It is essential to understand that the implementation of sustainable development is not limited to the government. Inclusive growth has to be a joint commitment of business, civil society, international and local donor organizations, and—the national and local governments.
But let’s go one step further: the successful implementation of the three pillars—people, planet, profits—also hinges on communities or societies that want to pursue sustainability.
The following six principles of sustainability can help a community ensure that its social, economic, and environmental systems are well integrated and will endure. We should remember that, although the list of principles is useful, each of them has the potential to overlap and interrelate with some or all of the others.
1. Maintain and, if possible, enhance its residents’ quality of life
Quality of life or livability differs from community to community. It has many components: income, education, health care, housing, employment, legal rights on the one hand; exposure to crime, pollution, disease, disaster and other risks on the other. Each locality must define and plan for the quality of life it wants and believes it can achieve, for now and for future generations. And this applies to rural and urban communities.
2. Enhance local economic vitality
A viable local economy is essential to sustainability. This
includes job opportunities, sufficient tax base and revenue to support the
government and the provision of infrastructure and services, and a suitable
business climate. A sustainable economy is also diversified, so that it is not
easily disrupted by internal or external events, or disasters. Especially in
the rural environment, the introduction of agricultural supply chains are
essential, a clear area where big business can help develop sustainable
agriculture by taking the middleman out.
3. Promote social and intergenerational equity
A sustainable community’s resources and opportunities are available to everyone, regardless of ethnicity, age, gender, cultural background, religion or other characteristics. Further, a sustainable community does not deplete its resources, destroy natural systems or pass along unnecessary hazards to its great-great-grandchildren. Again, looking at the agricultural sector, we have to make efforts to keep the children on their farms, providing technology and finance for them, and helping them to see opportunities in the agri supply chain.
4. Maintain and, if possible, enhance the quality of the environment
A sustainable community sees itself as existing within a physical environment and natural ecosystem, and tries to find ways to coexist with that environment. It does its part by avoiding unnecessary degradation of the air, oceans, fresh water and other natural systems. It tries to replace detrimental practices with those that allow ecosystems to continuously renew themselves. In some cases, this means simply protecting what is already there by finding ways to redirect human activities and development into less sensitive areas. But a community may need to take action to reclaim, restore or rehabilitate an already-damaged ecosystem. The vision of a Blue Philippines carries the need to protect the environment of fishermen.
5. Incorporate disaster resilience and mitigation into its decisions and actions
A community is resilient in the face of inevitable natural disasters like typhoons, earthquakes, floods, and drought if it takes steps to ensure that such events cause as little damage as possible, that productivity is only minimally interrupted, and that quality of life remains at (or quickly returns to) high levels. A disaster-resilient community further takes responsibility for the risks it faces and, to the extent possible, is self-reliant. Part of the process is to introduce insurance (life and nonlife) to poor communities. I understand that the insurance sector is determined to provide insurance to farmers.
6. Use a consensus building, participatory process when making decisions
Participatory processes are vital to community sustainability. Such a process engages all the people who have a stake in the outcome of the decision being contemplated. It encourages the identification of concerns and issues, promotes the wide generation of ideas for dealing with those concerns, and helps those involved find a way to reach agreement about solutions. It results in the production and dissemination of important, relevant information, fosters a sense of community, produces ideas that may not have been considered otherwise, and engenders a sense of ownership on the part of the community for the final decision.
As mentioned above, there is the need of the government (national and local) to work closely with business, civil society and communities in achieving the changes needed to achieve sustainable development and inclusive growth. In this context, I admire the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission to put pressure on large companies in the Philippines to get their hands dirty in sustainable development.
Comments are appreciated; e-mail me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.