Equity and Fairness : Characteristics : Intro to SD : SD Gateway

	Introduction to Sustainable Development
	Characteristics of SD Thinking

	Welcome

	Definitions

	Critical Actions

	Characteristics

	Equity & Fairness
	Long-term View
	Systems Thinking

	Further Exploration

FARN - As a result of the intergenerational equity principle, it is clear that environmental measures should be taken not only to protect the health and interests of the present generation, but also to protect the right of future generations to a healthy environment. (Daniel Ryan, Deputy Director)

IISD - In seeking to promote greater equity it is possible to strive for growth to generate additional resources for distribution, or to seek better distribution of existing resources... [but] success in the long run depends on pursuing both policies simultaneously. (IISD Working Group on Principles for Trade and Sustainable Development)

Equity and Fairness

Sustainable development is concerned with meeting the needs of the poor and marginalized portions of our population. The concepts of equity and fairness are prominent in definitions of sustainable development. Sustainable development acknowledges that if we ignore our effects on others in an interdependent world, we do so at our own peril.

Since a dangerous disparity in access to resources has been established through our economic and public-policy systems, those systems must change. Fairness implies that each nation should have the opportunity to develop itself according to its own cultural and social values without denying other nations the same right to development. ¹

One of the greatest challenges in decision-making is how to protect the rights of the voiceless. Future generations have no ability to speak on their own behalf or to protect their interests in decision-making processes. If development is to be sustainable, it must consider their interests.

1. Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Sustainable consumption: A global perspective, Amsterdam: Friends of the Earth Netherlands, 1996. p. 8.