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Links and Documents

This section provides resources (website links and documents) on the following issues:

 

Guideline documents

SD strategies general (in descending chronological order):

UN: Guidance in preparing a National Sustainable Development Strategy (2002)
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/nsds_guidance.pdf

OECD - IIED: Sustainable Development Strategies: A Resource Book (2002)
http://www.nssd.net/res_book.html#contents

UN: Guidelines for Developing a National Programme of Indicators of Sustainable Development (2001)
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/guidelines_indicators.pdf

OECD: The DAC Guidelines - Strategies for sustainable development. Guidance for development co-operation (2001)
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/10/2669958.pdf

OECD: National Strategies For  Sustainable Development, a Guide To Key Issues And Methods For Analysis. A prompt for status review and analysis (2000)
http://nssd.net/pdf/Topic7.pdf

OECD: Improving Policy Coherence and Integration for Sustainable Development: A checklist
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/61/19/2763153.pdf

Evaluation and review of SD strategies:

European Commission: Peer Review Improvement through Mutual Exchange on Sustainable Development: A guidebook for peer reviews of national sustainable development strategies (2006)
PDF

Methodology Paper of the French SD strategy peer review (2005)
http://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/3.methodology.pdf

Office of the Government of the Czech Republic: Manual for planning and evaluation of Sustainable Development at the regional level (2006)
PDF

Policy documents

National SD strategies (in alphabetical order):

Austria:

'A Sustainable Future for Austria' (2002)

Belgium:

Federal Plan for Sustainable Development 2004-2008 (2004)

Bulgaria:

http://www.mee.government.bg/doc_pub/SDS_04_05_07.doc

Croatia:

NSDS can be downloaded on the website of the Ministry: Strategy for sustainable development of the republic of Croatia

SD objectives listed in the NSDS: Croatian NSDS is focusing on long-term action in the following eight key areas:

  1. encouraging population growth in the Republic of Croatia
  2. environment and natural resources
  3. promoting sustainable production and consumption
  4. ensuring social and territorial cohesion and justice
  5. ensuring energy independence and increasing the efficiency of energy use
  6. strengthening public health
  7. interconnectedness of the Republic of Croatia
  8. protection of the Adriatic Sea, coastal area and islands

These are the eight key challenges of sustainable development that also serve as the basis for strategic directions of the development of the Republic of Croatia. Each one of them is further explained and elaborated in the overall objective or overall objectives for that area, which is/are in turn elaborated in concrete measures that can be seen in our NSDS.

Cyprus:

Summary of draft NSDS (in English)

Czech Republic:

Czech Republic Strategy for Sustainable Development (2010)

Denmark:

'A shared future - balanced development' (2002)

Estonia:

'Sustainable Estonia 21' (2005)

Finland:

'Towards sustainable choices' (2006)

France:

'La Stratégie Nationale de Développement Durable actualisée' (2006) (in French)

Germany:

'Perspectives for Germany’ (2002) (in German)

Greece:

National Strategy for Sustainable Development (2002) (English executive summary)

Hungary:

National Sustainable Development Strategy of Hungary (2007)

Iceland:

'Welfare for the Future' (2002)

Ireland:

  1. 'Sustainable Development - A Strategy for Ireland' (1997)
  2. 'Making Ireland's Development Sustainable: review, assessment and future action' (2002)

Italy:

'Strategia d'azione ambientale per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile' (2002) (in Italian)

Latvia:

'Strategy for Sustainable Development of Latvia' (2002)

Lithuania:

National Strategy for Sustainable Development (2003)

Luxemburg:

'Plan National pour un Développement Durable' (1999) (in French)

Malta:

'A Sustainable Development Strategy for the Maltese Islands 2007-2016' (2006)

Montenegro:

National Strategy for Sustainable Development of Montenegro

First Annual Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development

Second Annual Report on the Implementation of the NSSD (English version to be provided soon)

Norway:

Norway´s Strategy for Sustainable Development (2007)

Poland:

Portugal:

'Estratégia Nacional de Desenvolvimento Sustentável' (2007) (in Portuguese)

Romania:

National Sustainable Development Strategy - 'Romania 2013-2020-2030' (2008)

Serbia:

Web presentation of the project “Sustainable Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia”

Slovakia:

National Strategy for Sustainable Development for the Slovak Republic (2001)

Slovenia:

'Slovenia's Development Strategy' (2005)

Spain:

Spanish Sustainable Development Strategy (2007)

Sweden:

'Strategic Challenges - A Further Elaboration of the Swedish Strategy for Sustainable Development' (2006)

Switzerland:

Sustainable Development Strategy: 'Guidelines and Action Plan 2008-2011’

The Netherlands:

'Sustainable Action' (2003) (English summary)

United Kingdom:

EU SDS and other EU SD policy documents (in descending chronological order):

Progress Report on the Sustainable Development Strategy 2007
PDFCommunication from the Commission
PDFAccompanying document (Commission Staff working document)

Renewed EU SDS for download (en)
Final version June 26, 2006

Renewed EU SDS (adopted version June 9) in all EU languages
http://ec.europa.eu/sustainable/sds2005/index_en.htm

Presidency Conclusions Brussels European Council 15/16 June 2006
PDF

Motion for a Resolution on the revised sustainable development strategy
EP Session Document June 7, 2006

The 2005 Review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy: Initial Stocktaking and Future Orientations" (2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/sustainable/docs/COMM_PDF_COM_2005_0037_F_EN_ACTE.pdf

Draft Declaration on Guiding Principles for Sustainable Development COM(2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/sustainable/docs/COM_2005_0218_F_EN_ACTE.pdf

Sustainable Development Indicators to monitor the implementation of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/sustainable/docs/Indicators_SEC_2005_0161_F_EN.pdf

Summary report of the Strategic Evaluation of Approaches to Integrating Sustainability into Community Policies (2004)
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/sustainable/docs/Report_Evaluation_of_Approaches.pdf

Report: National Sustainable Development Strategies in the European Union - A first analysis by the European Commission (2004)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/sustainable/docs/sustainable_development_strategies.pdf

Annex to the Report: Country Profiles
http://europa.eu.int/comm/sustainable/docs/annex_sustainable_development_strategies.pdf

The World Summit on Sustainable Development one year on: implementing our commitments (2003)
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/sustainable/docs/COMM_PDF_COM_2003_0829_F_EN_ACTE.pdf

Towards a global partnership for Sustainable Development (2002)
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0082en01.pdf

Implementing Agenda 21: The EU's record (2002)
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/wssd/020722draftagenda.pdf

Consultation paper for the preparation of the European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development (2001)
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/sustainable/docs/consultation_paper_en.pdf

A sustainable Europe for a better world: A European strategy for Sustainable Development (2001)
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0264en01.pdf

Other relevant EU policy documents (in descending chronological order):

European Council: Presidency Conclusions - Brussels European Council, 8/9 March 2007
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/93135.pdf

European Council: Presidency Conclusions - Brussels European Council, June 2005
http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/85349.pdf

Aalborg commitments (2004)
http://www.aalborgplus10.dk/media/finaldraftaalborgcommitments.pdf

European Council: Presidency Conclusions - Brussels European Council, March 2003
http://ue.eu.int/en/Info/eurocouncil/index.htm

European Council: Presidency Conclusions - Gothenburg European Council, 15 and 16 June 2001
http://ue.eu.int/en/Info/eurocouncil/index.htm

The Sixth Environmental Action Programme: Environment 2010: Our future, our choice (2001)
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/newprg/index.htm

European Council: Presidency Conclusions - Lisbon European Council, 23 and 24 March 2000,
http://ue.eu.int/en/Info/eurocouncil/index.htm

The Lisbon Strategy (2000)
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm

The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/treaty/pdf/amst-en.pdf

International SD policy documents (in descending chronological order):

Johannesburg Summit 2002: National Implementation of Agenda 21. A Summary;
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natinfo/wssd/summarypublication.pdf

Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development: From our origins to the future (2002)
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/WSSD_POI_PD/English/POI_PD.htm

Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002)
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html.documents/summit_docs/2309_planfinal.htm

"Aarhus Convention": Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998)
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/documents/cep43e.pdf

Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992)
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm

Agenda 21 Action Programme (1992)
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/Agenda21.pdf

Supra-national SD strategy processes (in alphabetical order):

Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region - Baltic 21 (1998)
http://www.baltic21.org/attachments/b21_main_report__no._1_98____english.pdf

Mediterrean Strategy for Sustainable Development (2005)
http://www.mzopu.hr/doc/Mediterranean_str_28022006.pdf

Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development (2005)
http://www.norden.org/pub/ovrigt/baeredygtig/uk/ANP2004782.pdf

Evaluations and reviews of SD strategies

Austria

Evaluation Study on the Implementation of Austria's Sustainable Development Strategy (2005)
(English summary and German full text version)
http://www.nachhaltigkeit.at/strategie.php3?p=strat_aktuelles.php3&year=2006#2006

Belgium

Belgian SD Reports (English summaries and French full text versions)
http://sustdev.plan.be

France

The French National Strategy for Sustainable Development: Report on a Peer Review and Shared Learning Process (2005)
http://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/2.final_report.pdf

Siwtzerland

Final Report on the Evaluation of the Swiss Federal Council's Sustainable Development Strategy (2006)
PDFFinal Report (german)
PDFSynthesis Report (german)
PDFAnnex (german)

Studies on SD strategies and related features (in chronological order)

Göll, E. & Thio, S.L. (2008) 'Institutions for a sustainable development – experiences from EU countries' in Environment, Development and Sustainability, Vol. 10, No. 1, February 2008, pp. 69-88. http://www.springerlink.com/content/c82256256p825051

van de Kerk, Geurt & Manuel, Arthur (2008): A comprehensive index for a sustainable society: The SSI – the Sustainable Society Index. PDFPDF (2,51 MB)

van de Kerk, Geurt & Manuel, Arthur (2010) Development towards a Sustainable Society - The Netherlands 1975 – 2008: Including a comparison with the developments in Finland over the same period, Sustainable Society Foundation, June 2010, http://www.sustainablesocietyindex.com/SSI1975-2008.pdf

Alfsen, Knut & Moe, Thorvald (2008): Measuring Sustainable Development. Ecological Economics (manuscript draft). PDFPDF (266 kB)

Special Issue of European Environment Vol. 17, Issue 3 (May/June 2007): Sustainable Development Strategies in Europe: Taking Stock 20 years after the Brundtland Report; http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/114264226/issue

Niestroy, I. (EEAC) (2007): Stimulating informed debate – Sustainable Development Councils in EU Member States. A compilation of tasks, capacities, and best practice. PDFPDF (299 kB)

Special Issue of Natural Resource Forum Vol. 30, Issue 2 (May 2006): National Sustainable Development Strategies; http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/narf/30/2

Christian Baumgartner, Torsten Eser, Bernadette Schausberger, Silvia Stuppäck (2006). Sustainability Strategies in the European Union and Options for Underpinning them in the National Parliaments, Vienna: Forum Sustainable Austria, http://www.nachhaltigkeit.at/strategie/forum/pdf/SustainabilityStrategies2006.pdf

Dalal-Clayton, B. & Bass, S. (2006) A Review of Monitoring Mechanisms for National Sustainable Development Strategies, London: IIED, Report prepared for the OECD, http://www.nssd.net/otherdocuments/OECD_Review_final.pdf.

Cook, Graeme (2006): Sustainable Development – Scrutiny of Legislation. SPICe Briefing 06/75. The Scottish Parliament. http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-06/SB06-75.pdf

OECD (2006): Good practices in the National Sustainable Development Strategies of OECD countries. PDFPDF (115 kB)

Swanson, D., Pintér, L., Bergha, F., Volkery, A., Jacob, K. (2004) National Strategies for Sustainable Development: Challenges, Approaches and Innovations in Strategic and Co-ordinated Action. Based on a 19-country Analysis. Winnipeg: International Institute for Sustainable Development, http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2004/measure_nat_strategies_sd.pdf

Working Group on Environmental Auditing (2004) Sustainable Development: The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions. http://www.environmental-auditing.org/intosai/...

WWF (2004) How can sustainable development be promoted through overview and scrutiny? http://sites.wwflearning.co.uk/data/files/how-can-sd-be-promoted-through-scrutiny-247.pdf

Overview of SD strategies in Europe by the European Commission (2004) http://ec.europa.eu/sustainable/docs/sustainable_development_strategies.pdf

OECD (2002): Governance for Sustainable Development. Five OECD case studies. PDFPDF (2,22 MB)

Websites

EU websites on SD (in alphabetical order):

European Commission's Environment DG
The Environment DG is one of 36 Directorates-General (DGs) and specialised services which make up the European Commission. Its main role is to initiate and define new environmental legislation and to ensure that measures, which have been agreed, are actually put into practice in the Member States.
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/

European Environment Agency (EEA)
The European Environment Agency aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy making agents and the public.
http://www.eea.europa.eu/main_html

European Environmental Bureau (EBB)
The Mission of the EEB is to become an effective instrument in visibly improving EU's environmental policies and realizing sustainable development by effectively integrating environmental objectives in horizontal and sectoral policies of the EU as well as ensuring compliance with effective strategies to realise these objectives.
http://www.eeb.org/Index.htm

Sustainable Development website of the European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/sustainable/welcome/index_en.htm

UN and OECD websites on SD (in alphabetical order):

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) website on sustainable development
Most OECD activities relate to sustainable development, from climate change analysis to development co-operation to corporate social responsibility. On this website, there are links to a wealth of projects and information which illuminate certain dimensions of sustainable development.
http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_37425_1_1_1_1_37425,00.html

OECD Sustainable Development Statistics
http://www.oecd.org/statisticsdata/0,2643,en_2649_37425_1_119656_1_1_37425,00.html

United Nations Division for Sustainable Development
The Division for Sustainable Development provides leadership and is an authoritative source of expertise within the United Nations system on sustainable development. It promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity building at international, regional and national levels
http://www.un.org/esa/susdev

United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
UNEP's mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations
http://www.unep.org/

United Nations Sustainable Development Indicators
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/isd.htm

Other websites related to SD: international NGO's, partnerships, initiatives (in alphabetical order)

Council of European Municipalities and Regions
CEMR works to promote a united Europe that is based on local and regional self government and democracy. To achieve this goal it endeavours to shape the future of Europe by enhancing the local and regional contribution, to influence European law and policy, to exchange experience at local and regional level and to cooperate with partners in other parts of the world. CEMR works in many fields of activity such as regional policy, transport, the environment, equal opportunities, governance and sustainable development.
http://www.ccre.org/

European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC)
The EEAC network is a collaboration between the councils set up by European governments to provide independent, scientifically based advice on the environment and sustainable development.

The network is a powerful tool for sharing information and experience across Europe. It also aims, where appropriate, to exert an influence on policy at EU level. Co-operation between advisory councils under the EEAC network started in 1993. More than 30 councils from 16 European countries now participate in the network. The individual councils are statutory bodies with the mission to advise national and regional governments in the above mentioned and related policy fields and/or to provide a dialogue on sustainable development between stakeholders.
http://www.eeac-net.org/

European Partners for the Environment
EPE is a multi-stakeholder forum which builds the ground for consensus on sustainability, on which members can more confidently plan actions. EPE provides insight and practical guidance on how co-operation among partners produces results that meet the goals of sustainable development.
http://www.epe.be/

Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
http://www.globalreporting.org/

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is the international environmental agency for local governments. Its mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global environmental and sustainable development conditions through cumulative local actions.
http://www.iclei.org/

Northern Alliance for Sustainability
Northern Alliance for Sustainability [ANPED] is an alliance of NGOs working together for sustainable development in the northern hemisphere. ANPED works to empower Northern civil society in creating and protecting sustainable communities and societies world-wide. They do this by building capacity among Northern civil society organisations through sharing of information, knowledge, and skills; and enabling informed and effective democratic participation by civil society in local, national, regional and international decision-making on sustainable development policy and processes.
http://www.anped.org/

Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future
Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future is an international multi-stakeholder organisation working on sustainable development; supporting the increased involvement of stakeholders in international and national governance processes. The organisation played a key role in the preparations for and follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It is the lead organisation in the development and facilitating of multi-stakeholder processes for sustainable development.
http://www.stakeholderforum.org/

Sustainable Development International
Sustainable Development International aims to provide publishing services for business to raise awareness about CSR in practice to influence effective sustainable development policy.
http://www.sustdev.org/

Sustainable Development Online
The role of Sustainable Development Online (SDO) is to provide access to significant web sites built by organisations supporting the move towards SD
http://sd-online.ewindows.eu.org/

World Business Council for SD
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) brings together some 180 international companies in a shared commitment to sustainable development through economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. Their mission is to provide business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable development, and to support the business license to operate, innovate and grow in a world increasingly shaped by sustainable development issues.
http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?MenuID=1

Sectoral policies

Biodiversity

Policy recommendations and briefing sheets elaborated in the course of the ALARM biodiversity project (EU 6th Framework Programme): PDF Policy recommendations (ZIP, 210 kB); PDF Briefing sheets (ZIP, 1 MB)

 

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