Implementation of sustainable development in Finland Szentendre, 20 January 2005 Annika Lindblom, FN

1
Implementation of sustainable development in
Finland Szentendre, 20 January 2005Annika
Lindblom, FNCSD
2
Implementation of sustainable development in
Finland

• National SD strategy, evaluation, revision
• Finnish National Commission on SD
• SD Indicators in Finland
• Relationship between EUs SDS and national SDS
• Highlights of the Finnish SD policy

3
International credit
4
Long history of strategies and programmes for
sustainable development in Finland- 1990
Sustainable development in Finland- 1995
Finnish Action for Sustainable Development -
1998 Finnish Government Programme for
Sustainable Development - 2000 Signs of
Sustainability Finlands indicators for SD-
2003 Evaluation of sustainable development in
Finland
5
Basic strategic SD policy definitions in Finland
in Jan. 2005

• United Nations
• Agenda 21 and Rio Conventions, 1992
• UNGASS (Rio5), 1997
• Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of
  Implementation, 2002
• European Union
• EU Strategy for Sustainable Development, 2001
• Regionally
• Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development, 2004
  (revision)
• Baltic 21, 1998 (first regional Agenda 21
  globally)
• Arctic Sustainable Development Programme, 2004
• Nationally
• Government Programme for SD (1998) and its
  evaluation report (2003)

6
Finnish interpretation of the concept Sustainable
Development

• Sustainable development is a continuous, guided
  process of societal change at the global,
  regional and local level, aimed at providing
  every opportunity to present and future
  generations to lead a good life. (FNCSD 1995)
• Full integration and interaction of the three
  dimensions environmental, social and economic
• Broad commitment to the Rio process and a
  multi-stakeholder participation
• Proactive participation in all levels of
  sustainable development policy global, regional
  (incl. the EU), national, local

7
Finnish Government Programme for Sustainable
Development

• Council of State made a Decision-in-Principle on
  the promotion of ecological sustainability in
  June 1998
• designed to promote ecological sustainability
• additionally, to create economic, social and
  cultural preconditions for achieving this end
• defines guidelines, frame of reference and
  strategic objectives of SD to key sectors and
  actors
• Key sectors
• International co-operation
• Products, production and consumption
• Energy economy
• Regional structure, urban structure and
  transport
• Rural areas and the use of renewable resources
  and
• Research and education.

8
Finnish Government Programme for Sustainable
Development

• Objectives for ecological sustainability
• slow down climate change in all sectors
• promote the use of eco-efficient energy sources
• promote changes in production and consumption
• preserve biological diversity
• safeguard the high standard of environmental
  protection and environmental health
• exert influence so that the limits of ecological
  sustainability are not exceeded in the long term

9
Major group programmes on SD

• Prepared an own SD programme in 1997 at the
  request of and in open dialogue with the FNCSD
• Local Authorities
• Industry and Employers
• Commerce and Trade
• Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners
• NGOs
• Indigenous Sámi People

10
Implementation of Govt Programme

• Central goal integration of sustainable
  development in sectoral policies and programmes
  (national Cardiff-process)
• Transport a comprehensive environmental
  management system (guidelines 1994-2004)
• Agriculture and forestry Natural Resources
  Strategy (1997, revised 2002)
• Energy Energy Conservation Programme (2003-2006)
  and Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources
  (1999, revised 2002)
• Major challenge horizontal strategies and
  programmes
• National Climate strategy (1999-2001)
• National Action Plan for Biodiversity (1997,
  revision for 2006-2010)
• National Forest Programme 2010 (1998-1999)
• Same principles applied in national legislation,
  e.g.
• Land Use and Building Act
• Environmental Act

11
Evaluation of the Govt Programme

• Evaluation of sustainable development in Finland,
  report 2001
• to review the implementation of sustainable
  development policies and impacts of the
  Government Programme in different sectors
• progress made, problem areas and future
  challenges
• based on reports and self-evaluation of different
  administrative sectors (Permanent Secretary
  level) and other interested parties, including
  those six stakeholder groups which drafted their
  own programmes for sustainable development.

12
Future challenges

• Macro-level
• Global changes and the new economy
• The need to change production and consumption
  patterns
• The sustainable use of natural resources and
  reducing environmental problems
• Increasing social capital
• Strengthening democracy

• Micro-level (examples)
• Decoupling, eco-efficiency
• Ecological tax reform
• Extensive use of renewables
• Implementation of the Baltic Sea Programme
• Ecologically sustainable community structure
• Promotion of public transport
• Prevention of social exclusion
• Corporative social responsibility
• Green public procurement
• Innovation and education

13
Conclusions of the evaluation in 2003

• No decision of a new strategy for sustainable
  development
• Instead the challenges identified will be dealt
  with in a specific themes of the work programme
  2003-2007 of the FNCSD
• In December 2004 decision by the FNCSD to
  launch a new SD strategy process

14
Finnish National Commission on SD (FNCSD)

• Promoter of SD in Finland and an advisory body in
  UN/UNCSD issues (founded in 1993)
• Political impetus and guidance, a catalyst
• High level forum for consultation and dialogue
• broad multi-stakeholder participation
• bottom-up approach
• no demands for consensus
• Networking and information sharing
• Awareness raising and education

15
Members of the FNCSD

• Prime Minister (Chair),
• Environment Minister (Vice-chair)
• 5 sector Ministers
• Ministries and govt agencies
• The Parliament
• Local government
• Academic sector
• Business and productive sector
• Interest groups
• Non-governmental organisations
• The indigenous Sámi-people
• Two churches

16
5-year Work Programme of the FNCSD

• Priorities from the Johannesburg POI and from the
  National Sustainable Development Evaluation
  Report
• Sustainable Production and Consumption
• A Committee National 10-Year Action Plan for
  Changing Unsustainable Patterns of Production and
  Consumption
• Eco-efficient Society An Environmental Cluster
  Research Programme (3rd phase 2003 -)
• Thematic plenary sessions of the FNCSD
• Trade, Poverty and Sustainable Development
  (autumn 2003)
• Long-Term Goals for Nat. Climate Change Policy
  (Jan. 2004)
• Finland on the Move (Sustainable Mobility) (March
  2004)
• Corporate Social Responsibility (June 2004)
• Ecological tax reform (October 2004)
• Reducing the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea
  (January 2004)
• Sustainable welfare from diverse forests (March
  2005)

17
Latest developments

• A sub-committee on Sustainable Education for the
  FNCSD a special task to mainstream SD education
  and to take part in the UNESCOs Decade of
  Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014)
• Benchmark study on 9 European NCSDs and on
  national SD-strategies a special emphasis on
  the link to EU SD-strategy (EEAC activity)
• New Regional SD Action Plans (Arctic, Nordic)

18
Follow-up of sustainable development in Finland

• The first Finnish set of sustainable development
  indicators was published in 2000 (three-year
  preparatory period) Signs of sustainability
• Research on users during 2001-2002
• Reclassification of indicators in 2004
• broaden the meaning of SD to better adapt to the
  changing environment and national priorities
• The main role of the indicators is to function as
  a support tool for policymaking and for
  evaluating the implementation of sustainable
  development.
• 3 language versions (Fin, Swe, Eng), also in
  internet
• Report on Natural Resources and Environment,
  which is appended to the national budget

19
Structure of the indicator set

• 3 SD dimensions
• 8 categories
• Intergenerational equity
• Human health and well-being
• Distributional equity
• Adapting to the future
• Global responsibility
• Environmental pressures
• Preserving natural resources
• Eco-efficiency and community structure
• 68 indicators all together

20
What is new in the indicator set

• Change the order of dimensions social, env.,
  econ.
• Combine some issues, separate waste and energy,
  new issue environmental health
• The number of indicators will remain the same,
  headline indicators will not be developed at this
  stage
• Carefully selected policy relevant and timely
  indicators to high level decision-makers at FNCSD
• Medium sized indicator set in slide show to
  parliamentarians and their assistants
• Larger set in the internet

21
Relationship between NSDS and EUSDS

• EU SDS has not played any major role for NSDSs
  and vice versa
• In Finland obvious reason National strategy was
  completed before the EU SDS (2001)
• In new national strategy process (beginning in
  2005) the EU SDS (and its review) will be one of
  the key determinants
• Also Finland considers that EU SDS should
  interact more with the national strategies gtgt
  support work on nat. strategies and local level
  decision-making (subsidiarity principle)

22
Some remarks on the EU review process

• EU SDS long-term objectives of sustainable
  development -
• EU Lisbon strategy medium-term goals for SD
• EU SDS strategic goals of EU environmental
  policy -6th Action Programme concrete targets
• All relevant Council formations engaged in
  implementation and monitoring
• Assessment of economic, social and environmental
  impacts of proposals
• The main objective of the strategy should be
  decoupling of economic growth and use of natural
  resources
• Principle early integration of environment and
  SD into decision-making by various Council
  formations (Cardiff-process)
• The objectives of the Göteborg European Council
  remain valid

23
Highlights of the Finnish SD policy

• National SD Strategy
• Environmental sustainability including increased
  eco-efficiency
• Integration of sustainable development policies
  into sectoral policies and programmes
• Acceleration of strategic thinking on sustainable
  development to main stakeholder groups who
  prepared their own SD programmes parallel to the
  government SDS process.

• National SD Commission
• Broad-based multi-stakeholder process based on
  active participation and genuine dialogue
• FNCSD being a permanent, recognized focal point
  for SD issues providing continuity without
  detrimental interruptions or sudden policy
  changes.
• By the FNCSD, sustainable development in Finland
  has become a part of everyday life in pursuance
  of becoming more professional and
  multidimensional

24

• Thank you!
• www.environment.fi