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Sustainable developmentNew: John Peet gave this presentation at the Sustainable Development Forum on November 19th. Powerpoint (6MB) /Acrobat (1.2MB) Forum, Nov 2004 | Sustainable Development Forum in Wellington, March 12th (report) | International conference on Sustainability Engineering And Science (Auckland, July 2004) | Towards Making Sustainable Development Work: notes from the April 11 meeting | The way forward | Register for April 11, 2003 Forum on SD in Wellington | Notes from the November 2002 Sustainable Development Forum | Making NZ strong: A discussion paper from the November 2002 Sustainable Development Forum (192KB, PDF) | Sustainable Auckland Congress proceedings (PDF, 1.5MB) | Conference call minutes Sept 02 | Triple Top Line: Accounting for Sustainability, by Steve Thompson, July 2002 In recent years, the number of individuals and organisations both interested and involved in sustainable development in New Zealand has increased. With this increase in interest and effort has come a significant volume of information from a number of sources - which can not only be challenging to keep abreast of, but can be so distinct and separated that part of the challenge becomes sorting through the myriad of information to find what may be relevant to you and/or your organisation. The objective of this site - initially - is to provide a central hub of information for those parties interested in sustainable development. Contained in these pages is information about New Zealand organisations who are interested and/or involved in sustainable development. Given this increased interest, a number of people representing organisations from all facets of sustainable development convened at the Royal Society on February 14th 2002. The output of this meeting can be found in the Forum section of these pages. Various events related to sustainable development are occurring all the time. Check out the events section of these pages to investigate what events you may be interested in. An email discussion list exists for those people who are interested in discussing current issues/thoughts on Sustainable Development both here in New Zealand and globally. Please subscribe to this list if you would like to be in touch. The Steering Committee for the Forum on Sustainable Development has been given the task of defining a way forward for the Forum. As a result the attached document has been drafted which outlines a possible format for the Forum. The Forum format is on the agenda for the Forum on April 11 and I would like to ask that everyone read this document beforehand to enable an informed discussion to take place. Triple Top Line: Accounting for Sustainability, by Steve Thompson, July 2002 List of organisations interested in sustainable development Forum about SD on Feb 14th - summary Minutes of Steering Committee conference call of May 8 Minutes of Steering Group July 2002 To join the discussion list (sustainable-talk) Being at the WSSD - was it worth it?Comment by reader Klaus Bosselmann, University of Auckland Civil society delegates at the WSSD perceived Johannesburg 2002 more as a "Rio Minus 10” rather than a “Rio Plus 10” summit. Globalisation since Rio has reversed the States' perception of sustainable development. At Johannesburg 2002, the rich North and the poor South (G 77) agreed that economic and social progress are the key to sustainability, not the other way round. Consequently, Rio principles vanished in favour of a sell-out to the WTO and big business. So, was it worth being at the WSSD? My own focus was promoting the legal implementation of sustainability. One avenue was the advancement of the Earth Charter, the first negotiated agreement of global civil society and the only international document spelling out the ethics and principles of sustainable development. The second avenue was a series of six environmental law conferences. Our discussions were dominated by ethical, legal and governance questions surrounding sustainable development. Civil society has a leadership role here in the absence of governments performing it. Certainly the New Zealand Government has never taken an initiative for a public debate on the ethics and principles of sustainability. Will that be different, when Government now consults with the public on a national strategy for sustainable development? Genuine consultation would, first of all, require some institutional arrangements. For example, all other OECD-countries established independent advisory bodies before they embarked on drafting strategies. Involving - not just "consulting" - civil society is the key to sustainable development. This has been forgotten in Johannesburg, but must be ensured here at home. March 2002 UpdateWe now have as many organization thumb-nail sketches as we are likely to get. Our computer team is putting final touches to our SD web site, and creating an SD-Talk mail list, so that you can soon e-mail a message to SD-Talk, and it will go to all on the list. The web site will be a workaday site, which will contain our notes from the February 14 SD Forum, plus the thumb-nails, plus a calendar of events (as long as you supply them), plus links to any SD web sites you maintain. It will then be open for any other contributions you may wish to make, text only at this stage I'm afraid. Below is the list to date of those people volunteering as steering group members. In an open letter to the steering group, may I invite the group to put their thinking caps on, and begin exchanging e-mail ideas about next steps. We're already running late, but you'll recall that what we agreed from the February 14 meeting was: EARLY MARCH1. Steering team formation 2. Email list set up and in operation MID-MARCH3. Web-page procured and online. Basic contents to include:
END-APRIL4. Steering team produces output
So now the group will need to work on Terms of reference and action plan; -Framework for providing advice to government; and set up a working party to examine Government Policy advice for WSSD. By the way, for those who haven't come across it, Australia runs a good e-group on sustainable development. You can register to receive it via http://www.green-innovations.asn.au/greenleap.htm SD Forum STEERING GROUP MEMBERS AS AT MARCH 2002
August 2002 updateSustainable Development Committee MeetingThe Steering Committee appointed by the February 2002 "Forum", on sustainable development, held at the Royal Society of New Zealand' Wellington offices, held a Conference Call on July 31, 2002 to examine progress and plan future events. Below are the minutes of that meeting. Attendees:Auckland: Klaus Bosselmann, Jane Harman, Carol, Annette Wellington: Kerry Griffiths, James Newell, Steve Thompson. Apologies: Gail Ogilvie, Rachel Brown, Dave Breur, Jim Salinger Technical Difficulties: were encountered from Christchurch
AgendaFeedback and updates from sub groups Action Points Groups1
2.
November 21, 22 dates not possible - RSNZ General feeling that the meeting should be held in October/November. Wendy McGuinness to find out from Ruth Wilkie the intended date the Government will put out their strategy.
Two briefing papers
Website
Group 2 Terms of ReferenceA lot of attention needs to be given to funding, membership etc. Wendy - Should we be group focus or individual focused. Jamie considers it should be a federation of groups.
also sell in to those who need persuading before meeting. Advisory group must be independent.
Kerry willing to co-chair group and work with Klaus progressing report. Kerry to send a revised paper to the group with issues discussed today. Wendy suggests sub group investigate a name that people are comfortable with. Next Meeting : Thursday 19 September 3.00pm Sustainable Development Conference Call MinutesDate: 19 September 2002 Auckland: Davie Bruer, Kalus Bosselmann, Jim Salinger, Gael Ogilvie, Carol Boyle, George Hooper, Jane Harman. Wellington: Steve Thompson, James Newell, Kerry Griffiths, Wendy McGuiness Christchurch: John Peet, Feedback & Update from Sub-Groups 1. Next Forum Meeting28/29th November 2002 at University of Auckland
Comments:Klaus re involvement of Government Officials we want to lobby as well as hear their position. Keen to see link between consultation on Govt. SD strategy and the new SD council. Kerry suggested a later start time for first day, for those travelling to Auckland. John good idea for forum dates suitable. Involvement of Community Groups look at inviting Groups attending WSSD from NZ. Klaus- may contact groups via Earth Charter and Institute of International Development. John Peet Purpose of forum. Do we want to involve too many community groups? Jim reiterated purpose of meeting as recorded in notes from 5th Sept meeting. Yes we want to allow as many groups representing interests in sustainable development to be part of forum. Jane will collate information on contacts with iwi and Community Groups and alert members of any overlaps. Action for all members: email Jane with list of peoplegroups they intend to contact. SubGroup3 to include Kerry in mailing list. John Peet would like to see in agenda some critique and response to Government policy at the meeting. George, Carol and Jane to discuss ways of interacting with Government during meeting. James suggested panel discussion during Government session. Carol suggested we prepare material on our idea's for Government before forum meeting. George Hooper Meetings with Government officials disrupted by weather in Wellington. However spoke to Ruth Wilkie who is leaving and Marianne Thomson taking over role. Need to channel a formal request to Prime Ministers Dept. Need to define Conference Agenda and times for Government officials. Formal invite from SubGroup 3 and Royal Society to Government officials. Group discussed who from Government departments should be invited. General agreement that we should target the policy makers. George will make initial contact and feedback to SubGroup 3. 2. Terms of Reference SubGroup Kerry & Klaus (Chairs)Kerry just sent out revised TOR, which incorporates feedback on first draft recommendations from recent Government reports including Morgan Williams' report. This sub group will meet (teleconference) to come up with recommendations from the revised TOR. Agree to talk on Thursday 26 September 10am. Kerry to email final draft recommendation to Steering Group.
3. WSSD policy advice John Peet. (Chair)Govt. Policy document came out too late for comment before WSSD Several new reports out from Government, so now in position to look at these. John Peet to work on responses to these reports to push for "strong sustainability". Will try to have some document (list) available for Steering Group meeting in November. Klaus conference organisers should prepare paper on purpose and strategies for the forum meeting. John Peet need to challenge Government on its sustainable policies. George/Steve need to provide intellectual leadership to government. This group can do that. John will circulate draft response document in next few days.
Final Comments:Kerry Website information was circulated. George/Jane information received and will be used to inform workshop. Wendy interested in workshop on Key Performance Indicators at forum. Next Meeting: 7th November 2002 at 3pm Post Meeting: Advertising the event
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