In this Knowledge Centre dedicated to Sustainable Development you will find:

1. A Powerpoint presentation
2. EBBF's Publication
3. Bibliography
4. Links to Key Organisations
5. Other Articles

This presentation can be used if you have been asked to give a presentation on sustainable development or if you want a bird's eye view of the topic at a glance.

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GENERAL

Dahl, Arthur Lyon (1996). The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis. Zed Books Ltd, London; George Ronald, Oxford. 180 p.

A systems analysis of human society in the context of sustainable values, this book uses ecological principles to analyse the economic and social systems and suggest ways forward from a Bahá'í perspective.

Dahl, Arthur Lyon (2002). The Challenge of Sustainable Development and Prosperity. European Bahá'í Business Forum, Paris. 22 p.

A short summary of the challenges that sustainable development represents for business.

Furtado, José I. dos R. and Tamara Belt (2000). Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability. World Bank Institute Learning Resources Series. World Bank, Washington, D.C. 116 p. (viewable here)

A training manual with short but clear explanations of key issues. [currently unavailable]

Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (2001). Science, Religion and Development: Some Initial Considerations. Bahá'í International Community (available on line at http://www.bcca.org/ief/isgpsrd.htm)

This profound paper relates development challenges to the two great knowledge systems that are science and religion.

IUCN/UNEP/WWF (1991). Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. Gland, Switzerland. 228 p. and Summary, 24 p.

This successor to the World Conservation Strategy that first proposed sustainable development gives clear directions for the changes needed to meet human needs without destroying the planets natural systems and biological diversity.

Schumacher, E.F. (1973). Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered. Blond & Briggs, Ltd. and Sphere Books Ltd, London. 255 p.

A classic alternative view of the economic system that challenges the standard economic paradigm.

UNDP (2004). Human Development Report. Oxford University Press, New York. http://hdr.undp.org/ (issued annually)

The United Nations Development Programme produces these excellent reports each year to assess progress in human development. Extensive data tables and the rankings of all countries on the Human Development Index are supplemented by an in-depth review of a different development theme each year. It is thus well worth consulting earlier editions as well as the latest issue.

United Nations (1992). Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development. United Nations, New York. 294 p. (available on line here), Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (viewable here) and summarized version of Agenda 21 in: Keating, Michael (1993), The Earth Summit's Agenda for Change: a plain language version of Agenda 21 and the other Rio Agreements. Centre for Our Common Future, Geneva. 35 p.

The Rio Declaration is a statement of principles and Agenda 21 the detailed action plan for sustainable development negotiated by governments and adopted by over 100 heads of state and government at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Rio Declaration is well worth reading. The 40 chapters and 120 programme areas of Agenda 21 can be skimmed to get a sense of the breadth of the issues, or dipped into to understand government consensus on particular topics of interest.

United Nations (2002). Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development: Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (4 pp.), and Plan of Implementation (54 pp.)
(donwloadable on line from the Johannesburg Summit website)

Ten years after the Earth Summit, governments met again in Johannesburg to discuss how to improve implementation of Agenda 21, with a focus on eliminating poverty, and to set specific targets so that progress could be measured. Partnerships between governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector were a particular feature of the conference outcome.

Ward, Barbara and René Dubos (1972). Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet. An Unofficial Report Commissioned by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. W.W.Norten & Co. Inc., New York. 225 p.

The classic background document on global environmental issues that set the stage for global action on what has evolved into sustainable development.

World Commission on Sustainable Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 383 p.

The Brundtland Commission report defined sustainable development for the international community and launched United Nations action for sustainable development. Still one of the best general descriptions of sustainable development.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLITIY

United Nations Environment Programme (2002). Global Environment Outlook 3. Earthscan Publications Ltd, London. 446 p. (available on-line at http://www.unep.org/geo/geo3/, and can be ordered on line)

The most authoritative and forward-looking state of the world environment report, based on regional analyses and wide consultations, the GEO reports provide the best assessment of the global environmental limits which sustainable development must respect.

UNDP, UNEP, World Bank, World Resources Institute (2003). World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth: Balance, voice, and power. World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C. 328 p. (available on line at http://governance.wri.org/pubs_pdf.cfm?PubID=3764)
Like the Human Development Reports, these biennial reports by a major non-governmental institute treat a different theme in each issue, supported by extensive data tables.

Worldwatch Institute (2004). State of the World 2004: Special Focus: The Consumer Society. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C. 245 p. (can be ordered on line at http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/sow/2004/)

The Worldwatch State of the World reports issued annually highlight many important issues for sustainability in a clear and accessible way.

van Ginkel, Hans, Brendan Barrett, Julius Court and Jerry Velasquez (eds) (2002). Human Development and the Environment: Challenges for the United Nations in the New Millennium. United Nations University Press, Tokyo. 313 p.

This book reviews the challenges for the United Nations ...

BUSINESS APPROACHES

Holliday, Charles O., Jr., Stephan Schmidheiny and Sir Philip Watts, KCMG (2002).

Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development. World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva. 288 p. (also available in French and Portuguese)

In this book from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, leading industrialists argue that not only is sustainable development good for business, the solving of environmental and social problems is essential for future growth.

UNEP (1996). Life Cycle Assessment: What it is and how to do it. UNEP Industry and Environment, Paris. 92 p.

This simple but useful report shows how industry can evaluate products over their whole life cycle in order to identify ways to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.

Schmidheiny, Stephan, with the Business Council for Sustainable Development (1992). Changing Course: A Global Business Perspective on Development and the Environment. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 374 p.

This book presented the business case for sustainable development at the time of the 1992 Earth Summit, including many case studies.

von Weizsäcker, Ernst Ulrich, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1997). Factor Four: Doubling wealth - halving resource use. Earthscan, London. 224 p.

The best analysis of the possibilities to maintain living standards while reducing energy and resource use to a quarter of their present levels. This increase in efficiency has been adopted as a target by the major industrialized countries in the OECD.

INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Adriaance, Albert, Stefan Bringezu, Allen Hammond, Yuichi Moriguchi, Eric Rodenburg, Donald Rogich and Helmut Schütz (1997). Resource Flows: The Material Basis of Industrial Economies. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. 66 p.

The first attempt to measure economies in terms of the materials rather than the money that flows through them, to estimate their environmental impacts.

Bahá'í International Community (1998). Valuing Spirituality in Development: Initial Considerations Regarding the Creation of Spiritually Based Indicators for Development. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, London. 35 p. http://www.bcca.org/ief/bicvsid.htm

This paper presented at a dialogue with the World Bank proposes the inclusion of spiritual principles and values in indicators for measuring sustainable development.

Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators. Dashboard of Sustainability (computer programme) downloadable from: http://esl.jrc.it/envind/dashbrds.htm

The Dashboard presents a variety of sets of indicators of sustainable development in a readily understandable graphical format.

Dahl, Arthur Lyon (1996). Measuring the Unmeasurable. Our Planet 8(1): 29-33 and shown here

A short article on the challenges of measuring sustainability with indicators.

Moldan, Bedrich, Suzanne Billharz and Robyn Matravers (eds) (1997). Sustainability Indicators: A Report on the Project on Indicators of Sustainable Development. SCOPE 58. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. 415 p. Download here

The best general review of the state of the art in indicators of sustainability, prepared by a large group of experts for the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) in support of the work of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development on indicators. A new SCOPE review assessing recent progress is in preparation.

Redefining Progress (2004). Ecological Footprint of Nations: http://www.redefiningprogress.org/publications/footprintnations2004.pdf

This report uses the Ecological Footprint methodology that measures resource consumption and environmental impact in terms of the required area of land surface in order to compare nations according to their footprint.

SCENARIOS OF MORE OR LESS SUSTAINABLE FUTURES

Hammond, Allen (1998). Which World? Scenarios for the 21st Century: Global Destinies, Regional Choices. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 306 p.

This leading researcher from the World Resources Institute presents three alternative ways that the world could go in the next 50 years.

Meadows, Donella H., Dennis L. Meadows and Jorgen Randers (1992). Beyond the Limits: confronting global collapse, envisioning a sustainable future. Chelsea Green Publishing Co., Post Hills, Vermont. 300 p.

The team that prepared the "Limits to Growth" study for the Club of Rome in 1972 updated their model 20 years later to explore what would be necessary to achieve sustainability in today's world.

Raskin, Paul, Gilberto Gallopin, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond and Rob Swart (1998). Bending the Curve: Towards Global Sustainability. UNEP Environment Information and Assessment Technical Report 98-4, Nairobi. 80+38 p.

The scenario group for the United Nations Environment Programme explored the options of business as usual, regressing to a fortress world, and making the transition to sustainability.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (1997). Exploring Sustainable Development. Global Scenarios 2000-2050 Summary Brochure. WBCSD, Geneva. 28 p. and full report : downloadable here in pdf format

This set of scenarios looks at the future from a business perspective.

Earthprint.com: www.earthprint.com/show.htm The UNEP on-line bookstore includes a whole section of books on business and sustainable development.

Global Reporting Initiative: http://www.globalreporting.org/
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

International Environment Forum: http://www.bcca.org/ief
The web site of this Bahá'í-inspired organization for environment and sustainable development has a resources section with many papers on sustainable development issues, relevant declarations of the Bahá'í International Community, compilations of Bahá'í writings, and reports of the IEF annual conferences. It also has useful pages of links on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) and the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

Redefining Progress (ecological footprint): http://www.redefiningprogress.org/footprint/
The ecological footprint is a method for measuring resource consumption and environmental impact in terms of the required area of land surface. It permits individuals and countries to assess what share of the planet's resources they require, and therefore how sustainable or unsustainable they are in terms of planetary limits. The site http://www.myfootprint.org allows you to calculate your own footprint.

SustainAbility: http://www.sustainability.com/home.asp
SustainAbility is a leading business consultancy on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development: http://www.wbcsd.org/
The WBCSD includes business leaders who see sustainable development as an essential part of the business future. The site has many resources including a reporting portal and an e-tutorial.

World Resources Institute: http://www.wri.org/
WRI is an independent non-profit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts, mapmakers, and communicators working to protect the Earth and improve people's lives. They publish the World Resources Reports in collaboration with the World Bank, UNDP and UNEP. Their Sustainable Enterprise Program focuses on business and economics: http://business.wri.org/

Worldwatch Institute: http://www.worldwatch.org/
This independent research institute for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society publishes an annual State of the World report and other papers.

Wuppertal Institute: http://www.wupperinst.org/
The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy is a major European think tank on many issues of relevance to business.

The Greening of Industry Network: http://www.greeningofindustry.org/
Research and Progress for a sustainable future .... accelerating progress towards a sustainable society.

Below you have access to a number of articles anddocuments produced by EBBF members and friends of EBBF. These are offered as supporting materials but views expressed in these papers are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Baha'i Business Forum.

The Challenge of Sustainable Development and Prosperity (Presentation given by EBBF member Shogi Emerson)

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