A global vision of sustainable development and its challenges in today's world

This paper marks out the ground for a global vision of sustainable development and its challenges in the world of today. Furthermore, it defines the scope for a discussion on this issue. Therefore, two principles from the Rio Declaration are discussed - firstly, human beings are at the centre of the concerns of sustainable development and secondly, they have a right to lead a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. Then, three ways of viewing the relations between countries are presented which are best characterised by the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli, Hugo Grotius and Immanuel Kant. These views explain why any international conference is dominated by a combination of conflicting individual and complementary positions as well as universal humanistic values. In addition, a number of global trends and their consequences on economic, social and environmental issues are reflected. Two important processes affecting these trends are also discussed: the integration and the fragmentation. Finally, six challenges which are faced in today's world are listed. At the end, some initiatives for sustainable development are mentioned and an outlook of issues to be discussed at Rio +5 is given.