Governing sustainability - Appunti

The UN Commitment on Sustainable Development

Re-cap: Urgent calls: global and local big challenges

The potential of human beings as both the cause and the possible solution for sustainability-related issues

The need for a paradigm shift and a local and global governance

The evolution of the policies and commitment of the UN on Sustainable Development

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

"Why choose to get there by disaster rather than by design?" - Mathis Wackernagel, Founder and President of Global Footprint Network

How the human being could be the possible solution for a new sustainability world.

Why are some Sustainable Development programs failed?

The economy is part of a bigger system: the society and environment. We need a new model to try to find a new solution. It is not really a question of profit maximization, but a question to find an

equilibrium with economic stability, environmental problems → change our way to think and to act. we have to stop to measure the performance of companies only through economic indicators.

A journey to the future... “Making progress towards (sustainability) is like going to a country we have never been to before… We do not know what the destinations will be like, we cannot tell how to get there, we are not even sure which direction to take” Prescott-Allen, 2001

The journey to the future is a learning process shared by everyone: learning and creating our common future at the same time. The journey to the future is about unlearning our current worldview and learning a new sustainable one to replace it. This learning is truly transformative.

the need to design and to find solutions → not be passive emphasizing disasters.

What is evident is the mental model → conceptualization that producing more is good thinking; more buying is a good way to help the economy.

The mental model is a wrong way to look at the world in terms of richness, poverty, growth etc...all the sentences are important.

SD is a journey to the future, is a path. We can’t find solutions using the same way to think in the past. Future is something we need to reinvent and create.

With SD we have to focus on the present to create a better future. A call for solidarity for future generations, creating justice and solidarity for present generations.

‘25min Sustainable Development: the UN journey

Sustainable development is … “… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

A change of perspective …“The way in which humans perceive, value, and experience environmental loss was seen to be just as important as the absolute scarcity or resources or the quality of human life”

The “Blue Marble,” Earth is revealed as both a vast planet home to

billions of creatures and a beautiful orb capable of fitting into the pocket of the universe. ONLY ONE EARTH Our Common home

is a reminder that the space we inhabit extends beyond our house, neighbourhood, country and even continent - and it's up to us to take care of it.

Lez.5 08/03/2021 last lecture of the first part -> SD and interconnection

UN first conference 1972 -> absence of Germany and Russia during the meeting, the role of companies was a problem. They try to find a common/international solution.

In the following conferences, initially the arguments were about only environmental topics. 1980s strong economic crisis (oil crisis) -> vulnerability of the economic system. -> international conflicts second positions linked with Marist positions -> western countries would have at the expense of the underdeveloped countries -> they cut all contact to be autonomous.

What have been done? The path and role of UN on Sustainable Development - Stockholm

1972 - Only one earth UN Conference on Human Environment

A few key aspects:

• Role of companies
• Role of civic society
• Socio-political aspects/problems
• Full engagement and commitment for an international cooperation

Stockholm 1972 - Only one earth UN Conference on Human Environment

It should be the main purpose of the Conference to serve as a practical means to encourage, and to provide guidelines for, action by Governments and international organizations designed to protect and improve the human environment and to remedy and prevent its impairment, by means of international cooperation, bearing in mind the particular importance of enabling the developing countries to forestall the occurrence of such problems.

The 114 governments represented in Stockholm reached an unprecedented level of agreement. Not least due to the diplomatic skills of the conference's Secretary-General Maurice Strong, UNCHE not only established a remarkable Declaration of Principles, but also came up with the

Necessary institutional arrangements for international cooperation in environmental protection.

A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well-being depend. Conversely, through fuller knowledge and wiser action, we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better life in an environment more in keeping with human needs and hopes... To defend and improve the human environment for present and future generations has become an imperative goal for mankind - United Nations 1972

Development and gap between countries

Modernization theory → Based on liberal values. The developing countries should emulate the Western model of development by modernizing their societies to take on the features of the economically advanced countries. In short: the way

To reduce poverty in the periphery is to give the core more access to their resources and markets and encourage the continued growth of international capital, which will pull along the less-developed areas of the world as it advances.

Dependency theory → Based on Marxist theory. The basic message of this theory is that Western development is predicated on the active underdevelopment of the non-Western world. Economic domination, power, control.

Solution: Developing countries should sever their linkages with Western capitalist countries in order to follow an autonomous, independent path of development based on socialism.

It is not clear how «a slowly rising tide [of economic growth] will lift all ships. In fact, there is a well-founded fear that the tide may be ebbing and leaving them [the ‘developing’ countries] behind as litter on the beach» Pirages, 1990: 2-33 quoted in Bebbington, 2001: 131.

At the core of human development concerns is the...

nature of the system which generates A new approach…economic, environmental and social outcomes. Further, the primary goal of the development is on meeting human needs of present and future generations. → UN WCED - World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) – Brundtland Report UN WCED - World Commission on Environment and Development The Brundtland Report focused primarily on the needs and interests of humans, and was concerned with securing a global equity for future generations by redistributing resources towards poorer nations to encourage their economic growth in order to enable all human beings to achieve their basic needs. The report expressed the belief that social equity, economic growth and environmental maintenance are simultaneously possible, thus highlighting the three fundamental components of sustainable development: the environment, the economy, and society, which later became known as the triple bottom line. The report

discussed the need to apply integrated, sustainable solutions to a broad range of problems related to population, agriculture and food security, biodiversity, energy choices, industry, and more

1987 – Brundtland Report

Sustainable development is … “… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. “…sustainable development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the orientation of the technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs”. World Commission on Environment & Development Our Common Future, 1987 (Brundtland Commission Report)

1992 – Rio de Janeiro UN Conference on Environment and Development

Two legally binding conventions:

• Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC)
• Convention on Biological Diversity

Diversity Principles of Forest Management Rio Declaration on Environment and Development Agenda 21 UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) The UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994. Today, it has near-universal membership. The 197 countries that have ratified the Convention are called Parties to the Convention. Preventing "dangerous" human interference with the climate system is the ultimate aim of the UNFCCC. Kyoto Protocol (1997) The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of "common but differentiated".responsibilities".
Agenda 21 underlying the role of local government in particular to push a more sustainable development. → try to improve performance on a social point of view. → try to set specific plans that every country should follow/reach (ex. reduce the emission by Kyoto protocol 19975%) [GHG = greenhouse emission] concept of differentiation → different responsibilities, different contribution to GHG of the countries. They are all responsible for social and environmental problems, but it is necessary to differentiate the flow of GHG by countries. The developing countries are less likely to create emission than the developed. Shared by differentiated responsibilities. Every country should participate in this programme but with some differentiations. China had unexpected results in the growth of emissions in the first period of.