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2020 Candido Da Rocha Annual Memorial Lecture Series - Prof. Leslie Dabor

Introduction

Ki-moon (2013) noted that, "Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance". However, earlier, Annan (2001) expressed concerns about the conceptualisation, operationalisation and actualisation of sustainable
development. In particularly, he noted that the biggest conundrum of this century is how to translate the abstract concept called sustainable development into tangible reality for the benefit of all the peoples of the
world.
As Aristotle succinctly observed, we can have a more thorough understandingof a concept or issue if we begin at its origin and  trace its development to its current state. It would appear that the Malthusian theory of population growth is the cradle for the emergence of sustainability concerns. Malthus (1798) raised the alarm that with population growing at geometric rate and
food supply at arithmetical rate, global starvation was inevitable, if there were no natural disasters to check the population growth rate. Implicitly, the theory raised concern that the limited food resources of the earth cannot sustain future generations. However, developments in technology undermined the theory.
The Human Environment conference in Stockholm in 1972 was the first international conference that addresses sustainability issues. The major output of that conference was the “Stockholm Declaration on the Human
Environment.” Specifically, principle 13 declared the need for integration and coordination in development planning to allow for environmental protection. Further to the Stockholm Declaration is the Brundtland Report of 1987
entitled, "Our Common Future". The report provides a clear definition of sustainable development as, "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”