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We could say that respecting water requires adopting behaviours whose consequences are a sustainable development based on a balanced management of resources and the ecosystem.

The most common definition of sustainable development is the one given by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development 's 1987 Report "a development which meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

Integrating the view of the impact of man’s activity on the environment, this report also describes sustainable development as a development to provide disadvantaged populations for their rudimentary needs[1]. It must be based on production and consumption modes which can be carried on without harming neither the human sphere nor the ecosystem. So, it involves a rational management of the resources and a societal and international equitable sharing of the benefits.

Sustainable development represents a different way, still based on economic growth, but actively aware of the necessity of protecting the natural sphere. Its aim remains personal welfare and accomplishment. Some have talked about "a human sustainable development" expression related to the idea that ecological crisis originates in poverty and inequalities.

This idea is based on the fact that a lot of disadvantaged people are led to adopt behaviours harmful to the environment - clearing tropical forests, in order to ensure a subsistence agriculture or picking up to-be-burned timber - sometimes going as far as damaging their own life place[2].

These people, often uneducated, can’t have a complete freedom since they can’t take part in decisions. Moreover, developing countries are ironically and cruelly "constrained" to count on the exploitation of their own natural resources in order to raise currencies and to pay their debts off.

Then, sustainable development implicates a minimum for everyone, in particular sufficient food, a house, employment, access to medical care and respect of the human rights[3]. Education also holds a major role. It helps to fight against the demographic pressure and is a guarantee of a free conscious mind. It becomes a real tool of development when it deals with respect for the environment and the rational management of the resources. In particular our scarce water resources.

Now, and before going further, I'd like to emphasize a quite interesting point. Actually I won't insist a lot, because it only concerns my French- speaking readers. But it may be of some interest to others.

The French translation which was chosen for "sustainable development" is "développement durable". That's a regrettable choice because it doesn't correspond to the philosophy of the concept at all. In French, "durable" just means "which can last a long time, stable" so the term is not sufficient to express the inner idea of producing an effort, of accomplishing a daily and permanent work, or even of struggling against something which can oppose a kind of resistance to us.

The reasons for this choice are probably political. Telling people the change will come from downstairs and not from upstairs can be… unpopular. This kind of thing is a political responsibility. More than this, it's a matter for individual responsibility. Each of us has to look at what he can see in front of his door. Mahatma Gandhi said "we must be the change we wish to see" words we should reflect upon.

We also sometimes find the word "développement soutenable" which is more relevant to the concept. The other notion of "development for a sustainable future living and a responsible society" seems to be unknown in France, since it is never heard in politicians’ speeches nor in French mass media.

Now, let's resume our little study. We talked about "a development which meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In reality, the concept of sustainable development is the result of a 30 year- evolution concerning the conceptions which make the relations between economics and environment, and between environment and development.

[1] In 1992, the third principle of the Declaration of Rio will talk about a "right of development" which "must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations". Adopted as a recommendation this Declaration has no constraining force at all.

[2] I advice to all my readers to read the fascinating book "Des jungles plein la tête" (1988) from the explorer and snake-specialist Nicole Viloteau, in which the author leaves us a tragic portrait of "the coalmen's black hell" in the Brazilian cerrado. I give you a trying of translation : "The carvoeiros. Who burn, who wreak havoc the final forest relics of the Minas Gerais. They don't feel any more concerned by nature for a long time. Their own misery is a sufficient answer. Only the few banknotes they can raise each time they sell a sack of coal remain important to them. The family will finally have a little break, and will eat its fill". Even if I am 30, I can't stand wishing to cry each time I read these unbearable words of pain. Far away from the politicians speeches, far away from the agitators slogans, this is the sad and rough reality.

[3] The first principle of the Declaration of Rio establishes in 1992 that "human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature". This principle is not assorted of any constraining force.