Sustainable development is a process for meeting human development goals while sustaining the ability of natural systems to continue to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depends. While the modern concept of sustainable development is derived most strongly from the 1987 Brundtl and Report, it is rooted in earlier ideas about sustainable forest management and twentieth century environmental concerns. As the concept developed, it has shifted to focus more on economic development, social development and environmental protection.

The National Human Development Report (2001) states that ‘governance for human development relates to the management of all such processes that, in any society, define the environment which permits and enables individuals to raise their capacity levels, on

one hand, and provide opportunities to realise their potential and enlarge the set of available choices, on the other’. The Report also reiterates that the State is responsible for creating a favourable political, legal and economic environment for building individual

capabilities and encouraging private initiative. Governance, therefore, requires the states to exercise their power through various designated bodies and pursue the said goals through an equitable, socially sensitive, non-discriminatory and participatory approach involving people