EUs Understanding of, Commitment to and Strategy for Sustainable Development - Essay Example

EU'S UNDERSTANDING OF, COMMITMENT TO AND STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Brundtland Report of 1987 defined sustainable development as "development that meets the need of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their needs". It is a conscious development that focuses on use of natural resources in a manner which ensures that they are not overexploited. It is development geared towards consumption and production patterns which are friendly to the environment, protects the natural resources and serves the purpose of mitigating poverty through equitable sharing of resources. (Baker, 1997) In laying its strategy, EU has been very cautious to make sure that all its strategies are land on the framework that meets the term sustainable development. It has held several other meetings with the main agenda of enforcing and further expounding the definition of sustainable as per the arising issues. EU has enshrined sustainable development in the article 2 of its Treaty. In 2000, the Lisbon European Council meeting fused sustainable development in it socio-economic reform agenda. Later in 2002, the Gothenburg Summit adopted the Strategy for Sustainable Development. But the implementation of the strategy has not been as smooth as initially thought. This is reflected in the 2005 progress assessment which showed that there had been worsening trends since 2001. It was found that there had been little or no change and in some cases negative trend in the areas of climate change, public health, poverty levels, social lives, degradation of natural resources and threatened biodiversity. In the same year the head of states went further to adopt guiding principle on which sustainable development agenda will be based on. These guiding principles are what can be used as a base to understand the EU understanding of sustainable development. According to Jordan (2005), EU gives the understanding that there are various areas in human life that needs to be integrated in the development agenda if the world has to achieve sustainable development. The first in this and perhaps the most important that needs to be fused to development is the issue of climate change. With the understanding of the threats that are posed by climate change, EU agreed in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 that it would work to ensure that it cut greenhouse gas emission by 8% before 2012. In line with this it launched the European Climate Change Program in 2000. In 2005 it went further and started the EU's green house gas Emission Trading Scheme and a second climate change program. Its commitment to the issue of climate and development has not slowed and in 2007 it made commitment to reduce emission by 20% by 2020. EU worked tirelessly in campaigning for other countries to honor the Kyoto Protocol after United States withdrawal in 2001. Although it has faced problems in implementing the Kyoto Protocol commitment, it has made progress and efforts are needed to reach the emission cut of 8% by 2012. Although seen as a concern to the environment, this strategy may end up hurting the economy of the whole region. EU has been crictsized for going it alone in the fight against climate change regardless of the effects it will have on the economy. There has also been criticism from other bodies that the policies on environment currently pursued by EU are not enough and there is need to do more to save the situation. According to Skeldon (1997), the go it alone approach used by EU may not have the desired effects on climate change and there is need for world efforts to tackle the problem. The other problem that EU addresses in its sustainable development is the issue concerning public health. This has been a very important issue for all countries in the world and each one strives to make the health of its citizens better. EU has developed a health forum through which information is channeled to the public on the need for community health awareness. Through the forum, health professional can make their contributions in making the public more aware of the health issues that affect them. Seeing the world is posed by emergence of many new illnesses, the European Union enacted the health act with lays strategy for protection of the public health. This led to the adoption of the community action program and the development of integrated health strategy. This was meant to put more weight and lay out the need for protection of public health. The strategies lays mechanism for improving the health information system, laying down a rapid reaction mechanism aimed at responding to emerging heath issues in the community, and combating emerging health risks like lifestyle disease. In line with the policy the Union has implemented other strategies aimed improving public health. This is an important strategy that can be implemented in other parts of the world. This is because most emerging diseases are contagious in nature and which needs cooperation between countries in order to contain them. European countries could have formed this strategy reeling from the effects of mad cow disease. EU also recognizes the issue of sustainable transport as a part of sustainable development agenda. In 2001 it set out a ten year strategy to reach sustainable transport. This mainly focused on creating a balance between different modes of transport. This was inline to addressing the problems of greenhouse gas emission through transport taking into consideration that more that half of air pollution is due to transport activities and the health effects it has on the population. It proposes to increase the railway and inland water way transport systems as less polluting modes of transport. EU also recognizes the burden the world is bearing due to poverty. More that half of the world population lives on less than two pounds a day. It also recognizes that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to increase and is currently at 90 to 1 ratio. EU policy towards poverty is aimed at reducing and eventually eradicating poverty among the world nations with the simple assumption that the problem of world poverty is due to unfair distribution of resources and not due to scarcity of resources. It views poverty as lack of resource and the vulnerability to factors like lack of access to food supplies, clean and safe drinking water, land, employment, and other factors for sustaining development. To tackle the problem of poverty, EU proposes multifaceted strategies aimed at creating an enabling atmosphere necessary for development to take place. It views conflicts as one of the main factors that have been fuelling poverty in many countries. Therefore it proposes the implementation of democracy and restoration of peaces fused with fair trade as some of the ways that can be used to tackle the problem. Sustainable income form liberalized trade can go a long way into reducing poverty. To fight and eradicate poverty, EU has implemented a lot of strategies aimed at improving income of poor countries. It started with trade agreements with various trading blocks of the world including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and other regions. This is aimed at ensuring sustainable trade for development. Also EU countries have committed themselves to working along the UN's proposal of spending 0.7% of their GDP on development assistance to the developing world. It has been recorded that out of the 5 countries that met this UN proposal, 4 of them were from the EU. This shows that EU is committed to its policy of sustainable development through reduction and eventual eradication of poverty in the world. EU' also recognizes the need for conservation of biodiversity in a bid to save the dwindling natural resources. This is important if the world has to meet the needs of the exploding population. There have been problems noted due to water scarcity and other problems. This has been due to destruction of water catchments areas. EU has drafted the Biodiversity Action Plans in 2001 touching on areas of conserving natural resources, Agriculture, Fisheries, and development. In line with this EU proposes economic developments between nations to tackle the problem of degrading environmental resources. This has beefed up the efforts to conserve the environment and the world species which are becoming endangered more and more. It highlights the need to conserve habits and birds, establishment of networks to coordinate these activities like Natura 2000, and formulation of actions plans to conserve the endangered species. It has also laid down The Water Framework Directive to help in the conservation of biodiversity and water catchments areas. (Andrews, 2002) In the sustainable development agenda EU has also laid down the consumption and production policies. In line with this it seeks to address balanced consumption and production by looking into social and economic development the is at par with the capacity of the ecosystem and ensuring that economic development does not have adverse effects on the environment. EU hopes to present to its member states a comprehensive sustainable industrial policy that will be in line plans for sustainable consumption and production. EU policies on sustainable development are interrelated but they all have one aim of promoting development that meets the needs of the present generation but conserves the resources for use in the future. References Andrews, N. (2002). Innovation in tourism planning. Dublin: Dublin Institute of Technology. Baker, S. (1997). The politics of sustainable development: Theory, Policy, and Practice within the European Union. New York: Routledge. Jordan, A. (2005). Introduction: European Union Environmental Policy - Actors. In Environmental Policy in the European Union; London: Earthscan Skeldon, R. (1997). Migration and Development: A Global Perspective. England: Longman. Read More