sustainable development
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Sustainable Development – Time to Act A Civil Engineer’s Response Peter Guthrie Professor of Engineering for Sustainable Development. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. “... development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development – Time to ActA Civil Engineer’s Response
Peter GuthrieProfessor of Engineering
for Sustainable Development
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
“... development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(WCED,1987:43)
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
The Stern Review
Published in 2007
We need to spend now on Climate Change
To delay will result in unacceptable and unaffordable costs
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
IDENTIFYING THE GLOBAL ISSUESThe Millennium Development Goals
At the UN Millennium Assembly (2000) a Declaration was adopted by 189 Member States
It included eight MDGs to be achieved by 2015: Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUES
Climate change Resource depletion Biodiversity Energy Water and sanitation Waste Population growth Pollution Poverty
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESClimate Change
Gases that cause the greenhouse effect are: Carbon dioxide (CO2) (GWP = 1) Methane (CH4) (GWP = 21) Nitrous oxide (N2O) (GWP = 310) Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (GWP = 140 – 11700) Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) (GWP = 6500 – 9200) Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) (GWP = 23900)
CO2 is responsible for 82% of all the global warming caused by UK greenhouse gas releases
Climate change is exacerbated by deforestation
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESClimate Change
The Five Largest Producers of Carbon Dioxide Emissions (World Bank, 2006)
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESClimate Change
Per Capita Emissions (World Bank, 2006)
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESResource Depletion
Sustainable development is often expressed in terms of resource depletion, for example:
“pollutant emission must not exceed the earth’s assimilative capacity; the rate of use of renewable resources must not exceed their regeneration rate; and the rate of use of non-renewable resources must not exceed the rate at which renewable substitutes can be found.”
(Barrett et al., 1999: 399)
The concepts of weak and strong sustainability are concerned almost exclusively with resource depletion
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESResource Depletion
The availability of all non renewable resources is finite
The rate of extraction of most minerals including oil has exceeded rate of new finds for decades
Peak oil may be imminent
Even without peak oil, rising carbon dioxide levels demand a reduction in consumption of oil
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESResource Depletion
The oil industry predicts a doubling of demand by 2030
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESBiodiversity
“The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”
(Article 2, Convention on Biological Diversity, 2002)
There have been recent calls for an international body of biodiversity experts, akin to the IPCC
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESBiodiversity
Biodiversity data is published by the World Bank in the World Development Indicators
Eg, in India in 2004: Of 422 known mammal species, 85 are threatened Of 1,180 known bird species, 79 are threatened Of 18,664 known flowering plan species, 246 are threatened
It has been suggested that only some 1.5 million of the estimated total 8 to 10 million species have been documented
Estimates of species loss may therefore be little more than guesswork
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
THE GLOBAL ISSUESPopulation Growth
The world’s population in 2005 was 6.5 billion
5.3 billion people live in less developed regions
The world’s population expected to grow to 9.1 billion by 2050 47% increase in less developed regions 8% increase in developed regions
Annual population growth is, at present approx 76 million; by 2050 it is estimated that annual growth will have fallen to 34 million
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
The London Olympics
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
The London Olympics
Location and new public transport infrastructure
Waterways Land reclamation and
remediation New facilities,
housing, business opportunities and recreational spaces
12 Principles Carbon Global local internal
environments Biodiversity Air, noise, and soil Water Waste Materials Transport and mobility Inclusion Community Employment Health and wellbeing
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
The Eden Project
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
The Eden Project: Waste Neutral
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
The Eden Project
Sustainability tackled through Location Employment Avoidance of carbon Use of derelict site Choice of materials Aims of project Management of waste Inclusion of neighbours Design access for all
24Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Mersey Tidal Power Study
25Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Mersey Tidal Power Study
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
Mersey Tidal Power StudySustainability dilemmas
Ecological protection vs carbon reduction
Employment opportunities vs increased traffic
Industrial development vs restoration of natural landscape
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20 Most deprived w ards in Merseyside (Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000)
Mersey Barrage
Objective 1 Areas
Objective 2 Areas
Assisted Areas
NWDA Strategic Regional Sites (Dec 2001)
Main Employment Areas
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
RESPONSES AND IMPLEMENTATIONNew Approaches – Marshalling Diverse Data
Sustainable Earthquake Preparedness for the Built Environment of a Rural Seismic Area(Karababa, in draft)
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
RESPONSES AND IMPLEMENTATIONNew Approaches – Marshalling Diverse Data
Sustainable Earthquake Preparedness for the Built Environment of a Rural Seismic Area(Karababa, in draft)
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
RESPONSES AND IMPLEMENTATIONNew Approaches – Marshalling Diverse Data
Sustainable Earthquake Preparedness for the Built Environment of a Rural Seismic Area(Karababa, in draft)
Diverse data from qualitative and quantitative sources Put together in a largely objective way Methodologies could be developed to produce
systematic approaches to embrace soft data
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
CONCLUSIONS
Engineering must be part of the solution
Engineers must be educated and trained to respond to the challenge
Engineers must learn to think laterally
Society needs to articulate how it wants progress to be measured
Department of Engineering
Centre for Sustainable Development
CONCLUSIONS
We stand at the edge of what may be a precipice
We are the first generation to knowingly compromise future survival
Immediate action is needed
The vision must be bold
The future is depending on us