Sustainability is a journey – not a destination (Goldblatt, 2012). The purpose of this essay is to determine the degree to which this journey towards sustainability has begun in the case of the business events, also known as MICE (Meetings Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industry.
Endorsement of the Bruntland Report (WCED, 1987) by the United Nations and its members at the Earth brought prominence to the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development (Drexhage and Murphy, 2010).
There are several definitions of Sustainable Development, the most popular one being “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” which was proposed within the same report ( WCED ,1987,p43.) . Despite the different definitions proposed by various authors (Harris et al. 2001, Sharachchandra 1991) they agree on certain key concepts that comprise the definition of sustainable development. These are inter and intra generational equity of resources, a long term rather than a myopic perspective, and the integration of the environment, economy and society. The last concept is also known as the triple bottom line, which consists of People, Planet, Profit (Elkington, 1998). People imply the society or the social dimension, planet implies the environmental dimension and profit implies the economic dimension.
The Economic dimension is concerned with matters involving the flow of money such as costs, income, employment, revenue etc., the environmental with matters that represent natural resources such as pollution, wastage, and depletion of non-renewable energy, the social with matters involving the society and people such as health and wellbeing, social equity, ...
... middle of paper ...
...ty of Technology, Sydney.
Vanclay, F.M. (2004). “The Triple Bottom Line and Impact Assessment: How do TBL, EIA, SIA, SEA and EMS relate to each other?”, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy & Management, 6(3), pp.265-288.
Wilson, A. (2009). “ ETFE: The new fabric roof”. Available at: http://www.architen.com/technical/articles/ETFE-the-new-fabric-roof. Accessed: 4 December, 2013.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2000). Corporate Social Responsibility: Making Good Business Sense. World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva.
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987). Our Common Future; Oxford University Press, New York.
Zadek, S. (2001), “Balancing Performance, Ethics and Accountability”. In Starkey, R. and Welford, R (eds), The Earthscan Reader in Business and Sustainable Development, Earthscan, London.
Bodansky, Daniel. "The Who, What, and Wherefore of Geoengineering Governance." Climate Change 121.3 (2013): 539-551. Print. DOI.ORG/10.2139/SSRN.2168850
The concept of ‘Just Sustainability’ incorporates not only environmental sustainability but also a need to strive towards social justice and equity. According to Agyeman sustainability is “the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.” (Agyeman et al. 2003 as cited in Agyeman 2005: 43) Both the desire for sustainability and development can be cause for many social justice and human equity issues, but in order to fulfil the idea of ‘Just Sustainability,’ all of these things need to be taken into account. (Agyeman 2005: 43) An example of how social justice and equity needs to be addressed alongside a sustainability plan for the environment is the deforestation of rainforests in Indonesia.
Soledad, A. (2012). UNEP: World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability. Environmental Policy and Law, 42(4/5), 204-205. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/1239086063/fulltextPDF/938578CF70664516PQ/3?accountid=28180
(7) Adams, W. M. The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century. Rep. The World Conservation Union, 22 May 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
(8) Barbier, E. B.; Markandya, A. The conditions for achieving environmentally sustainable development. Eur. Econ. Rev. 34, 659-669. (1990).
The concept of sustainable development, a relatively new concept has now taken action into the structure of many present day organizations. Identified as “green growth”, the formation of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index provides a platform for managers to understand what it takes to be a sustainable organization. On the subject of sustainable development, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) sponsored by the United Nations published a report defining as,“Development that meets the needs of the current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and aspirations” (WCED, 1987). Sustainable development is composed of the following two notions. First is the idea of sustainability (to maintain), and secondly, development (to make better) (Bell, 2003). Improvement of our own lives today does not mean at the cost of damaging the quality of
Trevino Linda Klebe and Katherine A. Nelson. Managing business ethics: straight talk about how to do it right. 4th ed. New York: Wiley, 2006.
The conference declared the first international attempt to sketch the action plans and strategies for consider a more sustainable pattern of development. The participants were over 100 Heads of State and councilors from 178 national governments. Furthermore the following summit was represented by civilians from a range of other organizations. According to the Brundtland Commission report of Our Common Future published in 1987, it has been discussed as the Sustainable development was the preventive action to the problems of environmental deprivation. The outcome of the Brundtland Report was to probe the various subjects that had been encountered in previous decades. It was asked to find specifically, whether that certain human activity was having hazardous and harmful impacts on the planet. Furthermore it was concerned about patterns of growth and development. And also it was investigated as the certain measures would be unsustainable if they continued unchecked. The publications such as Garret Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons (1968), Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth report (1972) and the Blueprint for Survival by the Ecologist magazine (1972) were embodied and highlighted this
Sustainable development adapted after the Brundtlandt Report 1987, is a planned, aim- and process oriented procedure that meets the needs of today’s generations without endangering the needs of future generations and world regions (Ott & Döring 2004, 2006).2 The principle of sustainability describes the efforts of the international community, all countries and people to create equal opportunities for development by explicitly taking into account the interests of future generations. Most frequently the concepts of sustainability are based on a triple bottom line represented by the tree pillars – ecology, economy and social security (e.g. by the Enquete Commission, 1998). Apart from the general weaknesses of the column model that is the interchangeability of dimensions and the ignorance of (social) relatedness (c.f. Ott & Döring, 2004)3 the definition of sustainability (the model is illustrating), is seen as a bad compromise between the needs for conservation of natural resources and the aspirations for economic growth by some scholars (Döring & Muraca, 2010). Irrespective of that, the model sometimes is competed by other pillars such as “knowledge”, “institution”, ”governance”, “arts” or the like (c.f. a.o. Ott & Döring, 2004). Whereas in “Resetting the Compas...
[WCED] World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our common future. New York: Oxford University Press. 444p.
The development of environmental regimes involves a five-fold process. The first process is the agenda setting and issue definition stage, which identifies and brings attention to an issue to the international community. Secon...
Recently, many organisations and countries are trying to prevent the pollution and its bad impacts to human. In order to make that project be more realistic and effective, the European Union has offered a prize called ‘European Green Capital Award’. The main purpose of this award is to find a true green economy model and encourage other cities to improve the quality better. Bristol has received this recognition for 2015 due to its project to protect the environment and investment suitably. The project is based on both people’ consideration and the successful implication of Triple bottom line. However, the small and medium enterprises in Bristol also play an important role in contributing to the prize of this city. Therefore, Bearpit Social - a small coffee shop, which has been applied the business concept to have a suitable development plan as well as help Bristol develop more comprehensively. This report was written to help organisations understand more clearly about the Triple bottom line and how to implicate to improve the business operation in the most effective way.
Sustainability simply defined to me as balancing act between the development of sustainability is necessary for both planet Earth and humans to survive. This is reinforced in the World Commission on Environment and Development report (1987) that sustainable development must meet the needs of the present without compromising the well-being of future generations”. The Earth Charter Organization widened the idea of sustainability to respect for a culture of peace, universal human rights, nature, and economic justice (What is sustainability?, n.d.).
Harris. J.M. 2000 Basic Principles of Sustainable Development, Global and Environment Institute Working Paper 00-04, USA
Over the past few decades there have been discourses both in favor and against Globalization’s capacity to guarantee a sustainable future. Authors attest societies and businesses’ inability to account for ecological and environmental limits when dealing with economic growth, examples of this are some of the traditional business metrics used by most global companies, and nations’ measure of wealth (GDP); both sides heavily resting on economic factors, fail to account for societal and environmental concerns (Byrnea & Gloverb, 2002). Other researchers point at the intensive use of resources, especially by global corporations; such as the increasing and careless consumption of fossil fuels, water, precious metals, etc. leading to a rise in GHG (Starke, 2002) (United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 2000). Most fervent opponents go as far as to call ‘sustainable development’ an oxymoron (Ayres, 1995).