The significant global interest in sustainable development, i.e. meeting our generation's needs without compromising those of future generations, stems from the need to address the gap between the unprecedented economic growth of the last half-century and the vulnerability of this growth in terms of economic and social welfare and environmental degradation.
Sustainable development is about combining economic, environmental and social goals.
One of the key aspects of sustainable development is thus the need to design effective, integrated policies with respect to economic, environmental and social needs. This often requires the active involvement of several actors within government, and there are good reasons to believe that, if not carefully designed and co-ordinated, sustainable development policies could easily become ineffective. Good governance of sustainable development would help identify the right issues and the right balance of action, and would reduce the risk of capture by interest groups. This is particularly true for structural factors such as demographic issues. Identify the machinery in place for co-ordinating among the different actors involved in sustainable development.