Sustainable development is often defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Although easily said, bringing these concepts to life requires a delicate balance among the planet's social, economic, and ecological systems and a shared vision of the type of future we want for the world. Sustainable development can come about only through sustained commitment and cooperation on the part of all the world's people, in both rich and poor countries.
Development Education Program
Here you will find a wide range of curricular materials for exploring sustainable development in classrooms. Check out the Learning
Modules containing text, maps, charts, case studies, data, and exercises to learn about development around the world. Visit the
Sustainable Development Post where students are invited to write and submit articles.
The Millennium Challenge
This web site invites visitors of all ages to connect with students around the world, test their creativity in tackling development challenges, and make choices for building a sustainable world.
World Without End. Economics, Environment, and Sustainable Development
This web page gives an overview of the book World Without End: Economics, Environment, and Sustainable Development. Check out this page for a clear description of
environmental economics and an explanation of how it applies to developing countries.
Environment Matters
Read these Environment Matters articles to learn about the Bank's increasing concerned about the impacts of development
activities
on ecosystems and ecological sustainability, and how it has been creating tools and methods to understand the close linkage
between economically and environmentally sustainable development.
Environmental Economics and Indicators
For too long ministries of finance and planning have paid scant attention to the exploitation of natural resources and the damaging
effects of environmental pollution. Visit this site to learn about measuring environmental problems in economic terms.
PovertyNet: Poverty, Social Protection, and Growth
Explore the site for an overview of what the Bank does to reduce poverty and improve living standards through sustainable
growth and investment in people.
The Sustainable Development "Puzzle"
In some ways, sustainable development can be seen as a puzzle in which people, the economy, and the environment are interconnected.
If one of the pieces is missing, development cannot be sustained. Here are links to the Bank's sites that can help you to learn what some of
the key "puzzle pieces" are and how they fit together.
Wealth Estimates and Genuine Saving
Visit this page for information and indicators linking the economy and the environment. Explore the data and learn about
Wealth Estimates and
Genuine Savings.
Development Goals
Visit this web page for information and data on these important development focus areas:
Poverty,
Education,
Gender,
Mortality,
Health, and
Environment.
Competitiveness Indicators
Visit this site for data showing economic and social growth of world's countries. Click on any of
the indicators for its definition and ranking of the world's countries.
| Digging Deeper |
 |
Tackling the Issues
In order to achieve sustainable development, there must be balance between social, economic, and environmental goals. Check out these
other issues to see for yourself how they all factor into making development sustainable.
Environment
This web page gives links to the Bank's web sites, research papers, readings, data and more dealing with environment and environmentally sustainable development.
Social Development
This web page gives links to the Bank's web sites, research papers, readings, data and more dealing with socially sustainable development.
Economics
This web page gives links to the Bank's web sites, research papers, readings, data and more dealing with economics.
Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Partnerships
Helping countries to alleviate poverty and foster sustainable development requires far more expertise and resources than the World Bank alone can provide.
Visit this site to learn about a variety of the Bank's partners and collaborative relationships. See more partnerships
here.
Speeches
Environment. The Film and Video Unit Library
To find films offering a broad overview of the issues related to sustainable development,
scroll down to find the films: "Earth. The Changing Environment" and "Development and the Environment: A New Partnership." For ordering information visit The Film and Video Unit Library
page. To find other Bank offerings, visit the Electronic Media Products and Services site.
Working Papers Poverty, Environment, and Growth
Visit this site for an extensive list of working papers addressing the issues of poverty, environment, and growth.
Compedium of Sustainable Development
Explore this comprehensive collection of sutainable development indicators, initiatives, and publications from around the World.
