Sustainable Development and Sustainability Tools

During the last century most governments especially third world governments, were concerned with development. This concern overrides those about well being of their citizens and that of their environment which was suffering a great deal of impacts as a result of these developments. Accompanying the highlighted awareness of environmental problems was also recognition of the kind of relationship that exists between development and environment, which was best described as inexorably, linked (Holden, 2000). By the end of the 1980s there was a massive need for an environmentally new paradigm to emerge, one that utilises the global environmental movement of that time. In other words the world was ready to accept the concept of sustainability where sustainability was primarily an outcome of ecological concern mainly with how best to utilise and conserve natural resources at the same time (Krippendorf, 1993 and Hall, 2000). After more than 20 years since the emerging of the concept there are no doubt about the positive contribution it should have, if we can really implement and apply sustainable development, one that could satisfy the needs of the local communities while sustaining the environment for the current and future generations. In other words, professionals should stop the work of lips and start to work together trying really to implement sustainability (Bramwell and Lane, 1993)