In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development published a report advocating a wholly different approach and introduced the concept of “sustainable development”, defining it as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own”. However, it was at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1992 that this concept really took shape. The French term is a translation of the English expression sustainable development. Translating the adjective sustainable as “supportable”, as some have suggested, would be misleading. Here it means “viable and lasting”. Certainly, the adjective “lasting” is somewhat reductive compared with the English term, but it is arguably the best available choice: it suggests that the future is not compromised and that opportunities for development can continue. Both the French adjective and its English counterpart were used in the 19th century by forestry administrators keen to adopt practices that would not compromise the future. So vocabulary, at least, is sustainable!