Our Vision

Sustainable development is aimed at improving the social and economic well-being of all people and at the preservation of the environment. Development occurs by the interplay of economic, social, technological, cultural and political processes. It involves free, equal, active and meaningful participation and fair distribution. The right to development, which was adopted as a group right of the peoples by the United Nations General Assembly, has the status of a human right. In addition, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) or the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stipulate a comprehensive framework for sustainable development. As a result, governments, decision-makers, economic players and NGOs, religious institutions and also science are obliged to contribute to the implementation of this essential legal claim. Accordingly, one of the main goals of the ZEU is to contribute to achieving these goals with scientific projects and academic training. At the same time, it feels obliged to demand that economic and social development must ultimately take place within the boundaries of the earth system, as many ecosystems have already been weakened by economic overexploitation; a process which needs to be counteracted most strongly – now! In this area of tension, the Center for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU) has been devoting itself ardently to transdisciplinary research on the most pressing global issues since 1998 in successful cooperation with research partners worldwide.