned indicators, whose existence is justified only by their implementation. It is, rather, to perceive them as reference points, to which one should strive.