Fundamental to meeting sustainability objectives is the concept of sustainable development. Tasmania's Resource Management and Planning System (RMPS) objectives define sustainable development as:
Managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural well-being and for their health and safety while:
- sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations
- safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil and ecosystems
- avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the environment.
The EPA seeks to further the objectives of sustainability and sustainable development, in line with the objectives of the RMPS.