The Concept of Sustainable Development in International and Comparative Constitutional Law

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development has emerged and developed significantly since the beginning of the 1970s, in the context of growing international trend to establish international legal norms aim at protecting the environment against serious dangers that threaten its various components. Sustainable development was based on the notion of striking a balance between the requirements of economic development of States-especially developing ones-and considerations of environmental protection. It thus aims to preserve the needs of present generations without compromising the rights of future generations to meet their needs, through the conservation and protection of the environment in a way that provides the foundations for development. The concept of sustainable development has been widely accepted by the vast majority of States of the international community, which led to its reflection in many international instruments on the protection of the environment and its various components. It was also reflected in the judgments of international and national courts that decided the relationship between development and environment. Sustainable development then emerged as one of the fundamental principles of the national constitutions of States. This reveals that sustainable development, which initially developed as a general concept, has evolved considerably over a short period of time, on the international and national level, to be placed on the top of the hierarchy of legal rules.