ON INTEGRAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
What is Integral Sustainable Development?
“Sustainable development is development that draws out the full human potential across ages and generations and is, at the same time, ecologically friendly, economically sound, politically empowering, socially just and equitable, spiritually liberating, gender sensitive, based on holistic and integrative science, technologically appropriate, builds upon Filipino values, history, culture and excellence, and rests upon strong institutional foundations.” Reference: Philippine Council for Sustainable Development. (1999). SIAD Guidebook: A Framework for the Localization of Philippine Agenda 21. Pasig City, Philippines: Center for Alternative Development Initiatives. |
What is a sustainable initiative?
ImagePraxis documents initiatives that are in themselves attempts to create more coherent, healthy realities in the realms of culture, business and governance. Concretely, ImagePraxis defines an initiative as a project, work or practice of an individual or a group that works consciously towards surfacing our highest potentials – individually, collectively and ecologically. |
With this definition in mind, an initiative is considered sustainable if:
(1) it pursues the human, social, cultural, economic, political, ecological and spiritual dimensions of development and strives to maintain the integrity and balance of these dimensions; (2) it addresses an authentic need in the world; (3) it involves processes that are grounded in the understanding that personal and societal transformation go hand-in-hand, forming a cohesive whole; (4) it is co-created and owned by the community; and (5) it has means to continuously generate sufficient financial, human and material resources to further its development. |