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Environmental Challenges and Priorities
147
implementation of legislation
requiring additional funding for
environmental protection measures.
Such an approach carries a strong
risk of significant future cost in terms
of fines for failing to implement
legislation, remediation costs to
clean up avoidable environmental
damage and a reputational cost that
would impact on our national green
branding – the costs of inaction.
Challenge 4: Putting the
Environment at the Centre
of Decision Making
All human activities have an influence
on the environment through both
personal behaviours and in the
daily operations of businesses and
organisations across the country.
The concept of thinking globally and
acting locally has probably never
been more relevant as we confront
biodiversity loss and climate change.
In line with the aims of the UN’s
Rio+20 process, it is critical that we
participate in a transition to living
within the long-term limits of our
planet. This final challenge is focused
on mainstreaming environmental
priorities and ensuring that they
are fully integrated into policy and
decision-making at national, regional
and local levels. By incorporating
environmental considerations into
new policies and developments, we
can save future costs, particularly
where there are decisions to be made
in the short-term about long-life
assets such as housing, transport
infrastructure, energy infrastructure,
water supply infrastructure and
investments such as in coastal and
flood defences.
There is a shared responsibility for
achieving and maintaining a healthy
environment. Clear leadership
and co-ordinated efforts from
Government and public bodies is
needed to maintain and improve
the quality of the environment.
Business and industry also play an
important role by ensuring their
activities do not cause pollution or
create environmental liabilities for
future generations – with a special
responsibility resting with Ireland’s
farmers as guardians of our rural
environment. Finally, all members
of the public must play a part by
taking actions to avoid pollution
and controlling our personal
environmental impacts. Recent
impressive responses to waste
recycling show how changes can
occur, it is now time to build on
this and work to mainstream the
environment in our daily lives.
Meeting the Challenges to
Build a Sustainable Ireland
Ireland has a tremendously valuable
asset in its environment. Though this
report has shown that the quality of
the environment is generally high,
there are clear pressures which
must be confronted and managed
to set our nation and people on a
sustainable path. The challenges
here are significant and not all will
be resolved in the short or even
medium term, however the benefits
of achieving this vision are great. A
protected environment provides a
clean and safe place to live; while
also underpinning vibrant agri-food
and tourism sectors, and making
Ireland an attractive place for inward
investment.
In a wide ranging paper on future
sustainability, the Blue Planet
Laureates noted that transitioning
to a more sustainable future will
require simultaneously redesigning
the economic system, a technological
revolution, and, above all,
behavioural change (Brundtland
et al., 2012). In this context there
is a real opportunity to re-examine
Ireland’s priorities and direction.
Meeting our environmental
goals will require clear leadership
by Government, to guide and
empower people in making the
changes needed in our lifestyles
and consumption patterns to live
within our (environmental) means.
A cornerstone of sustainability is
therefore behaviour change and so
to move toward a sustainable future,
individuals and businesses will have
to willingly engage in a multitude of
actions including waste reduction,
water and energy efficiency and
modal transportation shifts. The
overarching goal for our future must
be to ensure that as Ireland begins
to work its way back to economic
recovery, it goes in a sustainable
direction.
An Idea from Sweden
Sweden has set an overall aim for environmental policy to
pass on to the next generation a society in which all the major
environmental problems have been solved. To ensure that the
country stays on track to meet this aim, the Swedish parliament
adopted into law 16 environmental quality objectives relating to
the quality of Sweden’s environment (MSDS, 2006). By taking a
similar approach, Ireland would be making a strong commitment
to environmental protection which would underpin our important
agri-food and tourism markets while driving efforts to deliver a
clean environment for current and future generations of Irish
citizens.