Definition of Ecologically Sustainable Development - Case Study Example

1. INTRODUCTION Increase globalization, industrialization and technology have led to an increase in the amount of waste as well as pollution. These pollution and wastes, which are the results of the activities of man and companies result to environmental hazards such as ozone layer depletion, which results to global warming. There is considerable doubt as to whether our descendants will be able to meet the type of environment we have today. In this light, man has often sought for means to counter some of these hazards so as to make the world a better place for future generations. Some of the responses have been the requirement for companies to produce a corporate social responsibility report which reports on how the company tries to protect its environment. There has been a considerable debate centred on sustainable development as well as ecologically sustainable development. (ESD). The aim of this paper is to define the ESD, identify its objectives, provide the difficulties of implanting ESD and Identify Case Studies where ESD has been implemented. Having defined ESD, identified its goal and objectives as well as its guiding principles, this study will now move on to identify case studies of ESD. In the course of case study, the difficulties will be discussed alongside. 2. OVERVIEW OF ESD. Ecologically sustainable development is the concept that seeks to integrate short and long-term economic, social and environmental effects and values in all decision making. (Gibbs and David, 2002: pp 73; Fletcher et al, 2005: pp 175). ESD has also been defined as “development (which) meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations, to meet their own needs”. (Fletcher et al, 2005: pp 176). The goal of ESD is to achieve 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 of ESD are: To improve individual as well as community well-being and welfare by following a path of economic development that safeguards the welfare of the future generations; To provide for quality within and between generations; To protect biological diversity and maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems. (www.fsed.org/researchprojects) The following include the guiding principles of ESD according to 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. (www.fsed.org/researchprojects.) The global dimension of environmental impacts of actions and policies should be recognized and considered. The need to develop a strong, growing and diversified economy which can enhance the capacity for environmental protection should be recognized. The need to maintain and enhance international competitiveness in an environmentally sound manner should be recognized. 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. In order to achieve the goal of ESD, a balanced approach is required that takes into account all these objectives and principles. Therefore, the aforementioned guiding principles must be treated as a package, that is, no objective or principle should have precedence over the other. (www.fsed.org/researchprojects) 3. THE CASE STUDY OF ESD IN AUSTRALIA. According to Gibbs and David (2002), citing from the Brundtland Report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), debates on sustainability in Australia centred around the notion of “ecologically sustainable development” (ESD). This was due to an attempt by government to regain control of the environmental agenda following a series of publications concerning clashes over forests, mining and wilderness. (Gibbs and David, 2002). As a result, the then prime minister Bob Hawke in 1989, launched a Statement on the Environment entitled “Our Country, Our Future” as well as the publication of a national strategy for ESD in 1992. (Gibbs and David, 2002). ESD was regarded as a means of complementing economic growth and environmental protection, which reflected an approach similar to that of ecological modernization. (Gibbs and David, 2002). An ESD strategy for Australia was produced by the commonwealth government in 1992 while some state governments developed their own plans. (Gibbs and David, 2002). For example, ESD formed a key part of South Australia’s Strategic Plan and the New South Wales government issued guidelines for ESD to all local councils. ESD and sustainable development featured prominently in Tasmania’s Resource Management Planning System, Queensland’s Environmental Protection Act (1994) and initially in Victoria’s Sustainable Development Program for1995– 2000. However, there is evidence that ESD is largely confined to environmental departments in some states. Thus in Queensland, ‘while the conservation-oriented arms of the state government have embraced ESD concepts, there is little evidence that other departments, particularly economic or development departments, have incorporated ESD principles’. (Gibbs and David 2002: pp 73). In Victoria a radically neo-liberal government subsequently instigated a ‘degreening’ of the state. (Gibbs and David 2002: pp 73). Indeed, from the mid-1990s the ESD strategy has been given a low priority by both national and state governments reflecting the changing economic priorities coincident upon the replacement of Bob Hawke by Paul Keating as Prime Minister and the election of the Howard coalition government in 1996. (Gibbs and David 2002: pp 74). Although the federal state government has adopted ESD, there is little evidence about the implementation of ESD in the local level. (Gibbs and David 2002: pp 74). An Inter-governmental Agreement on Environment (IGAE) was signed in early 1992 by the Australian governments at all scales (commonwealth, state and territory and local), which agreement placed sustainable development at the heart of policy and aimed at integrating economic and environmental consideration into decision making. (Gibbs and David 2002: pp 74). Also the agreement was aimed at solving some of the problems within the Australian government relating to the division of responsibilities for environmental policy at different spatial and administrative scales. (Gibbs and David 2002: pp 74). Local government in Australia is largely dependent on the state government for legislative powers since the common wealth government does not exert direct influence over this level of government. (Gibbs and David, 2002). Policy directives are set at the national and state levels although implementation remains a to a greater extent a local concern. (Gibbs and David, 2002). According to a quotation from Wright (1995: pp55) as cited by Gibbs and David (2002: pp 74), “Australian local government is currently unable to achieve the goal of sustainable development. Local authorities are constrained from integrating social, economic and environmental policy at the local level due to the problems of inter-governmental structures and their own internal structures and decision-making processes”. The IGAE is therefore merely served to reassert the powers of the states over national environmental policy. (Gibbs and David, 2002). Consequently, the development of national policies on issues such as water and air has been ‘painfully slow’ as well as the development of local strategies. (Gibbs and David, 2002: pp 74). To conclude, Local government in Australia is therefore poorly resourced to deal with environmental concerns and fairly marginal to the process of Australian government. This division of environmental powers between different levels of government has left local government with a narrow agenda including land-use planning, public nuisance, health and building controls. (Gibbs and David, 2002: pp 74). However, the ratification of the Rio Declaration and commitment to implement Agenda 21 led to proposals aimed at addressing these shortcomings in order to allow a more integrated strategic approach to issues of environmental management. (Gibbs and David, 2002: pp 74). 3.1 ESD APPLICATION ACROSS THE FISHERIES SECTOR IN AUSTRALIA. Having identified the development and implementation strategies of ESD in Australia, the study will now discuss a project proper in which ESD has been implemented in Australia. In Australia, the development of a National ESD framework was initiated in 2001 to assist the process of ESD implementation across all fisheries and aquaculture sectors. (Fletcher, 2005). Initially, there were concerns whether this would result in a substantial increase in the management and/or research requirements for each fishery. (Fletcher, 2005). This generated a strong incentive to develop a process to ensure that additional management actions and monitoring systems were only implemented where necessary, and only to an appropriate level. Consequently, formal risk assessment techniques were suggested as a sensible approach given the large number of potential issues and the impossibility of gaining a perfect understanding for any of these. (Fletcher, 2005). According to Fletcher et al (2005), the principles of sustainable development are relevant to fisheries management as fishing remains an important activity around the world contributing to the livelihoods of 200 million people. It also provides an excess of 100 million tones of fish and fish products annually for which over a billion people are dependent for their protein, cultural and social needs. (Fletcher et al, 2005: pp 176). The direct impact of fishing activities, human-induced changes to the environment including pollution, habitat removal and significant advances in technology have lead to many situations where these activities have been unsustainable. (Fletcher et al, 2005). As a result regulatory and access arrangements have become an important area of public policy. (Fletcher et al, 2005). Fisheries management has therefore become therefore involves more than just setting biological limits for the affected species. (Fletcher et al, 2005). According to Fletcher et al (2005), although the high-level objectives of sustainable development look simple in theory, translating them into operational objectives at the fisheries management plan level has proved difficult to achieve. A good number of fisheries agencies have measures for some components of sustainable development, especially those related to the target species. (Fletcher et al, 2005). Due to lack of clear objectives indicators and performance measures for all aspects of sustainable development, fisheries agencies and the industry are unable to demonstrate that they are achieving this concept. (Fletcher et al, 2005). In a meeting in June 2000 by the ESD reference group, the general sustainable development concepts as stated in the National Strategy on ESD was adapted in a series of high-level objectives specifically relevant to fisheries. (Fletcher et al, 2005). A draft conceptual framework was also developed for reporting and assessing performance against these objectives. (Fletcher et al, 2005). The objectives and components of the sustainable development for fisheries according to Fletcher (2005) included the following: Protection of biodiversity and maintenance of essential ecological processes; Improvement of individual and community well-being by following a path of economic development that safeguards the welfare of present and future generations; and Provision of effective legal, institutional and economic frameworks for ecologically sustainable development (ESD). Fletcher et al (2005) also outlines the following points as contributions fishery to ecological well-being: Retention of species: this involves assessing the impact of the fishery on the species that the fishery wants to capture. These includes all species that are kept and used at least some of the time even if caught by error. Non-retained species: what is the impact of the fishery on species that are caught directly impacted by the fishery but are never kept or used? General Ecosystem: what are the potential indirect and more general impacts of fishing-including effects on the habitat and trophic dynamics? Fletcher et al (2005) also identified other contributions including contributions of the fishery to human well-being and the factors affecting the ability of the fishery to contribute. The national ESD Reporting Framework examines the contribution to sustainable development of an activity, which is fisheries in our case. (Fletcher et al, 2005). The approach adopted in this case has led to a practical system that should allow for reports on all elements of sustainable development to be generated for a fishery. (Fletcher et al, 2005). 4. CONCLUSION. This paper was aimed at looking at what ESD is and to consider the difficulties with its implementation. The case Australia was considered as a case study and we can conclude that although the principles and objectives of ESD appear fairly simple, putting them into practice can be very difficult. However, adopting an approach like the one used for the fisheries project can yield beneficial results. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ecologically Sustainable Development and the business organization. Downloaded from www.fsed.org/researchprojects. Fletcher. W. J., Chesson J., Sainsbury K. J., Hundloe T. J., Fisher M. (2005). A flexible and practical framework for reporting on ecologically sustainable development for wild capture fisheries. Fisheries Research. Vol. 71, pp 175-183. Fletcher W. J. (2005). The application of qualitative risk assessment methodology to prioritize issues for fisheries management ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Vol. 62(8), pp1576-1587; doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2005.06.005. Gibbs, David. (2002). Local Economic Development and the Environment. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge. Read More