Sustainable Development

Traditionally, Sustainable Development is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Unfortunately development does not seem to be sustainable even for the present generation. The Sustainable Development Policy Study Unit focuses on the question of why despite so much technology, so many resources, and so many efforts at development, our progress has not been sustainable for the planet.

We believe that technology is helpful but rarely sufficient in delivering development, because real-life systems are nonlinear, multi-loop feedback driven, and therefore change-resistant. In fact, many of the growth-oriented/growth-accelerating technical developments and government policies are making the world more unsustainable. Hence a more formal analysis of sustainability issues is required. Our research will be based on both a subjective/qualitative analysis of major attributes of the system, and data.

Image credits: Cunningchrisw for Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0]