Sustainable development is a concept that should be applied to decisions of all nations to the benefit of all people. It includes the right to and availability of safe water, energy, food, and health services. To achieve sustainable development, population and resources must be balanced by forward- looking, democratic governance. In turn, improved decisionmaking must be based on proper information and a new global sensitivity to ethics. Decisions that encourage sustainable development will work to counter terrorism and organized crime. Improved decisionmaking will help close the rich-poor gap, and support the changing role of women. Science and technology, properly managed, will benefit humanity. But we lack full understand of the complexities of the global situation at any time, the inter-relationships that determine the outcomes- expected and unexpected- of strategies at all levels. The State of the Future (print and CD) is designed to promote understanding of what strategies and policies may be needed and their outcomes; it is designed to be used by policymakers and educators around the world.
"2003 State of the Future" is a unique resource for those who care about global change and improving the future. It provides an assessment of the human situation as a whole, prospects for the future, and actions for today. It is used by both those who need the most precise briefings and those who want the full research background. As a result, it provides a common platform for global actors, educators, and the concerned public to use in building more coherent policy.