Charles Brown On Sustainable Development
Saying “when considering new hotel or other commercial development, we should consider the long-term implications for our way of life and the connections between these three dimensions,” Charles Brown, Director of the Sustainable Development Unit, went on to say we should consider aspects including our economy, jobs, open space, transportation infrastructure, waste management system, energy and water supply, housing requirements and more. Mr Brown made these comments, and more, during a speech at the Rotary Club of Hamilton on June 15.
Below follows the full text of Mr Brown’s speech:
Good afternoon Mr. President, Rotarians and guests.
I am here today to talk to you about a topic which, I hope, you have been hearing an increasing amount about in recent months – and that topic is sustainable development. Some of you may have been present at the lunch on March 2nd this year, when Mr. Arthur Hodgson from the Sustainable Development Roundtable spoke about this very subject and traced the development of the concept through the ages.
I am here today in my capacity as Director of the Sustainable Development Unit to talk to you about why sustainable development is important, why you should make the effort to understand it and why this is a key issue for Bermuda.
So, let’s start by answering the question…what is sustainable development? Put very simply, it is a way of life. It is about balancing our basic / current needs with those needs of Bermuda’s future generations. And these needs include housing, education, food, employment, safety and economic security.
Sustainable Development requires us to expand our perspective to include both short and long-term considerations in every decision we make personally and as a country. The decisions we make today on whether or not to extend our home, how we package our food, the type of medical care that we seek, whether and how a new hotel or office block should be built, whether or not gambling should be legalized and how we deal with our garbage….these all have impacts on our future sustainability.
You may ask why should I care? Well, at the heart of this matter is preserving aspects of our lives in Bermuda that we enjoy today, so that they can be enjoyed by our families, friends and communities in the future. It is about ensuring our quality of life. And there is not much, that is more important than that.
When I talk about quality of life, I’m talking about a Bermuda that has enough space for our children and grandchildren to play in, a Bermuda where everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in our economy, a Bermuda where we can continue to welcome visitors and workers from overseas, because we have the capacity to accommodate them, and a Bermuda where we can still spend time on a lazy Sunday afternoon fishing off the rocks or playing neighbourhood cricket because we still have healthy fish stocks and enough open spaces in our neighbourhoods.
Perhaps by now you may be sensing that sustainability touches almost every part of our daily lives. Despite this broad reach, The Sustainable Development Unit (the SDU) carried out a survey of Bermuda residents late last year to establish a benchmark of awareness of sustainable development and the role of the SDU. The results were not surprising….they highlighted a knowledge gap – as 25% said that they don’t know what sustainable development means.
Another 25 percent, said “isn’t it about balancing the need for open spaces with development.” While this is true, importantly sustainable development also includes our social and economic issues, what we call the blue and the yellow issues to go along with the ever-present green.
These three dimensions – our society, our economy – and our environment are the foundation of sustainable development. To ensure sustainability, these three must be considered in tandem or holistically if you will. Combined, they form the lens of Sustainable Development. The lens through which we should look – when planning our future.
For example, when considering new hotel or other commercial development, we should consider the long-term implications for our way of life and the connections between these three dimensions, when making a decision. We should ask…What’s the net value that future development could bring to our economy, what jobs will be created for Bermudians, what is the impact on our open space, what increased pressure will there be on our transportation infrastructure, our waste management system, how much labour will be imported, what are the plans for energy and water supply, what will be the housing requirements for the imported labour, will they all need a car, a bike, will they want to participate in the Bermuda Day Parade, etcetera. These connections should be raised and fully analysed through the lens of sustainable development so that holistic and integrated decision-making guides our future.
So what is the government doing in order to ensure the sustainable development of Bermuda? Well, In March 2008, the sustainable development strategy and implementation plan was released. This plan contains over 130 recommendations with the responsibility for them spread over all government Ministries, and the SDU is required to work in partnership with these Ministries to deliver this plan. This plan stands as a social contract between the government and the people of Bermuda.
The SDU exists to embed, monitor and report on sustainable development in Bermuda. It is mandated to take forward the recommendations of the SD Strategy and Implementation Plan. But we can’t do it alone; we need to work in partnership with our colleagues in government, NGO’s and private sector organisations. Remember we work on your behalf and on behalf of our future. We are all shareholders and we’ve all got a roll to play.
Although the SDU does not own the resources to deliver change, we can and do advise our leaders to encourage the inclusion of the principles of sustainable development in our decision-making. A long term goal is to institutionalize SD so that it is firmly embedded in our national policy development.
The sustainable development plan is wide-reaching, and covers five themes that focus on 1. Sustaining our Communities; 2. Living Within Our Limits; 3. Protecting the Environment; 4. Maintaining a Strong and Inclusive Economy and 5. Transforming the Public Sector.
From these themes six priorities have been established. Three of them – housing, open space and our consumption patterns– are policy issues where we need to decide on a way forward. The systematic priorities that need addressing include the integration of our social services, improving education and implementing the policy for workforce development.
This is work that will require time. Delivering Sustainable Development is a journey….one that starts with education, understanding and intentional actions that bring about changes one day at a time.
So, what is Bermuda’s current situation, what are our strengths and what unsustainable paths may we already be on?
Bermuda is in a pretty good spot. As a country we have a lot that we should be proud of. We should proudly acknowledge our very high literacy rate and a high percentage of college and trades graduates; an excellent technology and communications infrastructure with almost 90 percent of homes connected to the Internet; a strong legislative framework and participatory democracy; and a beautiful blessing of natural resources.
As well as recognising our strengths, we should also recognise our weaknesses so that we can start to address them.
It is widely accepted that our current path of energy consumption is unsustainable. Looking globally, we rank quite near the top on a per capita basis. We need to make a conscious effort to reduce our fossil-fuel consumption and reliance.
We’re all aware, that our serious crime has been on the rise and this undesirable status threatens our social and economic sustainability. Our reputation and appeal as a tourism destination and international business hub cannot and should not absorb this if they are to remain sustainable.
In some cases the lines between opportunities and threats can be distinctly blurred. This is particularly true of the way we define parts of our economic success. For example at first sight, figures showing job creation on the rise over the last 20 years initially point to a positive story of Bermuda’s growing economy. But when you dissect this picture further the situation becomes more complex.
The representation of Bermudians in the local labour market has dropped from almost 80% to below 70% over the last 15 years, suggesting that while we are creating jobs, increasingly they are being filled by our guest workers from overseas. Simultaneously we collect revenue to support extensive government services.
Now, Let’s be clear, there is no suggestion that job creation be suspended, but as a country we should ask and answer an important question: what are the consequences of our economic success on our ability to sustain a good quality of life in Bermuda? Currently we are the eighth most populated country in the world…and, population projections between now and 2024 show a steady increase, meaning that we could find ourselves with an even higher density.
Related to these figures is the 50 percent increase in the number of dwellings in Bermuda since 1980 and most of them attract a car. We should ask ourselves what are the effects of being even more densely populated? What might this mean for our future – our social harmony, our future quality of life?
Waste is another area where we appear to be on an unsustainable path. As a nation we contribute 2,000 pounds (a Ton) of waste per capita. This compares to an average of 1,320 pounds produced by the OECD countries.
When we combine these elements, it strongly suggests that we need to agree a plan for Bermuda that is compatible with our “limits to growth”. It suggests that we ought not to continue on our current path where significant elements of this path are unsustainable and if these are unchecked and unaddressed they could lead to a lower quality of life for current and future generations. So it is important that we establish the right balance.
So where do we go from here? As you can appreciate, the SD Agenda is broad and there are several connections between our social, economic and environmental issues and responsibilities. Some of these connections see us on an unsustainable path.
Now, as a country we need to recognize the challenges to our sustainability and make plans to address them. Our future depends on how well we adopt the principles of sustainable development. We owe our children and their children a strong and healthy economy, society and natural environment.
The sustainable development plan could be just another report with several recommendations that sits on a shelf, but, as I hope I have successfully demonstrated here today, this is a subject that cannot, and certainly should not be ignored. It should be a valuable part of family discussion and certainly not an afterthought.
It is my job to ensure, with your help, that sustainable development is elevated in everyone’s conscience and becomes a journey that we will all embark upon. I hope you will begin that journey with me today.
Thank you.
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