View's on Sustainable Development with specific reference to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Essay by DesmondUniversity, Bachelor'sC, June 2003

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Allen (1980) puts forward his definition of sustainable development as 'development that is likely to achieve lasting satisfaction of human needs and improvement of the quality of human life'. The important phrase to consider in this definition is 'likely to achieve'. This concept in theory can be effective and implemented successfully, however we can critically discuss the concept in terms of what and who is to be involved, with relevance to the world that we live in today. Certain requirements have to be reached by all, such as commitment from both developed and developing countries. Is it possible to effectively apply a conceptual sustainable development programme in the world today? Are the developed countries prepared to commit and willing to address the human and environmental problem with full intention of solving the problem? These questions are to be addressed with relation to the concept of sustainable development with particular reference to developing countries.

During the 1960's the first United Nations (UN) Development Decade was thought to be optimistic. The growing problems between underdeveloped and developed worlds were assumed to be easily combated by transferring financial and technological enhancements to the poorer countries (Elliot. 1993: 1). This was also seen to enhance developed economic growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). This introduces the changing perception of sustainable development and the certain requirements that everyone needs to be involved to successfully solve the problem. It may be easy to think that the developed countries can simply aid environmental growth and give aids to help human suffering, but action needs to be emphasized in a number of different areas. Elliot (1993: 3) suggests that sustainable development in the future requires actions for change at all levels, including interventions in physical, political-economic and social processes. Thus in 1987 the World Commission...