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Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development. “1 : capable of being sustained

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Sustainable Development

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  1. Sustainable Development “1: capable of being sustained 2 a: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture> b: of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods <sustainable society>” –Merriam Webster Dictionary Sustainable growth? Sustainable economy -

  2. A. Sustainable development indicators: • U.S. Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators: • Economic, Environmental & Social

  3. 1) Economic indicators • Long-term Endowments and LiabilitiesCapital AssetsLabor ProductivityProcessEnergy IndicatorsMaterials Use per Dollar of InvestmentInvestment in R&D as a Percentage of GDPCurrent ResultsEconomy Management IndexPersonal and Governmental Consumption Expenditures per CapitaHomeownership RatesPercentage of Households With Housing ProblemsVehicle Ownership, Fuel Consumption and Travel per Capita

  4. 2) Environmental Indicators • Long-term Endowments and LiabilitiesSurface Water QualityLand Use TrendsContaminants in BiotaStatus of Stratospheric OzoneThe U.S. Greenhouse Climate Response IndexProcessesRatio of Renewable Water Supply to WithdrawlsFisheries UtilizationInvasive Alien SpeciesSoil Erosion RatesTimber Growth to Removals BalanceGreenhouse Gas EmissionsTotal Waste Current ResultsMetropolitan Air Quality Non-attainmentOutdoor Recreational Activities

  5. 3) Social Indicators • Long-term Endowments and LiabilitiesU.S. PopulationTeenage Pregnancy and Children Living in Family with Only One Parent PresentTeacher Training and Application of QualificationsAccess to the InternetWealth DistributionProcessesContributing Time and Money to CharitiesEducational Attainment by LevelCensus Tracts with 40% PovertyCitizen's ParticipationCurrent ResultsCrime RateLife Expectancy at Birth & Healthy Life ExpectancyEducational Achievement RatesChildren's to Health Care or HealthHomelessnessPercentage Children Living in Poverty

  6. B. Sustainable development initiatives • Very important to blend “biological conservation issues” with “social issues” since they are connected! • UN: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/ • http://santa-monica.org/epd/scpr/index.htm • Sustainably-mided Businesses -http://www.globalreporting.org/

  7. 1) Sustainable Agriculture • Water conservation practices • Crop choice • Crop rotation • No-till Farming, reduce erosion • Is Organic Better?

  8. 2) Ecotourism • Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local peoples • 3 major characteristics contribute to conservation directly: • conserve biological (and cultural) diversity, by strengthening protected area management systems (public or private) and increasing the value of sound ecosystems • promote the sustainable use of biodiversity, by generating income, jobs and business opportunities in ecotourism and related business networks • share the benefits of ecotourism developments equitably with local communities and indigenous people, by obtaining their informed consent and full participation in planning and management of ecotourism businesses.

  9. 3) Green Building Design • A structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. • Siting • Energy efficiency • Materials efficiency • Water efficiency • Occupant health & safety • Building operation & maintenance

  10. 4) Transportation Alternatives • Public Transportation • Electric cars & Hybrids • Alternative fuels - http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/afv/bio_vehicles.html • Biodiesel - http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html • Hydrogen fuel?

  11. 5) Every-day Products

  12. II. Conservation policy • Environmental law • http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/index.html • Environmental policy • Conservation policy • http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/feral.asp

  13. A. Who makes conservation policy? • Policy decisions usually made by elected officials or political appointees • Decisions based on their perceptions of the views of people who elect them!!! • Scientists may participate in management decisions • Asked to make judgments on how actions may jeopardize nature • Frequently absent when actual decisions are made • Separation of the two – “protecting science from external influences that might bias results” • Has scientific integrity at federal agencies been sacrificed to further a political and ideological agenda? • As the editor of Science wrote in early 2003, there is growing evidence that the Bush Administration “invades areas once immune to this kind of manipulation.”

  14. B. Translational Scientists

  15. C.Scientific uncertainty – science/policy gap • Gap = difference in levels of confidence for a given scientific finding expressed by the scientific community and by society • Listing of species • Global warming

  16. Uncertainty increases with models of increasing complexity due mainly to the impossibility of testing the hypotheses upon which these models are based.

  17. BALANCING SOUND SCIENCE AND CONSERVATION ACTIONby Stephen H. Schneider • Scientists tend to think that advocacy based on a "win for the client" mentality, which often means deliberately selecting "facts" out of context, is unethical. • “Advocacy Game” - courts of law, political forums, and much of the media are steeped in such practices. • Unaware of how the advocacy game is played outside the cloister of the scientific peer review culture, some scientists, perhaps naively, stumble into a pitfall of being labeled as an advocate lobbying for a special interest--even if they had no such intention. • Can a scientist walk the fine line between broad, nuanced assessment (i.e., sound science) and clear, definitive messages delivered via the advocacy sound-bite system in which we are forced to operate to achieve conservation objectives?

  18. D. Getting Conservation Policy Right • Must “move the focus of conservation away from central regulation and enforcement and toward greater emphasis on local collaboration based on fairness, opportunity, and responsibility” • The foundations of new policy must be based on a deeper scientific understanding of complex interacting processes and on more effective principles for conservation in human-dominated ecosystems. • Public education will be required to ensure that large-scale and long-term systems interactions and change--as well as ultimate global limits--are widely appreciated and understood. -DAVID WESTERN

  19. Successful conservation of biodiversity on any meaningful scale ultimately requires two things: • people change how they interact with the • 2) that collectively we address a plurality of reasons why we should do so by recognizing how our thinking guides the politics of

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