THE MELBOURNE PRINCIPLES
by Gwendolyn Hallsmith
reprinted from The Key to Sustainable Cities © 2003 New Society Publishers
Partly in response to the efforts made by the Earth Charter, and partly due to a growing recognition that cities require guidance on how to become more sustainable, an effort was made by the International Environmental Technology Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme to develop sustainability principles specifically for cities. Consultations were held in Canada and in Australia that brought experts together who had experience with cities, with sustainable development, and with the Earth Charter, to form a vision statement that would be adopted and utilized by cities all over the world.
The Preamble of the Melbourne Principles states that cities meet our fundamental needs for economic opportunities and social interaction, well as cultural and spiritual enrichment. Cities also damage the natural environment and exploit natural resources in an unsustainable manner, which can jeopardize long-term prosperity and social well-being. This is of global concern, as more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and trends indicate that this will increase.
The Preamble goes on to say that the transformation of cities to sustainability will require cooperation between various levels of government, resource managers, the business sector, community groups , and all citizens. Their collective and individual contributions are essential in achieving a common purpose. Improving the sustainability of cities will not only benefit their inhabitants, but also significantly contribute to improving the well-being of people around the world. The overarching vision of the Melbourne Principles is to create environmentally healthy, vibrant, and sustainable cities where people respect one another and nature, to the benefit of all. The text of the Melbourne Principles is as follows:
Principle 1
Provide a long-term vision for cities based on: sustainability; intergenerational, social, economic and political equity; and their individuality.
Elaboration
A long-term vision is the starting point for catalyzing positive change, leading to sustainability. The vision needs to reflect the distinctive nature and characteristics of each city.
The 2000 Earth Charter, an international treaty drafted by thousands of people in 51 countries, can serve as the basis for a city's long-term vision. The Charter recognizes the fact that ecological integrity, social and economic justice, respect and care for the community of life, and democracy, non-violence, and peace are inextricably linked. To achieve any of these goals, communities need to work to achieve all of them.
The vision should express the shared aspirations of the people for their cities to become more sustainable. It needs to address equity, which means equal access to both natural and human resources, as well as shared responsibility for preserving the value of these resources for future generations.
A vision based on sustainability will help align and motivate communities, governments, businesses and others around a common purpose, and will provide a basis for developing a strategy, an action, program and processes to achieve that vision. The entire community needs to be involved in crafting a vision for the city, which will ensure its relevance to their values and aspirations, and will generate the commitment and engagement of people who live in the city to realizing the vision.
Principle 2
Achieve long-term economic and social security.
Elaboration
Long-term economic and social security are prerequisites for beneficial change and are dependent upon environmentally sound, sustainable development.
To achieve triple bottom line sustainability, economic strategies need to increase the value and vitality of human and natural systems, and conserve and renew human, financial and natural resources. Through fair allocation of resources, economic strategies should seek to meet basic human needs in a just and equitable manner and as a priority eradicate poverty. In particular, economic strategies should guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, shelter, and safe sanitation.
Cities are the incubators of human diversity; their policies, structures and institutions can significantly contribute to fostering cohesive, stimulating, safe and fulfilled communities.
Principle 3
Recognize the intrinsic value of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and protect and restore them.
Elaboration
Nature is more than a commodity for the benefit of humans. We share the Earth with many other life forms that have their own intrinsic value. They warrant our respect, whether or not they are of immediate benefit to us.
It is through people's direct experience with nature that they understand its value and gain a better appreciation of the importance of healthy habitats and ecosystems. This connection provides them, with an appreciation of the need to manage our interactions with nature empathetically.
Just as humans have the ability to alter the habitat and even to extinguish other species, we can also protect and restore biodiversity. Therefore, we have a responsibility to act as custodians for nature. The best method to protect and restore nature is to avoid harm by taking a precautionary approach. Where scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive and the consequences are not fully understood, decision making should seek to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible harm. In these circumstances the onus of proof is on those who propose activity that could have an ecological consequences.
Principle 4
Enable communities to minimize their ecological footprint.
Elaboration
Cities consume significant quantities of resources and have a major impact on the environment, well beyond what they can handle within their borders. These unsustainable trends need to be substantially curbed and eventually reversed.
One way of describing the impact of a city is to measure its ecological footprint. The ecological footprint of a city is a measure of the load on nature imposed by meeting the needs of its population. It represents the land area necessary to sustain current levels of resource consumption and waste discharged by that population. Reducing the ecological footprint of a city is a positive contribution towards sustainability.
Like any living system, a community consumes material, water and energy inputs, processes them into useable forms and generates wastes. This is the metabolism of the city and making this metabolism more efficient is essential to reducing the city's ecological footprint. In reducing the footprint, problems should be solved locally where possible, rather than shifting them to other geographic locations or future generations.
Principle 5
Build on the characteristics of ecosystems in the development and nurturing of healthy and sustainable cities.
Elaboration
Cities can become more sustainable by modeling urban processes on ecological principles of form and function, by which natural ecosystems operate.
The characteristics of ecosystems include diversity, adaptiveness, interconnectedness, resilience, regenerative capacity and symbiosis. These characteristics can be incorporated by cities in the development of strategies to make them more productive and regenerative, resulting in ecological, social, and economic benefits.
Principle 6
Recognize and build on the distinctive characteristics of cities, including their human and cultural values, history, and natural systems.
Elaboration
Each city has a distinctive profile of human, cultural, historic, and natural characteristics. This profile provides insights on pathways to sustainability that is both acceptable to their people and compatible with their values, traditions, institutions, and ecological realities.
Building on existing characteristics helps motivate and mobilize the human and physical resources of cities to achieve sustainable development and regeneration.
Principle 7
Empower people and foster participation.
Elaboration
The journey towards sustainability requires broadly based support. Empowering people mobilizes local knowledge and resources and enlists the support and active participation of all who need to be involved in all stages, from long-term planning to implementation of sustainable solutions.
The people of cities are the key drivers for transforming cities towards sustainability. This can be achieved effectively if the people living in cities have adequate educational opportunities, are well informed, can easily access knowledge and share learning. Such knowledge will empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development, both at a personal and community level.
People have a right to be involved in the decisions that affect them. Attention needs to be given to empowering those whose voices are not always heard, such as the poor, religious and racial minorities, women, young people, and people with disabilities.
Principle 8
Expand and enable cooperative networks to work towards a common, sustainable future.
Elaboration
Strengthening existing networks and establishing new cooperative networks within cities facilitate the transfer of knowledge and support continual environmental improvement.
These networks can serve as vehicles for information exchange and encouraging collective effort.
The energy and talent of people can be enhanced by communities working with one another through such networks. There is also value in cities sharing their learning with other cities, pooling resources to develop sustainability tools, and supporting and mentoring one another through inter-city and regional networks.
Principle 9
Promote sustainable production and consumption, through appropriate use of environmentally sound technologies and effective demand management.
Elaboration
A range of approaches and tools can be used to promote sustainable practices.
Demand management, which includes accurate valuations of natural resources and increasing public awareness, is a valuable strategy to support sustainable consumption. This approach can also provide significant savings in infrastructure investment.
Sustainable production can be supported by the development, equitable transfer, adoption and use of environmentally sound technologies that can improve environmental performance significantly. These technologies protect the environment, are less polluting, use resources in a sustainable manner, recycle more of their wastes and products and handle all residual wastes in a more environmentally acceptable way than the technologies for which they are substitutes.
Environmentally sound technologies can also be used to drive reduced impacts and enhance value along a supply chain and support businesses embracing product stewardship.
Principle 10
Enable continual improvement, based on accountability, transparency and good governance.
Elaboration
Good urban governance requires robust processes directed towards achieving the transformation of cities to sustainability through continual improvement. While in some areas gains will be incremental, there are also opportunities to make substantial improvements through innovative strategies, programs, and technologies.
To manage the continual improvement cycle, it is necessary to use relevant indicators, set targets based on benchmarks, and monitor progress against milestones to achieving these targets. This facilitates progress and accountability and ensures effective implementation.
Transparency and openness to scrutiny are part of good governance and good business practices. This includes the right of everyone to receive clear and timely information on environmental matters and all public and private development plans and activities which are likely to affect them or in which they have an interest. Furthermore, those making decisions in government and in businesses should be accountable to those affected directly or indirectly by those decisions. Corruption in public and private institutions needs to be eliminated.
It is important that environmental responsibilities, and adequate resources to achieve sustainable outcomes, are assigned to the level of government where they can be carried out most effectively.
On August 30, 2002 , the Local Government Session of the World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg adopted Local Action 21. This builds upon the worldwide successes of Local Agenda 21 since the Rio Summit and represents a move from plan to practice. Part of Local Action 21 includes a commitment to the Melbourne Principles and the Earth Charter.
One thing that is clear from both the visions of the Earth Charter and the Melbourne Principles is that sustainability is an integrated whole. It's not just about a clean environment, or economic development that minimizes environmental destruction. It concerns itself, by necessity, with our social and governance systems as well. Bringing all of these systems into a coherent and consistent vision for our cities is critical to the success of sustainability efforts worldwide. To do this, our cities will need to change.
The Melbourne Principles can be read in their entirety at this site.
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