Sustainable Development Guide

Development which meets the needs of present generations, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The Need for Sustainable Development

The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 focused the world’s attention on issues relating to human development and its impact on the environment. The 180 world leaders gathered at Rio signed up to an agenda which identified the priority issues, and set out how the ‘global community’ would work together to tackle them. The agenda was called ‘Agenda 21’.

Agenda 21 confirms that in the past, human development has been largely ‘unsustainable’ because of a widespread failure to consider economic, environmental and social factors together in decision-making. This has resulted in serious environmental problems such as climate change, desertification, pollution and wildlife extinction, as well as wide disparities in standards of living within and between countries.

Agenda 21 sets out a blueprint for ‘sustainable development’ - a new approach, designed to halt the steady degradation of the global environment, and reduce disparities in quality of life.

The UK Government set out its own strategy for sustainable development in the 1998 white paper "A Better Quality of Life - A Strategy for Sustainable Development for the UK". This defines sustainable development as development which "... achieves a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come".

1. Effective protection of the environment.
2. Prudent use of natural resources.
3. Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

In County Durham, the county council has led on the development of the County Durham Environment Strategy, which focuses on principle 2 and 3 above, and will be part of the local approach to sustainable development. It will take its place beside other countywide strategies on economic development, life-long learning and community development in promoting the social, environmental and economic well-being of the people of County Durham.

The County Durham Sustainability and Environment Partnership

(formerly Local Agenda 21 Partnership & County Durham Environment Partnership). The concept of ‘Local Agenda 21’ was born out of a recognition that over two thirds of the action needed to reverse the disturbing global trends must be implemented at the local level. The County Durham Local Agenda 21 Partnership, now relaunched as the Sustainability and Environment Partnership, was one of the first in the country and now has over 2000 partners. These include district and borough councils, community groups, businesses, town and parish councils, schools and colleges, voluntary organisations, and government agencies, as well as individual members of the public.

Building in Sustainability

A Guide to sustainable construction and development in the North East.

Introduction

A regional partnership lead by Durham County Council has been set up to produce a sustainable development guide for all those involved in the development process. The guide, entitled 'Building in Sustainability', was officially launched on 29 July 2002.

The intention is to give a practical step by step approach to assist those in the construction and development industry to take on board sustainable principles in this region.

The guide is written to allow the reader to:

• Read it from cover to cover following the development process.
• Go directly to the section which deals with the part of the development process and key topic area that most interests the reader.
• Dip in to identify the key principles of sustainable development listed as "rules of thumb" within each chapter.

Building in Sustainability - Summary Leaflet

You can view this document online in a pdf format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this information.

building in sustainability leaflet.pdf (2 pages, 321kb)

Building In Sustainability summary