The concept of sustainable development was introduced in 1971 during a United Nations Conference on Human Environment. It is a long term project based on social, economic and environmental requirements to continue to live in harmony with nature. The first international action program for the sustainable development was Agenda 21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. This project is recognized globally and people are supportive to save our planet. The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 has boosted the development progress. Many countries are interested in reducing pollutions and making the world equal. After nearly over forty years of this ongoing project, we still have lots of inequalities, pollutions and poverties in the world.

The world today is nothing like yesterday. Everything changes very fast. More and more developing countries like China and Brazil are growing the size of their economy at a very rapid pace. They do mass production and land expansion to produce more products. Regardless of environment in Brazil, people use lots of pesticides and energies to cultivate sugar canes. These products are mainly exported to other countries around the globe. The majority of consumers prefer buying the same products at a cheaper price, although the quality might not be the same. In China, countless companies build factories in big cities to increase their productivity and attract foreign investors. However, economic inequalities exist in many parts of our planet. Poor countries don’t have modern technologies and resources to develop the economy. The international cooperation between big companies is important to enhance the productivity and expand the market in the world.

There are many problems caused by industrialization, urbanization and lots of other factors. The climate change is an abnormal phenomenon due to greenhouse effects of CO2 produced by automobiles and industrial development. It raises the average temperature of the Earth which leads to extraordinary changes in our ecosystem and the sea level rise. There are many concerns about air and water pollutions resulted by industrial dusts and chemical substances. In China, the river Yangtze is polluted with over 33 billion tons of wastes. People produce garbages and pollutions continuously without recognizing the impacts they could have on every part of our world.

Everyone has rights to be socially sustainable. People should have access to education, medical care, food, shelter and so on. But the social pillar of sustainable development is not respected by all countries. Poor countries have lower quality of life than developed countries. People in many parts of Africa don’t have a fresh water supply in every household. Living conditions are also poor and dangerous. Thus, we have many different forms of inequalities relating to social pillar depending on the economic ability. To improve the standard of living, a form of economic activity is necessary.

The sustainable development should meet our present needs without compromising the needs of future generations. In order to satisfy three criteria of sustainable development, it’s practically important that multinational corporations and government to comply with the sustainable development. Individuals too should make the most favorable decisions to everyone when buying or doing something. There is no perfect solution to the problems of sustainable development, we are facing, but we need to keep suggesting better solutions to make a better and equal world.