1. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…. Living standards that go beyond the basic minimum are sustainable only if consumption standards everywhere have regard for long-term sustainability (Brundtland Commission, 1987).

2. Sustainable development…. involves providing a bequest to the next generation which is at least equal to that inherited by the current generation ( Blueprint for a Green Economy , 1989).

3. Development that distributes the benefits of economic progress more equitably, protects both local and global environments for future generations, and truly improves the quality of life (in Our Own Agenda , by Inter-American Development Bank, 1990).

4. Sustainable development means improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. A “sustainable economy” maintains its natural resource base. It can continue to develop by adapting and through improvements in knowledge, organization, technical efficiency, and wisdom (in Caring for the Earth , IUCN and WWF, 1991).

Beginning with the famous work of Meadows and others sponsored by the Club of Rome in 1972, entitled The Limits to Growth, among intellectuals and planners a feeling grew that the ongoing developmental processes are limited by their own results, and, therefore, the economic growth cannot be sustained for long. Before this, Forrester had argued how factors such as crowding, pollution, food supply, and natural resources can not only bring the exponential population growth to halt but they can also lead to sudden and tragic collapse of population. This provided support to Malthusian credence and created the idea that development not accompanied by population control would threaten human survival in the long-run, both in the developed and developing countries. At this point natural resources (later called natural capital) rather than capital became central to environmental discourse. Studies established that development is neither a universal nor an irreversible process.