Sustainable Development
Introduction
Sustainable development is examining the patterns of development so that future generations can live as well as the present generation. Sustainable development includes examining the environment, natural resources, social development, poverty and inequality, education and training, and development. The purpose of this pathfinder is to provide a starting point to finding quality information about Sustainable Development.
Internet Resources || Newsgroups and Listservs || Print Sources
Internet Resources
There are several resources available on the Internet. Listed below are a few of the important resources:
- A Source Base 1995 organization working in sustainable development: (https://www.iisd.org/) This source offers contact information to academic centers, organizations and publishers dealing with sustainable development.
- Definition of Sustainable Development: (https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/605011468739497097/pdf/multi0page.pdf) Landmark definition of what is sustainable development from the World Commission on Environment and Development. Part of the World Bank web page that offers publications, projects, data and development forums.
- Inter-American Development Bank: (http://www.iadb.org/sds/) This English-Spanish web site has recent studies conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank. Topics include Social Development, Poverty and Inequality, Women in Development, Education and Training, Environment and Natural Resources, and Infrastructure and Financial Markets. In addition one can read the recent publications offered by the IADB.
- International Sustainable Development Organizations: (http://www.seit.ee/agenda21/viidad/international.html) Organizations listed include The International Development Research Center, United Nations Sustainable Development, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Best Practices Database which is a collection of urban solutions submitted by communities from around the world.
- Sustainable Development Dimensions: (http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/241/en/) This website from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization provides information related to the 17 sustainable development goals adopted by the 193 UN Member States.
- Sustainable Development Index: (https://www.sustainabledevelopmentindex.org/) This website displays the Sustainable Development Index (SDI) for all countries of the world via a map and lists the ones with the highest SDI in a table below.
Newsgroups and Listservs
A source for internet newsgroups that is web based is the index
Deja News
: (http://www.dejanews.com/). Deja News lets people with common interests get together online to hold ongoing discussions, recommend favorite Web sites, collaborate on projects and conduct research.
Each match for sustainable development has a number, date, subject, newsgroup name and author. Click on one and you get the header, message, and other commands that allow you to select a thread, post a message, send email, see the previous posting, and so on. Below is a list of newsgroups dealing with sustainable development.
- alt.agriculture.misc
- alt.energy.renewable
- alt.politics.greens
- alt.society.sustainable
- alt.sustainable.agriculture
- sci.agriculture
- sci.bio.ecology
- sci.environment
Listservs allow for users to contribute to named mailing lists that distribute messages to all subscribed members. Below are a number of mailing lists dealing with sustainable development issues.
- Canadian Association for the study of International Development. To subscribe, send the following message “subscribe casid-l yourname” to listserv@mcgill1.
- International Development Network. To subscribe, send the following message “subscribe auidn-l yourname” to listserve@listserv.american.edu.
- Studies in Women and the Environment. This international discussion group is hosted by Communications for a Sustainable Future. To subscribe, send the following message “sub IPE yourname” to listserv@csf.colorado.edu.
- SOC-SUMMIT. This list is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme. To subscribe, send the following message “SUBSCRIBE SOC-SUMMIT” to listservconfer.edc.org.
- THRDWRLD. This list is sponsored by the Association of Third World Studies for the academic, diplomatic, and development communities. To subscribe, send the following message “SUB THRDWRLD yourname” to thrdwrldgsuvm1.gsu.edu.
Print Sources
The Library of Congress classification system has a general subject category of Sustainable Development. To begin a search the following sub-categories will help in gathering relevant information:
- Development, Sustainable
- Ecologically sustainable development
- Economic development, Sustainable
- Economic sustainability
- Sustainable economic development
For broader terms the following are used:
- Economic Development-Environmental Aspects.
The Library of Congress call number for Sustainable Development is HC79.E5
- A Sustainable World Defining and Measuring Sustainable Development (Thaddeus C. Trzyna ed., International Center for the Environment and Public Policy, Sacramento, California, 1995) This volume examines sustainable development in three parts. 1. Sustainability and Sustainable Development: What do they mean? 2. Measuring Progress and 3. Indicators of Sustainability. These 14 papers offer a variety of perspectives to help transform sustainable development ideas into practice.
- Beyond growth: The economics of sustainable development (Herman E. Daly, Boston Beacon Press, 1996) Discusses the current thought on sustainable development. Topics include steady-state economy, elements of environmental macroeconomics, consumption, value-added, and welfare. Also mentions pioneers in the economics of sustainable development.
- Design for Sustainable Development Guides and Manuals (Hans Van Weenan, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin, Ireland, 1997) This booklet gives an overview of 30 guides and manuals relevant to ecodesign. Some of the publications are practical guides, while others are books and reports that offer approaches, procedures, criteria or other information vital to ecodesign for sustainable development.
- Environmental and natural resources economics: Theory, policy, and the sustainable society. (Steven Hackett, Armonk, New York, 1998) This book introduces the concepts, theories, and policies of environmental and natural resource economics, while also exploring the area of sustainability studies. Discusses the sustainability perspective, sustainable economic development, issues in sustainable production and consumption, and issues in the economics of sustainable local communities.
- Expanding the measure of wealth: Indicators of environmentally sustainable development (World Bank Washington DC, 1997) Examines the difficult to quantify concept of social capital, the extra element that defines how individuals and societies interact, organize themselves and share responsibilities and rewards. Examines the links between poverty, economic growth and the environmental quality.
- Global Development A Reference Handbook (William Savitt and Paula Bottorf, Contemporary World Issues, Santa Barbara, California, 1995) This reference handbook begins with a historical explanation of development examining issues that include development economics, international debt, hunger, the role of women, population growth, environment, and international aid. Also includes a chronology of important global events from the 1940’s to 1995. Handbook also includes biographical sketches on leaders, theorists, activists, community leaders, and policy makers in the field of sustainable development. Also included are facts and statistics, organization with addresses and contact names and print and non-print resources for further research.
- Measuring sustainable development: Macroeconomics and the environment (Giles Atkinson, et al. Cheltenham, United Kingdom, 1997) This source focuses on the theory and practice of economic development from a sustainability perspective. Also discusses how various kinds of indicators can be developed and used to determine whether or not an economy is on a sustainable path. Defines sustainable development, discusses physical indicators of sustainable development, and the extent to which international trade is implicated in unsustainable development of the global economy.
- Principles of Sustainable Development (Douglas F. Muschett and Lee C. Campbell, Delray Beach, St. Lucie Press, Florida, 1997) This book presents an overview of an integrated approach of sustainable development along with the importance of global participation from the public and private sectors in analyzing progress. The book addresses what is sustainable development? How can it be achieved? And how can countries measure progress in sustainable development?
- Sustainable Development: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (John Lemmons and Donald A.Brown, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 1995) This resources examines the role of science, ethics, economics, law, conservation of bio-diversity, climate change, protection of marine and fresh water resources and nuclear waste in sustainable development and environmental protection decision making.
- The economics of environment and development: Selected essays (Edward B.Barbier Cheltenham, United Kingdom and Northhampton, Massachusettes, 1998) Twenty-papers on the economics of environment and development. Explores issues of sustainable development, sustainable economic development, and environmental sustainability and cost-benefit analysis
- Toward sustainable development: Concepts, methods, and policy (Jeroen C.J.M. Van Den Bergh, Jan van Der Straaten eds. International Society for Ecological Economics Series, Washington D.C., Island Press, 1994) Nine papers from a meeting held at Stockholm University in August 1992 that examine how to analyze, define, model, and evaluate sustainable development. Also assesses the role of ethics and human relationship with the natural environment, and considers the distributional and institutional obstacles encountered in the implementation of sustainable development policies and strategies
This pathfinder created by Daniel Kipnis