Ecologically Sustained Developments - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Ecologically Sustained Developments

ESDSlide2

What is ecologically sustainable development?

Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) represents one of the greatest challenges facing Australia's governments, industry, business and community in the coming years. While there is no universally accepted definition of ESD, in 1990 the Commonwealth Government suggested the following definition for ESD in Australia:

'using, conserving and enhancing the community's resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased'.

Put more simply, ESD is development which aims to meet the needs of Australians today, while conserving our ecosystems for the benefit of future generations. To do this, we need to develop ways of using those environmental resources which form the basis of our economy in a way which maintains and, where possible, improves their range, variety and quality. At the same time we need to utilise those resources to develop industry and generate employment.Slide3

By following an ecologically sustainable path of development, we should be able to reduce the likelihood of serious environmental impacts arising from our economic activity. The number of divisive and damaging confrontations which have characterised some of our development projects should also decrease. More practically, ESD will mean changes to our patterns of resource use, including improvements in the quality of our air, land and water, and in the development of new, environmentally friendly products and processes

.

Background to ESD

The concept of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) has been with us

for over 25 years; however, it has come to international prominence only

relatively recently. The significance now accorded to ESD can be traced back to

the publication in 1987 of a report by the World Commission on Environment

and

Development entitled

Our Common Future

(more commonly referred to as

the

Brundtland

Report

, after the Commission’s Chair, then Norwegian Prime

Minister

Gro

Harlem

Brundtland

). This report was instrumental in raising

awareness at the highest levels of government that, globally, we had been ‘

living

beyond our means’ in terms of the environmental costs of economic

development

.Slide4

The

Brundtland

Report provided the impetus for the 1992 United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development (the ‘Rio Summit’), which at the

time was the largest-ever single gathering of heads of state ever held. The main

outcome of the Rio Summit was the publication of a document entitled

Agenda

21

. This document sought to provide the ‘blueprint’ for each country to

formulate its own ESD policies

. The

authors of the report recognised that

conventional approaches to measuring growth had been inadequate, as they did

not take into account the associated environmental costs, such as erosion,

extinction and desertification. These problems had been traditionally seen as

‘conservation’ issues, rather than ‘development’ issues, hence they were

given secondary importance.

While it is true that a coordinated approach

is required

on a national and even global scale to make broad-scale ESD

policies work

, it is equally important that its principles are implemented at the local

level as well.Slide5

Australia's goal, core objectives and guiding principles for the Strategy

The Goal is:

Development that improves the total quality of life, both now and in the future, in a way that maintains the ecological processes on which life depends.

The Core Objectives are:

to enhance individual and community well-being and welfare by following a path of economic development that safeguards the welfare of future generations

to provide for equity within and between generations

to protect biological diversity and maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems

The Guiding Principles are:

decision making processes should effectively integrate both long and short-term economic, environmental, social and equity considerations

where there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation

the global dimension of environmental impacts of actions and policies should be recognised and consideredSlide6

the need to develop a strong, growing and diversified economy which can enhance the capacity for environmental protection should be

recognised

the need to maintain and enhance international competitiveness in an environmentally sound manner should be

recognised

cost effective and flexible policy instruments should be adopted, such as improved valuation, pricing and incentive

mechanisms

decisions and actions should provide for broad community involvement on issues which affect

them

These guiding principles and core objectives need to be considered as a package. No objective or principle should predominate over the others. A balanced approach is required that takes into account all these objectives and principles to pursue the goal of ESD

.

Who will be affected by ESD?

Every one of us has a role to play in national efforts to embrace ESD. The participation of every Australian - through all levels of government, business, unions and the community - is central to the effective implementation of ESD in Australia.Slide7

How does ESD apply to tourism

?

When ESD is applied to a such a

multifacted

industry

as tourism, it becomes a very broad concept— it encompasses not

only environmental

aspects, but also experiential, sociocultural and

economic dimensions

.

Environmental

sustainability

— Running an environmentally sustainable

tourism operation means managing our operations to ensure that natural

resources are conserved and, where possible, increased over time.

Environmental sustainability is a vital concept in our business, as traditional

approaches to tourism development have tended to focus more heavily on

the

economic dimension such as measures of visitor numbers or export earnings.

Environmental sustainability is concerned with questions like

:

· Are

the resources we are using renewable or recyclable?

· Are

we using them in the most productive way

?

It recognises that natural resources are the raw materials for the tourism

industry, just as they are for mining and logging. Some ways in which tourism

can help achieve environmental sustainability are through the establishment of

national parks, by providing an alternative to extractive industries, and by

increasing public awareness of environmental issues.