３４２：持続的開発（論説）

今日は３カ月ぶりに床屋に行った。アフリカ出張も３カ国目だが現地で床屋に行ったことがなかった。さて、どこにしようか。迷った挙句、５星ホテルのhair dresserに決めた。市中に床屋もあるにはあるがまずはホテルが無難である。日本では髪型に拘らないので1000円の10分床屋である。流石に一流ホテルだけあって丁寧で1時間もかけてくれる。お隣はお金持ちのお嬢様だ。イギリス英語をうまくこなしているし、店の常連のようだ。言わば黒人のお金持ちの社交場だ。面白い観察ができた。

こちらは流石に1時間かけてのカットで満足。お値段は6ドルか。ジャカルタやマニラのホテルのバーバーでも15ドルは取られるから値段としては格安であった。これから暑くなるのでさっぱりした。

さて、持続的開発の分野では新進気鋭の優秀な女性がいる。リトアニアのエネルギー研究所のストレイミキエイミ教授である。エネルギー経済や環境、気候変動など広範な分野で活躍している。彼女の論説がECのお馴染み環境政策への科学に載っていたので下記に転用する。中々素晴らしいし分かりやすい。入り口としてはいい参考文献になるし、彼女の活躍をフォローしようか。

Sustainable development for quality of life

Sustainable development is perceived as a compromise between environmental, economic and social goals. This allows society to ensure well-being for present and future generations without damaging the environment and jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This thematic issue outlines recent research which helps us understand the benefits of sustainable living and how it can be achieved through implementing sustainable development strategies. It provides an analytical overview of the central issues and explores different perspectives, including sectoral (energy, industry, transport, agriculture) and state macro-economic strategies, their linking and monitoring tools, how damage to ecosystems can be evaluated and how we can replace vicious cycles with 'virtuous cycles' in forestry.

The current economic crisis is top of the policy agenda and understandably the cause of great concern. A recent report outlined in 'Prosperity without growth: lessons from the economic crisis' suggests that we need to redefine 'prosperity' in order to avoid similar catastrophes in future and protect precious environmental resources.

Business and industry could go far, both economically and environmentally, through careful sustainable development strategies with cooperation at their heart. See 'Can SMEs improve sustainability?' and 'Cooperation is the key to sustainable industry' for more details.

Sustainable development can also play a central role in community development. 'Sustainable development can break the vicious cycle of poverty' takes a look at how a careful strategy could transform a community in Ethiopia suffering from the repercussions of deforestation. Closer to home, 'Roadmap builds consensus for sustainable rural development' explores a new way of developing rural planning strategy which has brought together a Dutch community to create a desirable vision of the future for all.

Another method of identifying the best options for sustainability is described in 'Worldviews' provide basis for sustainable development', which seeks to incorporate the values of all in society to produce robust policies.

Two policy areas for which sustainable practices are essential to environmental improvement are energy and transport. A recent study provides policy makers with a useful framework for understanding a range of different policy measures on sustainable energy targets. See: 'Making links between sustainable energy policies'. 'Local decision making tools for sustainable urban transport' provides information on helpful resources for planners implementing sustainable transport policies.

Ecosystems are clear victims of unsustainable practices, with biodiversity suffering some severe blows. 'New impact assessment method monetarises ecosystem damage' provides a new tool for sustainable development by using measures for ecosystem damage which can be made directly comparable to measures of damage to human health.

Finally, we need to be able to measure how well we are doing in the journey towards sustainable living. 'Indicators to keep track of sustainable development' provides an overview approaches to measuring progress.

Sustainability is much more than a handful of influential policies. It should be a guiding principle in all that we do - for government, for business and for everyone as citizens making everyday choices. While profound, and perhaps difficult, these changes will ensure we can maintain and improve quality of life for all.

日本からは総選挙と芸能人薬物汚染のニュースで持ちきりだ。ノリピーは無事か？？