Sustainable Development Information
Sustainable development has been defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually divided into four general dimensions: social, economic, environmental and institutional. The first three dimensions address key principles of sustainability, while the final dimension addresses key institutional policy and capacity issues.
Selected article
Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide sustainable
energy resources through knowledge, skills, and constructions. When harnessing energy from
primary energy sources and converting them into more convenient secondary energy forms, such as
electrical energy and cleaner
fuel, both emissions (reducing pollution) and quality (more efficient use) are important.
Increased levels of human comfort generally induce increased dependence on external energy sources. Conversely, comfort can also be realized with lowered energy consumption by the application of energy efficiency and conservation approaches. Wise energy use therefore embodies the idea of balancing human comfort with reasonable energy consumption levels by researching and implementing effective and sustainable energy harvesting and utilization measures.
Use of any given energy source in human societies encounters limits to quantitative expansion. At the beginning of the 21st century some issues have achieved global dimension. Principal fossil energy sources, such as oil and natural gas are approaching production declines that may occur within the span of a generation (see Hubbert peak hypothesis). Closely linked to energy development are concerns about the environmental effects of energy use, such as climate changes. Energy development issues are part of the much debated sustainable development problem.
Selected organization
The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA International) is a non-profit, microfinance organization, founded by John Hatch in 1984. Sometimes referred to as the "World Bank for the Poor" and a "poverty vaccine for the planet," FINCA is the innovator of the village banking methodology in microcredit and is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern day microfinance. With its headquarters in Washington, DC, FINCA has 21 affiliated host-country institutions (affiliates), in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Along with Grameen Bank and Accion International, FINCA is considered to be one of the most influential microfinance organizations in the world.
Pioneered by FINCA, village banking is arguably the world’s most widely-imitated microfinance methodology. A village bank is an informal self-help support group of 20-30 members, predominantly female heads-of-household. Among US-based non-profit agencies alone there are at least 31 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that have collectively created over 400 village banking programs in at least 90 countries. And in many of these countries there are host-country MFIs—sometimes dozens—that are village banking practitioners as well.
Selected biography
Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was an internationally influential economic thinker with a professional background as a statistician and economist in Britain. He served as Chief Economic Advisor to the UK National Coal Board for two decades. He is best known for his critique of Western economies and his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies. According to The Times Literary Supplement, his 1973 book Small Is Beautiful is among the 100 most influential books published since World War II.
Schumacher's basic development theories have been summed up in the catch-phrases Intermediate Size and Intermediate Technology. Schumacher's other notable work is the 1977 A Guide For The Perplexed, which is a critique of materialist scientism and an exploration of the nature and organisation of knowledge. Schumacher was a known friend of Professor Mansur Hoda, whom he had known for many years. He founded the Intermediate Technology Development Group (now Practical Action) in 1966.
Current events
Did you know...
Selected quote
|
Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds.
— Thomas Paine
|
Main topics
Related categories
Related articles
|
Sustainability
|
|
| Philosophy and
definition |
|
|
| Consumption |
|
|
| Population |
|
|
| Technology |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disciplines and activities
|
|
| Disciplines |
|
|
| Activities |
|
|
| Environmental |
|
|
| Management |
|
|
|
|
International reports and agreements
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lists and glossaries
|
|
| Lists |
|
|
| Glossaries and
indices |
|
|
|
|
|
|
WikiProjects
|
|
Architecture • Business • Climate change • Disaster management • Education • Energy • Energy development • Environment • Human rights • International development • Sociology • Systems • Urban studies and planning • Water and sanitation
|
Related portals
Categories:
|
The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Thu May 24 04:53:04 2012.
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.
|
|
