What is Sustainable Development?
While the term remains the subject of many debates, officially, we can all thank the commission led by Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway’s first female Prime Minister (1981, 1986-89, 1990-96) – the World Commission on Environment and Development — which articled the principle of sustainable development for the first time at a global level.
The 1987 report, “Our Common Future, articulated the now-classic definition of ‘sustainable development,’ as that which meets “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (page 16).
Fast forward . . . now in 2019, we are approaching the 10-year mark for the accomplishment of the “Sustainable Development Goals,” set for 2030.
These Sustainable Development Goals offer a coherent set of goals that reflect the integrated nature of the 21st-century’s development challenges and solutions. These goals intersect in numerous ways with the challenges that the global coffee sector is facing, and will continue to face from 2020-2030.
These include the quests for no poverty (goal 1), zero hunger (goal 2), and responsible consumption and production (goal 12). What a great tragedy that while many of the world’s coffee producers are expert farmers, they and their families suffer from food insecurity, poverty, and hunger, because of their dependence upon a cash crop such as coffee.
The SDGs seek to enhance gender equality (5); reduced inequalities (10); build sustainable cities and communities (11); and fight for climate action (13).
All of these are challenges for specialty coffee, and one reason why the new Coffee Sustainability Coffee Skills program will be one way to build true equity and resilience in the coffee sector for years to come.
