Sustainability Definition
- “That which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 8)
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The Triple Bottom Line” —measuring organizational (and societal) success according to economic, environmental and social indicators.
- Because the popular definitions above have been used to examine development practices and is therefore contentious in some other contexts, a broader definition is adopted here: Sustainability: A world view based on the knowledge that natural systems have the potential to maintain or improve their functioning and therefore the benefits derived from those systems. Those benefits sustain the life support capabilities for all beings on the planet—ecologically, culturally, and economically. The impacts of human interaction and development on those systems must be considered to avoid disrupting that functioning—now and in the future.
