Sustainability

Definition

"Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Source: UN

Explainer

The concept of sustainable development was popularised in the United Nations’ ‘Our Common Future’ Report. Sustainability is a way of conducting development that emphasises production and consumption practices and processes that take into account the needs, livelihoods, and well-being of current and future generations as well as environmental protection. In the African Water Vision 2025, which focuses on one area of sustainability, the African Union outlines that Africa needs to pool its water resources in places such as southern and west Africa in order to preserve resource sustainability through its development.