# A Novel ICT Framework for Sustainable Development Goals
## 2 Background of the Problem and Our Contribution  
### A Changing-Discourse Perspective on Sustainability  
The rising concerns about environmental and climate change over the past few years, as well as the problems of poverty and disparities have placed sustainable development under the spotlight. Policy makers, institutions and cross-country initiatives (e.g., the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network--SDSN--operating since 2012), together with practitioners and academics ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013) have all made the interest in social and environmental sustainability to increase rapidly. Nevertheless, the vagueness and ubiquity of the concept ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013) made the actual implementation of sustainability limited and enabled various discourses (environmental, social, and business) to emerge over time. In an effort to go beyond the meagre rhetoric of sustainability and follow an actual quest for sustainable development, we believe that the concept (and its dimensions--financial, social, and environmental) need to be precisely defined, and an integrated approach to the idea of sustainability needs to be adopted ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013). Sustainable development shall not be accomplished over separated initiatives, but calls for integrated efforts at different points, covering environmental, social and financial prospects. In point of fact \"any foreseeable sustainable state will be the result of interactions between organizations, individuals, societies and states\" ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013). Although the multidimensionality of sustainability has never been put aside, the concept has often been considered an environmental issue ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013). At this point, one of the leading moves was the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm, which acted as a mechanism for establishing a number of national environmental protection agencies and, more importantly, for developing the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). The latter emphasized the importance of eco-development ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013) and recovered the notion of sustainable yield ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013) in its definition of eco-development. In 1987, the final report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), entitled Our Common Future (or Brundtland Report), provided the widely-held definition on sustainable development, viz. a \"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs\". Perhaps more important, however, is the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Earth Summit, which resulted in the following key documents: the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles and Agenda 21. Although the latter provided advice and good practice for achieving sustainable development, the 1997 Kyoto Conference on Climate Change saw an emergence of poor progress towards Agenda 21 goals. Whilst the environmental discourse was evolving in the sustainable development discussions, neither the social prospects were abandoned. In point of fact, WCED draws attention to inter-generational equity (viz. reconciling the requirements of the existing and the generations to come) and thus highlighted social aspects, particularly the critical facets of social equity, such as social justice, distributive justice and equality of conditions ([PERSON] and [PERSON], 2013). From the UN's point of view, after the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent a significant step forward in addressing social concerns. The MDGs were the eight goals that all UN member states had come to an agreement to achieve by the year 2015. They were created out of the 2000 UN Millennium Declaration that committed the world leaders to eradicate poverty and hunger, combat illiteracy, diseases and child mortality, provide gender equality and environmental sustainability.