Fisheries Economics

8.1.3. Sustainable development

In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as follows.

“Development is sustainable if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”.

Sustainable development attempts to balance the interests of different groups of people, within the same generation and among generations in economic, social and environmental aspects. Thus, equity becomes the foot path of sustainable economic development.

The Report further stated that slow human development could prove to be a great obstacle to economic development. It showed that during 1960-1992, countries with slow human development could not move away from lopsided development to rapid development as human development and growth reinforce each other mutually. It concluded that slow human development means slower economic growth on a path that leads to a dead end.