Sustainable Development: Concept and Legal Aspect

Sustainable development includes four dimensions society, environment, culture and economy and the goals of sustainable development can be achieved only when these four dimensions are in harmony. Sustainable development is the developmental processes where the development goals are achieved with an aim to sustain the resources for the forthcoming generations i.e. the resources should not be exploited beyond the carrying capacities of the ecosystems. The sustainable resource utilization is the only way to protect the ecosystem. People in the developing and developed countries are exploiting the resources beyond the repairable capacity which has damaged and damaging the ecosystems and resulted in the loss of biodiversity. All the four parameters of sustainable development is protected by the law i.e. every person has right of social equity, has right to be provided with an environment suitable of the lives, rights for the conservation of his/her cultural beliefs and also have certain economic rights too. This chapter aims to understand the concept of sustainable development along with legal background