Sustainability

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  • Sustainability
definition
  • The capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use.
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Abstract from DBPedia
    Sustainability is a societal goal that broadly relates to the ability of people to safely co-exist on Earth over a long time. Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable living). Sustainability is commonly described as having three dimensions (also called pillars): environmental, economic, and social. Many publications state that the environmental dimension (also called "planetary integrity" or "ecological integrity") is the most important, and, in everyday usage, "sustainability" is often focused on countering major environmental problems, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, and air and water pollution. Humanity is now exceeding several "planetary boundaries". A closely related concept is that of sustainable development, and the terms are often used synonymously. However, UNESCO distinguishes the two thus: "Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal (i.e. a more sustainable world), while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it." The concept of sustainability has been criticized for various reasons. One such criticism is that the concept is vague and merely a buzzword. Another is that sustainability as a goal might be impossible to reach; it has been pointed out that "no country is delivering what its citizens need without transgressing the biophysical planetary boundaries". How the economic dimension of sustainability should be addressed is controversial. Scholars have discussed this aspect under the concept of "weak and strong sustainability". For example, there will always be tension between the ideas of "welfare and prosperity for all" and environmental conservation. Therefore, trade-offs are required. Approaches that decouple economic growth from environmental deterioration would be desirable but are difficult to implement. There are many barriers to achieving sustainability that must be addressed for a "sustainability transition" to become possible. Some barriers arise from nature and its complexity. Other barriers are "extrinsic" to the concept of sustainability. A number of extrinsic sustainability barriers are related to the dominant institutional frameworks where market mechanisms often fail to create public goods. Some approaches humanity can take to transition to environmental sustainability include: maintaining ecosystem services, reducing food waste, promoting dietary shifts towards plant-based foods, reducing fertility rates and, thus, population growth, promoting new green technologies, and adopting renewable energy sources while phasing out subsidies to energy production through fossil fuels. Global issues are difficult to tackle as they require global solutions, and existing global organizations (such as the UN and WTO) are inefficient in enforcing current global regulations, for example due to the lack of suitable sanctioning mechanisms.

    持続可能性（じぞくかのうせい、英: sustainability〈サステナビリティ、サステイナビリティ〉）は、将来にわたって現在の社会の機能を継続していくことができるシステムやプロセスのこと。 一般的にはそういった仕組みを指すが、環境学的には生物的なシステムがその多様性と生産性を期限なく継続できる能力のことを指し、さらに組織原理としては、持続可能な発展を意味する。すなわち、人間活動、特に文明の利器を用いた活動が、将来にわたって持続できるかどうかを表す概念であり、エコロジー、経済、政治、文化の4つの分野を含むものとされる。 経済や社会など人間活動全般に用いられるが、特に環境問題やエネルギー問題について使用される。この概念は「ブルントラント報告」（国連環境と開発に関する世界委員会、1987年）で提起された。以上から転じて、企業の社会的責任（CSR）との関係で、企業がその活動を持続できるかどうかという意味で論じられることもあるが、これは本来の用法とは異なる。

    (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Sustainability)

    Sustainability is a societal goal that broadly relates to the ability of people to safely co-exist on Earth over a long time. Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable living). Sustainability is commonly described as having three dimensions (also called pillars): environmental, economic, and social. Many publications state that the environmental dimension (also called "planetary integrity" or "ecological integrity") is the most important, and, in everyday usage, "sustainability" is often focused on countering major environmental problems, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, and air and water pollution. Humanity is now exceeding several "planetary boundaries". A closely related concept is that of sustainable development, and the terms are often used synonymously. However, UNESCO distinguishes the two thus: "Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal (i.e. a more sustainable world), while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it." The concept of sustainability has been criticized for various reasons. One such criticism is that the concept is vague and merely a buzzword. Another is that sustainability as a goal might be impossible to reach; it has been pointed out that "no country is delivering what its citizens need without transgressing the biophysical planetary boundaries". How the economic dimension of sustainability should be addressed is controversial. Scholars have discussed this aspect under the concept of "weak and strong sustainability". For example, there will always be tension between the ideas of "welfare and prosperity for all" and environmental conservation. Therefore, trade-offs are required. Approaches that decouple economic growth from environmental deterioration would be desirable but are difficult to implement. There are many barriers to achieving sustainability that must be addressed for a "sustainability transition" to become possible. Some barriers arise from nature and its complexity. Other barriers are "extrinsic" to the concept of sustainability. A number of extrinsic sustainability barriers are related to the dominant institutional frameworks where market mechanisms often fail to create public goods. Some approaches humanity can take to transition to environmental sustainability include: maintaining ecosystem services, reducing food waste, promoting dietary shifts towards plant-based foods, reducing fertility rates and, thus, population growth, promoting new green technologies, and adopting renewable energy sources while phasing out subsidies to energy production through fossil fuels. Global issues are difficult to tackle as they require global solutions, and existing global organizations (such as the UN and WTO) are inefficient in enforcing current global regulations, for example due to the lack of suitable sanctioning mechanisms.

    持続可能な開発（じぞくかのうなかいはつ、英: sustainable development; SD）とは、「将来の世代の欲求を満たしつつ、現在の世代の欲求も満足させるような開発」のこと。「持続可能な発展」と訳されることもある。また、持続可能な開発が行われ持続可能性を得た社会を、持続可能な社会と言う。

    (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Sustainability)
data publication(s) found by GCMD Science Keywords)