What do we mean by Sustainable Development?
Sustainable Development (SD) is a big global,
national and local agenda and is not simply another
name for environmental protection. It is based on the
idea that the quality of people’s lives, and the state
of our communities, is affected by a combination of
economic, social and environmental factors. Being
sustainable is about understanding the links between
them, taking full consideration of the consequences of
our actions and decisions to influence the quality of
life for present and future generations. Local
Government take on a vital role as services provider,
enforcer and regulator, and through it’s community
leadership and enabling roles.
A national framework has been provided by the
Government White Paper "Securing the Future:
Delivering the UK Sustainable Development Strategy"
published in March 2005. The strategy identifies five
guiding principles for sustainable development:
- Living within environmental limits;
- Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society;
- Achieving a sustainable economy;
- Promoting good governance;
- Using sound science responsibly.
There is global pressure for action to tackle
issues such as climate change and world poverty. The
first global environment conference was held in 1972
and identified the relationship between economic
development and environmental degradation (UN
Conference on Human Environment, Stockholm 1972). From
this, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
was developed and still exists today and subsequently
in 1983, the formation of the World Commission on
Environmental and Development, which undertook to
understand the causes of environmental degradation as
something that extended beyond simply economic growth
and linked in the social aspects. This organisation
was led by Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway and was the
starting point for the concept of Sustainable
Development. Since 1992 (the RIO Earth summit), the
intensity of world activity has taken a pattern of
five yearly intervals around when world summits are
held (1997 General Assembly; 2002 Johannesburg
Summit).
The Brundtland report of 1987 defined the Sustainable
Development agenda as:
‘'Development which meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs'
(Our Common Future – Report of the 1987 World
Commission on Environment and Development).
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