*Professor, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
**Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Online published on 30 June, 2017.
The Brundtland Commission Report, 1987 defined sustainable development as ‘development, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. The Earth Summit, 1992 put the concept of sustainable development on national policy agendas. Since Rio, there have been extensive efforts to operationalize sustainable development by governments, international organizations, local authorities, business, citizen groups and individuals. Agenda 21 provides for balancing economic and social needs with the capacity of the earth's resources and ecosystems and action plan to address the hard realities of extreme poverty, social inequity, and environmental degradation. The Constitution of India, 1950 incorporated legal basis of sustainable development in India under directives to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife. The pillars of sustainable development are embedded in the fundamental rights to ensure environmental justice as normative ideals. The paper outlines evolutionary trends and contemporary advancement in sustainability law in innovative ways in the emerging challenges to environment and development.
