The Economist talks sustainable development

Sustainable development is a dangerously slippery concept. Who could possibly be against something that invokes such alluring images of untouched wildernesses and happy creatures?

The difficulty comes in trying to reconcile the "development" with the "sustainable" bit: look more closely, and you will notice that there are no people in the picture.

That seems unlikely to stop a contingent of some 60,000 world leaders, businessmen, activists, bureaucrats and journalists from travelling to South Africa next month for the UN-sponsored World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Whether the summit achieves anything remains to be seen, but at least it is asking the right questions.

This survey will argue that sustainable development cuts to the heart of mankind's relationship with nature—or, as Paul Portney of Resources for the Future, an American think-tank, puts it, "the great race between development and degradation". It will also explain why there is reason for hope about the planet's future.

Read full article from The Economist.