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“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987).
Sustainable development is a challenge related to all fields of human life and activities, hence including – but going far beyond – agriculture.
This brochure (75 pages) with a preface of former EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, Dr. Franz Fischler, characterises the historical development and meaning of “Sustainable Agriculture”. Copies are available via EISA’s Technical Director
Andreas Frangenberg
a.frangenberg@sustainable-agriculture.net.
Agenda 21, published following the United Nations Conference on Environment & Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, points out some of the most pressing challenges and necessary developments for improving human life on earth.
The full text of the document can be accessed via the internet link http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/Agenda21.pdf
We particularly recommend Chapter 14 (“Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development”, subchapter “i. Integrated pest management and control in agriculture” and “j. Sustainable plant nutrition to increase food production”).
If sustainability is meant to be more than a rather general and non-binding concept, tools are needed to measure and assess ongoing developments, and to define clear goals to be achieved. In this context, indicators and indicator models have been presented and intensely discussed in recent years. An overview is available in the brochure “Indicators for a Sustainable Development in Agriculture”. For download, please click here.