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Education
for Sustainable Development Background
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Sustainable
Island Living
A new concept
that has been termed 'Sustainable Island Living' emerged during
discussions at an inter-regional
planning meeting held in Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
in July 2005. During the opening
ceremony Gillian Cambers noted that while she could not say
that Bequia is a model for sustainable development, she could
say that it is a model for a way of thinking, caring and planning
for the future of the island and its environment.
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Islanders
meeting in Bequia
July '05
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During and
after the meeting, participants developed these preliminary ideas
further so that instead of concentrating on sustainable development,
which for many is an unreachable target, a more personal approach
is evolving.
Sustainable
island living is a process that enables everybody to enjoy a
decent living and a good quality of life in terms of satisfying
their needs (economic, social, ecological and cultural) and
creates an enabling environment for the next generation to fulfil
its aspirations.
Sustainable
island living is based on core values such as a culture of partnership
based on shared vision, good governance, people's rights, autonomy
of the community, and participatory approaches. Furthermore, it
attempts to bring the concept to the personal level - every individual
and community member has a role to play - and in focusing on the
next generation as opposed to future generations, it makes the
concept more immediate as a goal to be achieved in an individual's
lifetime.
In the Indian
Ocean islands, the Centre for Documentation, Research and Training
in the Southwest Indian Ocean (CEDREFI) together with Nature Seychelles
is using the concept of sustainable island living as a foundation
for advancing the Declaration
of the Civil Society Forum (Mauritius 2005) in the Indian
Ocean islands.
CEDREFI have
prepared a concept
paper outlining the background to Sustainable Island Living.
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