Sustainable%20Development

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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 ltsustainable
techniquesgt ltsustainable agriculturegt b of or
relating to a lifestyle involving the use of
sustainable methods ltsustainable societygt
Merriam Webster Dictionary
Sustainable growth? Sustainable economy -
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A. Sustainable development indicators

• U.S. Interagency Working Group on Sustainable
  Development Indicators
• Economic, Environmental Social

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1) Economic indicators

• Long-term Endowments and LiabilitiesCapital
  AssetsLabor Productivity ProcessEnergy
  IndicatorsMaterials Use per Dollar of
  InvestmentInvestment in RD as a Percentage of
  GDP Current ResultsEconomy Management
  IndexPersonal and Governmental Consumption
  Expenditures per CapitaHomeownership
  RatesPercentage of Households With Housing
  ProblemsVehicle Ownership, Fuel Consumption and
  Travel per Capita

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2) Environmental Indicators

• Long-term Endowments and LiabilitiesSurface
  Water QualityLand Use TrendsContaminants in
  BiotaStatus of Stratospheric OzoneThe U.S.
  Greenhouse Climate Response Index ProcessesRati
  o of Renewable Water Supply to WithdrawlsFisherie
  s UtilizationInvasive Alien SpeciesSoil Erosion
  RatesTimber Growth to Removals
  BalanceGreenhouse Gas EmissionsTotal Waste
• Current ResultsMetropolitan Air Quality
  Non-attainmentOutdoor Recreational Activities

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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 Distribution ProcessesCo
  ntributing Time and Money to CharitiesEducational
  Attainment by LevelCensus Tracts with 40
  PovertyCitizen's Participation Current
  ResultsCrime RateLife Expectancy at Birth
  Healthy Life ExpectancyEducational Achievement
  RatesChildren's to Health Care or
  HealthHomelessnessPercentage Children Living in
  Poverty

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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.globalrep
  orting.org/

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1) Sustainable Agriculture

• Water conservation practices
• Crop choice
• Crop rotation
• No-till Farming, reduce erosion
• Is Organic Better?

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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.

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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

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4) Transportation Alternatives

• Public Transportation
• Electric cars Hybrids
• Alternative fuels - http//www.eere.energy.gov/afd
  c/afv/bio_vehicles.html
• Biodiesel - http//journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_
  make.html
• Hydrogen fuel?

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5) Every-day Products
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II. Conservation policy

• Environmental law
• http//www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/index.html
• Environmental policy
• Conservation policy
• http//www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/fera
  l.asp

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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.

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B. Translational Scientists
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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

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

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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?

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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

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• 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