Sustainability isn’t just the latest buzzword, “Our Sustainable Future”, the Framework for Sustainable Development in Ireland, was launched back in 2012. This document identifies some 70 measures to be implemented across Government and tasked a high-level inter-departmental group with making the vision of a sustainable future a reality.
Drawn up during the uncertainty of the global economic downturn, the framework becomes even more pertinent when examined against Ireland’s resurrected and thriving economy.
According to the 116-page document, the so-called “green economy” will provide opportunities for job creation in start-up and scale-up companies, with increased public demand for “green” goods and services in both domestic and international markets. Seven years later, one could argue that this demand has far outstripped what the authors of the framework originally envisioned.
“It is an area in which Ireland has a number of strengths, including a ‘green’ image and could become strategically important for the country,” they write.
The framework ultimately outlines how economic, environmental and social progress go hand in hand
The framework sets out the challenges facing Ireland and proposes actions to promote clean energy, more sustainable approaches to agriculture and transport, and for the conservation and management of our natural resources to ensure their sustainability for future generations.
Nine key themes for sustainability are identified. Efforts to ensure sustainability should focus on: the economy; equity between generation; gender equity; respect for ecological integrity and biodiversity; social equity; respect for cultural heritage/diversity; equity between countries and regions; and good decision-making. These themes run broadly parallel to the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.
The document highlights key challenges for Ireland such as the sustainability of public finances and economic resilience and sustainable consumption and production. Conservation and management of natural resources is obviously critical, as is climate change and clean energy, and, with that, sustainable agriculture and sustainable transport. The need for social inclusion, sustainable communities and spatial planning is another emphasis of the framework, which also notes global poverty and sustainable development as a major challenge.
The framework ultimately outlines how economic, environmental and social progress go hand in hand. “Everyone must recognise their own responsibility and act accordingly.”