Sustainable Development & Natural Resources: Challenges for the Future

1. Sustainable Development & Natural Resources: Challenges for the Future Presentation to NRCan “SPLINK” Workshop David V. J. Bell York Centre for Applied Sustainability March 20, 2001

2. The Challenge of Sustainability • Trends are key, because sustainability is about the legacy we are leaving for future generations • Sometimes unsustainability is easier to recognize...

3. If today is the typical day on planet earth,humans will: • add 15 million tons of carbon to the atmosphere • destroy 115 square miles of tropical rain forest • create 72 square miles of desert • eliminate between 40 - 100 species • erode 71 million tons of top soil • add 2700 tons of CFCs to the stratosphere • increase the population by 263,000. • David Orr, Ecological Literacy, 1992

4. Global population continues to rise

5. Many of Earth’s Forests Have Been Cleared or Degraded

6. We must recognize that we are living with a time bomb, and unless we take action now it could explode in our children’s faces.

7. If we do not act, in thirty years the inequities will be greater. With population growing at 80 million a year, instead of 3 billion living on under $2 a day, it could be as high as 5 billion.

8. Jim Wolfensohn, President, World Bank

9. The number of poor continues to grow

10. Growing disparities in incomes among regions

11. “Ultimately these problems must be seen as just different facets of one single crisis, which is largely a crisis of perception…. [M]ost of us, and especially our large social institutions, subscribe to … an outdated worldview, a perception of reality inadequate for dealing with our overpopulated, globally interconnected world. …[S]olutions to the major problems of our time … require a radical shift in our perceptions, our thinking, our values…. a change of paradigms as radical as the Copernican revolution… From the systemic point of view, the only viable solutions are those that are ‘sustainable’.” Fritjof Capra, The Web of Life, p.4

12. Sustainable Development:Where has it been? • From Brundtland to Rio • Wider societal involvement (business and civil society) • Environment slips on public agenda post Rio • Governments stalled – “implementation gap” noted both domestically (CESD) and internationally (Rio Plus 5) • Business begins to assume leadership • Theory advances on many fronts

13. What are the new drivers? • Increasing consumption of resources and production of wastes • Sophisticated use of the internet by NGO’s, general public • Information links that are now global • Militancy of opposition to economic globalization • Emphasis on transparency of both businesses and governments • Growing awareness of environmental problems around resources (fisheries), water (Walkerton), forest products (certification) etc. • Problems of urban population growth, sprawl • Greater up-take of SD by leading businesses

14. Sustainable Development:Where is it going? • New paradigms in key disciplines (especially economics) • New tools such as ecological footprint • New concepts like natural capitalism, biomimickry • Greater focus on reporting and measuring progress • Greater understanding of, concern for the “social dimension” • Note emerging importance of a trinity of concepts: • Social capital • Social cohesion • Social inclusion

15. The New Paradigm of Sustainability • As we evolve towards sustainability, industrial capitalism will give way to a new form of capitalism “as if living systems mattered.” • Under a regime of “natural capitalism,” “radical increases in resource productivity” will be accompanied by “redressing global inequities of income and material well-being.” • This new system will fully value all forms of capital, “including human, manufactured, financial, and natural:” (Hawken et al, Natural Capitalism)

16. How Much Are Nature’s Services Worth? Global GNP (US $18 trillion) Ecosystem Services (US $33 trillion)

17. Implications of the New Paradigm • Knowledge, ingenuity and innovation are key elements of new economy • Replace resource consumption with knowledge, biomimickry etc “We must substitute our ingenuity, our knowledge, for the use of materials in all areas of the economy in which we interact with natural resources and the natural environment.” Jonathan Lash, President of WRI, in a lecture at York University Feb. 22, 2001

18. Implications of the New Paradigm(Cont’d) • Resource intensive, labour extensive • More attention to governance, legitimacy, stakeholder relations • Addressing the ingenuity gap (especially for our social and political institutions) • New forms of sustainable energy • New technologies of the “second industrial revolution” (Ray Anderson)

19. An Emerging Culture of Sustainability • From overconsumption (“Whoever dies with the most toys wins.”) to sufficiency • “Voluntary simplicity” • Greater concern for nature, and the well-being of the ecosystem • Greater concern for other human beings living today • Greater concern for “temporal equity” • Support for decisions that take long term effects into consideration • Support for decision-makers with that perspective and for businesses that embody sustainability principles and practices

20. New Drivers (Federal Gov’t): • The challenge of meeting Kyoto targets • Shift from federal government deficit to surplus • Second round of SDS and jockeying among departments for distinctive “niches,” leadership and additional funding • Rio plus 10, which presents both challenges and opportunities as Canada seeks to avoid embarrassment/garner praise • More interest in SD by Finance – but no overall government leadership/SDS strategy

21. Stabilizing CO2 means steep emission cuts eventually

22. Per capita CO2 emissions are small in developing countries (metric tons of carbon dioxide)

23. Challenges for Gov’t of Canada • Building momentum around Rio Plus 10 • Implementing a “Sustainability Management System” (SMS): • Learning how to “walk the talk” • Learning how to “do” integrated decision making • Making partnerships and collaboration work • Stakeholder relations, including • at the community level • with Aboriginal communities and First Nations in a new era of “self government” • Using new technologies to create a “knowledge infrastructure for sustainability” • Getting the prices right • Helping create a culture of sustainability • in government • in public at large (note importance of education)

24. Where does NRCan stand? • NRCan has produced an excellent second SDS • Includes Vision, Goals, Targets, Monitoring and Reporting, Consultation, Collaboration • SDS proposes six “Priorities for Action” 1. Corporate stewardship and accountability 2. Knowledge and information 3. Leadership and partnerships 4. Climate change 5. Innovation 6. Sustainable communities

25. Top Priorities for NRCan? • Consolidating its lead role in climate change linked to work on energy efficiency, including increased public awareness, and opportunities for individual action • Emphasizing Geomatics/GIS-based information for decision making that contributes to the strengthening of community sustainability initiatives • Building cross sectoral support for sustainability through a Council of Sustainability Champions • Supporting technological innovation for the new sustainability economy (including alternative energy) • Continuously improving itself as a learning organization (including strengthening its social science knowledge base) • Developing an effective Sustainability Management System to track and encourage implementation of the many sustainability initiatives outlined in the 2001 SDS

26. Visioning, Leadership, and Strategic Planning • “Some see the world as it is and ask why. I see a world that has never been, and ask, Why not?” (Robert Kennedy) • “If you don’t know where you’re going, you may never get there.”(Yogi Berra) • Leadership is the management of creative tension between the “current reality” and the future vision.(Peter Senge and Bryan Smith)

27. Economic growth & development Material consumption & waste production Sustainability Challenges Technological change S Redesigning manufacturing& the economy Driving Forces ”Smart” Resource Stewardship Globalization Energy Sources and Consumption Civil Society NGO’S Business Challenges Changes Transportation NRCan Population growth and movement Loss of biodiversity & habitat Governance Public Policy Choice Makers Urban Infrastructure & land use Individuals Government Land & water management Food Supply Pollution Inequity Public Education Climate Change Education & new ideas / paradigms