A SYSTEMS AND CONTROL PERSPECTIVE
OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The problem of sustainable development is very complex. It involves a wide spectrum of disciplines- natural and social sciences through humanities, engineering, technology and management; it is associated with multiple scales – both spatial and temporal. This lecture attempts to present systems and control perspective of the concepts of sustainable development with reference to Agenda 21. Here the whole of our planet is to be regarded as a grand ‘system’. Human activities are ‘control’ actions that ensure conditions for sustainable life in all its forms while development takes place for desired quality of human life. This lecture draws inspiration and information from many events and the resulting documents – the global dialog initiated at the Stockholm Conference, 1972, continued through the Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 1992, and the Social Summit, Copenhagen, 1995, and the many Declarations, Charters, Protocols, Treaties and other scholarly documents.