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sustainability — English
The ability of a system to continue existing despite forces that might extinguish it. In geography, environmental management and related sciences, the term is mostly used in connection with the survival of ecosystems (see “ecosystem”) threatened by natural or human-made (anthropogenic) changes. While natural changes usually take place so slowly that the system might adapt to the new circumstances, human activities take place too fast for the system to adapt and consequently it collapses. In geography and environmental management it is hardly possible to separate the concept of sustainability and that of development. Sustainable development is the ultimate aim of environmental management (see “sustainable development”).
