Introduction: Sustainable development was defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 as a way of development that satisfies today's needs without compromising the existence and functioning of future generations in order to satisfy their own ultimate needs. The World Health Organization assigns a key role in the environmental field of sustainable development to the nurses. Purpose: In our dissertation we present the nurses' contribution to sustainable development, especially in the environmental field. We wanted to define their role in sustainable development, to find out where the care for sustainable development is being distinguished and who are the most vulnerable groups of population that are especially threatened by environmental risks and are therefore given special attention by nurses. Methods: By reviewing foreign literature in the international databases CHINAL, Medline and Academic Search Complete, we searched for literature that addresses the role of the nurses in sustainable development and the topics of environmental health, climate changes and nursing. We collected other literature through the NurSus web portal. We set the search time frame between the year 2013 and 2020, using 25 units of literature out of a total of 2454 hits. Results: The World Health Organization sees a great opportunity for nurses in achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Nurses have an important role to play in preserving and restoring the environment, pleading for initiatives that reduce environmentally harmful practices, promoting health and well-being of people, and raising public awareness of the wider global health problems caused by environmental pollution. All nurses should be a model within the healthcare sector as well as in the wider society and home environment. Nurses are expected to pay the most attention to the protection of health and the environment for children, the elderly, people with disabilities and people with lower social status. Discussion and conclusion: As the most trusted professional group, nurses are an indispensable link in environmental protection. In order to further strengthen the concern for sustainable development in the future, the topic of sustainable development will need to be included in the nursing education program. This would raise awareness of the importance of sustainable development and create a favourable environment for the introduction of sustainable development in society at large.
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