Giuliano Luongo

The right to sustainable development is a universal imperative, vital for both developing and developed nations. While developing countries often face urgent needs like poverty and resource scarcity, developed nations bear historical responsibility for environmental degradation and must lead in addressing global challenges. This right integrates environmental protection, social equity, and economic justice into a unified legal and moral framework. Studying it helps expose systemic inequalities, guide policy reform, and empower citizens through education and civic engagement. It also highlights the need for interdisciplinary approaches and legal accountability. In developed countries, the right is equally relevant in addressing environmental injustice and overconsumption. Ultimately, recognizing sustainable development as a right reframes global cooperation as a matter of justice, not charity, and calls for shared but differentiated responsibilities in building a just and resilient future. Understanding and applying this right is essential to ensuring the well-being of both current and future generations.

A growth-oriented economy challenges the inclusion of sustainability parameters, as the very elements that promote sustainability can appear incongruous with economic growth. SDG8 - Sustainable Economic Growth and Decent Work for All addresses how sustainability can be included within the present economic framework and surfaces the significance of behavioural change in the attainment of sustainability. The book highlights that successful implementation of SDG8 will rely on culturally sensitive economic policy to ensure that developing countries retain the ability to develop economic systems that align to both the SDGs and cultural norms. SDG8 - Sustainable Economic Growth and Decent Work for All defines the concept of economic growth and decent work, and ultimately, provides the reader with the opportunity to develop a critical analytical perspective with respect to the objectives and attainment of SDG8. Concise Guides to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals comprises 17 short books, each examining one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The series provides an integrated assessment of the SDGs from economic, legal, social, environmental and cultural perspectives.