sustainable development

Department of Engineering

Centre for Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development – Time to ActA Civil Engineer’s Response

Peter GuthrieProfessor 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”

(WCED,1987:43)



The Stern Review

Published in 2007

We need to spend now on Climate Change

To delay will result in unacceptable and unaffordable costs



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



THE GLOBAL ISSUES

Climate change Resource depletion Biodiversity Energy Water and sanitation Waste Population growth Pollution Poverty



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




The Five Largest Producers of Carbon Dioxide Emissions (World Bank, 2006)




Per Capita Emissions (World Bank, 2006)



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




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




The oil industry predicts a doubling of demand by 2030



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



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



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



The London Olympics



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



The Eden Project



The Eden Project: Waste Neutral



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


Mersey Tidal Power Study

25Department of Engineering


Mersey Tidal Power Study



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



RESPONSES AND IMPLEMENTATIONNew Approaches – Marshalling Diverse Data

Sustainable Earthquake Preparedness for the Built Environment of a Rural Seismic Area(Karababa, in draft)



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



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



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

sustainable development

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