Luckily for Ehrlich, he is far from being alone in his certitudes. Here in Johannesburg, at the World Summit for Sustainable Development, some 60,000 people, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations and more than 100 heads of state, have in effect placed their bets alongside Ehrlich\'s.
According to the World Bank, \"sustainable development\" means \"development that lasts.\" The UN is more specific. According to its 1987 \"Brundtland Report\" (named after Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister who now heads the World Health Organization), sustainable development means \"meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.\"
