The principles of sustainable development in the world of North and South

Determining sustainable development as stated in the 1987 WCED report known as the Brundtland Report – „development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs“ – the paper offers keys to understand the concept of sustainable development. Constituent elements of the definition such as sustainability, development, needs, generation are analysed. Terms helpful for understanding the concept, such as the North, the South, growth, justice are explained as well. All these are relevant in order to fully comprehend almost 30-year-old problem of regulating relationship between society and environment. The very idea of sustainable development is tailored within socio-theoretical and temporal frame in which ecological thinking generated and its influence increased. Principles of sustainable development: equality, democracy, precaution, protection, planning are presented together with 'modes' of applying sustainability, or in other words levels of sustainability (weak and strong sustainability and their subtypes). Also included are studies of dimensions or circles of sustainability, which show that sustainable development is the result of interactive and dependent operations of the society, economy and environment.Ovaj rad imao je dakle za svrhu pristupiti razumijevanju koncepta održivog razvoja, što se, vjerujemo donekle i postiglo, temeljem dostupne literature na hrvatskom i engleskom jeziku. Popis literature mogao bi brojati i djela (pisanu gradu ili internetske izvore) koje smo obradili ali se na njih u radu nismo pozivali jer nas je tijek odveo drugim smjerom, no ona mogu ostati na iščitavanje ostalima, zainteresiranima da se susretnu s problematikom ne samo održivog razvoja nego i socijalne ekologije u cijelosti. Dodajmo da se, ako već ne u društvu u kojem bismo željeli da se počnu usvajati načela održivog ekonomskog razvoja i ljudskog življenja, promjene svijesti o okolišu doista svakodnevno događaju u sferi znanosti, zbog čega bi i ovaj rad, da je pisan jedan naraštaj ranije, imao posve drugačiju konotaciju. Isto predviđamo da će se dogoditi i s pokušajima obrađivanja teme u budućnosti – neki od navoda iz ovoga rada možda neće preživjeti, no nadamo se da će određeni reci ipak nuditi zadovoljavajuće argumente, kao što su za osnovu ovoga rada poslužili reci iz zapisa o 'našoj zajedničkoj budućnosti' ili noviji