A development that does not sacrifice the rights of future generations

Although it is difficult to define what the basic needs of unborn generations could be, what they must satisfy and how they will do it, intergenerational justice is a condition linked to both social equity and environmental conservation at the current time. In other words, poverty cannot increase now since the poor cannot be poorer in the future and the rich sectors and countries must necessarily reduce their standards of living and consumption in order not to mortgage the present and the future of the planet. . Likewise, maintaining the long-term integrity of the planetary ecosystem is also a requirement for the sustainability of present generations. 

In this way, the notion of development, focused mainly on progressive material growth, has been challenged by a broader, complex and holistic vision – where the quantitative is subsumed in the qualitative – that articulates the care of the environment, as well as the ecosystem integrity, supportive social relations oriented towards equity and the institutional environments of politics for the exercise of democratic governance, constitutive axes of the holistic vision of sustainable development. 

Indeed, from this perspective, the concept of sustainable development emerges as a holistic conceptual proposal that articulates at least five dimensions: economic, environmental, social, political and cultural. Within these dimensions, topics such as equity, employment opportunities, access to productive goods, environmental impacts, social spending, gender equality, good governance, an active civil society in terms of social participation, among others, considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects of development.