Governance for Sustainable Development: As if it Mattered?

Dr. Ann Dale, Trudeau FellowCanada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development

Royal Roads Universitywww.crcresearch.org

What is sustainable development?The human imperative of the 21st century

Sustainable DevelopmentA Process of Reconciliation

The social imperative to ensure the development of democratic systems of governance that can effectively propagate and sustain the values that people wish to live by

The ecological imperative to live within the global biophysical carrying capacity and maintain biodiversity

The economic imperative to ensure that basic needs are met worldwide

AND EQUITABLE ACCESS TO RESOURCES – SOCIAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND ECONOMIC – IS FUNDAMENTAL TO ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Social Ecological

Economic

Human Systems

Natural Systems

Barriers to Implementation

• cleavages

• artificial separations

• divisions

Solitudes, Silos and Stovepipes

Lack of Shared Meaning

Time

Popu

latio

n im

pact

x

Con

sum

ptio

n

Human Systems

Lack of Shared Meaning

Time

Popu

latio

n im

pact

x

Con

sum

ptio

n

Human Systems

Lack of Shared Meaning

Time

Popu

latio

n im

pact

x

Con

sum

ptio

n

Human Systems

Governments

• keep it simple

• implementation gaps

• system rigidities

• system inconsistencies

• KISS

• questions of legitimacy

• who gets to frame the question?

• who gets to decide who the experts are?

• dialogue versus consultation

• electoral cycles

Governments Continued

Status QuoAdapted from Holling 1986

Connectedness

Stor

ed C

apita

l (Po

tent

ial) Renewal

accessible carbonnutrients & energy

Exploitationopportunistr-strategypioneer

Conservationfire

k-strategystorm

pest

Releasedimax

construction

• complex, dynamic living systems

•information will always be incomplete, science uncertain

• not easily bounded

• highly normative

• time, place and scale dependent

The Context

• beyond any one sector or level of government to solve

• demands unprecedented levels of collaboration and partnership to implement

• complexity of the dialogue

The Context Continued

• rapid knowledge diffusion

• private-public partnerships, public-public partnerships, civil society

• research-government partnerships

• interdisciplinary research

• trans-disciplinary solutions

Sustainable Development Innovation, Creativity and Competitiveness

ReconciliationAdapted from Holling 1986

Connectedness

Stor

ed C

apita

l (Po

tent

ial) Renewal

accessible carbonnutrients & energy

Exploitationopportunistr-strategypioneer

Conservationfire

k-strategystorm

pest

Releasedimax

construction

A New Governance Model

Domains of Appreciation

Sustainable Development

Emerging Policy Domains

Trans-disciplinary Networks of Collaboration

Sectoral Implementation

Sectoral Implementation

Sectoral Implementation

Expanded Policy Development

PARADIGMS

PARADIGMS

VALUES

VALUES

EnlargedDecision-MakingContext

Desired Futures

PolicyAlternatives

PolicyApproaches

Strategies &Tactics

FEEDBACK

A Governance Checklist — As if it Mattered?

• only one domain—sustainable development?

• integrated decision-making

• policy congruence

• policy alignment

• Sustainable community development will not be achieved unless supported by a strong legal system. For in a constitutional democracy, the legal system is the mechanism through which the values of the people are expressed and their beliefs acted upon.

Adapted from Boyd 2003

Concrete Immediate Actions

•get the prices right

•carbon tax (all revenues devoted to mitigation)

• enforceable national air quality standards

• enforceable national water quality standards

• national law guaranteeing safe drinking water

•national law guaranteeing safe drinking waters

Concrete Immediate Actions Continued

• law to protect wild and scenic rivers

• law guaranteeing citizens access to information

• long-term planning • strategic research imperative by the granting councils

• enshrine in the Charter the rights to access to clean air, water and food

• ClimateACTION