Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 598

Citing the title of Chapter 13, most of these meetings, documents deriving from
them, and many projects started in the 1990s identified sustainable mountain develop-
ment (SMD) as an objective. However, no attempt was made to define SMD until the
end of the decade. If it is to be more than a vague goal, agreement on its meaning,
and then on priorities and means for its implementation, is essential. Accordingly, this
chapter is divided into three parts: first, a brief overview of the concept of sustainable
development, particularly in mountains, and discussion of the choice of appropriate in-
dicators; second, key issues for SMD; third, a discussion on the implementation of SMD
in terms of policies, institutions, and the outcomes of the IYM and subsequent processes
and activities.
Sustainable Development: Definitions and Indicators
The concept of sustainable development was introduced in the World Conservation
Strategy (IUCN 1980). It became fashionable in the 1980s, particularly through the
report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), or
“Brundtland Report,” Our Common Future, which defined it as “development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs” (WCED 1987: 43). This is probably the most cited of very many defin-
itions: Over two decades ago, Pezzey (1989) had identified 190, although more recent
texts only mention a smaller number (e.g., 57 in Rogers et al. 2008). Another commonly
used definition, agreed by three of the major international organizations working on the
field, is “development which improves the quality of life, within the carrying capacity of
the earth's life support system” (IUCN/UNEP/WWF 1991).
The establishment in the 1990s of many institutions and organizations whose name
includes the words “sustainable development,” and also journals such as Sustainable
Development and The International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Eco-
logy, show the persistence of the concept. Papers in these and other journals reveal
continued debate about its meaning(s) and the contradictions that result from its use
across many disciplines (e.g., van de Hamsvoort and Latacz-Lohmann 1998; Jabareen
2008). There is general agreement that sustainable development is a process that aims
at ensuring that current needs are satisfied while maintaining long-term perspectives
regarding the use and availability of natural (and often other) resources into the long-
term future, and equity concerns about the well-being of future generations. However,
sustainable development is “necessarily defined differently by each culture,” and cul-
tures may be defined not only in terms of location or ancestral lineage, but also of sci-
entific discipline and worldview (Roe 1996; Fig. 12.1).
While sustainable development has been defined in many ways, with much discussion
about its meaning and implementation, “sustainable mountain development” appeared
first in the title of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21. Five years later, Séne and McGuire (1997:
447) noted that “the concept of sustainable mountain development has taken on new
meaning” since UNCED and stated that “[a] multisectoral, more comprehensive ap-
proach to addressing mountain development issues is a relatively new concept, but
one whose time has come.” They contrasted this multisectoral approach with past ap-
proaches to the problems and needs of mountain areas which had largely been imple-
mented within a sectoral context. They also noted many themes addressed at the re-