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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Background
1.1 In 2004, the Scottish Executive, the UK Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Irish Assembly undertook a joint review of government strategies relevant to sustainable development. Following on from this review and joint consultation on the document, Taking it on - Developing a UK sustainable development strategy ( REF), all four administrations committed themselves to a new, shared sustainable development framework in the form of One future, different paths, launched in March 2005. The UK Government published its own strategy, Securing the Future, to coincide with the common framework, and the Welsh Assembly Government had already produced its Sustainable Development Action Plan in 2004. Throughout 2005, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Scottish Executive have been producing their own strategies. This report coincides with publication of the latter.
1.2 Five shared over-arching, guiding principles were set out in One future - different paths for the different strategies, the first two underpinned by fulfilment of the other three:
- Living within environmental limits
- Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society
- Achieving a sustainable economy
- Promoting good governance
- Using sound science responsibly
The common framework also presents four priority areas for action:
- Sustainable consumption and production
- Climate change and energy
- Natural resource protection and environmental enhancement
- Sustainable communities
1.3 The Scottish strategy reflects the shared principles and key priority areas set out in the joint framework, but there are clearly distinct, Scottish issues which have required approaches, sets of policies, and actions unique to the Scottish context.
1.4 Sustainable development represents and consists of complex, varied and contested concepts, with application across the range of public policy areas. Views about what government should prioritise and how it should then pursue its goals are diverse. And, as the Scottish experience takes place in a global context, the Scottish strategy had to be informed by an understanding of international thinking and action on sustainable development. The review on which this report is based was, therefore, commissioned by the Scottish Executive Sustainable Development Directorate as a contribution to the process of formulating a sustainable development strategy.
Introduction to the review
1.5 The report offers an overview of contemporary academic and expert literature, policy and of the prevailing debates on a number of themes which are key to sustainable development. Its sources are mainly published literature, policy documents, legislation and appropriate web resources. The themes are outlined at a global, European, United Kingdom and, finally, a Scottish level and the evidence, analysis and perspectives drawn out from the review's sources are explored in relation to the principles and priorities for a Scottish Sustainable Development Strategy.
Key aims
1.6 The key objectives for the review have been to:
- reflect upon the various conceptual and theoretical aspects of sustainable development;
- consider the different methods and practices that have been employed to promote sustainable development as a policy ideal in different policy domains;
- identify practices and lessons, transferable in relation to Scotland's devolved responsibilities and commitments, within the UK, Europe, the UN and globally.
Scope of the review
1.7 The review has concentrated on English-language texts published in the period since the previous UK sustainable development strategy in 1999. Its key focus has been on publications with direct relevance to the formulation and delivery of public policy, but it has also considered the main theoretical literature that underpins such work. It begins with a brief description of the Scottish context and the key structures for the delivery of sustainable development, drawing out differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK that may require special attention or different policy approaches.
1.8 Secondly, it reviews the international literature published in the last five years on general theories and guiding principles for sustainable development, as a conceptual background for the eight topic-based chapters that follow.
- Food
- Sustainable procurement
- Sustainable consumption
- Green jobs and business enterprise
- The built environment
- Environmental protection
- Education for sustainable development
- Environmental justice
1.9 The topic areas for review were selected on the basis that they are considered important issues for future policy on sustainable development in Scotland; up to date synthesis reviews have not already been undertaken in these areas; and because there was no other review work being undertaken in these areas for the Executive. Wherever possible, the review has aimed to identify, synthesise and build upon previous reviews of each of these topics.
1.10 It should be noted that various policy strategies, including Scottish government ones, are discussed throughout the report. Several significant one are currently being reviewed or refreshed in Scotland, so the published ones described here cannot always represent latest government thinking but do, nevertheless, indicate the policy context in which discussion, reflection and action have been taking place in recent years.
Review methodology
1.11 In order to make the task manageable, whilst ensuring a thorough and comprehensive search across the evidence-base, in a very constrained time-period, the research adopted a 'systematic review approach'. This involved the following tasks:
- Identifying a set of clearly defined review objectives with the client
- Developing a set of search terminologies from this list of questions (for example, 'sustainable consumption', sustainable procurement')
- Using a mapping framework to categorise search outputs, so that common themes, synergies, tensions and gaps in the literature could be easily identified
- Undertaking computerised searches of the university libraries, the Web of Knowledge, government and NGO sites and specialist electronic databases using the set search terms
- Downloading and cataloguing full documents where available, or abstracts where they were not
- Scanning abstracts to identify additional key words for further searches and additional publications that could be relevant to the review
- Repeating searches using newly identified key words as necessary
1.12 Past experience had demonstrated that appropriate peer review is an important element of a scientific review of this nature. To this end, the ad hoc group of academic experts which had been convened by the Sustainable Development Research Network, for reviews it had undertaken for the Sustainable Development Unit of Defra, was asked to comment on the content, comprehensiveness and validity of the draft outputs from this review. Their deliberations have been incorporated into this report.
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