Overview

The environment is an essential infrastructure whereby life, species and humanity rely on it. It is also one of the main three pillars of the United Nations’s SDGs.

The discourse on climate and environmental sustainability started in 1987, when a group of 22 countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia represented by Dr. Saleh Alathel, drafted the report “Our Common Future” – a report that introduced the definition of sustainable development that is endorsed by the United Nations up to this days “The concept of sustainable development was described by the 1987 Bruntland Commission Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

This report paved the way to the famous Rio Earth Summit in 1992 where Saudi Arabia also participated with a large delegation of experts.

Furthermore, ever since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the rapid industrialization has catapulted civilization into new hights, wealth and abundance which improve the quality of life and wellbeing of developed nations.

However this massive industrialization comes at a cost as this rapid expansion requires the oversconsumption of natural resources which leads to the rate of consumption of natural resources that outpaces the environment’s stability to regenerate, which is not sustainable.

As we transition from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, there are many ways to use the skills of the current conceptual age in designing initiatives, programs, projects, products, and services to preserve people, species and out planet.