Governance for Sustainable Development : As if it Mattered?

1. Governance for Sustainable Development: As if it Mattered? Dr. Ann Dale, Trudeau Fellow Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development Royal Roads University www.crcresearch.org

2. What is sustainable development?The human imperative of the 21st century

3. The social imperative to ensure the development of democratic systems of governance that can effectively propagate and sustain the values that people wish to live by The ecological imperative to live within the global biophysical carrying capacity and maintain biodiversity The economic imperative to ensure that basic needs are met worldwide Sustainable Development A Process of Reconciliation Social Ecological Economic Human Systems Natural Systems AND EQUITABLE ACCESS TO RESOURCES – SOCIAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND ECONOMIC – IS FUNDAMENTAL TO ITS IMPLEMENTATION

4. Barriers to Implementation

5. Solitudes, Silos and Stovepipes • cleavages • artificial separations • divisions

6. HumanSystems Lack of Shared Meaning Population impact x Consumption Time

7. HumanSystems Lack of Shared Meaning Population impact x Consumption Time

8. HumanSystems Lack of Shared Meaning Population impact x Consumption Time

9. Governments • keep it simple • implementation gaps • system rigidities • system inconsistencies • KISS

10. Governments Continued • questions of legitimacy • who gets to frame the question? • who gets to decide who the experts are? • dialogue versus consultation • electoral cycles

11. Status Quo Adapted from Holling 1986 Renewal accessible carbon nutrients & energy Conservation fire k-strategy storm pest Stored Capital (Potential) Exploitation opportunist r-strategy pioneer Release dimax construction Connectedness

12. The Context • complex, dynamic living systems • information will always be incomplete, science uncertain • not easily bounded • highly normative • time, place and scale dependent

13. The Context Continued • beyond any one sector or level of government to solve • demands unprecedented levels of collaboration and partnership to implement • complexity of the dialogue

14. Sustainable Development Innovation, Creativity and Competitiveness • rapid knowledge diffusion • private-public partnerships, public-public partnerships, civil society • research-government partnerships • interdisciplinary research • trans-disciplinary solutions

15. Reconciliation Adapted from Holling 1986 Renewal accessible carbon nutrients & energy Conservation fire k-strategy storm pest Stored Capital (Potential) Exploitation opportunist r-strategy pioneer Release dimax construction Connectedness

16. A New Governance Model Domains of Appreciation Sustainable Development Emerging Policy Domains Trans-disciplinary Networks of Collaboration Sectoral Implementation Sectoral Implementation Sectoral Implementation

17. Expanded Policy Development Desired Futures PARADIGMS PARADIGMS VALUES Policy Alternatives VALUES Enlarged Decision-Making Context FEEDBACK Policy Approaches Strategies & Tactics

18. A Governance Checklist — As if it Mattered? • only one domain—sustainable development? • integrated decision-making • policy congruence • policy alignment • Sustainable community development will not be achieved unless supported by a strong legal system. For in a constitutional democracy, the legal system is the mechanism through which the values of the people are expressed and their beliefs acted upon. • Adapted from Boyd 2003

19. Concrete Immediate Actions • get the prices right • carbon tax (all revenues devoted to mitigation) • enforceable national air quality standards • enforceable national water quality standards • national law guaranteeing safe drinking water • national law guaranteeing safe drinking waters

20. Concrete Immediate Actions Continued • law to protect wild and scenic rivers • law guaranteeing citizens access to information • long-term planning • strategic research imperative by the granting councils • enshrine in the Charter the rights to access to clean air, water and food • ClimateACTION