Sustainable Development and the European Union
At the 19th Special Session of the UN General Assembly 1997, the EU and other signatories of the Rio Declaration committed themselves to producing sustainable development strategies in time for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August 2002. At its meeting in Helsinki in December 1999 the European Council invited the European Commission "to prepare a proposal for a long-term strategy for sustainable development to be presented to the European Council in June 2001." The European Commission's proposal for a European Union Sustainable Development Strategy was adopted by the Commission on May 15 2002 and focuses upon six trends that EU policy must address:
- Climate change
- Potential threats to public health
- Increasing pressure on vital natural resources
- Poverty and social exclusion
- Implications of an ageing population
- Congestion and pollution
Integration of environmental concerns into the policy-making of the EU is ongoing, with strategies for many areas under development.
Sustainable Development Internationally
The World Summit on Sustainable Development took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 26 to September 4 2002. It brought together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organisations, businesses and other major groups to focus the world's attention on actions to achieve sustainable development.
The Scottish Civic Delegation was drawn from different parts of Scottish society and delegates were chosen to achieve a balance of established leaders and fresh faces with particular committment towards sustainable development. The members were:
- Stephanie Wiseman - Scottish Earth Champion, from Lunnasting Primary School, Shetland
- Ian Russell - Group Chief Executive of ScottishPower
- Kevin Dunion - Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland
- Belinda Miller - Local Agenda 21 Co-Ordinator at Aberdeen City Council
- Dr Donald Bruce - Director of Society, Religion and Technology Project of Church of Scotland
- Damian Killeen - Director of The Poverty Alliance
Delegates attended sessions of most relevance and interest to them, and their impressions of the Summit, along with reports of their activities can be found in The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002: Reports from the Scottish Civic Delegation.
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