Sustainability and community - Research Paper Example

? Sustainability and Community The development of sustainability has become a key priority for governments worldwide. The need for promoting sustainability seems to be mostly related to the severe effects of environmental pollution, as reflected in the worsening of climate worldwide. However, sustainability has been also found to result in the improvement of quality of life and the increase of effectiveness of communities’ infrastructure, as for example through the development of green areas across a city or the establishment of recreation areas for people of all ages. In accordance with a relevant report of the European Commission in 2009 (see Figure 1, Appendix), the sustainable development is closely related to the economic development. This means that effective sustainable development plans within a particular community could help towards the improvement of social and economic life of all residents. Current paper focuses on the presentation of the most common challenges of sustainability in the context of communities. The difficulties and delays that sustainability projects have to face when introduced in a particular community are analytically presented aiming to show that the promotion of sustainability in communities worldwide has to be effectively supported. Existing plans for increasing sustainability within the community have to be reviewed. The actively participation of residents would be of critical importance for the success of the relevant initiatives. Sustainability is of critical importance for communities worldwide. In fact, by supporting sustainability communities can serve a series of critical needs: the improvement of infrastructure, meaning especially the transportation system available in each community, the limitation of pollution across the community as this fact would positively influence the lives of the local people, the limitation of energy use across the community and the development of projects for enhancing the local economic life, such as the increase of ecotourism and so on. The above targets can be achieved only through a carefully designed plan of action. At this point it would be important to take into consideration all aspects of such projects, meaning especially the capabilities of each community in terms of infrastructure, financing and human resources (Pierce and Dale 2000). Despite the challenges related to such initiatives it would be quite important for the people in each community to support the particular projects. At this point, it would be necessary to consider the significant effects of environmental pollution and of other environmental events on the life of residents. The excess pollution can limit the options of residents in terms of sports and other similar activities (Phillips and Pittman 2009). Also, the lack of appropriate infrastructure, based on the principles of sustainability, can result to the pollution of the community, an effect that can also negatively influence the local agricultural and fishery. Even if the importance of sustainability is significant, as described above, the promotion of sustainability in communities worldwide faces a series of obstacles. In accordance with Mazmanian and Kraft (2009) the reason for the delays in the development of sustainability across communities can be identified in the following fact: the requirements and the role of sustainability, as an element of a community’s strategy, is often not adequately explained. As a result, residents often think of sustainability as of a non-important issue, being regulated through appropriate legislative texts worldwide. On the other hand, not all communities have the resources required for promoting sustainable; reference is made not only to the technical and human resources available for the realization of the above project but rather to the managerial staff supervising these plans. Since sustainability plans can be quite complex it is necessary that appropriately educated and skilled staff participate in the relevant efforts (Mazmanian and Kraft 2009). At this point, the following issue should be made clear: in the context of community the promotion of sustainability could be more difficult compared to other areas/ sectors. This difficult is explained by the following fact: community is difficult to be checked and analyzed as of its needs, weaknesses and skills (capabilities of members). In fact, due to its size, a community is difficulty to be appropriately developed in terms of sustainability (Marsden 30). The cost of such project would be extremely high while the allocation of resources (staff and material) for the completion of such task can be quite challenging (Marsden 30). The lack of effective communication among the residents of the community is also a common problem that would negatively affect the efforts of the community to be improved in terms of sustainability. Moreover, the promotion of sustainability within the community is likely to face the following obstacle: existing infrastructure is quite poor and its improvement following the rules of sustainability would require its replacement, a plan for which, most commonly, communities are not prepared. In the specific case, the balance between the costs of the initiatives for the promotion of sustainability and the expected benefits may be not equal, an issue which is taken into consideration by those interested in investing on these projects. In any case, the delays in the completion of sustainability projects This fact has the following, negative, consequences: investments on the community may be cancelled, or even delayed for later, a fact that would also severely affect the people in the local community, meaning especially the economic life of the community as it is related to its economic life (Neth 2008). In this way also, innovative projects, as supporting the promotion of sustainability within each community can be cancelled; for example, the development of a modern school building based on the principles of sustainability may be delayed or cancelled if its cost is quite high. As in all projects, communication and cooperation among residents is expected to have a critical importance in the success of the relevant initiatives. In practice, this part of the sustainability projects can be quite problematic. Residents in different community areas are likely to evaluate each community project, referring especially to those communities’ projects promoting sustainability, differently (Meltzer 2005). The interests of a few residents, even if they are justified taking into consideration the conditions of each case, can destroy a well – designed community project promoting sustainability. The above problem reveals the lack of effective communication among residents within communities. The specific problem is not easy to be addressed taking into consideration the different beliefs, backgrounds, perceptions and economic status of residents across each community. This problem is reflected in the following fact: the efforts of the government of New Zealand, used as an example, to increase sustainability in communities by introducing a relevant plan up to 2008, did not have the expected results. For example, in regard to the quality of air, the benefits achieved through the initiatives of the government to promote sustainability are quite low (Figure 2, Appendix). In other areas also, like for instance, in transport and in waste, the level of success of the government’s plans on sustainability has been rather low, taking into consideration the resources engaged in the development of the particular project. The above fact reveals another issue related to the development of sustainability in communities. When promoted within communities projects promoting sustainability may not be adequately supported, a problem, which is often related to excessive bureaucracy (Neth 2008). The efforts developed for the promotion of sustainability worldwide can be characterized as significant, a fact that reveals the importance of sustainability for all aspects of human life. In accordance with the literature published on this issue, the requirements of sustainable development are many and this would be a reason for the delays in the increase of sustainability in different industrial sectors. In the context of the community, sustainability has to face specific challenges, related mostly to the resources available, the existing infrastructure, but also the willingness of residents to cooperate. It has been made clear that due to the difficulties involved, projects promoting sustainability may take a significant period of time for their completion. However, their success can result to significant benefits on the social, environmental and the economic life of each community. From this point of view, sustainable projects would be highly promoted in communities, ensuring that they are flexible enough so that any potential constraint is effectively managed, in the context described above. Works Cited European Commission. ‘Sustainable development – Socioeconomic Development.’ July 2009. European Commission. 12 January 2012 Marsden, Terry. Sustainable communities. Oxford: Emerald Group Publishing, 2008. Mazmanian, Daniel, and Michael, Kraft. Toward sustainable communities: transition and transformations in environmental policy. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2009. Meltzer, Graham. Sustainable Community: Learning from the Cohousing Model. Victoria: Trafford Publishing, 2005. Neth, Baromey. Ecotourism as a tool for sustainable rural community development and natural resources management in the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. Kassel: Kassel University Press GmbH, 2008. Phillips, Rhonda, and Robert, Pittman. An Introduction to Community Development. Oxon: Taylor & Francis, 2009 Pierce, John, and Ann, Dale. Communities, Development, and Sustainability Across Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000. Statistics New Zealand. ‘Measuring New Zealand’s Progress Using a Sustainable Development Approach: 2008.’ 2008. Statistics New Zealand. 12 January 2012 Appendix Figure 1 – Sustainable development as related to economic development (Source: European Commission 2009) Figure 2 – Performance of sustainable project in New Zealand, up to 2008 (Source: Statistics New Zealand 2008) Read More