Sustaining resilience - development in crisis

Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. One of the central themes of this concept entails balancing the economic, social and environmental objectives of the three dimensions of sustainable development integrating them wherever possible, through mutually supportive policies and practices, and making trade-offs where it is not possible. A strategic approach to sustainable development also implies new ways of thinking and requires policy changes in many sectors while ensuring coherence between them.

The National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) is an attempt to define sustainable development and the pathway to a green economy in Pakistan's context. It lays out an adaptive system that can be continuously improved, through regular updates, to respond to evolving challenges. The focus has been on integrating not only across the three overall dimensions of economic, social and environment but also integrating the goals with the current development paradigm with the aim of shifting it on to a more sustainable pathway.