The concept of sustainable development has embedded into it an important equity component. The equity component owes much to a philosopher-economist, John Rawls, whose book -A Theory of Justice -has been one of the most influential in the last 25 yr (Rawls, 1971). Starting from democratic principles, his concept of justice requires the maximization of the welfare of the group which is the least well-off in a society. This concept of justice has both intergenerational and intragenerational implications. The intergenerational implication is that the stock of society's capital, including environmental, human and physical components, ought to remain substantially intact from one generation to the next. The intragenerational implication is that sustainable development must improve considerably the lot of the poorest nations in the world.
Global environmental issues have made the world more interdependent and, therefore, are bringing the whole world together. Yet, socio-economic statistics about poor third world countries read like a Jewish plaintive song at the Wailing Wall. They can reveal in a litany-like fashion all their woes like the names of the concentration camps of the last world war:
Over one billion people or one fifth of humankind, lives in absolute poverty, i.e. cannot feed and shelter themselves and are illiterate; 4/5 of this billion people live in rural areas and, therefore, are more difficult to reach; 2/3 of this billion people are under 15 years of age and 2/3 of them or approximately 500 million, will never see their fifteenth birthday. There is also the unknown urban poor, mostly women who have no marketable skills and are more illiterate than the men.