You have just learned about Ecological Footprint, which can be deemed as an indicator of sustainability. Let us ask ourselves: Are we sustainable if our Ecological Footprint is greater than the biocapacity of our earth?
The sustainability movement, which started in the mid-1980s, was a progression of the environmental movement that started in the late 1960s. What is sustainability or sustainable development, which has become a buzz word that is often mentioned yet poorly understood by many? The most commonly quoted definition of sustainable development is the one from the Bruntland Report in 1987 (Our Common Future) from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. It defined sustainable development as ‘development which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'
The publication of Our Common Future and the work of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development laid the ground work for convening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) and the adoption of Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration and to the establishment of the Commission on Sustainable Development. The commission saw the possibility of a new form of growth, one such having ‘economic growth yet sustain the environmental resource base.' This is particularly important as growth often comes from new technologies which could induce new forms of serious pollution. The rate of change could outstrip current scientific understandings and our capacities to assess and recover. Lastly, the commission calls for actions to deal with the balance of growth and environmental protection.
What makes a development sustainable? The concept of sustainable development recognizes that for any development to be sustainable, it must go beyond just the environment and strive for a balance among three components: environment, society and economy. You can imagine this as a three-legged stool, with one leg representing environment, society and economy respectively. This stool will be stable for you to sit on if all three legs are in place and balanced. Yet if any one leg is missing, shorter, or damaged, the stool is no longer balanced and stable and you might fall if you sit on it.
Under the concept of sustainable development, we should look at the environment from the perspective that it is one of the three components making up sustainable development. Therefore it is not sustainable development if we protect the environment at all costs, sacrificing economic and social stability for our future generations. At the same time, we should not use economic growth and social benefits such as increases in income and employment as excuses for compromising or destroying our environment. The take away message for you is that all three legs of the stool must be in place and balanced.
You should not confuse environmental impact assessment, particularly in the Hong Kong context, with sustainability assessment. EIA is different from sustainable assessment because it only covers one of the three components of sustainability. A good EIA report for a development project is one of the contributors to the project's sustainability, but EIA alone without adequately addressing the economy and society components cannot be interpreted as the development project being sustainable. This course focuses on environmental impact assessment, but we will discuss sustainability assessment and other emerging issues in Unit 10 later in the course.
To strike such a balance is not easy, especially so in Asia, the world's fastest growing region where tremendous economic and poverty reduction pressures are evident. As Barron (1993), the editor of the new Asian Journal of Environmental Management, put it: in Asia, ‘development-environment trade-offs are occurring at an unprecedented pace and often in ways which differ from those which characterized the earlier development of the older industrialized economies.'
At least, to some extent, this explosive Asian economic development has been matched by a rapid proliferation of EIA documents. Many of these EIAs were done in what can be described as a ‘pre-sustainability era.' Their content and quality is highly variable.
A detailed look at the sustainability doctrine is both wise and essential. The following reading reports on a study by the Planning Department on sustainable development in Hong Kong and will help to familiarize you with the issues.
Reading 1.9
Planning Department, The SUSDEV 21 Study, HKSAR Government, 20–28:
http://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/p_study/ comp_s/susdev/ex_summary/sum_eng.pdf
In the report, you will find the 40 sustainability indicators for Hong Kong covering the environment, economy and society. A computer aided assessment tool known as CASET was also developed for assessing sustainability. This tool will be discussed Unit 10 when we study sustainability assessment. Some important areas to focus on in this document include ‘Box 5b — The final SUSDEV 21 guiding principles', ‘Box 5c — Indicator criteria for SUSDEV 21' and ‘Box 5d — The final SUSDEV 21 indicators'. After much work, the government concludes that ‘Sustainable Development in Hong Kong balances social, economic, environmental and resource needs, both for present and future generations, simultaneously achieving a vibrant economy, social progress and a high quality environment, locally, nationally and internationally, through the efforts of the community and the government.'
The sustainability philosophy is a growing conceptual force behind the EIA process. SUSDEV 21 is a Hong Kong version of this ‘force.' SUSDEV is about how we can manage Hong Kong to ensure that the resources and environment are still livable in 2030!
After completed the above section, please complete Self-test 1.3. Do not forget to check the Feedback to Self-test 1.3.
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