摘要: The concept of sustainable development is not new and in fact can be traced back to many of the early civilizations. For example, Kautillaya, the chief minister for the Chandragupta Empire in 321 BC India based his economic strategy for the empire on the sustainable management of ecosystems and the equitable sharing and management of these resources by the various stakeholders living within specified geographical borders (Kautilla 1992).However, the recent interest in sustainable development can be traced back to the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNCHE) held in Stockholm. This conference was one of the first to explore the links between ecological conservation and economic development. This was followed in 1974 by another conference in Bucharest that focused on the links among population growth, resource use and economic development.