**Social Sustainability and Life Science**

Sustainable Development – 174 Policy and Urban Development – Tourism, Life Science, Management and Environment

Wells, M. (1994). Parks tourism in Nepal: reconciling the social and economic opportunities

World Conservation Union, Washington, pp. 319-331. ISBN 0-8213-3132-9. Young, K. (1997). *Wildlife conservation in the cultural landscapes of the central Andes*. Landscape

0169-2046.

with the ecological threats*.* In: *Protected area economics and policy*, World Bank and

and Urban Planning, Vol. 38, No. 3 & 4. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 137-147. ISSN

**8** 

*Malaysia Sabah* 

**Sustainability Challenges: Changing Attitudes** 

**1.1 The acceptance of the sustainable development principles in reference to the** 

Before discussing how tourism can be an essential tool for sustainable development, it is necessary to present the importance of sustainable development as a background for understanding its concept and principles. The notion about sustainable development started to come together in 1983, when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) established the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). One of the main objectives of the WCED was to prepare long-term planning on environmental concerns towards the year 2000 and beyond. The WCED also focused on heightening cooperation among developing countries, including countries at different stages of economic and social development. This was with the intention of creating mutually supportive objectives which took into account the interrelationships between natural resources and economic

The term, sustainable development, was popularised in *Our Common Future*, a report published by the WCED in 1987. Also known as the Brundtland Report, *Our Common Future*  included the now accepted definition of sustainable development as development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Acceptance of the report by the UNGA gave the term political salience and in 1992 leaders set out the principles of sustainable development at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is probably the most crucial conference to date in promoting the concept of sustainable development; the event is now interchangeably referred to as the Rio Earth Summit, Rio Summit or the Earth Summit. The Rio Summit was the largest environmental conference ever held, attracting over 30,000 people including more than 100 heads of states. The objectives of the conference were to build upon the hopes and achievements of the Brundtland Report, in order to respond to pressing global environmental concerns and to agree on major treaties for biodiversity conservation, climate change and forest management. It also focused on environmental development and conceived frameworks for strategies and measures in minimising and controlling the effects of environmental

**1. Introduction** 

**brundtland report** 

development.

**and a Demand for Better Management of** 

**the Tourism Industry in Malaysia** 

Janie Liew-Tsonis and Sharon Cheuk *School of Business and Economics Universiti* 
