Development and the Environment: Toward Sustainable Development?

This essay reflects on the relationship between development and the environment. In particular, it stresses the idea of “development with sustainable environment”, that is, the need to achieve integral development of the ensemble of nations, based on international cooperation for development and for preservation of the environment. It is divided into three large sections. The first examines the concepts of development, economic development and protection of the environment, as well as their interrelationship. The second analyzes evolution in the international perception of the relationship existing between the environment and development, from the publication of the report (1968) of the Rome Club up to the establishment of the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) in 1992. The third one analyzes the work of the SDC in the meetings held between June 1993 and May 1997. The conclusions stress the fact that environment with sustainable development requires a new type of international cooperation, particularly in the multilateral sphere.