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Ecologically Sustainable Development
This web site aims to promote and support programs, services and policies for sustainable development in Australia and to provide links to useful sustainability information. You can find out more about specific topics by following the links on the left of the page.
Over the last three decades, sustainable development has been defined in literally hundreds of different ways. One of the most popular definitions, from the Brundtland Report Our Common Future, states:
'Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'
Australia's National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development 1992 (NSESD) defines ecologically sustainable development (ESD) as
'using, conserving and enhancing the community's resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased'.
There is growing recognition that we have to look beyond economic progress to achieve sustainable societies. Sustainable Development must be ecologically sustainable. Economic and social progress depends on base ecosystem services (for example oxygen production and carbon dioxide absorption by plants) and a healthy environment. Development also implies an improvement in the quality of life through education, justice, community participation, and recreation.
Three principles that are necessary to understanding sustainable development are intergenerational equity, the precautionary approach and biodiversity conservation. Together these approaches aim to prevent and reverse adverse impacts of economic and social activities on the ecosystem, while continuing to allow the sustainable, equitable development of societies.
Some key changes to the way we think, act and make decisions will help ensure Australia's development is ecologically sustainable. In particular:
Sustainable development has been practiced by many cultures, but the industrialised world first became interested in the concept in the 1960s. Many credit Rachel Carson and her book The Silent Spring (1962, Penguin Books) as the catalyst for worldwide acknowledgment of environmental problems. In the following years a number of publications including Paul Erlich's Population Bomb (1968, Buccaneer Books) and the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth (1972, Pan Books) drew attention to global development issues.
International forums such as the UN Conference on the Human Environment 1972, and Habitat 1976 further debated the need for a changed approach to development. In 1987 the Bruntland Report Our Common Future popularised and defined the term 'sustainable development'.
In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (commonly referred to as the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro produced Agenda 21, a major publication that sets out a blueprint for sustainable activity across all areas of human endeavour.
In the same year Australia developed our National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development. Much of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts ESD work to date has focused on implementing the recommendations of these two major strategies.
To achieve sustainable development, changes in policy and activities at all levels - from the individual to the international - are needed. The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has an important part to play in Australia's transition to ecologically sustainable development. To this end, the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has formulated a large number of initiatives aimed at promoting and facilitating sustainable development at the local, regional and national level. Specific initiatives are targeted to industry groups, Australian Government departments and local governments.
In addition to these activities, Australia is involved in several international activities and agreements. The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is responsible for reporting Australia's environmental performance and progress towards these commitments to international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
Many of the Department's sustainability initiatives are listed on the left of this page. All our activities contribute in some way to sustainable development. For information on activities not listed here, please visit the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts home page.