Sustainable Development
The first United Nations 'Earth Summit' was held in Rio in 1992. This produced "Agenda 21", which has the aim of seeing 'sustainable development' taking place in the 21st century.
What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development means "doing what we want today, but making sure that what we do does not create problems for later generations in the future". In other words, everything we make, build or do uses valuable resources and effort to do so.
We should make sure that what we make should last for as many years as possible. By not having to rebuild or do something later saves the need for those resources to be plundered again.
How does it affect Liverpool?
Governments around the world were asked to work together with their citizens to develop their own 'local agenda 21'. The British government has given this request its keen support.
Liverpool City Council does a number of things to help towards sustainable development. This goes a long way to improve the quality of life here. We do this through regeneration, education, social affairs, planning, housing, and transport.
We are also very aware of our environmental management responsibilities; and how we look after our city and its assets.
We have been talking with environmental leaders in the city to work out how to do things in the most sustainable way. We have also been trying to make the people of Liverpool more aware of what sustainability means; and what everyone in the city can do to help. This includes asking people to recycle more.
Sustainable Cities
Liverpool City Council has been working alongside Core City colleagues from Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield on climate change issues in a co-ordinated dialogue with central government. CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) is the government's advisor on architecture, urban design and public space and is helping cities and towns to become more sustainable places. The Sustainable Cities website cuts through the complexities of the climate change debate to provide expert advice, offer clear priorities for action and describe good practice in sustainable urban design and management.
Contact us
If you want to find out what's happening with Sustainable Development within Liverpool, please contact:
- Christine Darbyshire within Regeneration, Liverpool City Council, email: christine.darbyshire@liverpool.gov.uk; or
- Andy Snell - Liverpool First,
email: Andy.Snell@liverpool.gov.uk.
Other places to look for information:
- Find out about Recycling in Liverpool on this website
- If you want to find out what other Local Authorities around the UK are doing about this, please visit www.greenconsumerguide.com
-
The Renewable Energy Centre is a national organisation that pulls a wealth of information into one central online location and includes such areas as:
- information on energy efficiency and energy saving measures
- links to community organisations and government contacts
- sources of grants and funding
- teaching resources
- information on university courses in renewables
- UK and international conferences and exhibitions
- practical introductions to 11 key renewable technologies
- local and national directories of contractors and suppliers.