Sustainable Development
The Government's approach - delivering UK sustainable development together
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Chapter 2
Producing a Strategy

  

2.1 In 1992, nearly 180 countries met at the 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how to achieve sustainable development. They agreed a plan of action, Agenda 21,1 and recommended that all countries should produce national sustainable development strategies. The United Kingdom was one of the first to do so, in early 1994.2

2.2 After coming to power in 1997, the current Government announced its intention to prepare a new Strategy. A consultation document, Opportunities for change, and a summary leaflet for the general public were published in February 1998.3 Supplementary consultation documents on particular aspects of sustainable development were also produced.4 The Government also consulted on a set of headline indicators of sustainable development (see chapter 3). The outcome of the main consultation process is summarised at the end of this chapter; further details are available.5

2.3 In preparing this Strategy, the Government has built on the achievements of the 1994 strategy. But a new approach is needed, which emphasises the social dimension of sustainable development alongside economic issues, the environment and resource use. This aspect of Opportunities for change was particularly welcomed.

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Devolution

2.4 Devolution is another important change from 1994. Bringing government closer to the people through devolution is itself a policy for sustainable development: the idea of 'thinking globally, acting locally' has long been associated with sustainable development. The new devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the opportunity to deliver policies for sustainable development which reflect their institutions, their landscape, their culture and their way of life. While responsibility for international agreements and for matters such as taxation will remain with the UK Government, much domestic policy will be devolved:

  • in Scotland, policy will be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. In February 1999, the Government published Down to Earth,6
    • which outlines major issues of sustainable development for Scotland;
  • in Wales, the National Assembly for Wales has a duty to 'make a scheme setting out how it proposes, in the exercise of its functions, to promote sustainable development'. In February 1999, the Welsh Office organised a National Conference on Sustainable Development, to discuss how this duty could be fulfilled;7
  • in Northern Ireland, it is anticipated that many issues relating to sustainable development will be matters for the new Assembly. In December 1998, the Government published for public comment a draft Regional Strategic Framework, Shaping Our Future,8 which addresses a range of economic, social, environmental and community issues. The issues in the draft Framework are highly relevant to the delivery, through the Assembly, of sustainable development in Northern Ireland.

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2.5 Where matters are devolved, the new administrations will decide how to proceed in the light of their country's particular circumstances and the needs and wishes of their people. Thus, while some of the policies described in this Strategy apply to the UK as a whole, others are exclusive to England. Reflecting this, many descriptions in this Strategy of policy initiatives in devolved areas focus on action in England, but some references are also included to parallel policies and related examples in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK Government looks forward to forging new partnerships on sustainable development with the devolved administrations. It hopes that this Strategy will help the devolved administrations to address their task.

Opportunities for change

Over 1000 responses to Opportunities for changewere received, ranging from local community groups to major international companies, and over 4,500 responses to the summary leaflet.

The integrated approach to sustainable development and inclusion of the social dimension were widely welcomed.

Responses to Opportunities for changeput forward an extremely wide range of views. Those with widespread support included:

  • setting challenging, measurable targets for each key policy area;
  • highlighting education, health and poverty as sustainable development issues;
  • government working in partnership with business in areas such as best practice programmes and 'market transformation';
  • interest in company environmental or sustainable development reporting;
  • better recognition of sustainable development in the planning system;
  • participation and community empowerment as crucial to building sustainable communities;
  • transport as a key priority, including in relation to air pollution;
  • reform of Common Fisheries and Common Agricultural Policies;
  • the use of economic instruments, provided the social aspects can be managed (e.g. impacts on low income families or on employment);
  • international co-operation as a key to sustainable development.

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Leaflet responses revealed strong concerns on transport, development, pollution and waste. Overall people wanted:

  • better, cheaper public transport so they could use their cars less;
  • less out of town development and revitalisation of town centres instead;
  • more opportunities for recycling.

Regional differences in the leaflet responses were also apparent:

  • Londoners were very concerned about public transport and pollution, and lack of urban green space. In contrast they were little concerned over loss of countryside to development;
  • those in the south-west, north-west and eastern regions were much more concerned about the extent of development;
  • those in Merseyside and Northern Ireland were particularly concerned about issues such as graffiti, litter and vandalism.

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The European Union

2.6 Sustainable development requires international co-operation on matters such as trade, the relief of global poverty, and environmental problems. For the UK, the European Union is especially influential. Towards Sustainability, the fifth Environmental Action Programme of the European Union, was adopted in 1992.9 The Programme sought to integrate environmental concerns into other policy areas in order to achieve sustainable development.

2.7 Changes to the Treaty of Rome, agreed in the Treaty of Amsterdam, give sustainable development a much greater prominence in Europe, by making it a requirement for environmental protection concerns to be integrated into EU policies. The Treaty states that the particular objective of this requirement is to promote sustainable development. At the Cardiff European Council in June 1998, EU Member States reaffirmed their support for integration of environmental concerns into policy making, endorsing the principle that major policy proposals by the European Commission should be accompanied by appraisal of their environmental impact.

2.8 Many of the policies in this Strategy have been shaped by decisions at European level, for example on the single European market or on environmental policy.

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  1. Agenda 21 - Action plan for the next century, endorsed at United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) 1992.
  2. Sustainable Development: The UK Strategy. HMSO 1994 ISBN 0 10 124262 X.
  3. Opportunities for change. Consultation paper on a revised UK Strategy for Sustainable Development. DETR February 1998 97EP0277.
  4. Sustainable business. DETR, March 1998 98EP0016; Tourism - towards sustainability. DCMS, April 1998 JO286NJ; Making Biodiversity Happen. DETR, June 1998 98EP0071; The sustainable management of forests. Forestry Commission. July 1998 98EP02272; Sustainable construction. DETR, February 1998 98EP072; Sustainability Counts. DETR, November 1998, 98EP0492.
  5. Details can be found on http://www.dtlr.gov.uk.
  6. Down to Earth: A Scottish Perspective on Sustainable Development. February 1999, free from The Scottish Office, ISBN 0 7480 7171 7.
  7. A report of the Welsh Office Conference is available from the Welsh Office.
  8. Shaping Our Future. Towards a Strategy for the Development of the Region. Draft Regional Strategic Framework. Department of the Environment (NI), December 1998. ISBN 0 337 08 376 2. Available from HMSO.
  9. Towards Sustainability: a European Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development. Commission of the EC. Official publication of the EC, 1992. Cm (92) 23/Final/II

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Updated: 07 March 2005

  
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