Their web site, ICLEI.org. "International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives". Now, they prefer to be known as "Local Governments for Sustainability".
The USA arm, ICLEIusa.org.
The UNEP, unep.org. The parent organization.
The UN, un.org. The grandparent organization. Their compilation of docs. The Brundtland Commission, which cemented their policy in 1983.
Agenda 21, the implementation plan.
From the Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide. You've got to understand that when they say "current economic activity", they mean "capitalism, free enterprise, private property, self-determination, liberty".
1 .0 What is Sustainable Development?
The realities of life on our planet dictate that continued economic development as we know it cannot be sustained. This is so because present-day forms of economic activity are rapidly under-mining two other development processes that are essential for human life and civilization: the process of ecological development and the process of community development. Ecological development reproduces the biological wealth and climatic conditions necessary for life on our planet. Community development reproduces communities, families, educated and responsible citizens, and civilization itself. The compromising of these processes by current economic activities is destroying both the viability of human communities in a growing number of areas of the planet and the quality of human life in many other communities and neighborhoods throughout the world.
Sustainable development, therefore, is a program of action for local and global economic reform—a program that has yet to be fully defined. The challenge of this new program is to develop, test, and disseminate ways to change the process of economic development so that it does not destroy the ecosystems and community systems (e.g., cities, villages, neighborhoods, and families) that make life possible and worthwhile. No one fully understands how, or even if, sustainable development can be achieved; however, there is a growing consensus that it must be accomplished at the local level if it is ever to be achieved on a global basis.
At the local level, sustainable development requires that local economic development supports community life and power, using the talents and resources of local residents. It further challenges us to distribute the benefits of development equitably, and to sustain these benefits for all social groups over the long term. This can only be achieved by preventing the waste of ecological wealth and the degradation of ecosystems by economic activities.
From the UN, Our Common Future:
1. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:
- the concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and
- the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.
2. Thus the goals of economic and social development must be defined in terms of sustainability in all countries - developed or developing, market-oriented or centrally planned. Interpretations will vary, but must share certain general features and must flow from a consensus on the basic concept of sustainable development and on a broad strategic framework for achieving it.
3. Development involves a progressive transformation of economy and society. A development path that is sustainable in a physical sense could theoretically be pursued even in a rigid social and political setting. But physical sustainability cannot be secured unless development policies pay attention to such considerations as changes in access to resources and in the distribution of costs and benefits. Even the narrow notion of physical sustainability implies a concern for social equity between generations, a concern that must logically be extended to equity within each generation.