How do I link Ecological Footprinting to my current Sustainable Development Plan/Environmental Strategy?
Essentially the Footprint is a key indicator of environmental sustainability and can be used to help develop and deliver ‘sustainable’ policy and decision making across the authority, within local partnerships and within the community.
In March 2005, the government launched a shared framework for sustainable development, common to all parts of the UK, and the new UK Sustainable Development Strategy. The strategy sets out five new principles, including a more explicit focus on environmental limits for which the Ecological Footprinting tool can provide a baseline measure. The Strategy also sets out priority areas for immediate action which are outlined below and the Local Authority Area Ecological Footprint’s support:
- sustainable consumption and production;
- climate change and energy;
- natural resource protection and environmental enhancement; and
- sustainable communities.
The Footprint can provide an important tool to support the work of local authorities in delivering and reviewing their sustainable community strategies.
It can also provide a strong education and awareness tool for use with Councillors, staff and the public to help promote the concept of sustainable development. People empathise with the issues but do not know what they can do about it, positive feedback via the Ecological Footprint tool will be very valuable.
The Footprint can also be a useful environmental indicator for other local strategies, for example Climate Change, Waste, Transport, Planning, Economic Development, Procurement and Energy.