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Summary: 1
Biology 4065F/5065F Sustainability and Global Change
Professor Pat Lane
1three hour discussion/lecture per week
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Sustainable Development has become a worldwide concept embraced by both the North and the
South. This concept emphasizes the intersection of society, economy, and environment, in an
attempt to reconcile human development with growing populations in a deteriorating biosphere, to
harmonize the NorthSouth relationship, to realize human potential, and to achieve social justice now
and in the future. The final goal of achieving sustainable development includes: equitable and just
societies, protected environments with ecosystem integrity, and robust economies. All of this must
be achieved in a world that is undergoing unprecedented global change. Most countries include
Sustainable Development in their national priorities of development. In Canada, it is a critical
component of both domestic and foreign policies. Sustainable development has also become a main
organizing principle for many approaches to global environmental management; for example, most
multilateral environmental agreements and international environmental agencies are mandated to
enhance sustainability. At the same time, the concept is controversial, and often defined differently
in the North and the South or based upon various politicaleconomic viewpoints and ideologies.
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