Sustainable development is increasingly becoming a concern as the global environmental risks increase due to the industrial activity and resource consumption in rich countries as well as the actions taken by those trying to exist in poor countries. Although the term development portrays the progress in developing countries more so than industrial ones, sustainable development applies to economic and social progress of all countries without distinction.
The advent of sustainable development could be viewed as a paradigm shift in that this new approach incorporates both economic development and environmental protection. Sustainable development embraces human welfare as the central objective, with the realization that neglect to the quality of this objective can result in detriment to the natural environment.(Eblen and Eblen, 1994, p. 680)
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Joshua Bills jdb5@cec.wustl.edu Last updated 10/17/94