Integrating sustainability Essay

During the recent years many challenges have started facing communities due to the controversial tendencies in the modern world- rapid urbanization and struggles of communities for keeping environment in the state which was common for it for many centuries. The problem which communities have come across now is very complex, and requires a very well-considered approach. On one hand, the present generation wants to enjoy all the benefits of the time and take advantages of everything what it offers to them. On the other hand, it’s important to maintain to the environment in such a way that future generations can take advantage of it as well. It’s impossible to use all of the natural resources in just recent years because further generations will not be able to use them. Therefore, issues of sustainability have become particularly sharp lately. One of the ways to face the challenge and devote necessary attention to sustainability issues is by carrying out well-balanced policy on the government level, defining the mission statement of the policy, setting correct objectives, analyzing the present state of environment and factors influencing it, and suggesting measures which can be used in order to implement the adopted strategies. The major role of strategic planning in this matter cannot be doubted. The strategy has to be carried out at the highest level in order to meet all of the goals which nowadays reality sets in front of us. In Sutherland Shire, the damage of land is connected with urban growth and the consequent influence on water quality, biodiversity and air quality. As the State of Environment Report states, â€Å"in 2002/03, a total of 2,728 development applications were received in the Shire. Of these, 2,400 development applications were approved (54 less than approved in 2001/02). Of all development applications received, 13% were associated with new residential development. Medium density development accounted for 2% (50) of all development applications in 2002/03. † (State of Environment Report, p. 10). Sutherland Shire Council has been very efficient during the recent years in setting objectives and implementing all the activities regarding environmental protection. The plans issued by the Sutherland Council manage to cover all the necessary issues which rise in the shire during the recent years. On one hand, the council focuses on the modern developments made in the shire but it also devotes lots of attention to environmental problems. In order to achieve maximum efficiency, the council regards all the activities provided in the shire to improve the life of dwellers through the prism of environmental protection. This approach has proved to be very efficient for present day realities. As the Management Plan of Sutherland Shire states, â€Å"†¦Sustainability is the ability to provide choices for future generations of the Shire without compromising those of our generation. The Shire has made progress in addressing challenges in community issues and safety, the natural environment, and transport, identified in 2000. Further integration of transport choices with land use, which affects community issues, safety and the environment, is required. An informed democratic process which carefully addresses Shire risks, and continued commitment to sustainability in council management, are fundamental to achieving sustainability. † (Management Plan, 15) The perception of sustainability provided by Sutherland Shire Council plays a very important role in all the activities provided by the council. They include solving problems regarding community safety, transport, natural environment, and some other issues. The Management Plan and State of Environment Plan of Sutherland Shire both focus on ecologically sustainable development. The whole purpose of such development is taking into consideration all of the objectives which were set in NSW Local Government Act in 1993. The Management Plan has also been created according to the council adopted Our Guide for Shaping the Shire to 2030. The major strategic goals which the council states in the Management Plan are â€Å"†¦to pursue sustainability across economic, social and environmental considerations. We address economic, social and environmental issues on a day to day basis and in this plan, have made this more tangible with triple bottom line statements against our principal activities† (Management Plan, p. 12). The plan also states that the council’s vision of the shire is â€Å"a community working together to attain safe, healthy and active lifestyles, through accountable decision-making, that achieves sustainable development and economic opportunities, that respect people and nature† (Management Plan, p. 11). Describing the vision of the shire is a very important part of strategic planning of the council because the achievement of the marked vision of the shire is the major strategic goal which the council sets for the community. The strategic goal is expressed very well in the plan, and this enables the council to plan the activities carefully in order to achieve the goal. According to all of the mentioned documents, all the developments which take place in the shire during the following years had to be done without damaging the natural environment and preventing future generations from enjoying the benefits of clean water, beautiful gardens and many other advantages which nature has given to the shire long ago. The NSW Local Government Act stated that urban development which is currently occurring in the shire is very dangerous for the natural resources, for example water, air quality, biodiversity. Therefore, when adopting future plans for the development of shire, it was very important for the local council to take into consideration all the measures which would prevent natural environment from damage. Most of the measures taken during the recent years were very successful in this regard. According to the Sutherland Shire Management Plan, the two key components of ESD in local government are: a requirement for natural resource protection actions (e. g. bushland, waterways, tree canopy, etc. ) in all unit work programs, based on management plan development, including descriptions of individual management responsibilities within core business; reporting State of the Environment results including likely outcomes for key natural resource health indicators as a result of community decisions on planning options. (Management Plan, p. 14). The council has planned many measures which would be crucial in environmental protection. In the UN-Derived Local Action 21 Program, all the measures taken for integration of council with the community were marked. All of the joint efforts of the council and the community had to be devoted to eliminating environmental problems. For example, some measures were taken regarding the areas which are currently experiencing planning change. The main emphasize in the plan was made on the risk assessment techniques which would provide all of the necessary data about the possible damage which could be given to the environment in the result of the measures. All of the objectives set in the UN-Derived Local Action 21 Program answered the main strategic goals placed in front of the environment. The results of the program implementation however showed the lack of organization communication and some mistakes made during transport planning, therefore some more consideration had to be devoted to the structure of the program in order to eliminate negative impact of the mentioned factors. The main directions which the Council has set are very meaningful and help to implement all the activities which it has stated in the strategic goal: ? pursuing ecologically sustainable development, meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising those of the future; ? demonstrating organizational delivery of integrated services and be environmentally, socially and economically responsible and accountable; ? managing resources to maintain financial viability and enhance service provision? promoting access, equity and a sense of community (Management Plan, p. 11). Most of the directions which have been set by the Council are very complex and require joint efforts of people involved in the community life. In order to increase the efficiency of implementing the goals which have been set by the council, it makes a decision to encourage as many people as possible to participate in the community life. Therefore, increasing the number of citizens involved in the community life serves one of the ways to achieve the directions mentioned above. There are some other issues on which the council chooses to focus in order to meet all of the challenges which can arise from the objectives set by it. According to the Management Plan of Sutherland Shire, the main issues on which the council is planning to focus during the next years included the following: ? Nurture our clean and beautiful natural environment; ? Improve our suburbs; ? Increase the number of citizens involved in community life; ? Maintain our prosperous local economy; ? Build safe, healthy and active lifestyles; ? Business activities; ? Support services (Management Plan). As it’s possible to tell from the list of activities which the council was providing, the main feature of the plan was combining activities leading to the increase of the level of life of people in the shire, brining development into their lifestyles, and at the same time focusing on the measures of environmental protection. It’s very important that the council has devoted lots of attention to the issue of nurturing the clean and beautiful natural environment of the Sutherland Shire. This features of the plan shows that the major strategic goals which have been put in from of the council are being implemented. The importance of other measures which have been taken by the council, like increasing the number of citizens involved in the community life, increasing the prosperity of local economy, building active lifestyles are very important as well. Those are also one of the measures which have to be taken to prepare future generations for a happy and prosperous life. If actions taken to protect environment are very important for the future generations ecology vice because they guarantee them life in a clean environment, actions taken to increase the prosperity of the shire are equally important. One of the major features of the Management Plan and State of Environment Report of Sutherland Shire is that the mentioned actions don’t come into controversion with one another. This is a very important achievement of the council’s planning which can be marked as an outstanding one. As long as the objectives of environmental activities and of urban development activities are well-balanced, the results of the plan implementation will always be positive. There are many activities which have been planned by the Council in order to protect the environment. In the plan, there have been included many activities which dealt with people’s recreation (like building public golf courses, tennis courts, vacation facilities), providing services for youth and older people and some others, but the main attention was devoted to environmental issues. The list of activities planned by the Council to protect the environment includes the following responsibilities and services: ? animal shelter ? beaches ? Bushcare ? certification (for development) ? Cleansing of public places ? clean-up campaign ? Earthworks ? economic development support? environmental assessment and application determination ? environmental compliance ? environmental education ? environmental health and regulation ? environmental planning ? environmental research and policy ? parks maintenance and construction ? plan of management for community land ? roads construction and traffic management ? stormwater drainage ? street cleaning ? waste collection and education (Management Plan, p. 13). In order to have a full view of how the activities have been balanced in the Management Plan, it’s necessary to investigate the data which is provided in the organizational budget summary. According to the data of capital works budget, the Council spends the most financial resources on building safe, healthy and active lifestyles (19,537,713), non-divisional programs and indirect income (18,073,881), and improving suburbs (10,253,947). The financial resources which are spent on nurturing clean and beautiful nature environment are the next in the list by the volume of budget expenses and can be estimated by 6,561,895. This figure appears quite low in comparison with other activities on which budget money goes. In order to maintain the environment, it’s necessary for the Council to re-structure the expenses of the budget and make sure that more resources are channeled to the environmental protection. The amount of budget money spent on building safe, healthy and active lifestyles is too high, and it’s important for the Council to devote enough attention to environmental protection. The resources which have been channeled for this issue are insufficient, and it’s necessary for the budget planners to take a closer look at this problem. The environmental programs which have been planned by the Council require substantial financial support, therefore the budget has to be planned accordingly to the possible cost of the programs. For example, as the State of Environment report marks, the following programs have been initiated by the Council: Oyster Bay Trip Substitution Project, Beaches to Bay Bus, Travel access Guides in order to reduce car use. Those projects need substantial financial support from the government. It’s very important to take measures in protecting environmentally sensitive land such as Botany Bay National Park, Geroges River National Park, Heathcote National Park, Royal National Park. In order to protect environmentally sensitive land, financial support from the council is very much needed, and large sums of money have to be channeled to the mentioned activities. As the investigations have shown, the Southerland Shire Management Plan and State of Environment report provide sufficient strategic and operational directions. They both reflect all of the strategic goals which have been set for the shire in order to provide choices for future generations without preventing present generations from enjoying all the benefits of nowadays reality. The actions marked in the plan represent a compromise between the necessity of rapid urban growth dictated by present day realities and the necessity to protect environment for future generations to enjoy beautiful nature and clean air in the same way we do now. Bibliography. 1. Management Plan. Sutherland Shire Council. 2. NSW Local Government Act, 1993. 3. State of Environment Report 2002/2003. Sutherland Shire Council.