VALU 191 The Environment & Society

Picture taken from: www.cityvt.co.uk (Sustainability City Visual Tool)

First defined by the Brutland Commission in 1987

Development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of further generations to meet their own needs.

1st defined - Bruntland Commission (1987) 1990 UN Commission for Europe issued Declaration on Sustainable Development 1992 The UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Earth Summit) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) establishes linkages among economic and social development and environmental protection and adopts Agenda 21 and the Rio Principles.

December 1992 - The UN General Assembly creates the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to ensure effective follow-up to UNCED. 1993 EPA published a report to Congress on Sustainable Development 1993 President Clinton created Presidents Council on Sustainable Development

published report in 1996 outlining what the U.S. needs to

do in order to implement a strategy to promote sustainable development

1994 - The Global Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (Bridgetown, Barbados) adopts the BPOA, which sets specific actions & measures for sustainable development of SIDS. 1997 - The special session of the General Assembly Earth Summit + 5 (New York) adopts the Program for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, including a program of work of CSD for 1998-2002.

2002 - The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) (Johannesburg, South Africa) evaluates obstacles to progress & results achieved since the 1992 Earth Summit. WSSD adopts the JPOI, which provides for a more focused approach, with concrete steps and quantifiable and timebound targets and goals.

2005 - At the 10-year review of the Barbados Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Port Luis, Mauritius), States adopt the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the BPOA.

Focuses on economic development that goes together with ecological integrity and social equity. Most current economic systems are based on consumption.
Consumption implies use and doesnt always take

into consideration that natural resources are finite.

The United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) is a part of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, located in New York. UN-DSD promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity-building at the international, regional and national levels.

CSD is a high-level forum on sustainable development which reviews progress and monitors and reports on implementation of Agenda 21, the Barbados Program of Action (BPOA) and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) at the national, regional and international levels

Based on 2-year cycles of review and policy, the current program of work for the CSD is organized around clusters of issues.
2004-2005: Water, sanitation and human settlements 2006-2007: Energy for sustainable development,

industrial development, air pollution/atmosphere and climate change 2008-2009: Agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa

 2010-2011: Transport, chemicals, waste

management, mining and 10-year framework of program on consumption and production patterns 2012-2013: Forests, biodiversity, biotechnology, tourism and mountains 2014-2015: Oceans and seas, marine resources, small island developing States, and disaster management and vulnerability 2016-2017: Overall appraisal of implementation of Agenda 21, the Program for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the JPOI

A child born into the U.S. culture will use 30 to 40 times per capita more energy & natural resources than the average of the rest of the world A child born into the U.S. will use 200 times more energy & natural resources than several underdeveloped countries.
(Douglas Muschett, Principles of Sustainable Development, 1997)

There is concern about distinguishing between development & growth with regards to sustainable development.

Should refer to quantitative expansion in the scale of the physical dimensions of an economic system.

Should refer to the qualitative change of a physically non-growing economic system in a dynamic equilibrium with the environment.
Businessmen usually look at development as

growth & industrialization. Environmentalists define development in terms of whats sustainable.

When trying to define, discuss, track and move toward sustainable development it is important to distinguish between
goals indicators targets trends

Broad & non-quantitative statements about objectives

Example goal: Adequate shelter for all Example goal: Stabilization of greenhouse gas

concentrations in the atmosphere at levels that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with climate systems.

Quantitative measures for assessing progress toward or away from a stated goal Example: Goal - Adequate shelter for all
1. Quantitative measure - Access to improved

drinking water 2. Quantitative measure - Access to improved sanitation services

For EPA's Report on the Environment,

An indicator is a numerical value that comes from

actual measurements of a pressure, state or ambient condition, exposure or human health or ecological condition over a specified geographic domain, whose trends over time represent or draw attention to underlying trends in the condition of the environment.

DSD began its program of indicators for sustainable development (ISD) in 1994. It has developed a core set of ISD for use at the national level, which it continues to review and revise. DSD also supports countries in developing their own national ISD programs through workshops and capacity-building projects. Guidelines and methodological descriptions are available on the DSD website

Use indicators to quantify goals with specific thresholds & timetables

Example target: Reducing the childhood mortality

rate to 1/3 of the 1990 rate by 2015 Example target: Reducing overall emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

Value of indicators as a function of time

Example trending exercise - Comparing childhood

mortality rates over a 10 year period

Including sustainability in urban development is difficult because it requires the consideration of the social, economic and environmental impacts on the city or area being developed. These three areas must be looked at together to get an overall picture.

Source: www.scityvt.co.uk

Source: UK Government Sustainability Principles, Defra 2005

Sustainable development triangle key elements and interconnections (corners, sides, center). (Source: adapted from Munasinghe 1992a, 1994a)

Globally excessive degradation could lead to extinction for living things including people. As the worlds population continues to grow our ability to sustain life & maintain a certain quality of life becomes very challenging.

Its pretty simple:

If we use more resources than nature can

replenish, we degrade the environment

Repeated degradation over time will lead to problems maintaining life for all inhabitants on the planet

If we use less resources than nature provides, then

the environment can renew itself (therefore, we would be in a state of sustainability)