Introduction

As mentioned in Chapter 1, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in the United Nations Resolution (A/RES/70/1) in 2015. However, the terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ have been in existence for quite some time, and have become key issues of discussions around global development. A report published by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, called Our Common Future, which is also known as the Brundtland Report, provided the ‘classic’ definition of sustainable development as:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA argues that sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and ecological requirements of present and future generations (EPA, 2010).

These definitions of sustainability focus primarily on the environmental sustainability. However, there are two more dimensions, economic sustainability and social sustainability; the three together are often called the three pillars of sustainability. They are interrelated and interdependent. To achieve sustainable development in any area, there is a need for an integrated approach to these three dimensions of sustainable development (DEFRA, 2009). Thus, sustainable development calls for a convergence between the three pillars of economic development, social equity, and environmental protection (Drexhage and Murphy, 2010).

Appropriate integration of economic, environmental, and social development activities to achieve the SDGs has remained a mission for the United Nations. A number of topics and issues related to sustainable development have been identified by the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (UN DSD), some of which are social and economic while others are related to environment or natural resource management. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) organised a conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20 – that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 20–22 June 2012 (United Nations, 2013b). The objective of this conference was to take stock of the 20 years of actions at all levels to promote sustainable development, and to discuss the future and the way forward.