The concept of sustainability: Origins, extensions, and usefulness for policy

Abstract The concept of sustainability and its corollary, sustainable development, have become part of the political rhetoric of the 1980s, in part due to the recent publication of the Brundtland Commission report. Our Common Future. Governments, groups, and individuals use these concepts to justify their proposed (and sometimes conflicting) actions; a number of definitions have been offered. This paper examines the concept of sustainability and its application in a variety of contexts including single biological resources (such as a fishery), multiresource ecosystems, and in more complex social‐economic‐physical settings. A series of questions are raised concerning the concept: intergenerational implications of patterns of resource use, equity concerns, time horizons, and non‐negotiable alternatives, among others. Examples from the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia are used to illustrate these issues. In spite of divergent views on what sustainability means, the discussion leads to certain findings that have broader policy implications.