Chapter 1 Towards sustainable development
The aim of this chapter is to introduce the concepts of sustainable development, indicating the complex and often contested nature of various debates, actions and practices that have occurred in recent years. The significance of some key international agreements and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be discussed, as will the criticisms and comments they have stimulated. Sustainable development has emerged through political and environmental struggles, and through a business, citizen and governmental engagement with the complexity of contemporary ecological and other problems.The chapter ends with the suggestions that sustainable development is perhaps best understood as a ‘dialogue of values’ – a way of encouraging people to learn, to discover and to evaluate.
Therefore, after you have learned this chapter, you can
understand the concepts of sustainable development;
show opinions to various debates, actions and practices related to sustainable development;
know some international agreements and the Sustainable Development Goals;
understand the three dimension related to sustainable development;
discuss the opinion that sustainable development is a kind of dialogue of values.

