Sustainable development is the only way forward | Jonathan Glennie | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Sustainable development is the only way forward | Jonathan Glennie | Global development | guardian.co.uk:

Development co-operation needs to shift focus from poverty eradication to a broader, more inclusive framework

Brazil's environment minister Izabella Teixeira at the launch of the Vision 2050 report ahead of the Rio +20 conference on sustainable development. Photograph: Reuters

The term "sustainable development" emerged in the 1970s and 80s as awareness grew of the natural limits within which human development takes place. Despite near-universal recognition that it is a powerful unifying concept, bringing together social, economic and environmental factors, it has spent the 20 years since the first Rio Earth summit languishing in environment ministries.