MNE697P

Through much of human history, natural resource developers were not overly concerned about \"sustainable development\" and its many dimensions. The fundamental issues were primarily geological (finding minerals, timber, or oil and gas, or in the case of dam development, finding good hydroelectric sites); engineering (learning the physical process to produce and obtain the resources efficiently); and processing (finding more useful products and more diverse and creative ways to use resources). The social, cultural, and environmental dimensions, and the local economic impact, were lesser priorities, if considered at all.

Sustainable development is a concept that can help us understand these diverse issues. Sustainable development attempts to harmonize several seemingly competing goals, including providing better conditions of life and more opportunity for people, especially the poor, and bringing natural resource production and consumption within limits that ecosystems can tolerate in the long run.