PUTTING the environment "centre stage", and integrating it into every level of decision making, is one of the principal objectives of the Government's National Sustainable Development Strategy, released yesterday in Dublin by the Minister for the Environment.
"Continued economic growth is essential to meet people's legitimate ambitions for a better life," said Mr Howlin. "But we should not tolerate development that is inefficient, that is excessive in its consumption of natural resources or that unduly pressurises the environment."
The 300 page document says that a high quality environment "has long been part of Ireland's national endowment. Indeed, the country's green image has already given us a competitive advantage in a number of areas food and tourism being notable examples". But it concedes that modern society is altering the ecological balance.
"The threat to our environment has been growing and the symptoms of environmental stress are becoming more apparent increasing water pollution, depletion of natural resources, waste production, damage to natural habitats and erosion of our landscapes are all symptomatic of this trend," according to the document.
The strategy is a broadly based programme, addressing all areas of Government policy, economic and societal activity which impact on the environment. It incorporates planning, agriculture, forestry, the marine, energy, industry, transport, tourism and trade.
It commits the Government, for example, to very tight controls on the release of greenhouse gases, caused by transport, industry and power generation. It sets a target of a 10 per cent reduction per year in total usage of artificial fertilisers. It introduces controls on forestry development, including requirements for planning permission and environmental impact statements for large plantations.
The strategy expects 14 per cent of electricity generation to come from renewable sources by 2010 and says leaded petrol should be phased out by 2000.
It wants up to 50 per cent of packaging waste to be recovered for recycling by 2005 and municipal waste quantities reduced by 20 per cent by 2010. It also proposes the establishment of a National Sustainable Development Council to advise government on the implementation of policies and actions under the strategy. The council would be brought into being later this year.
Mr Howlin was reluctant to define the cost of proposals in the document, saying many of the changes offered no-cost gains through improvements in efficiencies, for example reduced inputs in fertilisers on farms. "There are initiatives that will cost money," he added.
While it would be "very difficult to attain the targets" presented in the document, they were achievable. "The Government alone cannot bring about the change that is necessary to reconnect human activity with the realities of the natural world," he said. "In giving effect to this strategy, and making it a success, we need the widest possible participation and involvement of everybody."
The document says it is "now time to establish a sounder relationship between Ireland's economy and environment".
